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The Constitutional Court, Military Jurisdiction, and Human Rights Prosecutions in Colombia

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Human Rights Prosecutions in Democracies at War

Part of the book series: Human Rights Interventions ((HURIIN))

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the origin of Colombia’s military criminal code in emergency decrees and the decades-long military jurisdiction over human rights cases that followed. This chapter traces a shift from prior years of government impunity to a period in the mid-late 1990s when human rights prosecutions emerged and steadily increased over time. As a result of two key factors, judicial review of emergency legislation and judicial independence among judges on the Constitutional Court, the military criminal code was altered, prosecutions were steadily transferred from military courts to ordinary courts, and the number of prosecutions increased.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interview with Eduardo Carreña Wilches, Bogotá, Colombia, May 2015.

  2. 2.

    Interview 27, Bogotá, Colombia, June 2015.

  3. 3.

    Interview 30 (Phone), August 2015.

  4. 4.

    Tate, Winifred. Counting the Dead: The Culture and Politics of Human Rights Activism in Colombia. Berkeley: University of California Press (2007), 37–38.

  5. 5.

    Dix, Robert H. The Politics of Colombia. New York: Praeger Publishers (1987), 39–40.

  6. 6.

    Dix, 95.

  7. 7.

    Dix, 49.

  8. 8.

    Tate, 40.

  9. 9.

    Tate, 51–52.

  10. 10.

    Gallón, Gustavo. Human Rights: A Path to Democracy and Peace in Colombia, in Christopher Welna and Gustavo Gallón, eds., Peace, Democracy and Human Rights in Colombia. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press (2007), 362.

  11. 11.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (1999). Colombia Country Report, Chapter V, Administration of Justice and Rule of Law, para 68.

  12. 12.

    Gallón (2007, 364).

  13. 13.

    Guembe, Maria José and Helena Olea. No justice, no peace: Discussion of a legal framework regarding the demobilization of non-state armed groups in Colombia, in Naomi Roht-Arriaza and Javier Mariezcurrena, eds., Transitional Justice in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Cambridge University Press (2006), 124.

  14. 14.

    Osterling, Jorge Pablo. Democracy in Colombia: Clientelist Politics and Guerilla Warfare. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers (1989), 56–57.

  15. 15.

    Uprimny, Rodrigo. The Constitutional Court and Control of Presidential Extraordinary Powers in Colombia, in Siri Gloppen, Roberto Gargarella and Elin Skaar, eds., Democratization and the Judiciary: The Accountability Function of Courts in New Democracies. London: Frank Cass Publishers (2004), 62.

  16. 16.

    Pahl, Michael R. Wanted: Criminal Justice – Colombia’s Adoption of a Prosecutorial System of Criminal Procedure, Fordham International Law Journal 16(3) (1992), 618.

  17. 17.

    Pahl, 628.

  18. 18.

    Pahl (1992).

  19. 19.

    Pahl (1992).

  20. 20.

    Uprimny (2004, 51).

  21. 21.

    See discussion of Decreto 007 in Gustavo Gallón, Quince Años de Estado de Sitio en Colombia, 1958–1978. Bogotá: Libreria y Editorial American Latina (1979).

  22. 22.

    Andreu-Guzmán, Federico. 2006. Military Jurisdiction and International Law: Military Courts and Gross Human Rights Violations (Vol. 1). International Commission of Jurists/Colombian Commission of Jurists, 222.

  23. 23.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 223.

  24. 24.

    See discussion below on key rulings by the Constitutional Court that sought to establish certain offenses, namely serious human rights violations, as unrelated to “service.”

  25. 25.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 223.

  26. 26.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 223.

  27. 27.

    Umaña Luna, Eduardo. 1962. Factores Socio-Jurídicos de la Impunidad, in Germán Guzmán, Orlando Fals Borda, Eduardo Umaña Luna, eds., La Violencia en Colombia: Estudio de un Proceso Social (Tomo I), 383–384.

  28. 28.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 230.

  29. 29.

    Scheuerman, William E. “Emergency Powers.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 2 (2006): 257–277.

  30. 30.

    Uprimny (2004, 54).

  31. 31.

