A/HRC/16/22
health-service coverage, full enjoyment of the right to health continues to be restricted.
Approximately 17.5 per cent of the population suffers from at least one serious health
problem33 and inequality and insufficient access, availability and quality of health services
persist for people living in poverty, including remote rural populations, internally displaced
persons, indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian communities.
99.
High levels of informal employment persist,34 contributing to greater income
instability and lack of access to protection granted by social security services.35 Moreover,
the International Labour Organization has expressed concern regarding certain violations of
labour rights, such as legislation allowing salary gaps between men and women, in
violation of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, and discrimination
in access to employment based on race, colour and social background.36
IV.
Summary of activities of OHCHR-Colombia
100. OHCHR-Colombia continued to fulfil its mandate to observe, to provide advice and
technical cooperation and to promote human rights. Out of 800 complaints received,
OHCHR-Colombia followed up on 771. A total of 196 observation missions were
undertaken, which represented 666 days in the field. It participated in 2,983 meetings:
1,499 with public institutions, 878 with civil society representatives, 357 with United
Nations agencies, and 249 with the international community.
101. Special attention was paid to judicial proceedings, such as those for the massacre of
the Awá people in August 2009, the cases against a former DAS director, the enforced
disappearances that occurred during the 1985 Palace of Justice events, and some cases of
extrajudicial executions.
102. OHCHR-Colombia offered advice during the legislative debates on the draft act on
victims and land restitution, the act to pay homage to victims of enforced disappearance,
and the ratification process of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance. It also participated in the National Round Table on
Guarantees for human rights defenders, collaborated in the strategy to implement the
PLANEDH and conducted a joint evaluation of the needs and priorities of the National
Ombudsperson’s Office. In addition, it facilitated an international-level exchange of
experiences on purging intelligence files, and on mechanisms for the democratic control of
intelligence services.
103. A project was initiated, together with indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian
communities, on a participatory formulation of an instrument on the right to consultation
and another was initiated with the Ministry of Defence to monitor the measures adopted to
overcome extrajudicial executions.
104. OHCHR-Colombia participated in the commemoration of the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the tragic 1985 Palace of Justice events, where, for the first time, all victims
33
34
35
36
Ibid.
The rate of informality surpassed 57.7 per cent in 2009. Plataforma Colombiana de Derechos
Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo and Escuela Nacional Sindical, Informe nacional de trabajo
decente 2009 (Medellín, 2010).
Concluding observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(E/C.12/COL/CO/5).
Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, report submitted to
the ninety-ninth session of the International Conference on Labour, 2010.
17
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