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

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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