    Uprimny (2004, 55).

  32. 32.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 241.

  33. 33.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 242.

  34. 34.

    Procuraduría General de la Nación (1993–1994), cited in Andreu-Guzmán, 231.

  35. 35.

    Cepeda, Manuel José. Democracy, State and Society in the 1991 Constitution: The Role of the Constitutional Court, in Eduardo Posada-Carbó, ed., Colombia: The Politics of Reforming the State. New York: St. Martin’s Press (1998), 72.

  36. 36.

    Constitución de 1991 (Colombia).

  37. 37.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (1999, para 74).

  38. 38.

    Constitución de (1991).

  39. 39.

    Pizarro, Eduardo and Ana María Bejarano. Political Reform After 1991: What Still Needs to Be Reformed? in Christopher Welna and Gustavo Gallón, eds., Peace, Democracy and Human Rights in Colombia. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press (2007), 182–183.

  40. 40.

    Dix, 177–178; Posada-Carbó, Eduardo, ed. Colombia: The Politics of Reforming the State. New York: St. Martin’s Press (1998), 54–55.

  41. 41.

    Posada-Carbó, 59.

  42. 42.

    Constitución de (1991).

  43. 43.

    Posada-Carbó, 61.

  44. 44.

    Uprimny (2004, 61).

  45. 45.

    Constitución de (1991).

  46. 46.

    See Article 242, paras 1 and 2 of the Constitución.

  47. 47.

    A 1995 petition was submitted by the Defensor del Pueblo, or Defender of the People. The Defensor is an independent Ombudsperson who is tasked with advocating for citizen rights. See further discussion of this petition below.

  48. 48.

    Tate, 118.

  49. 49.

    Simmons, Beth. Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press (2009), 119.

  50. 50.

    See Article 214, para 6, Constitucíon de (1991).

  51. 51.

    Uprimny (2004, 55).

  52. 52.

    García-Villegas, cited in Uprimny (2004, 55).

  53. 53.

    Sentencia C-141/95. The Constitutional Court of Colombia, 1.

  54. 54.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (1999), Ch V, para 21; Andreu-Guzmán, 232.

  55. 55.

    Sentencia C-578/95. The Constitutional Court of Colombia, 5.

  56. 56.

    Sentencia C-578/95, 6–7.

  57. 57.

    Andreu-Guzman, 245.

  58. 58.

    Sentencia C-578/95, 1.

  59. 59.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 234.

  60. 60.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (1999), Chapter V, paras 38–39.

  61. 61.

    Sentencia C-358/97. The Constitutional Court of Colombia.

  62. 62.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013). Colombia Country Report, 167; Andreu-Guzmán, 246.

  63. 63.

    Sentencia C-145/98. The Constitutional Court of Colombia, 6.

  64. 64.

    Andreu-Guzmàn, 234.

  65. 65.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (1999), Chapter V, para 43.

  66. 66.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 239–240.

  67. 67.

    The discussion on CSJ rulings and transfers from the military courts to ordinary courts is based on data included in U.S. State Department Human Rights Reports from 2000 to 2014.

  68. 68.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2000.

  69. 69.

    Andrea Torres (Bautista’s niece), a lawyer, put together an action for review of the Nydia Bautista case in 2015 and she is attempting to have the case reopened. See: http://pbicolombia.org/2015/01/28/andrea-torres-bautista-is-the-legal-coordinator-for-nydia-erika-bautista-foundation-in-the-coming-months-andrea-will-travel-to-spain-to-tell-the-foundations-story-and-the-story-of-how-her/

  70. 70.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2000; 2001; 2002.

  71. 71.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2003.

  72. 72.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013, 169).

  73. 73.

    Some of the human rights prosecutions that transpired in the mid-2000s result from the accumulation of rulings on military vs. ordinary jurisdiction, while others emanate from the 2005 Justice and Peace Law. The latter conditions are discussed in the section on human rights prosecution data.

  74. 74.

    Gallón (2007, 387).

  75. 75.

    Sentencia C-816/04.

  76. 76.

    Human Rights Watch. “Colombia: Withdraw Military Jurisdiction Expansion Bill” (July 8, 2014).

