| OBS_Colombia_Report_2017 DEFENDING 59 pages / 8.72 MB |

In a post-conflict context, in which many organisations have alerted about the increasing attacks against individuals and groups of land and environmental rights defenders working in the context of extractive industries, the report "Defending land and the environment in contexts of extractive industries" describes, through three emblematic cases, the relationship between the State, companies and attacks against land and environmental rights defenders.

The accumulation of judicial proceedings, stigmatization, and threats against the lawyers of the Corporación Colectivo de Abogados
"Luis Carlos Pérez" (CCALCP), and their chronological relation to
key moments of their work denouncing the negative impact of business activities
on the rights of the Barí indigenous people and several rural communities in
the Catatumbo region, raise questions about the role of businesses in those
attacks. To reduce the pressure faced by defenders in those regions, it is
necessary to investigate specifically the role of corporate actors in areas
where armed actors operate, in order to understand how their interests and
actions articulate, and take measures to prevent or combat this situation.
Similarly, the
unjustified criminalisation of the trade union and environmental
leader Héctor Sánchez Gómez and the
academic and activist Miller Dussán, points
to the instrumentalisation of criminal law by companies like Pacific E&P
and Egemsa, through the filing of disproportionate complaints or exercise of
undue influence on judges and prosecutors in order to slow down or disrupt
collective movements at time when actions to ensure the effective enjoyment of
human rights are progressing.
The paradoxical asymmetry between expeditious judicial proceedings
conducted against defenders on the one hand and protracted investigations of
complaints brought by defenders, their organisations or communities against the
State and companies, suggest a collusion or inaction on the part of state
actors, including the judiciary, against human rights defenders.
The report also
denounces corporate State capture, as demonstrated by the persecution and surveillance of Héctor
Sánchez by private security companies contracted by Pacific E&P and law
enforcement bodies, which in some cases are part of mining and energy
battalions financed by mining companies through cooperation agreements between
companies and law enforcement State bodies. Human rights defenders are
therefore perceived by these actors as enemies to be repressed. The report also
gives several examples of the growing phenomenon
of the revolving door, which refers to the unhindered movement of
high-ranking personnel between the public and private sectors, and identifies
this situation as a factor contributing to the vulnerability of defenders.
Considering these
findings, the Observatory and CAJAR provide a constructive insight on the
issue, calling on the State to identify the vulnerabilities of land and
environmental rights defenders, in particular by characterizing the role played
by economic actors in the context of socio-environmental conflicts. The
multi-causality of violence in the regions should not be an argument to dilute
the responsibility of the State and corporate actors in addressing the
situation of human rights defenders. These recommendations seek to contribute
to preventing the escalation of attacks, to consolidate a democratic system
that recognizes the legitimate work of human rights defenders.
This report sends an urgent call to the different actors to protect land and environmental rights defenders. Our organisations call on the Colombian government to strengthen protection mechanisms, which should act more effectively to prevent the attacks suffered by defenders, and avert the increase of assassinations. They also call on business actors to recognize and refrain from hindering the legitimate and essential work defenders do to ensure respect for human rights linked to the land and the environment in Colombia.
This report is available:
For more information, please contact:
·
FIDH: Samuel Hanryon: + 33 6 72 28 42 94 / José Carlos Thissen: + 51 95
41 31 650
·
OMCT: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui: + 41 22 809 49 39
·
CAJAR: Angelica Chapano : +57 321 381 97 33
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory)
was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).
The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations
of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of
ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union
Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.
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