A/HRC/43/3/Add.3 Caribbean (Escazú Agreement).58 Ratification and implementation of this agreement should improve the protection of environmental defenders. 72. In Antioquia, OHCHR documented the negative impact of the Hidroituango dam on the rights to work, water, food, an adequate standard of living and a healthy environment, of the fishing communities in Cáceres, Caucasia, Nechí, Tarazá and Valdivia. Indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian communities were particularly affected. After an emergency related to the construction of the dam, the countermeasures dried the Cauca River, causing fish to die on a massive scale, destroying crops, and causing the disappearance of water sources, affecting communities’ rights to work, food and water. 73. On 30 December, the Ministry of Justice published a draft decree to resume aerial fumigation of illicit crops with glyphosate. 59 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had previously noted with concern the “negative consequences of antinarcotics measures such as the effect of aerial fumigation on food security, adverse health impacts and denial of livelihoods”.60 OHCHR highlights the recent finding, in a joint report by the Government and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, that 95 per cent of families participating in the Comprehensive National Programme for the Substitution of Illicit Crops had fulfilled the voluntary eradication requirement, whereas 0.4 per cent had returned to the cultivation of illicit crops.61 VII. Gender, ethnic peoples and persons entitled to special protection A. Sexual and gender-based violence 74. According to the most recent information available from the country’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine, in 2018 the rate of sexual violence was 52.3 victims per 100,000 inhabitants, which was 4.02 points higher than in 2017, and was the highest in 10 years. Of the total number of victims, 85.6 per cent were female and 14.4 per cent were male. The average age of victims was 12.62 75. OHCHR documented 13 cases, involving 15 female victims, including 13 minors, in Antioquia, Arauca, Caquetá, Guaviare, Meta and Nariño. In 10 of these cases, the alleged perpetrators were members of ELN, criminal groups and other violent groups, while members of the military were allegedly involved in 3 cases. OHCHR is aware that the Office of the Attorney General initiated investigations concerning the latter three cases. 76. The authorities’ response to sexual and gender-based violence remained insufficient. OHCHR noted that some authorities in Antioquia, Arauca, Guaviare and Nariño were unaware of the Office of the Attorney General’s protocol concerning cases of sexual violence. In Arauca, the Office of the Attorney General denied access to justice to a disabled woman who was a victim of sexual violence, specifically by not providing an interpreter who could have allowed her to provide testimony. In Guaviare, the police failed to activate the mandatory urgent search protocol for a disappeared indigenous girl who was a victim of sexual violence. 58 59 60 61 62 See https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/43583/1/S1800428_en.pdf. See https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/con-borrador-de-decreto-el-gobierno-activa-su-rutahacia-la-reanudacion-del-glifosato/646647. E/C.12/COL/CO/5, para. 28. See www.unodc.org/documents/colombia/2020/Febrero/INFORME_EJECUTIVO_PNIS_No._19.pdf. Available from www.medicinalegal.gov.co/documents/20143/386932/Forensis+2018.pdf/be4816a43da3-1ff0-2779-e7b5e3962d60. 13