Constitutional Court of Colombia, Second Review Chamber, Auto N° 251 de 2008 - Colombia

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Background

In Sentence T-025 of 2004 (T-025-04), the Constitutional Court declared a state of unconstitutionality with respect to the Colombian State’s failure to protect the constitutional rights of victims of forced displacement, and in particular, displaced children and adolescents. This Auto (in Colombia, autos are judicial decisions that “resolve an incident or substantive issue” (art. 161 Law 906 of 2004)) was a review of the State’s response to the T-025-04 Decision and presents information concerning the current situation of displaced children.

Reasoning

The Court affirmed that victims of forced displacement are entitled to special State treatment. More specifically, the Court, relying on the Constitution, stated that, “each individual case of children displaced by armed violence in Colombia, was, in itself, an extreme manifestation of profound, serious, systematic and simultaneous violations of fundamental rights”, given their “state of grave victimisation and defencelessness” (p.2). Displaced children were affected by the following specific cross-cutting problems: lack of protection from several risks and dangers that threaten their rights; hunger and malnutrition; preventable physical and mental health deficiencies; shortcomings in the educational system and lack of opportunities for recreation and participation in society as well as for exercising their rights. The impact of these issues on children was further aggravated by changes to family structures due to displacement, the trauma of displacement itself, childhood, adolescence, gender inequality, ethnic divergence and disability.

The Court noted that violent crimes by armed groups (including “social cleansing”), forced recruitment into armed groups or illicit businesses (e.g., drug trafficking and child trafficking), sexual abuse (in the context of armed groups and at home) and coercive pressure by illegal armed groups were the principal causal factors of the forced displacement of children.

To address the unique vulnerabilities of displaced children and the unique and disproportionate impact displacement has on them, specific measures were required from the State. However, the Court considered that the Colombian State had failed to implement such measures. In the opinion of the Court, the State response to the specific needs of displaced children had been "(i) irregular and fragmented, neither systematic nor comprehensive, (iii) non-specific, (iv) late, (iv) lacking resources, (v) legal and formal, with no practical realisation, and (vi) lacking a preventive approach” (p. 23). The failure to treat these children, in practice, as subjects of international and domestic law with prevailing and directly enforceable rights and as subjects of special protection, attempted against their human dignity.

The Court observed that displaced children were generally “invisible” to the State and society at large. This was due in part to a lack of registration of displaced persons, caused by widespread distrust of authorities and a lack of awareness of constitutional rights amongst displaced persons.

Given the multiplicity of factors affecting displaced children and the absence of measures aimed specifically at them, the State’s efforts to date were inadequate and amounted to a breach of its domestic and international legal obligations.

Remedy

The Court ordered the relevant public authorities to remedy the state of unconstitutionality by adopting concrete measures exclusively aimed at displaced children that are preventative and that address their specific needs. In particular, it ordered the creation and implementation of a programme based on pilot projects, which were also ordered in the decision, for the protection of children, containing prevention and care elements and giving response to the risks, cross-cutting problems and factors that aggravated these children’s situations. The Court also required the State to guarantee the participation of at least those civil society organisations that are listed in the decision in the elaboration of pilot projects.

Role of children

While the case addressed displaced Colombian children in general, 18,000 children were individually identified to the Court. The Court ordered the State to address these children’s specific situations. Displaced children were heard at a public technical information hearing held on 28 June 2007 before the same Chamber and their testimony was cited throughout the judgment.

Enforcement and other outcomes

The Court ordered the relevant State authorities, under the coordination of Acción Social, to:

(i) design and implement a new programme specifically aimed at the protection of displaced children. The programme shall focus on: (1) preventing the disproportionate impact of forced displacement on children; and (2) giving attention to displaced children;

(ii) design and implement fifteen (15) pilot projects across Colombia to address risks related to armed conflict and the most concerning specific problems; and

(iii) give specific attention to the approximately 18,000 displaced children whose individual circumstances were reported to the court.

Progress in this regard was monitored directly by the Constitutional Court through autos (see auto 756 of 2018). Auto 756 of 2018 offered a full review of the extent to which the State implemented the measures ordered by the Court. Existing public policies aimed at forcibly displaced children were deemed inadequate, and the State’s level of compliance to orders issued in Sentence T-025-04 and Auto 251 was deemed low. The Court ordered a series of concrete actions to redress this situation.

Significance of the case from a CRSL perspective

The case highlighted barriers to the enjoyment of displaced children’s rights (including right special protection, right to food, right to physical and mental health, right to education and right to participation). It also resulted in increased legal protection of children’s rights in this and future CRSL cases through its identification of legal provisions obliging the State to provide a differential treatment to displaced children which meets their specific needs.

Through detailed analysis of the causes and features of forced displacement of children, the Court identified the complexity of factors that prevent children from enjoying their constitutional right and which must be addressed in a targeted and appropriate manner in order to ensure the effective enjoyment of rights of forcibly displaced children. These include cultural and social factors on a family, community and national level.

