IPU Logo-top>>> VERSION FRANÇAISE  
 IPU Logo-middleInter-Parliamentary Union  
IPU Logo-bottomChemin du Pommier 5, C.P. 330, CH-1218 Le Grand-Saconnex/Geneva, Switzerland  

COLOMBIA

CASE N° CO/01 - PEDRO NEL JIMENEZ OBANDO
CASE N° CO/02 - LEONARDO POSADA PEDRAZA
CASE N° CO/03 - OCTAVIO VARGAS CUELLAR
CASE N° CO/04 - PEDRO LUIS VALENCIA GIRALDO
CASE N° CO/06 - BERNARDO JARAMILLO OSSA
CASE N° CO/08 - MANUEL CEPEDA VARGAS
CASE N° CO/09 - HERNAN MOTTA MOTTA

CASE N° CO/07 - LUIS CARLOS GALAN SARMIENTO
CASE N° CO/130 - JORGE TADEO LOZANO OSORIO
CASE N° CO/140 - WILSON BORJA

Resolution adopted unanimously by the IPU Governing Council at its 185th session
(Geneva, 21 October 2009)

The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the reports of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/185/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolutions adopted at its 184th session (April 2009) in the cases of:

  • The murders between 1986 and 1994 of Mr. Pedro Nel Jiménez Obando, Mr. Leonardo Posada Pedraza, Mr. Octavio Vargas Cuéllar, Mr. Pedro Luis Valencia Giraldo, Mr. Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa and Mr. Manuel Cepeda Vargas and the death threats against Mr. Motta, which forced him into exile in October 1997; the persons concerned were Colombian congressmen and members of the Unión Patriótica (Patriotic Union) party; none of the murderers of five of the six congressmen or the perpetrators of the death threats against Mr. Motta, who still lives in exile, have been held to account;

  • The murder of Mr. Luis Carlos Galán, a member of the Colombian Senate and a pre-candidate for the Liberal Party in the presidential elections, during a political rally on 18 August 1989 in the main square of Soacha municipality, Department of Cundinamarca; the instigators have yet to be identified and punished;

  • The conviction and heavy sentence handed down on former member of Congress, Mr. Lozano, following fundamentally flawed proceedings without his being afforded the possibility of challenging them as, under Colombian law, members of Congress are tried at single instance; these flaws have yet to be officially recognized or addressed;

  • Mr. Borja, who was the victim of an attempt on his life on 15 December 2000, for which full responsibility has yet to be established; in this case there are also concerns about deficiencies in his security detail, the legal and factual basis for the investigation initiated against him on accusations of links to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and about his surveillance by the Administrative Department of Security without any legal basis,
Considering that the Speaker of the Colombian Congress delegated Colombian Senator Juan Manuel Corzo to meet with the Committee at the IPU on 1 July 2009 to discuss these cases in the context of the complex political situation reigning in Colombia; as a result of the meeting, the Committee was invited to carry out an on-site mission to Bogotá so as to raise its concerns in these cases and to gain a better understanding of the political and legal environment in Colombia in which they are situated; noting that this mission took place from 22 to 24 August 2009 and that the Committee's delegation was able fully to discharge its mandate,
  1. Thanks the Colombian authorities for having received the mission and made the necessary arrangements to enable it to carry out its mandate; also thanks the Committee's delegation for its work and awaits with interest its full report, including any comments on it by the parties with whom the delegation met;

  2. Requests the Committee to continue examining these cases separately and to report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 122nd IPU Assembly (March-April 2010).
Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 121st IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 583K approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.Get Acrobat Reader

HOME PAGEred cubeHUMAN RIGHTSred cubeMAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITYred cubeIPU STRUCTURE AND DOCUMENTS