(Bogota) Colombian law enforcement guilty of “serious human rights violations” in crackdown on anti-government protests in spring 2021, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report says .
In this document published on Wednesday, the High Commissioner’s delegation to Colombia judges that the Colombian authorities made “unnecessary or disproportionate use of force” during the popular mobilization in the streets between April 28 and July 31.
During this period, UN experts were able to confirm 46 deaths (44 civilians and two police officers), 76% of whom died from gunshot wounds.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that police officers are responsible for at least 28 of these deaths, and that at least ten of them implicate members” of the national police riot units (Esmad).
“Non-state actors would have killed ten people”, also notes the report, which notes that demonstrators were “attacked and targeted by armed individuals without the security forces intervening”.
These figures contradict those of the Colombian prosecutor’s office, which reports 29 killings during the unrest.
April 28 marked the start of a massive protest movement against Conservative President Ivan Duque and his government, in reaction to a plan to raise taxes amid the pandemic and the economic slump.
The movement crystallized the anger and frustration of many Colombians, and was fueled by police repression. The violence has left at least 60 dead, according to the Office of the People’s Defender, a public body responsible for ensuring respect for human rights.
The protests gradually diminished in size during the summer, as a new, revised and corrected tax reform was adopted with relative indifference in mid-September.
The UN High Commission calls on the Colombian state to investigate these facts “quickly, impartially and transparently”, as well as to “guarantee compensation for the victims”.
The UN report also mentions “60 cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by the police, of which 16 have been verified to date”.
“The degree of criminalization and stigmatization of demonstrators, including by the media associating them with acts of vandalism, even with allegations of terrorist acts, is also worrying”
While noting the “acts of violence and damage committed by some demonstrators”, the report “concludes that the vast majority of the demonstrations were peaceful”.