Recognizing the Truth
As UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zainab Hawa Bangura said, breaking the armed groups’ silence about sexual violence is one of the first necessary steps to guarantee truth and justice to victims.
Read MoreThe Outstanding Debts of the Ranchería Dam
Coauthored by Angélica María Cuevas
The idea calling for a second phase of the El Cercado dam in the Riego Ranchería District of La Guajira (a Department in Northeastern Colombia), has revived the indigenous group Wiwa’s concerns. They belive that, for a second time, their opinion has not been considered in the government’s plans to authorize, since this year, the construction of preliminary public works for the construction of damns and irrigation systems in the Districts of Ranchería and San Juan del Cesar. These works, according to Ariel Borbón Ardila, head of the Colombian Institute for Rural Development (Incoder, by its name in Spanish), are estimated to cost $546 Billion Colombian Pesos (about $227.5 Million U.S. dollars).
Read MoreThe Legal Vine of Peace
Peace, according to the FARC, is basically a political process that should remove the “legal vine” with which some would like to choke the life out of it. César Gaviria has weighed in similarly ashis idea of “transitional justice for everyone” is not legal but political: the ex-President thinks of it as a “collective political decision,” that cannot be put off by international law.
Read MoreLaw and Honor
One time I found myself with a foreign colleague that moved to Colombia. I asked how he was doing and he said he was doing very well, that he loved traveling through the country and enjoy the diversity of climates, fruits, and landscapes.
Read MoreJudging High-Level Public Servants
Last week there were newstories about two cases that involved high-level public servants.
Read MorePeace and Prison
The magic of prison is to create the illusion of resolving problems, when it simply hides or postpones them. It’s the form of sweeping under the rug our incapacity to deal with our issues: prison for those who discriminate, for drunk drivers, for young people who use drugs.
Read MoreThe Venezuelan Crisis: From Politics to Human Rights
It’s time to break political factions’ monopoly on the debate about Venezuela and see the situation for what it truly is: a human rights crisis.
Read MoreGender Inequality in the Labor Market: An Unresolved Challenge in Developing Countries
Global South countries cannot be content to have greater levels of women’s participation in the labor force if these do not go together with lower unemployment levels and higher salaries.
Read MoreDoubly (in)fallible?
I was convinced that the charismatic Pope Francis was doubly infallible. First for being Pope, as according to the First Vatican Council of 1870, the Supreme Pontiff does not make mistakes, at least when his declarations have benefited from the assistance of the Holy Spirit. And second for being an Argentine… well at least Argentines seem to think that makes you infallible.
Read MoreDemocratic Judicial Independence
Jules Jouy, a nineteenth century Frenchman, said that there were three types of judges: those that decide standing, those that decide sitting in their chairs, and those that decide laying face down.
Read MorePrivate vices, public virtues
The privacy of public figures is not the same as the one of a normal man or woman.As announced by the Hungarian movie from which I stole the title for this column, transparency in family, personal, and social relationships of public figures does care.
Read MoreImpunity, despair, and punitive populism
Violence and crime, with high doses of impunity, lead to despair and are a fertile ground for proposals of punitive tightening.
Read MoreThe abortion reform bill: will we achieve a reasonable debate?
The debate of the proposed abortion bill should be restricted to discuss the legitimacy of the three cases for non-criminal penalties established by the Court.
Read MorePenalties for discrimination
Johana Acosta, the Cartagena lawyer that was discriminated due to her skin color, has been waiting several years for justice.
Read MoreJail for discriminating?
The Congress is preparing to reconcile the passage of a law that criminalizes segregation, but more debate is needed.
Read MoreThe war on drugs: an injustice of 40 years
“Americans will always do the right thing, after they’ve exhausted all the other alternatives”.
Read MoreJudicial independence: democratic or corporative?
Judicial reform projects submitted by the Government and the State Council also had to worry about the Judiciary to make it more transparent, accountable, and democratic.
Read MoreAn anti-democratic reform
Even if the majority of Colombian population was against abortion, this would not be a valid argument to ban it. The essence of democracy is not the dictatorship of the majority, but the guarantee of the rights of everyone.
Read MoreIntervention of Rodrigo Uprimny in the case Atal Riffo and daughters vs. Chile
On August 23, at the public hearing of the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, Rodrigo Uprimny participated as an expert in the case of Atala Riffo and daughters vs. Chile.
Read MoreThe dual personality of the State
When talking about respect for labor rights the rhetoric of governments has no limits. However, at the time of recruiting the state is the first to violate the workers rights. Is it different now?
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