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Institutional Profile of the Colombian Commission of Jurists

MISSION AND OBJECTIVES

Since its creation in 1988, this Colombian nongovernmental organization has had a dual purpose: to contribute towards improving the human rights situation in Colombia and to the development of international human rights law and international humanitarian law worldwide. The first purpose, associated with the situation in Colombia, is divided into two objectives: the

validity of the social and democratic state under the rule of law, along with the achievement of lasting peace based on human rights (particularly the rights to truth, justice and reparation, and land redistribution as a central element of the armed conflict in Colombia). The second purpose, aimed at developing instruments of international law, is pursued simultaneously with the work that we carry out with respect to Colombia at the international level, but its scope goes beyond the national borders and associates us with human rights promotion in the Americas and in the other continents of the world.

To achieve these objectives, and particularly taking into account the most vulnerable population sectors (indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians, peasants, workers, women, children, displaced population), we carry out three main activities: research (or documentation), litigation (or judicial representation of victims) and advocacy (or promotion).

RESEARCH

In the field of research, we have a team dedicated to following up on the human rights situation in Colombia, which maintains a database on human rights violations in this country that it uses to operate as an observatory that produces reports aimed at the international human rights supervisory bodies of the United Nations (the Human Rights Council, the rapporteurs and working groups, and the oversight committees for human rights treaties –the treaty-bodies), the Organization of American States –OAS- (Inter-American Commission, General Assembly, Permanent Council), International Labor Organization –ILO-, International Criminal Court, international human rights NGOs, Colombian authorities (Ombudsman’s Office [Defensoría del Pueblo], Inspector General’s

Office [Procuraduría], Judicial Branch, Congress, Government) and the general population.

LITIGATION

In the field of litigation, we represent victims, before both national and international tribunals (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Human Rights Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Commission for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women). In addition to demanding recognition for the rights

of the victims, the aim is for our judicial actions to lead to rulings that are not limited to the particular case but instead have an influence on the Colombian authorities so that they will adopt public policies to prevent and punish the perpetrators of other similar violations in the future. In that sense, we do not attempt to take on a disproportionate amount of cases, but rather to promote those that could help to generate such corrective measures. In all, we are currently handling more than one hundred cases, each of which for the most part gives rise to a number of proceedings (a criminal proceeding in Colombia, another administrative proceeding also inside the country, and a

proceeding regarding international responsibility before the Inter-American Court), for a total of more than 300 proceedings. It should be pointed out that the CCJ has been one of the few human rights organizations that has agreed to represent victims in proceedings regulated by Law 975 of 2005 (known as the “Justice

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and Peace Law”, which awarded reduced punishments to demobilized paramilitary members), a law that the CCJ brought suit against along with other organizations. In doing so, we make the greatest possible efforts to achieve realization within the country of the victims’ rights and to exhaust domestic appeals processes in order to then, if necessary, bring actions before international bodies. The CCJ is also currently making preparations to carry out additional actions for recognition of the rights of victims, especially in the field of lands usurped from the displaced population, under the

recently-enacted Law 1448 of 2010, or the “Victims Law”, which, despite undeniable deficiencies, constitutes an important step regarding recognition of the rights of vulnerable populations affected by the longstanding human rights crisis in Colombia.

ADVOCACY

In the field of advocacy, at the national level we work to influence the Colombian Congress and the Constitutional Court to promote legislation and jurisprudence favorable to human rights and to avoid approval or overturn norms contrary to human rights. Thus, for example, by invitation of the

Constitutional Court, we participate in follow-up hearings on Ruling T-025 of 2004, regarding the displaced population and measures to surmount their status of aspects declared unconstitutional by that Court. We also carry out activities for human rights promotion before such sectors as academia, the judicial branch, the journalists’ guild and the general population. At the international level, we constantly interact with the United Nations, with treaty oversight committees, the ILO and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to obtain rulings and recommendations urging the Colombian State to adopt measures for protection, prevention, promotion, punishment and

reparations in the field of human rights. As part of our lobbying activities, we also promote, jointly with other organizations from different countries or of an international character, norms and rulings to develop international human rights law and humanitarian law, both at the worldwide level and at the regional level in the Americas. These three main activities provide mutual feedback, so that the research reports serve as documentation for litigation and advocacy activities, while our litigation and advocacy make it

possible to identify new needs in the field of research, which we attempt to cover with our team.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANIZATION

We are a group of approximately 50 people (in past years there were 80). We have been recognized as an NGO in consultative status with the United Nations since 1999, which gives us a voice in UN venues (although we lack decision-making capacity). We are affiliated with the International Commission of Jurists (headquartered in Geneva) and the Andean Commission of Jurists

(headquartered in Lima).