Country

Colombia

Forum and date of decision

Constitutional Court, Second Review Chamber, Republic of Colombia / Corte Constitucional, Sala Segunda de Revisión, República de Colombia

October 6, 2008

CRC provisions and other international law provisions/sources

• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – Articles 2(1), 3(2), 4, 6, 7(1), 12(1), 15(1), 18, 19, 20(1), 23, 24, 27, 28, 30-39 and 44

• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict – Articles 1,2, 5 and 9

• American Convention on Human Rights – Article 19

• Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (The San Salvador Protocol) –Article 16

• American Declaration of Human Rights – Article VII

• Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague Convention IV) – Preamble (Martens Clause); Article 46

• Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (ILO Convention 182) – Articles 1, 3

• European Convention on Human Rights – Article 3

• Geneva Convention of 1949 – Articles 3, 4(3)

• Additional Protocol II of 1977 to the Geneva Convention of 1949 – Article 4

• UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement – Principles 4(2), 5, 6(1), 11(2); 18-20

• Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women (Belém do Pará Convention) – Articles 1, 3, 7 and 8

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – Article 24(1)

• Lieber Code – Article 44

• Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

• Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – Article 7(1)(g)

• UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women – Article 6

• UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (Ottowa Treaty)

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 25(2)

Domestic law provisions

• Constitution of Colombia, Articles 2, 5, 11, 12, 44, 45, 83 

• Decree 564 of 2006 regulating the provisions related to urban planning licenses; the inspection of buildings; the public function performed by the urban planners; the legalization of human settlements consisting of low-income housing; and other provisions – Articles 3, 41, 49, 51, 52, 56, 63, 68

• Decree 33 of 1998, by which the technical and scientific requirements for seismic-resistant constructions are established.

• Law 1098 of 2006 issuing the Code of Infancy and Adolescence – Articles 20 and 41

• Law 833 of 2003 approving the Optional CRC Protocol (OPAC) – Article 4

• Law 759 of 2002 issuing regulations concerning anti-personnel Mines

• Law 400 of 1997, by which rules concerning construction of seismic-resistant buildings are approved – Articles 2, 18 and 19

• Law 388 of 1997 amending previous statutes concerning the functioning of municipalities – Articles 36, 37, 91, 92, 103, 117, 120

• Law 387 of 1997, by which measures are adopted for the prevention of forced displacement; attention, protection, consolidation and socioeconomic stabilization of those internally displaced by violence in the Republic of Colombia. Article 10(7)

• Law 136 of 1994, by which provisions are issued to modernize the organization and operation of the municipalities. Articles 1, 3, 5, 187

• Law 3 of 1991, by which the Sistema Nacional de Vivienda de Interés Social is created, the family housing subsidy is established, the Institutio de Crédito Territorial (ICT) is reformed, and other provisions are enacted. Article 12(b)

  Law 9 of 1989 which establishes rules on municipal planning, sale and purchase and expropriation of property and other provisions.

Related information

Colombian State Entities addressed by the Auto:

• Sistema Nacional de Atención Integral a la Población Desplazada (SNAIPD or SNARIV) (National System for Comprehensive Assistance to the Displaced Population - Carrera 85D No. 46A - 65, Complejo logístico San Cayetano, Bogotá, 111071

• Intituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (Colombian Institute for Family Wellbeing) - Av. Carrera 68 # 64C - 75 Bogotá, Colombia 111061

• Acción Social - Carrera 10 #97a – 13, Torre A - Piso 6, Edificio Bogotá Trade Center, Bogotá, Colombia

• The Ministry of Defence - Carrera 54 No. 26 - 25 CAN, Bogotá, Colombia

• Ministry of Education – Calle 43 No. 57 - 14. Centro Administrativo Nacional, CAN, Bogotá, Colombia

• Ministry of the Interior – Edificio Camargo, Calle 12 B No. 8 – 42, Bogotá, Colombia

• Ministry of Justice – Calle 53 No. 13 - 27 Bogotá D.C, Colombia, 110231

• Ministry of Social Protection – Carrera 13 No. 32-76 piso 1, Bogotá 110311, Colombia

NGOs to be involved in the design of programmes ordered by the Auto:

• Coalico (Coalition against the involvement of Children and Young People in Armed Conflict) - Carrera 26 No. 61 C – 51 – Bogotá, Colombia

• CODHES (Supervisory Commission on Public Policy of Forced Displacement) – Carrera 6 #34 -62 Oficina 302 Bogotá, Colombia

• Fundación Dos Mundos (Two Worlds Foundation) – Carrera 5 #67-12, Comuna Chapinero, Bogotá, Colombia

• Fundación Restrepo Barco – Carrera 7 No. 73-55, Piso 12, Tel.: (571) 7452572, Bogotá, Colombia

• Jesuit Refugee Service

• Norwegian Refugee Council – Prinsensgate 2, 0152 Oslo, Norway

• Pastoral Social de la Iglesia Católica (Pastoral Society of the Catholic Church) - Calle 51 # 47 – 21, Curia Episcopal, Rionegro P.B.X.: 531 7999 ext. 104

• Plan International

• Save the Children

Amicus curiae:

• Carlos Skliar – Senior Researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research of Argentina (CONICET) and Senior Researcher in the Education Area of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Argentina.

