A/HRC/13/72 B. Intelligence services 14. Information was made public in 2009 that DAS (the national civil intelligence agency reporting directly to the President) had conducted widespread and systematic illegal intelligence operations going at least as far back as 2003. These operations targeted, inter alia, human rights defenders, political opposition leaders, journalists and high-level Government officials, such as the Vice-President. Furthermore, disturbing information appeared in the public domain that even magistrates of the Supreme Court were subject to surveillance. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a United Nations special rapporteur and OHCHR-Colombia itself were targeted as well. These actions, in many cases, had the objective of invalidating the work of the victims, who were considered as “legitimate targets” for being potential opponents to Government policies. 15. Illegal activities by DAS included wiretapping of phones and Internet lines, surveillance, harassment and threats, theft of information and break-ins into offices and homes. This has provoked a climate of fear and insecurity and, in some instances, sabotage and discrediting of the work of human rights defenders. Actions against women included direct threats against their children, at times with violent sexual content. 16. These activities appear to have been carried out by informal structures created by high-ranking officials within DAS, which provided the semblance of legality and hierarchy necessary to obtain, administer and exchange information, as well as access to the human, technical, and financial resources of the institution. In some cases, even DAS protection schemes for human rights defenders and others were used to obtain information. 17. The Procurator General and the Attorney General initiated investigations against approximately 40 DAS officials, including 4 former directors. The Government took measures to restructure DAS, including accepting resignations, conducting internal investigations and separating judicial police functions from intelligence activities. In September 2009, the President ordered the closing of DAS and the creation of a new intelligence agency. 18. Additionally, some members of the public security forces continued to use State intelligence services to conduct illegal and clandestine operations against social and political sectors that were critical of the Government, using similar methods as described above. Such activities were also directed against public officials working in defence of human rights. Illegally obtained information was occasionally used by different units of the Attorney General’s Office to bring charges against human rights defenders and social activists. 19. Of particular concern was a case of theft of information regarding children’s rights from a United Nations staff member by unknown perpetrators. 20. The challenge now is to establish the responsibilities and circumstances that facilitated these illegal DAS activities and to identify those who allowed them to happen and/or benefited from them. Difficulties faced by the prosecutors in the initial phase must be overcome to enable the investigations to continue safely and independently, without pressure or threats. Impunity, as well as a lack of democratic control and oversight of intelligence services, has made such criminal conduct possible. 21. Therefore, beyond the announced closing of DAS, the necessary legal, political and administrative conditions as well as robust controls and oversight of its intelligence services should be established. The new Intelligence Law and its corresponding Decree should be enabling in this regard. The Government is urged to take specific, time-bound and transparent measures for their implementation. In this respect, a plan of action for the creation of a national mechanism to purge files should be expedited by the relevant Government institutions, in consultation with all relevant stakeholders and victims, 6 GE.10-11819