History

ORIGIN

The Colombian Commission of Jurists opened its doors in 1988, after the Andean Commission of Jurists (NGO headquartered in Lima) had sent a mission to Colombia to draft a report on the situation of human rights and particularly the administration of justice. The experience from this

visit, made in 1987, indicated that it was possible and appropriate to set up a permanent professional group in Colombia to document the human rights situation and to carry out other activities based on international human rights and humanitarian law with the aim of helping to resolve the grave human rights crisis in the country while at the same time working to develop human rights and humanitarian law at the global level. The team that hosted the 1987 visit was coordinated by Gustavo Gallón, attorney and university professor, with support from Federico Andreu and María

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Teresa Garrido, jurists who were beginning their careers. These three individuals became the nucleus for the permanent professional group, which was initially called the Colombian Section of the Andean Commission of Jurists (Comisión Andina de Juristas Seccional Colombiana - CAJSC), and which in 1995 simplified its name to the Colombian Commission of Jurists (Comisión Colombiana de Juristas - CCJ).

In the 1980s, the Colombian human rights crisis had considerably intensified, if we take into account that in 1980 there had been 100 people killed or disappeared each year for political reasons, in 1985 there were 1,000 such victims yearly and in 1988 more than 4,000. At the same time, poverty and social exclusion indicators were alarming and were reflected in the fact that nearly 60% of the Colombian population lived below the poverty line and more than 25% below the line of indigence. The need to create a human rights organization that would specialize in promoting international human rights and humanitarian law in Colombia, in the field of civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural rights, was evident.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

The CCJ is a reference point for international organizations for the protection of human rights, as are, in addition to those of an intergovernmental nature (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN rapporteurs and Working Groups, the committees created by human rights treaties, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – UNHCR), nongovernmental organizations that closely follow

the situation in Colombia, and for the governments and ambassadors in Colombia from countries concerned with the human rights situation in this country. The work of the CCJ has been recognized at the international level. In 1993 it received the American Bar Association Section of Litigation's International Human Rights Award. In 1989 the CCJ’s director received the Human Rights Award from Human Rights Watch. In 1997 its director, along with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson and four other distinguished human rights defenders from diverse countries, received the Human Rights

Award from the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now known as Human Rights First). In December of 2008 the CCJ received the “Emilio Mignone” International Human Rights Award from the Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Argentina.

NATIONAL CONTEXT

The importance of its work on behalf of human rights has also been recognized within Colombia. The Constitutional Court frequently requests its opinion regarding legal actions associated with

human rights and humanitarian law matters. Throughout its existence, the CCJ has promoted dialogue with the government, despite strong differences of views, as a right associated with the definition of public policies on human rights. Its verbal and written opinions are closely followed by academia, the judiciary, the communications media and public opinion in general. In 2002, its director received the Citizens’ Order of Merit in the grade of Commander awarded by the Office of the Mayor of Bogotá.

Perhaps for the same reasons, the CCJ has also been the target of virulent attacks promoted by human rights violators in the press, in the Senate and through other means. It was also discovered that from 2003 to 2005 (and possibly in subsequent years) the CCJ was the target of illegal persecution by the intelligence agency of the office of the President of Colombia, the Administrative Security Department (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad -DAS), which set up a group to harass human rights defenders, magistrates, journalists and political opponents by

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keeping tabs on them and their families, issuing threats and carrying out defamatory actions and attacks, all of which is under investigation by the Colombian criminal justice system. Within the context of violence afflicting the country, such attacks represent clear threats to the personal safety of our employees. Nonetheless, the CCJ has continued to work within its mandate, denouncing situations of human rights violations, presenting cases and demanding that the guilty be brought to justice, promoting the use of international human rights protection mechanisms in Colombia, and

proposing initiatives before state institutions to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights for Colombian men and women, in addition to promoting the strengthening of international human rights and humanitarian law in general.

Achievements

WITHIN THE COUNTRY

At the national level, the CCJ has promoted important regulatory developments for human rights in the country. For example, it was able to influence the 1991 Constitutional Assembly (particularly to

achieve recognition of the prevalence of international human rights treaties, definition of the Bill of Rights and restriction of states of siege); in the statutory law on states of exception (1994); and on classification of the crime of forced disappearance in Colombian legislation (Law 589 of 2000). After years of intense debate, particularly promoted by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the CCJ, approval by the Congress was achieved, without reservations, of Protocol II of the 1977 Geneva conventions, along with its subsequent signature (Law 171 of 1994). Approval was also achieved of the law that created the Human Rights Committees of the Senate and House of

