President Santos invited the Inter-American Human Rights Court to Colombia for an updated assessment in December.
The visit by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) will take place between the third and seventh of December which will be their first visit since 2004.
After the visit, the Colombian government hopes to be knocked off the courts “Blacklist“, a compilation of the worst countries in the Americas in terms of human rights.
The court officially disclosed the visit on Wednesday, stating that “since this is an onsite visit, it will evaluate the entire agenda of human rights issues in the country.”
Members of the court will meet with key members of national government and representatives from different sectors in civil service in Bogota and other regions of the country in order to discern the current human rights situation.
“The IACHR takes special note of the invitation by the government of President Juan Manuel Santos as a sign of his government’s willingness to cooperate with the Inter-American Commission in the fulfillment of its duties to monitor the human rights situation in the region,” expressed the court, recognizing the fact that the invitation came from the government as a positive sign.
Some may think that Colombia, however, still has a long way to go in terms of human rights, especally in fields such as labour rights. Us Leap, an American based non-profit for labor rights, reported that more trade unionists are killed in Colombia than all other countries in the world combined.
In addition to the labor rights violations, many global agencies have spoken out against Colombia’s alleged disregard for freedom of speech and lighthearted approach to taking political prisoners, such as british non-profit, Justice for Colombia.
