Series on economical, social and cultural rights. Bulletin No 3

1. COMISIÓN COLOMBIANA DE JURISTAS
Organización no gubernamental con estatus consultivo ante la ONU
Filial de la Comisión Andina de Juristas (Lima) y de la Comisión Internacional de Juristas (Ginebra).
Bulletin No. 3: Series on economic, social, and cultural rights
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
requested further information from the Colombian state in view of the
examination of the official report in May 2010
On June 10, 2009, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(CESCR) issued its list of questions regarding the most worrisome issues related
to ESC rights after holding preliminary sessions this past May on the Colombian
State’s fifth report on the implementation of the Covenant.
The preliminary sessions of the CESCR on the situation in Colombia
On May 25 through 29, 2009, the CESCR Work Group met in Geneva
(Switzerland) to examine, in preliminary meetings, the fifth report of the Republic of
Colombia on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).1 This working group, made up of five
members of the Committee, set out to carry out as its principal task a preliminary
review of the Colombian state’s report, as well as of the information that had been
provided to the Committee by other sources (including human rights
organizations). 2.
1
Report presented before the Secretary of the Committee on January 22, 2008. Fifth report by the
Republic of Colombia to the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, doc.
E./C.12/COL/5.
2
In the preliminary sessions, the Working Group addresses the situation of ESC rights in five
countries, so that each one ot the members of the group fulfills the role of rapporteur of a country.
This rapporteur prepares a draft list of questions that is discussed and approved by the Working
Group. During the subsequent consideration of the official report on the part of the plenary session
of the Committee, that same rapporteur is charged with drafting a document with final observations
based on the official report and the dialogue between the State party and the Committee.
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), NGO participation in the activities of
the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, doc. E/C.12/2000/6, July 7, 2000, Par. 14
and 15.
1
___________________________________________________________________
Personería jurídica: resolución 1060, Agosto de 1988, Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá
Calle 72 No. 12- 65 Piso 7 Tel: (571) 3768200 - 3434710 Fax: (571) 3768230
E-mail: ccj@col.net.co Apartado Aéreo 58533 Bogotá, Colombia

2. Both before and during the preliminary sessions, various civil society organizations
(among them the organizations that make up the Colombian Platform on Human
Rights, Democracy, and Development, Global Initiative, FIAN International, and the
Norwegian Council on Refugees) provided information to the Committee regarding
the level of respect, protection, and guarantee of ESC rights in the country. In the
case of the Platform, it sent the Committee the executive summary of the Third
Alternative Report by Colombian civil society to the CESCR (which is in the
process of being reviewed and edited) and a proposed list of questions regarding
the most worrying aspects of the social rights situation in Colombia. In addition to
the remittal of information, a delegation of the Platform and of other organizations
that monitor the human rights situation in Colombia was present and had the
opportunity to engage in conversations with the members of the Working Group on
May 25.
2. The CESCR’s list of questions on the situation in Colombia
As a result of the preliminary sessions of May 2009, the CESCR issued a list of
questions on the implementation of the Covenant in Colombia.3 Among the
questions related to the general framework of application of the Covenant, the
CESCR requested, in the first place, information on the work of the Public
Defender’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo), as well as on the Defensoría’s
participation and that of civil society organizations in the preparation of the fifth
report by the Colombian state to the Committee.
Likewise, the CESCR asked the State: 1) to provide information regarding the
“repercussions” on ESC rights of the free-trade agreements it has entered into; 2)
to describe the State policy regarding the “conversion” of the territories of the
3
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Lista de cuestiones que deben abordarse en
relación con el examen del quinto informe periódico de Colombia relativo a los artículos 1 a 15 del
Pacto Internacional de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, doc. E/C.12/COL/Q/5, June
10, 2009.
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3. indigenous peoples into investment areas or economic areas; 3) to specify if ESC
rights have been included in the “current process of transitional justice.”
On the other hand, among the questions regarding the general provisions of the
Covenant (Articles 1 to 5), the CESCR requested information on the measures
adopted to “watch that the indigenous communities participate in the adoption of
decisions that affect them, particularly by consulting them and obtaining their free
consent before carrying out projects that exploit the forests, the soil and the
subsoil, and their relation to any public policy; it urged the State to specify if the
regulations against discrimination (particularly those related to Afro-Colombians,
indigenous peoples, and displaced persons) have been “effective” and requested
further information regarding the concrete measures that have been adopted to
increase the representation of women in “high public office in the administration” to
ensure the equality of women in terms of income, employment, health care, and
education, as well as to comply with Judicial Decree 092 de 2008, in which the
Constitutional Court ruled that specific programs be implemented for the protection
of displaced women “against the risks of violence and sexual and economic
exploitation.”
Lastly, among the questions relative to specific provisions of the Covenant (Articles
6 to 15), the CESCR urged the State to send more information regarding the level
of realization of the rights recognized therein.