Representatives. In the committee that drafted a new military criminal code, convoked by a government decision in 1995 (made up of eight members of the Ministry of Defense and eight from civil sectors, including the Director of the CCJ), a civil group was set up to draft a proposal as an alternative to that of the military, which served as the basis for the new code (Law 522 of 1999). At the same time, through challenges alleging unconstitutionality jointly promoted with other social and human rights organizations, the CCJ has gotten the Constitutional Court to overturn legislation contrary to human rights, such as the Defense and National Security Law (Law 684 of 2001, which

practically authorized militarization of the State, and which was declared unconstitutional by Ruling C-251 of 2002), the Antiterrorist Statute (Legislative Act 02 of 2003, which modified the Constitution to permit the detention and interrogation of civilians by members of the military, and which was declared unconstitutional by Ruling C-818 of 2004), the Rural Development Statute (Law 1152 of 2007, which violated Convention 169 of the ILO regarding prior consultation with indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples, and which was declared unconstitutional by Ruling C-175 of 2009), the State of Exception declared by Decree 2002 of 2002 (which awarded exorbitant

powers to the military authorities over the civilian population, and which was declared partially unconstitutional by Ruling C-122 of 2003), and various regulations of Law 975 of 2005, which regulated judicial proceedings for decreasing punishments of demobilized paramilitary members (Ruling C-370 of 2006), among other important provisions. The CCJ is a member of the National Commission for the Search of Disappeared Persons (Comisión Nacional de Búsqueda de Personas Desaparecidas), created by Law 589 of 2000,

presided by the Ombudsman’s Office. It is also part of the coordinating commission with the government to follow up on recommendations formulated before the Inter-American system for clarifying truth and reparation in the cases of the massacres of Los Uvos, Caloto and Villatina. It was also part of the commission for clarification of the violent events of Trujillo (1994-1995).

IN THE INTER-AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM

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Through its work with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States, significant resolutions by this body have been obtained establishing State responsibility in diverse cases of human rights violations and urging the government to compensate victims’ family members and bring the guilty to justice. It should be pointed out that before the CCJ was founded, Colombian cases before the OAS were practically at a standstill and no definitive ruling had been issued in any of them. In 1988 the IACHR found the

State responsible for the forced disappearance of Luis Fernando Lalinde, which had taken place in 1984. It was the first case decided by that body involving Colombia. It had been denounced by the president of the Human Rights Committee of Antioquia, Héctor Abad Gómez M.D., who was killed in 1997, after which representation in the case was taken up by the CCJ. In 1992, the Inter-American Commission decided to submit a case involving Colombia for consideration by the Inter-American Court, which was the forced disappearance of Isidro Caballero and María del Carmen Santana, and which had been denounced before the Commission by the CCJ.

In 1995, for the first time in its history, the Inter-American Court handed down a ruling condemning the Colombian State for those disappearances. The CCJ obtained rulings in the first five cases involving Colombia before the Inter-American Commission and in the first case before the Inter-American Court, in addition to five subsequent cases before that same Court (Las Palmeras, 2001; 19 comerciantes, 2004; Ituango, 2006; Pueblo Bello, 2006; and Jesús María Valle, 2008), and encouraged other Colombian human rights

organizations to carry out international actions in which they had previously not taken part. The CCJ also contributed towards the enactment in 1996 of Law 288, which recognized recommendations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and those of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as being obligatory in relation to individual cases.

IN THE UNIVERSAL SYSTEM OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

At the United Nations, the work of the CCJ has led to a series of important declarations and

decisions regarding Colombia. In particular, declarations by the President of the Commission on Human Rights, adopted every year by consensus from 1996 until 2005, the last year of existence of the Commission (which was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council); the resolution on Colombia issued by the Subcommission for the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection for Minorities (1994); and the observations and conclusions by treaty-bodies, such as the Human Rights Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Committee Against Torture, the Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Committee on the Rights

of Children. The 1996 Declaration by the President of the Commission on Human Rights was of great importance, as it analyzed the human rights situation in Colombia based to a considerable extent on arguments made by the Colombian organizations, and requested the High Commissioner to open an office in Colombia with the twofold mandate of supervising the human rights situation in the country (through analytical reports submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights) and

providing technical assistance both to the State and Colombian civil society. The office was opened in 1997; to a considerable extent, it was the result of persistent and systematic work carried out systematically during seven years by the CCJ before the United Nations and the member countries, in close coordination with national and international NGOs. Subsequently, the CCJ has continued working to contribute towards development of the mandate of this office and its permanence in Colombia, in that recent administrations, including the current one, have attempted to terminate its

