At least 28 people were sexually assaulted in Colombia by police during anti-government protests in the spring of 2021, with a
"widespread pattern"
of state violence, Amnesty International (AI) charged in a report released Thursday.
In this 68-page document, the NGO documented 28 cases among the
“hundreds of complaints”
received for
“psychological violence, threats of sexual violence, prejudice-based violence against LGBTI people, sexual touching and harassment, forced nudity, gender discrimination, torture and rape”.
"State Violence"
These complaints relate to cases that occurred between April 28 and June 30, 2021, when massive popular protests were taking place against the conservative government of outgoing President Ivan Duque (2018-2022).
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to reject a plan to raise taxes, which was finally abandoned in the face of popular pressure.
"The state violence faced by the population peacefully demonstrating to demand and demand the exercise of human rights and accountability was part of a generalized pattern against the population"
, accused Erika Guevara , director of AI for the Americas, during the presentation of the report in Bogota.
Titled
The Police Don't Care About Me: Sexual and Other Gender-Based Violence in the 2021 Nationwide Strike
, the report chronicles the testimonies of victims and denounces
"high rates of impunity"
for those responsible for the violence. .
“There is not a single criminal conviction for sexual violence during these demonstrations”
, lambasted Agnès Callamard, general secretary of AI, considering that
“violence in the street then translated into violence in the judicial system. »
.
This unprecedented social explosion, led by young people, was very harshly repressed by Colombian law enforcement.
The UN has counted at least 46 dead, and estimated that the security forces were guilty of
"serious violations"
of human rights.
