12
place, repair of the road, and the installations of reflecting lights in the urban
central area. It is essential to immediately complete the implementation of
these measures in order to effectively guarantee the physical integrity of the
members of the Community. Furthermore, it is requested that said measures
be adopted by mutual agreement among the State, the members of the
Community and the petitioners in order to guarantee their effectiveness and
compatibility with the neutrality commitment by the Community of Paz, since
the personal and armed protection to the inside of the Community may put
said commitment at risk;
v)
to take the measures that will prevent people from moving and
ask Colombia to adopt as many actions as necessary to guarantee that the
people of the Community of Paz de San José de Apartadó may continue living
in their usual place of residence or to return to the homes, offering them the
guarantee that they will not be persecuted or threatened by the State’s
agents or by people acting with their acquiescence or by particular
individuals;
vi)
to issue a presidential guideline stating clearly and expressly
the recognition of the legality, legitimacy and support of the State to the
experience of the Community of Paz, as well as the respect for the
accompaniment of national and international organizations to said
Community. Said guideline, in turn, must determine the responsibilities and
limits of the actions of the authorities before the Community of Paz, and
n)
finally, the Commission requested the Court to ratify the measures
ordered by the President on October 9 of the current year, and to extend said
measures to the members of this Community of Paz “who may be in a similar
situation of vulnerability and risk.”
10.
The arguments of the State presented in the same public hearing are
summarized below:
a)
in Colombia there is no civil war, only confrontations and situations
caused by non-state armed actors which are the object of the persecution and
struggle of the State to reduce them, according to the Constitution and the
law. This is not a civil war because there is no popular support for the actors.
It cannot qualify the conflict that the country is going through because it is
not the authorized political spokesmen, but it asserts that for the State the
observation of the Geneva Conventions is clear to permit and facilitate all
humanitarian assistance that may be required. The Colombian democracy
has a solid, historic, and legitimate support that has allowed it to adopt a
series of policies in the matter of human rights that have been made known
of the public opinion and the Inter-American organs. The Vice-presidency of
the Republic has been in charge of managing the actions that are necessary
and leading to meet the recommendations that are presented through the
international organizations competent in this matter;
b)
it identifies itself with the same purposes of peace of the Community
and it does not share the assertions of relation, acquiescence and omission of
the State with paramilitaries or with illegal groups of armed actors, against
which actions have been developed. On the other hand, the formation and
training of the military forces is oriented for them to act according to both