The International Office for Human Rights Action on Colombia

Day: 12 December 2013

Citizen Security Law – Criminalization of protest and penalization of citizens’ lives

by

Document that analyses ho the Citizen Security Law penalizes different aspects of citizens’ lives in Colombia.

The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of pacific manifestatations is of concern in Colombia. Numerous cases of individual, arbitrary and massive detentions and judicializations of human rights defenders, who exerce their legitimate rights of pacific mobilisation and protest have been reported. These events emerge within a context where socio-environmental conflicts have multiplied in the rural areas of the country in response to the mining and energy “locomotive”, as well as other governmental initiatives within which the local population struggles to defend its rights and the environment against mining and infrastructuredevelopment projects, conflicts arount land and territory, as well as youth manifestations on education, among others. At the time when the colombian people manifest themselves to express their will to cease violence and in support of the peace process, it is particularly important that human rights are protected .
This document analizes the Citizen Security Law (Law 1453 june 2011), which penalises the different areas of the citizens’ lives and brings about years of reclusion for acts such as “the perturbation of public and official acts” and “the obstruction of public routes that disrubt public order”. These facilitat and contribute to the criminalization of people who protest in defense of their rights and creates disproportionate obstacles to the freedom of reunion and protest. Moreover, it opens the door to the judicialization of human rights defenders as well as other people that take part in any sort of public and pacific manifestation in favor of the protectiona and respect of their fundamental rights.

Our solidarity is universal.

We are deeply concerned about all victims of armed conflict, repression and violence around the world — from Sudan to Syria, including the persecution of the Rohingya and so many other crises that often receive less international attention than they deserve. Each of these situations calls for solidarity, remembrance, justice and action.

However, we have decided to specifically highlight the message ‘Stop Genocide in Palestine’ because what is happening in Palestine represents not only a human tragedy of enormous magnitude, but also a direct challenge to the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and to the rules-based international system itself. The indifference and complicity of much of the international community in the face of the apartheid regime imposed by the Israeli government on the Palestinian people represent one of the greatest moral and political contradictions of our time.

The persistent violation of essential norms — such as the protection of the civilian population, the prohibition of collective punishment and respect for proportionality in the use of force — not only has devastating consequences for the Palestinian population, but also erodes the global mechanisms designed to limit the power of states and prevent abuses.

When these rules are repeatedly breached without any effective consequences, the framework that protects all populations in conflict situations, anywhere in the world, is weakened. Therefore, speaking out in this case does not mean ignoring other forms of suffering, but rather emphasising the urgency of defending an international order which, if it collapses, leaves everyone in a more vulnerable position.

Drawing attention to this situation is, therefore, an act consistent with the universal values we uphold: the protection of life, human dignity and respect for international law, without exception.

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