IACHR
Press Release
IACHR Issues Protection Measures in Favor of Woman and Her Family—Victims of Violence Perpetrated by Her Ex-Partner—in Colombia
February 6, 2020
Washington, D.C. - On September 2020, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued
Resolution 09/2020 (link
in Spanish), granting precautionary protection measures to Martha
and her family in Colombia, whom it deems to be at serious, urgent
risk of suffering irreparable harm to their human rights.
According to the request, the beneficiary has allegedly been
subjected to harassment and death threats by her former partner for
years, including an incident with a firearm in March 2019 in which
she, one of her daughters, and a cousin of hers were injured. The
petitioners claimed that following this alleged femicide attempt,
the beneficiary moved to a different municipality, after which the
aggressor also moved to the same municipality and continued to
threaten and harass her.
The state provided various reports on the measures implemented to
protect the beneficiary’s daughter and on police actions and the
current status of investigations into the beneficiary’s legal
actions against the alleged aggressor, including the recent trial
for attempted femicide. The IACHR took the state’s actions to
attempt to protect the beneficiary into consideration, but judged
that an act of violence had taken place despite these and noted that
no security measures to protect the victim are currently in place.
Consequently, in accordance with Article 25 of its Rules of
Procedure, the IACHR requested that state of Colombia adopt the
necessary measures to protect the life and personal integrity of
Martha and her immediate family, including a gender perspective and
any other targeted approaches that may prove relevant, in accordance
with the applicable international standards and obligations; that it
determine the measures to be implemented in consultation with the
beneficiaries and their representatives; and that it report on the
actions it takes to investigate events and prevent them from being
repeated.
The fact that this precautionary measure has been granted and its adoption by the state does not entail a prejudgment on any petition that may eventually be filed before the inter-American system to allege that the rights protected by the American Convention and other applicable instruments have been violated.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
No. 024/20