🗞️ Colombia’s economic model encourages human rights abuses, as does the behaviour of its companies, according to a new report by the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
Following an official fact-finding mission, the group of experts concluded that Colombia suffers from long-standing structural problems that have led to serious rights violations in the context of business operations.
The country’s economic model, based on large-scale exploitation of natural resources, has systematically marginalised indigenous, Afro-descendent, and campesino people.
Companies, meanwhile, have stigmatised already-marginalised groups in the country, made it difficult for workers to report abuses within companies, and contributed to insecurity for human rights defenders. Historical recognition and reparations for crimes committed during the civil conflict are also lacking.
The report also noted that the persecution of social leaders and trade union representatives further hinders corporate accountability and jeopardises transitional justice.
The experts report that the situation is alarming, and urge Colombia’s government to strengthen the country’s social fabric in order to protect people and the environment – as well as to support sustainable peace.
🗞️ An assassination attempt against President Gustavo Petro was narrowly averted last month, the defence ministry has revealed. The attack was planned for the 20th July during an Independence Day military parade.
This plot was first reported to the US Embassy by Alexei Schacht, a lawyer for former paramilitary commander alias Otoniel. Schacht reported that money had been sent from Dubai, capital of the United Arab Emirates, to Colombia to finance a drug trafficker and a former police general to buy weapons and carry out the assassination.
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