Annual Report Fiscal Year 2020 Human Rights Activity Colombia

Elections were held in October 2019 for new departmental and municipal authorities, and new administrations took office in January 2020. The Colombian government imposed a strict national quarantine in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, which lasted more than five months. The quarantine restrictions effectively slowed the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak but exposed and deepened inequalities by region, gender, class, and ethnicity. Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, campesinos, Venezuelan migrants, women, LGBTI people, and youth were particularly affected by the quarantine. Unemployment, food instability, and gender-based violence (GBV) rates rose as a direct consequence of the quarantine. Tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants returned to Venezuela via dangerous routes that put them at higher risk of human rights violations. In some regions, the restrictions catalyzed trends towards renewed armed conflict as illegal armed groups (IAGs) took advantage of the quarantine to assert control in their territories and recruit new members, including children and youth. Human rights defenders and social leaders (HRDSLs), especially from Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, were heavily targeted, with 296 HRDSLs murdered during FY20. USAID's Human Rights Activity (HRA) demonstrated flexibility in adapting its programming to these dynamics. HRA continued to work closely with local and national government entities, civil society organizations (CSOs), and other international cooperation programs to serve vulnerable communities in 45 municipalities in eight departments. HRA redesigned activities to comply with quarantine measures, adjusted and extended project timelines, and redistributed budgets as needed to continue to meet program objectives. Additionally, HRA implemented emergency response activities to address urgent issues in priority regions, including informational campaigns about COVID-19 and human rights, support to institutions responding to the migrant crisis, temporary humanitarian assistance, and technology donations for counterparts with limited connectivity. In August 2020, USAID approved a one-year extension to HRA's contract, which secured funding for the critical support HRA provides to national, regional, and local institutions and civil society until April 4, 2022. During this period, HRA will place increased emphasis on initiatives to protect HRDSLs and prevent and respond to GBV. HRA will introduce satellite coverage in the Chocó and La Guajira departments with grants and technical assistance from HRA staff and expert consultants. HRA took the departmental and municipal administration turnovers as an opportunity to establish relationships with new public officials and work with them to promote human rights in its priority regions. In all eight prioritized departments and all 45 prioritized municipalities, HRA advised new administrations to include a human rights focus in their 2020-2023 Territorial Development Plans (TDPs). HRA also provided training for 2,125 new mayors, government secretaries, and other officials on their responsibilities in the protection of HRDSLs and the prevention of GBV, the recruitment and exploitation of minors, and other human rights violations. HRA's commitment to promoting a sustainable culture of human rights continued with its support of education initiatives that empower marginalized groups. In FY20, HRA impacted thousands of Colombians through human rights and peacebuilding diploma courses with the Escuela Superior de Administración Pública (ESAP) and the Universidad Javeriana de Cali, Human Rights and Peacebuilding Schools, and Human Rights and Peacebuilding Olympics for youth. HRA also partnered with CSOs and media outlets to produce articles, videos, radio programs, a mural, and other communications pieces promoting the rights of HRDSLs, the LGBTI community, and other vulnerable groups. HRA made significant progress in increasing institutional capacity for preventing human rights violations against vulnerable groups. HRA worked with the National Protection Unit (NPU) to reengineer their individual protection program risk evaluation process. HRA's consultant team developed a new protocol that will greatly improve the process's efficiency and reduce wait times for vulnerable HRDSLs in need of protection. Complementarily, HRA developed two smartphone applications that the NPU will use to improve HRDSL protection and self-protection.