have access to their data and thereby ask that it be corrected, updated, or, as the case may be, removed from intelligence files.42 53. During its visit the Commission also received information that there have not been substantial gains in clarifying, investigating, or punishing the persons responsible for human rights violations directed against human rights defenders. In this regard, the IACHR received worrisome information according to which in cases of violations committed against defenders, such as assassinations, forced disappearances, robberies, assassination attempts, and threats, in some regions impunity is greater than 90%.43 54. In its 2014 annual report the Commission said that it had continued to receive information about a persistence of murders, intimidation, and harassment of human rights defenders in Colombia, who continue to be the target of attacks ostensibly designed to silence their accusations, particularly regarding violations of human rights in the context of the armed conflict.44 55. The Commission also recommended that the State ensure that its officials refrain from making statements that stigmatize human rights defenders or that suggest that human rights organizations act improperly or illegally because of their work to promote and protect human rights.45 56. In relation to protection arrangements for human rights defenders, the IACHR mentioned: The Commission has received information that several beneficiaries of protection arrangements have complained that they function poorly due to the National Protection Unit’s budget crisis. Even though the State reported that “for budgetary reasons, no protection contingent has been assigned to at-risk persons,” the Commission notes that the Office of the Procurator General expressed its concern and said that this situation resulted in the removal of the protection arrangements for government officials and placed at risk the security of leaders of land restitution claimants and victims. In particular, the Commission received information that several arrangements have been scaled back and that security personnel employed by the Unit have taken part in protests over nonpayment of their salaries. The Unit’s director later announced that all salaries had been paid and that the situation had returned to normal.46 57. In its 2015 annual report, the Commission said that it had received information that the users of the mechanism continued to experience significant delays between the submission of a request for protection, the notification of the result, and the implementation of the measures granted. The IACHR also received information about the existence of serious challenges to ensure that the measures would be implemented properly (e.g., the lack of gasoline for vehicles, the absence of authorization to escorts for travel expenses, to be able carry out trips outside the danger zone, and lack of reimbursement of expenses to bodyguards to cover costs associated with protection, among others.).47 58. The IACHR mentioned that during 2015 it continued receiving information about grave risk situations that the beneficiaries of protection programs and of the IACHR’s precautionary measures have faced, including IACHR, Report on Colombia, December 31, 2013, par. 1188. Available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Colombia-TruthJustice-Reparation.pdf 43 IACHR, Report on Colombia, December 31, 2013, par. 1196. Available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Colombia-TruthJustice-Reparation.pdf 44 IACHR, 2014 Annual Report, May 7, 2015, par. 345, available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/docs/annual/2014/docsen/Annual2014-chap5-Colombia.pdf. 45 IACHR, 2014 Annual Report, May 7, 2015, par. 357. Available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/docs/annual/2014/docsen/Annual2014-chap5-Colombia.pdf 46 IACHR, 2014 Annual Report, May 7, 2015, par. 361. Available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/docs/annual/2014/docsen/Annual2014-chap5-Colombia.pdf 47 IACHR, 2015 Annual Report, March 17, 2016, par. 77. Available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/docs/annual/2015/docen/InformeAnual2015-cap5-Colombia-EN.pdf 42 11