Colombia has been witnessing mass social unrest during the last year. The street protests started in April against the unpopular tax reform initiated by the President Iván Duque (BBC, 2021 “Colombians take to the streets to oppose tax reform”). The protests quickly spread across the country and has turned into a mass movement with daily demonstrations. The demonstrators were calling for police reform and social justice, which has worsened amid Covid -19 pandemic. The poverty level has increased enormously among population, from 37% to 42% (ibid). The mass disappointment resulted in mass clashes between the people and the police. The police response was brutal, with officers routinely using teargas and billy clubs to quell disturbances (Al Jazeera 2021, “Egregious’ police abuse against Colombian protesters: Report”). In some cases, authorities fired on demonstrators with live rounds. Human Rights Watch has confirmed that 34 deaths occurred in the context of the protests, including those of 2 police officers, 1 criminal investigator, and 31 demonstrators or bystanders, at least 20 of whom appear to have been killed by the police. Armed people in civilian clothes have attacked protesters, killing at least five (Human Rights Watch, 2021 “Colombia: Egregious Police Abuses Against Protesters”).
The international community responded critically to the use of force against civilians. The United States, the European Union and the UN have denounced the excessive use of force by the police (Euronews, 2021 “EU call for calm at Colombia protests, warn of excessive force”). The authorities demanded to protect human rights and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. And called for the law enforcement officers to abide by the principles of legality, precaution, necessity and proportionality when policing demonstrations (ibid).
According to Human Rights Watch, the police killed at least 16 protesters or bystanders with live ammunition fired from firearms. The vast majority of them had injuries in vital organs, such as the thorax and head, which justice sector officials said are consistent with being caused with the intent to kill (Human Rights Watch (2021). HRW called for Colombian authorities to carry out fair investigations into all cases of police abuse and other serious acts of violence, including by armed people in civilian clothes who have attacked protesters (ibid).
On the other hand, the government claims that the protesters were involved in drug trafficking and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last active guerrilla in the country, have manipulated the demonstrations in order to cause chaos. Colombia’s rightwing government, led by President Iván Duque, has said the marches are the result of “terrorist” agitators and are supported by illegal armed groups (The Guardian, 2021 “ UN condemns violent repression of Colombia protests after at least 18 die”).
Colombia’s right wing president Ivan Duque came to power in 2018. Since then, Colombia has faced several vast street protests. During his presidency, security of people, stability of economy and social system have been severely disturbed (Bhattacharya and Nisha, 2021). Duque’s objective of economic reform was to raise GDP 1.4% higher through implementing reforms favoring wealthy, privatizing public sector units, neglecting environmental regulations and indigenous rights (ibid). His tax reform bill in April 2021 was intended to stabilize distraught economy and restore balance in fiscal management through raising more than $6 billion in revenue. This proposal afflicted low wage earners while benefiting affluent class. It also declined tax benefit for individuals so far exempted, aggrandized tax burden for all businesses and extended VAT for more goods in the market (Bhattacharya and Nisha, 2021).
Colombia’s economy is the fourth largest in Latin America but the country is far from being regarded as prosperous. Considering the colonial past, Colombia’s economy relied heavily on gold mining, extraction of fossil fuel, multitudes of metals, agricultural output, manufactured goods with export priority and domestic consumption. Energy and mining export had been backbone of economy (Bhattacharya and Nisha, 2021). However, rampant corruption in state sector, mismanagement of economic resources and Covid-19 pandemic has further shrunk the country’s economy that resulted in reduction of job opportunities, high level of poverty, income inequality. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Colombia is among the three countries with the highest levels of inequality in Latin America, with a Gini coefficient of 0.51 (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020 ).
Moreover, widespread violence and human rights abuses are part of everyday life. Since signing a peace accord in 2016 between the left-wing FARC rebels and the government, consolidating peace and guaranteeing political rights and civil liberties remain one of the main challenges for the country. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has stated on various occasions that the human rights situation in Colombia has been characterized by ‘‘grave, massive and systematic violations of those rights,’’ several of them constituting crimes against humanity (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020). OHCHR observed that an increased number of massacres and human rights violations against human rights defenders primarily occurred in municipalities with high levels of multidimensional poverty, where illicit economies that fuel endemic violence flourish (ibid).
The ongoing events have highlighted once again the State’s limited capacity to comply with its duty to protect the population, including the right to life, economic, social and cultural rights, access to justice. The deep rooted socio-economic and political turmoil are integral part of the current crisis. It has become clear that the social unrest is not only about the tax reform but it needs be viewed in a broader picture and to explore the conditions that make citizens feel vulnerable, unsecured and unrepresented. These social grievances are deeply grounded in a long history of economic, social, and racial inequalities and have already been for a long time at the centre of politics in South American countries including Colombia. In this process, the role of civil society is decisive whose active presence and advocacy is one of the means to prevent violence and expansion of human rights violations. Human rights defenders have already demonstrated an active role in peace building process in Colombia (The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2019), at the same time their presence is essential for minority and disadvantaged communities, who face multiple discrimination and poverty. Given this, strengthening civil organizations should be the priority for international community in order to assist Colombia stabilize internal political, social and economic turmoil.
References
Al Jazeera (2021) “Egregious’ police abuse against Colombian protesters: Report” accessed 1 August 2021 <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/9/egregious-police-abuse-against-colombian-protesters-report#:~:text=The%20HRW%20report%20alleges%20members,force%2C%20including%20live%20ammunition%E2%80%9D.&text=Two%20police%20officers%20are%20included%20among%20those%20killed>).
Bhattacharya, S., & Nisha, Y. (2021). Civil Unrest in Columbia as a Fallout of Economic, Political and Social Derangement. International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management, 4(6), 172-175.
BBC (2021) “Colombians take to the streets to oppose tax reform”. Accessed 1 August 2021 <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56928650>
Euronews (2021) “EU call for calm at Colombia protests, warn of excessive force” . Accessed 1 August 2021 <https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/09/colombia-egregious-police-abuses-against-protesters
Mejía, M. (2011). Armed Conflict and Human Rights in Colombia. The Ecumenical Review, 63(1), 62–70. doi:10.1111/j.1758-6623.2010.00094.x
The Guardian (2021) “UN condemns violent repression of Colombia protests after at least 18 die”. Accessed 1 August 2021 <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/04/colombia-protests-violence-deaths-missing-un>
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2019 “Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders and Social Leaders in Colombia”. Accessed 1 August 2021 http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/ColombiaDefenders.pdf
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (2020) “Situation of human rights in Colombia”. Accessed 1 August 2021 https://undocs.org/A/HRC/43/3/Add.3
By Nino Zotikishvili: The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