Thus, with regard to the right to work, the CESCR requested, among other things,
specifications on the growth of the informal (or “submerged”) economy and on
programs adopted to ensure that those persons who are informally employed have
access to basic services and social security.
With respect to union freedom, the Committee exhorted the State to provide
information regarding restrictions to the creation of unions and the right to strike, as
well as regarding “institutional arrangements relative to collective bargaining.”
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4. With regard to protection of the family and children, the CESCR requested
precisions on measures adopted to fight child labor and human trafficking, as well
as to “address the issue of street children.” In this respect, the Committee also
requested further information on the “persistence of the effects of the armed
conflict, particularly on women and children who have been the victims of
excessive physical, sexual and/or psychological violence used as war strategy.”
Concerning the right to housing, the CESCR urged the State to send more detailed
information on the situation of the internally displaced population; on measures
implemented to “carry out a true agrarian reform;” regarding access by the
population to clean water and basic sanitation; on the number of homeless persons
and of those who live in inadequate housing; as well as on measures adopted to
prevent forced evictions. Furthermore, the Committee requested further
explanations regarding the degree of attention given to “the situation of the least
favored groups in the national housing strategy, in particular indigenous and Afro-
Colombian population groups.”
With respect to the right to health, the Committee requested details on progress on
universal access to basic health care by persons of levels 1, 2 and 3 of the
SISBEN system, as well as on the results of “the measures adopted by the State
with regard to sexual and reproductive health.”
Regarding the right to education, the Committee demanded information on, among
other aspects, the application of the constitutional guarantee of a free and
compulsory education; on measures adopted to lower school drop-out rates; and
regarding the protection of school premises against occupation by armed groups.
With respect to education, the Committee concludes by asking “what measures the
State party is planning to take to formulate a true national educational strategy for
children in Colombia.”
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5. Lastly, regarding cultural Rights, the Committee requested more details on the
measures adopted to promote participation and access by the population to
cultural life, as well as “to protect cultural diversity, improve public knowledge of the
cultural heritage of the ethnic and linguistic minorities, as well as of indigenous
communities, and to create favorable conditions so these groups can preserve,
promote, express, and disseminate their identity, their history, their culture, their
language, and their customs.”
3. Discussion of the official report before the CESCR in May 2010
With respect to the above-mentioned issues, the Colombian state will need to
respond in writing to the Committee well enough in advance to the date of
examination of the official report by the plenary session of CESCR, initially
foreseen to be held in its May 2010 sessions.
The Colombian Commission of Jurists calls on the State to give a full and prompt
response to the questions that have been formulated by the CESCR with regard to
the situation of economic, social, and cultural Rights in Colombia. Likewise, with
the intention of strengthening the debate before the Committee, the CCJ invites the
State to take into consideration in its responses not only the issues highlighted by
the Committee in its list of questions, but also to present full and adequate
responses on the aspects about which civil society organizations expressed their
concern in the documents sent to the CESCR on the occasion of its preparatory
sessions.4 Among other aspects, the Colombian State should provide responses
to ongoing concerns regarding issues such as:
- The absence of public policies for an effective guarantee of ESC rights of
members of the LGBT community, in conditions of equality and
comprehensiveness.
4
These reports are available on the webpage of the preliminary sessions of the CESCR, at:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/cescrwg42.htm.
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6. - The situation of the right to adequate nourishment and the food insecurity
that affects more than 40% of homes in Colombia, according to figures of
the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare.5
- The flaws in regulation and surveillance of the health-care system and the
existence of four general patterns of violations of the right to health,
situations highlighted by the Constitutional Court in its Sentence T-760 of
2008.
- The widespread use of the cooperatives for associated labor (cooperativas
de trabajo asociado, CTA, in Spanish) and commercial and civil hiring
modalities to conceal labor relations with precarious labor rights.
- The persistent use of anti-union violence and impunity in sanctioning the
crimes committed against the life, integrity and freedom of unionized
workers.
For the CCJ, the questions raised by the Committee and the concerns expressed
by social and human rights organizations account for the persistent violation of
economic, social, and cultural rights in Colombia, and for the repeated lack of
compliance with the State’s obligations to respect, protect, and guarantee these
human rights. The Colombian State must, therefore, adequately answer the
questions formulated by the Committee, prepare to carry out fully all the
recommendations issued by the Committee after its sessions in May of 2010, and
begin from now on to implement the necessary reforms to improve the situation of
social rights for the whole of the Colombian population.
Bogotá, September 1, 2009
For further information, please contact: Felipe Galvis Castro, Researcher in economic, social,
and cultural rights, DESC, CCJ (Tel. 571-376 8200, ext. 129),
5
Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF for its acronym in Spanish), Encuesta Nacional de la
Situación Nutricional de Colombia ENSIN 2005, ICBF, Bogotá, 2007. In that regard, see Colombian
Platform for Human Rights, Democracy, and Development, Así van los DHESC, Bogotá, 2008, pgs.
9 to 17.
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