response An international human rights body has condemned Colombia for “excessive and disproportionate” use of force in response to the current year’s anti-government protests, during which dozens died. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also said the safety forces used “lethal force” in many situations. The government said those cases were the exception, which claims of abuse were already under investigation. The protests were largely peaceful but occasionally turned violent. They started in April amid anger over a proposed reform that may have lowered the edge at which salaries are taxed. The plan was withdrawn but the protests grew to hide other issues including police violence and poverty. The country’s ombudsman has reported quite 50 deaths linked to clashes between the protection forces and demonstrators, though human rights groups say the quantity is higher. About 2,300 civilians and members of the safety forces are injured. The long-awaited report by the commission, an autonomous arm of the Organization of yank States, was published supported a visit in June when it interviewed quite 500 people. The allegations of human rights violations include the indiscriminate use of firearms by police against both protesters and bystanders, gender-based violence, and claims of regulatory offense. “The commission confirmed that repeatedly and in various regions of the country, the response of the state was characterized by the excessive and disproportionate use of force,” the commission’s president, Antonia Urrejola, said at a conference. “In many cases, those actions included lethal force,” she added. The report urged the govt. to research the accusations of abuse, punish those responsibly, and compensate victims and their families. It also said the national police should be far away from defense ministry control, a long-held demand from protesters. Reacting to the report, the Colombian government said the constitution allowed the police to be managed by the defense ministry, which officers weren’t allowed to use lethal firearms at protests. President Iván Duque has come under criticism for a way the protection forces more established the demonstrations. talking to journalists, he said he was “respectful of peaceful protest” but not “vandalism [or] low-intensity urban terrorism”. He rejected a recommendation to revoke an automatic ban on the utilization of roadblocks as a kind of protest, saying: “No-one can recommend that a rustic be tolerant of criminal acts”. The major protest groups have temporarily suspended demonstrations.
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