A/HRC/10/82
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President has rejected attacks against non-governmental organizations. Special attention is being
paid to investigations into these allegations.
84.
It was noted that there are significant elements in place, which indicate that there is a
strong political debate in Colombia. Colombia rejected the idea that it allows impunity and
reiterated its commitment to the fight against all forms of human rights violations. It also
rejected any accusation with regard to non-compliance with rights to victims. The delegation
stated that non-governmental organizations have decided to abandon voluntarily the scenario of
discussion with regard to the national plan of action and have undertaken a worldwide campaign
to isolate the Government. The Government expressed its willingness to maintain dialogue and
its commitment to protect non-governmental organizations as much as possible.
85.
The delegation reiterated that, in Colombia, the entire State is working together to respect
the independence of the judiciary. It stressed that, today, the situation in Colombia is different, as
there is extensive support from the population because the Government is aware of its
obligations and is making every effort to comply with those obligations in protecting its people.
It indicated that the Government would analyse the recommendations very carefully.
86.
In conclusion, the Vice-President of Colombia thanked the States for their questions, and
stated that Colombia would respond to all of them and make those answers public. He also
thanked them for the recommendations, which Colombia will analyse to decide on the ones it
can implement and the ones it cannot, although many of them are already reflected in the State’s
own voluntary commitments. He also stated that there are practices that do not contribute to the
enjoyment of human rights, one of them being evaluating from a political standpoint, or
evaluating human rights without objectivity, or with erroneous information, which Colombia
thinks in good faith might have happened to the delegation of Denmark. He added that the use of
differentiated standards does not favour the practice of human rights. The Vice-President
believes that there must be an objective analysis of the Justice and Peace Law and the Law on
victims currently under discussion that will show the world that Colombia has made progress.
Colombia noted that overestimation of achievements or problems do not help in the area of
human rights either. Although the situation in Colombia is difficult, it has improved dramatically
in the last six years, and these achievements do not belong just to Colombia or the Government,
but also to the Judiciary, thanks to complementary efforts and contributions of the United
Nations system, the international community and civil society. He stressed that there have been
many changes in Colombia with regard to human rights but that it is always necessary to
acknowledge there are also many problems. He reiterated the 69 voluntary commitments
assumed by the Government, many of them similar to the recommendations made during the
discussion.
II. CONCLUSIONS AND/OR RECOMMENDATIONS
87.
The recommendations formulated during the interactive dialogue have been examined by
Colombia and the recommendations listed below enjoy the support of Colombia. Colombia has
submitted its views on recommendations noted in the report in paragraphs 19(a), 19(b), 19(f),
20(a), 20(e), 21(a), 21(b), 22(a), 22(b), 23(c), 23(f), 25(b), 26(a), 27(a), 27(b), 27(c), 29(a),
30(c), 30(d), 30(e), 30(f), 32(b), 33(d), 34(a), 35(a), 35(d), 37(a), 37(b), 38(a), 40(a), 40(d),
40(g), 42(a), 42(b), 43(a), 43(b), 45(b), 45(c), 45(d), 45(e), 46(b), 46(d), 47(a), 49(a), 49(c),
49(d), 51(b), 54(a), 54(c), 54(d), 55(b), 55(c), 55(d), 56(b), 57(a), 57(b), 58(a), 60(b), 60(c),
60(d). These views are included in an addendum to the report of the Working Group
(A/HRC/10/82/Add.1):
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