Colombia

‘Haga que pase’: Make it happen! The short documentary 'Mi FinK' shows the process of community organization and resistance. This participatory action arose in the face of vulnerability to losing the land: one of the few things that keep the community united and free. Since the abolition of slavery in Colombia, the land has sustained the food supply and the economy of the Afrodescendant people of Villa Rica. Today the sugar companies dominate the area, planting sugar cane as a monoculture, thereby forcing out the traditional small farms of the region.

Report on a visit to Colombia in May/June 2010

Andreas
Speck, War Resisters' International's Right to Refuse to Kill
programme worker1, visited Colombia from 19 May until 12 June 2010. During his visit, he
spoke at two conferences on conscientious objection, and visited groups and individuals working on CO in Bogota, Sincelejo, Medellin, Cali, Villa Rica, and Barrancabermeja.

During its 99th session, the Human Rights Committee also considered the periodic report of Colombia. On the issue of conscientious objection, the Colombian delegation was requested to provide more particulars on conscientious objectors and what protections were in place for them until the law concerning this matter was adopted. The Committee referred to the ruling of the Constitutional Court, had handed down nine months ago, but there was still no written ruling.

Andreas Speck, Internacional de resistentes a la guerra

Presentacion en Bogota, 2 de junio de 2010

On 14 October 2009, the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled on a "demand of unconstitutionality" submitted by several Colombian organisations in March 2009 (see CO-Update No 46, April 2009). Suprisingly, the Court ruled that the right to conscientious objection to military service is protected under the Colombian constitution. The Court gave it as a task to the Colombian Congress to now pass a law on conscientious objection to military service.

Referencia: Expediente D-7685

Demanda de inconstitucionalidad contra el artículo 27 de la Ley 48 de
1993

Demandantes:

Gina Cabarcas Macía, Antonio
Barreto Rozo y Daniel Bonilla Maldonado

Magistrado Ponente:

Dr. GABRIEL EDUARDO MENDOZA MARTELO

Bogotá, D.C., catorce (14) de Octubre dos mil nueve (2009)

La Sala Plena de la Corte Constitucional, en cumplimiento de sus atribuciones constitucionales y de los requisitos y de los trámites establecidos en el Decreto 2067 de 1991, ha proferido la siguiente,

COMUNICADO No. 43

...
3. EXPEDIENTE D-7685 - SENTENCIA C-728/09

Magistrado ponente: Dr. Gabriel Eduardo Mendoza Martelo

3.1. Norma acusada

LEY 48 DE 1993

(marzo 3)

Por la cual se reglamenta el servicio de reclutamiento y movilización

ARTÍCULO 27. EXENCIONES EN TODO TIEMPO. Están exentos de prestar el servicio militar en todo tiempo y no pagan cuota de compensación militar:

a. Los limitados físicos y sensoriales permanentes.

By Jonathan Luna

Near the town of La Jagua, overlooking the Magdalena River, the landscape is dotted with concrete markers declaring the land, river, and everything else a “public utility” that Colombia has given to the energy company Emgesa as part of the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project. A construction permit was granted in May, with the dam scheduled for full operation by 2014.

Forced displacement in Colombia has been caused by both official and illegal military groups, by paramilitary and guerrilla groups. However, little is being done to tackle these consequences of the war and there is a lack of preventive measures to deal with the effects of displacement on different kinds of victims.

Colombia does not recognise the right to conscientious objection. Conscientious
objectors live with the permanent risk of recruitment by the Armed
Forces of Colombia, in one of the frequent batidas,
checkpoints set up by the military on busy streets or places, to
check the papers of young people at recruitment age. In addition,
they face further violations of their human rights.

On 18 March, several Colombian groups submitted a claim of unconstitutionality of article 27 of the Colombian recruitment law from 1993 to the Colombian Constitutional Court. The claim was submitted by the Public Interest Group of the Law Faculty of the Universidad de Los Andes, Acción Colectiva de Objetores y Objetoras de Conciencia (ACOOC), CIVIS and the Observatorio de Constitucionalidad de la Universidad de los Andes.

(...)

K. Round-ups, forced enlistment and “false positives”