14 plan was not designed to redress the damage caused by this specific fact. Considerations of the Court 39. The Court has deemed it proven that this aspect brought up by the State in its request for interpretation raises valid doubts regarding the scope and mode of compliance with one of the forms of reparation ordered in paragraphs 275 and 276 of the Judgment, consisting of the obligation to “implement […] an adequate housing plan for the [displaced] next of kin who return to Pueblo Bello.” Therefore, it finds this aspect of the request for interpretation made by the State to be admissible, for which reason the Court will now address it. 40. In the aforementioned Judgment, the Court deemed it proven that: The next of kin of the alleged victims have suffered pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as a direct consequence of the facts; this has been detrimental to their physical and psychological health, it has had an impact on their social and work relations, has altered their family dynamics and, in some cases, has placed the life and personal safety of some of their members at risk, who lost their property and were threatened multiple times by the paramilitary. […] As a consequence of the facts, especially of the harm suffered by the families, the fear of the next of kin that similar facts might happen again and the threats received by some of them, several families from Pueblo Bello were internally displaced. This situation has several manifestations: there are persons or families who were displaced temporarily and have returned to their town; others were forced into an intermittent displacement since the time of the facts or subsequently. Furthermore, some had to leave Colombia. (paragraph 95.161 of the Judgment). 41. As a consequence of these facts and of having found said violation of the right to humane treatment, the Court ordered, specifically in the section on “Other forms of reparation,” that the State take appropriate security measures for the next of kin and former inhabitants of the township of Pueblo Bello who decide to return. Among the measures ordered, the State must implement a housing program, bearing in mind that many of the inhabitants of Pueblo Bello lost their possessions as a consequence of the facts of the case. 42. The Court notes that the questions by the State are geared toward specifically elucidating certain forms of compliance with the specific obligation to implement an appropriate housing program in favor of the next of kin of the victims who wish to return to Pueblo Bello. First of all, it should be noted that paragraph 276 of the Judgment does not address the specific content and characteristics of this housing program. When it thus ordered said form of reparation, the Court took into account the context in which the facts of the instant case took place, which are set within the framework of a widespread situation of forced internal displacement that affects several regions of Colombia and that is caused by the domestic armed conflict. 43. Thus, the displacement of the next of kin due to the situation they have faced in this case may have been aggravated by not having received the conditions required to return to Pueblo Bello, if they wished to do so. The complexity of this phenomenon also determines the possibility of returning and the conditions and forms for said return. In a manner consistent with the above, when it ordered the reparation regarding the aforementioned situation of forced displacement, the Court decided to instruct the State to implement “an adequate housing program,” as the State authorities were in a position to do so in a better informed manner and directly with its beneficiaries. Inasmuch as it is a “program,” the State has leeway to decide

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents