Office of the Ombudsman reinforces training for Esmad on human rights

The Office of the Ombudsman announced that a group of members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squads (Esmad) began to receive a new human rights training space to address social demonstrations.

50 members of Esmad started training on 'Social Dialogue and Conflict Prevention' on 23 April at the Alfredo Molano Bravo auditorium, at the entity's national headquarters. “This is in addition to the ongoing training activities in the regional ombudsmen's offices aimed at members of Esmad and other units of the National Police,” the autonomous body explained in a press release.

The Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, stated that, “this training exercise represents a significant advance in the processes of human rights education”. In addition, it aims to strengthen the capacities of members of the security forces in “scenarios as complex as protests”.

The official also indicated that the entity — which has a human rights focus — works to “guarantee respect for all the rights of citizens, among which is peaceful protest,” Camargo said. The Office of the Ombudsman hopes that peaceful coexistence can be achieved in these scenarios.

According to the entity, the activity in which the uniformed personnel participated offers knowledge of the conceptual and practical foundations of social dialogue. It also strengthens their capacities to act in compliance with State obligations in conflict situations, “which may result in acts of violence and violations of human rights”.

It should be recalled that the 50 members of Esmad who attended the dialogue are responsible for multiplying the training of Esmad uniformed personnel at the national level.

Other efforts of the Ombudsman's Office

In 2021, the autonomous body held a 28-hour virtual course with 40 Esmad instructors from all regions of the country on the content and scope of the right to peaceful demonstration. On that occasion, they focused on the obligations of the State to protect and guarantee human rights and those that correspond to the security forces, the office itself and the public.

The following training activities are scheduled for the second half of 2022: incorporation and observance of the gender-based differential approach in the performance of the security forces; incorporation and observance of the differential approach based on ethnic identity in the performance of the security forces; and second cohort for the training of trainers.

It is important to note that these trainings are being carried out by an order issued by the Supreme Court of Justice in 2020, through judgment STC 7641. This document stipulates that the Office of the Ombudsman should review the curricula and training programmes of the National Police. “Since that same year, the national human rights institution began training activities, with the members of Esmad, on the right to peaceful demonstration”, commented the autonomous body.

The sentence came after complaints from citizens during the 2021 national strike in which they stated that public forces would be committing abuse. In fact, on April 24, the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz) took stock of the main figures, which were registered between April 28 and July 15, 2021.

According to Indepaz, 83 homicides were carried out in the context of the national strike; however, the data of great concern is that in at least 44 of them, the authorship was allegedly carried out by the public forces. In addition, it was recorded that 35 people were victims of sexual violence by the same authorities, according to Tremores NGO.

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