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presence in the country or to limit its function, which would signify a grave setback in relation to the goal of improving the human rights situation in Colombia. The CCJ serves as advisor to the Colombian trade union federations before the ILO, and in this capacity has contributed towards the adoption of important rulings regarding Colombia, the carrying out of special visits to the country by this body, the constitution of the good offices mission

and the naming of an ILO representative in Colombia. The CCJ also contributed, along with numerous human rights organizations from around the world, to the creation of the International Criminal Court in 1998, approval of the Rome Statute by the Colombian Congress and adhesion by the government in 2002. Since then, the CCJ has constantly acted before the ICC by providing information on cases that would fall within its jurisdiction and which the CCJ aims for the ICC to at some point take up. At the same time, for a number of years the CCJ has carried out systematic activities at the United Nations aimed at the adoption of

international norms such as the Set of Principles on the Right of Victims to Bring Actions and Obtain Reparations, the Declaration on the Right to Defend Human Rights, and the International Convention on Forced Displacement of Persons, among other instruments.

CCJ AND PERSPECTIVES ON PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN COLOMBIA

The CCJ’s activity become more necessary and important today due to the possibility of peace negotiations between the government and guerrillas as a consequence of the beginning of formal

talks on this issue in October 2012. CCJ has consistently supported the initiative of achieving a negotiated solution to the Colombian armed conflict, based on the effective implementation of victim’s rights to Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Repetition. The solidity of an eventual peace process in Colombia depends to a large degree on the respect for victim’s rights and on its conformity with obligations stablished about this subject by international human rights law and international humanitarian law. CCJ pretends continuing to display its activities on litigation, research and advocacy in order to reach the improvement of human rights situation in Colombia and the development of international human rights and humanitarian law at the global level, such that all

this contribute to a firm and enduring peace and to the empire of the social and democratic rule of law in the country. Bogotá, October 2012

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Areas of Action

PLANNING, ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCES

RESEARCH

COMMUNICATIONS

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Organization Chart

Bogotá, October 2012

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Federico Andreu

Ana María Díaz

María Teresa Garcés

Gustavo Gallón

Enrique OrdoñezMarina Pulido de Barón

Hernando Valencia-Villa

Humberto Sánchez

BOPARD OF DIRECTORS

Ana María Díaz

Antonio Madariaga

Maria Eugenia Sánchez

DIRECTOR’s OFFICE

Director: Gustavo Gallón

Secretary: María Herrera

PLANNNIG, ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCES

• PA&F Manager: Martha Lucía Bejarano

• Plannig Coordinator: Sol Natalia Giraldo

• Project Manager: Nelly Rodríguez

• Project Assistant: Sandra Orjuela

• Project Intern: Juliana Sepúlveda, Angela Gónima

• Accountant: Constanza Rubio

• Treasurer Assistant: Angélica Martínez

• Accountant Assistant: John Rojas

• Systems Engineer: David Gómez

• General Services: Carlos Fonseca - Consuelo Castellanos - SolenyHerrera

• Messenger: Jairo Báez

• Receptionist: Claudia Benavidez

• Sena Apprentice: Jessica Barriga

DEPUTY DIRECTION

FOR RESEARCH

• Deputy Director for Research: Ana María Díaz

• Researcher on Displacement: Juan Manuel Bustillo

• Researcher on Civil and Political Rights: Sandra Milena Gómez

• Civil and Political Rights Assistant: Mariana Medina

• Archive and Press Assistant: Clara Inés Gaitán

• Webmaster/Documentation Center: Diego Galindo

• Statistics Expert: Vacant

• Researchers Unionists-EU: Laura Viviana Flórez -Federico Giraldo–Anais Pagot

DEPUTY DIRECTION FOR LITIGATION

• Deputy Director for Litigation: Federico Andreu

• Litigation Inter-American System Coordinator : Camilo Mejía

• Domestic Litigation Coordinator : Leonid Ávila

• Litigation Law yers: Sandra Gamboa -Alejandro Malambo - Milton Bello

• Assistant Legal Protection OAS: Vacant

• Assistant Legal Protection: Felipe León

• Psychologist: Diego Fernando Abonía

• Secretaries: Clemencia Jiménez -Yaneth Delgado

DEPUTY DIRECTION FOR ADVOCACY

• Deputy Director for Advocacy: Vacant

• Representative before U.N.: : Ana María Rodríguez

• Labor Rights Law yer: Vacant

• Coordinator National Advocacy: Fátima Esparza

• Law yerNational Advocacy: Juan Camilo Rivera

• Assistants National Advocacy: Mary Díaz-Jonathan Riveros

• Assistant Universal System:

Isabel Mejía

• Law yers Labor Rights: Fanny del Pilar Peralta–Viviana Bohorquez

• Secretary: Eufemia Lizcano

Communications: Mónica Oyuela