  77. 77.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013, 171).

  78. 78.

    Sentencia C-754/13; Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013, 184).

  79. 79.

    Interview 27, Bogotá, Colombia, June 2015; Interview 29 (Phone), June 2015.

  80. 80.

    Human Rights Watch (2014).

  81. 81.

    Amnesty International. Public Statement. AMR 23/1854/2015 (June 12, 2015). Colombia: Reform of Article 221 of the Political Constitution on jurisdiction of military courts threatens to exacerbate impunity.

  82. 82.

    Interview with Gustavo Gallón, Bogotá, Colombia, June 2015.

  83. 83.

    For example, the Office of the High Commission of Human Rights reported in 2013 that several false positive cases were transferred to the military courts by the CSJ while Legislative Act 02 of 2012 was in effect. This Act was in effect for less than a year.

  84. 84.

    Colombian Commission of Jurists. Sentencia sobre fuero penal militar: un compromiso irrestricto de la Corte Constitucional con los derechos humanos. February 2016.

  85. 85.

    Int. Gallón (2015).

  86. 86.

    Prosecution data is based on annual U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights from 1976 to 2014, and additional case details are drawn from local newspaper articles, Fiscalía reports and reports from Colombian and international organizations.

  87. 87.

    The prosecution rate is calculated by dividing the number of civilian deaths investigated through human rights prosecutions by the total number of civilian deaths caused by the state. The number of civilian deaths caused by the state is based on the data from the Basta Ya! Colombia Report (2013). The total includes 11,302 civilian deaths due to selective assassination by armed forces and paramilitary factions, and 8135 civilian deaths due to massacres by armed forces and paramilitary factions occurring between 1981 and 2012. See statistics compiled by this report at: http://www.centrodememoriahistorica.gov.co/micrositios/informeGeneral/estadisticas.html

  88. 88.

    Human Rights Watch World Report. 1997. Colombia.

  89. 89.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2006.

  90. 90.

    See the July 5, 2004, ruling in the “19 Merchants” (Alvaro Lobo Pacheco and others v. Republic of Colombia) case: http://www.corteidh.or.cr/cf/Jurisprudencia2/busqueda_casos_contenciosos.cfm?lang=en

  91. 91.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2001.

  92. 92.

    Sentencia SU-1184/01. The Constitutional Court of Colombia.

  93. 93.

    Sentencia SU-1184/01, 3–4.

  94. 94.

    Sentencia SU-1184/01; Andreu-Guzmàn, 247.

  95. 95.

    Andreu-Guzmán, 247.

  96. 96.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2007.

  97. 97.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2009.

  98. 98.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2014.

  99. 99.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report No. 94/14, Petition 623–03. Admissibility. Jaime Humberto Uscátegui Ramírez and family members. Colombia. November 6, 2014.

  100. 100.

    Colombian Commission of Jurists. 2004. En contravía de las recomendaciones internacionales: “Seguridad democrática,” derechos humanos y derechos humanitario en Colombia: Agosto de 2002 a Agosto de 2004.

  101. 101.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2009.

  102. 102.

    Guembe and Olea, 127–130.

  103. 103.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013, 130).

  104. 104.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013, 132).

  105. 105.

    Annual Human Rights Reports Submitted to Congress by the U.S. Department of State: Colombia. 2005–2011.

  106. 106.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013, 134).

  107. 107.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013, 141).

  108. 108.

    Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2013, 148–149).

  109. 109.

    Human Rights Watch. “Colombia: Dealing Away Justice, Government, FARC Agree to No Prison Time for Atrocities” (September 28, 2015).

  110. 110.

    Isacson, Adam. “Rescuing Colombia’s Post-Conflict Transitional Justice System.” Washington Office on Latin America. November 29, 2017.

  111. 111.

    Isacson, Adam (2017).

  112. 112.

    Isacson, Adam (2017).

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  1. Department of Political Science, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Moira Lynch

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Lynch, M. (2019). The Constitutional Court, Military Jurisdiction, and Human Rights Prosecutions in Colombia. In: Human Rights Prosecutions in Democracies at War. Human Rights Interventions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96908-4_5

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