A/HRC/4/48 page 38 Annex II SITUATION OF GROUPS IN A CONDITION OF PARTICULAR VULNERABILITY OR DISCRIMINATION Human rights defenders, trade union members and other social leaders 1. In 2006, the OHCHR Office recorded an increase in threats against human rights defenders, including trade union members, members of victims’ and women’s organizations, and community leaders - groups that also continue to be victims of murder, arbitrary or illegal arrest and violations of due process. This situation affected in particular grass-roots leaders, especially those working in rural areas. The work of human rights defenders was particularly affected in the departments of Arauca, Atlántico and Norte de Santander, in the Magdalena Medio region and in the city of Bogotá. 2. The acts of violence against human rights defenders have limited their ability to organize and to report violations in some regions of the country. Such acts are attributed to members of new illegal armed groups, paramilitaries and guerrillas. In other cases, members of the security forces and judicial employees have been accused of responsibility for these actions. 3. During May and June, human rights defenders, trade union members, journalists, university professors and students were victims of threats through intimidating e-mails signed by groups identifying themselves as “Commandos for a Colombia free of communists” or the “New Generation United Self-Defence Groups”. When these acts took place, the majority of the victims were beneficiaries of protective measures because of the high risk they were under. Some of them are also beneficiaries of precautionary measures ordered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 4. The security and integrity of some members of the Patriotic Union were seriously compromised in 2006. In June the amicable negotiations between the Unión Patriótica and the Colombian State in the framework of the Inter-American System came to an end with no positive results. 5. The risks which human rights defenders face in their work have caused many to give up their work or practise self-censorship. In a great number of the cases that have affected human rights defenders, high levels of impunity persist. In spite of the efforts made, many of the investigations carried out by the authorities have not resulted in the identification, prosecution or charging of those responsible. 6. The High Commissioner acknowledges the efforts made by the Government to strengthen and give continuity to the Protection Programme for Human Rights Defenders and Union Members set up by the Ministry of the Interior and Justice. The Government has implemented a new protection model in which the active participation of the beneficiaries is explicitly sought, with the aim of agreeing consensual measures. Likewise, the national Government has recognized that the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) is not competent to assume responsibility for the protection measures provided for in the Programme and that other mechanisms must accordingly be found.