Other relevant entities/parts:

• 18,000 children as identified in Annex 1 [public judgment excludes Annex 1]

• National University of Colombia – Carrera 45, Bogotá, Colombia

• Procuraduría General de la Nación (the National Attorney-General’s Office) - Carrera 5 # 15-80, Bogotá D.C., Colombia, 11032

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – Case Postale 2500, CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt, Switzerland

Case documents

• Auto N° 251 de 2008

• 'Informes De La Comisión' (Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento (CODHES)) <https://codhes.wordpress.com/comision-de-seguimiento/informes-de-la-comision/> accessed 30 March 2022

• Nal, 'Primera Infancia, Niñez Y Adolescencia En Situación De Desplazamiento Propuesta De Indicadores De Goce Efectivo De Derechos' (National University of Colombia and Plan International 2011) <http://equidadparalainfancia.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Desplazamiento-INDICADORES-DE-GOCE-EFECTIVO-DE-DERECHOS-OBSI.pdf> accessed 30 March 2022

• 'Lineamientos Jurídicos Y Administrativos Del Estado Colombiano Para La Atención A Los Niños, Niñas Y Adolescentes Desvinculados Del Conflicto Armado' (Procuraduría General de la Nación and UNICEF Bogotá DC, Colombia 2006) <https://www.acnur.org/fileadmin/Documentos/Publicaciones/2007/5523.pdf?view=1> accessed 30 March 2022

• 'Estado Nutricional, De Alimentación Y Condiciones De Salud De La Población Desplazada Por La Violencia En Seis Subregiones Del País' (World Food Programme 2005) <https://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/liaison_offices/wfp086486.pdf> accessed 30 March 2022

• Ojeda G, and Murad R, Salud Sexual Y Reproductiva En Zonas Marginadas (Asociación Probienestar de la Familia Colombiana (Profamilia) and Agencia para el Desarrollo Social (USAID) 2005) <https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/handle/unal/53238;jsessionid=DAA04FD22ABB0D8BFB85FE4C61BFE95F>

• UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations, Colombia CRC/C/COL/CO/3, 8 June 2006 <https://www.refworld.org/docid/45377ee30.html>

• UN General Assembly, Children and armed conflict: report of the Secretary-General, 21 December 2007, A/62/609–S/2007/757, 21 December 2007 <https://www.refworld.org/docid/479f54592.html>

• General Secretariat, Organization of the American States, 'Violence And Discrimination Against Women In The Armed Conflict In Colombia' (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 2022) <https://www.cidh.oas.org/pdf%20files/InformeColombiaMujeres2006eng.pdf> accessed 30 March 2022

Secondary documents

• 'Volver A Estudiar, La Agonía De Los Niños Desplazados' (Vanguardia, 2013) <https://www.vanguardia.com/colombia/volver-a-estudiar-la-agonia-de-los-ninos-desplazados-DCVL235305> accessed 30 March 2022

• 'Acción Integral Contra Minas Antipersonal - AICMA' (Government of Colombia) <http://www.accioncontraminas.gov.co/AICMA> accessed 4 April 2022

• Patiño-Montaña Y, 'Cómo Vive El Desplazamiento La Población Infantil Aquitanense, Víctima Del Conflicto Armado' (2018) 14 Derecho y Realidad <https://doi.org/10.19053/16923936.v14.n28.2016.7816>

• González Ocampo L, and Bedmar Moreno M, 'Población Infantil En Situación De Desplazamiento Forzado En Colombia Y Sus Manifestaciones De Ciudadanía' (2016) 2 Derecho y Realidad < https://doi.org/10.19053/16923936.v2.n24.2014.4548>

• Sánchez Cubides P, 'La Política Pública Como Garantía De Derechos De La Primera Infancia En Colombia' (2018) 16 Derecho y Realidad <https://doi.org/10.19053/16923936.v16.n31.2018.9105>

• UNICEF Colombia, 'Infancia En Tiempos De Guerra: ¿Los Niños De Colombia Conocerán Por Fin La Paz?' (UNICEF 2016) <https://www.unicef.org/sites/default/files/press-releases/glo-media-UNICEF_CHILD_ALERT_COLOMBIA_ESPANOL_19_03_16__FINAL.pdf> accessed 4 April 2022

• Alianza por la Niñez Colombiana, 'Niñez víctima de un conflicto armado que persiste. Informe de seguimiento a la implementación de recomendaciones del Comité de los Derechos del Niño a los informes periódicos IV y V combinados de Colombia' (2018) <https://www.refworld.org.es/pdfid/5bec60444.pdf>