c) the National Police provided the names of those people that the institution
provides Mr. Danilo Rueda with when addressing situations at a local and
national level, and it asked Mr. Danilo Rueda to report his travel plans in
advance, in order for the National Police to adopt the respective preventive
security measures. The State emphasized that Mr. Danilo Rueda “accepted
the measures proposed by the National Protection Unit.”
11. The brief of May 17, 2014, wherein the representatives filed their observations to
the State’s brief of May 9, 2014, confirmed the claims of the Commission regarding the
recent threats to Mr. Danilo Rueda, and noted that:
a) there is "a direct relationship between the monitoring of Mr. Danilo Rueda
and the threats against him, which [...] show the existence of a coordinated
plan that seeks to endanger the life of one of the most committed defenders
of human rights of [the] organization.” They referred, in particular, "[t]o the
threat left in the mailbox at Mr. Danilo Rueda’s family home,” from which it
is evident that those “who made the threat knew of the death of his father,
[...] that Danilo had been in town, […and] of the complaints filed by Danilo
as part of his work with the [CIJP].” According to the representatives,
"[t]hese facts describe a high degree of vulnerability and continuity, [and]
could irreparably affect the life and integrity of Mr. Danilo Rueda”;
b) the precautionary measures have not been sufficient to protect the life and
integrity of Danilo Rueda. The protection program "faces great difficulties
which, in many cases, make it ineffective at protecting the life and integrity
of the members of the [CIJP] in a comprehensive manner, including [...]
Danilo Rueda.” In this regard, they noted that "the Protection Unit renders
its services deficiently, with regards to [...] travel, as there is no personnel
available to support the protection schemes in the regions, or not enough
fuel is offered so that the existing protection scheme can travel to a
different city; similarly, no means of ground transportation is provided to
avoid the risk of using public transport. [...] On many occasions [...] no
immediate action is taken when the risk so warrants”;
c) "[i]n the last two years the protection scheme of the organization has
duplicated without a decline in the number of threats, stalking, and
harassment directed at Danilo Rueda, on the contrary [, according to the
representatives ...], they have increased in number and damage in recent
months.” Nevertheless, “the competent Colombian institutions have not
carried out a comprehensive assessment of the risk and an evaluation of the
effectiveness of the measures or a proposal that takes into account the
characteristics of the work carried out by Danilo Rueda as a [h]uman rights
advocate of [CIJP], thereby allowing for the environments in which he
carries out his work, to be protected spaces in order to avoid irreparable
damage to his life and his safety”;
d) with regard to the claims made by the State that the CIJP have not provided
the channels for dialogue to address the risk faced by Danilo Rueda, the
representatives stated that as soon as they saw "the decision of the [acting]
President of the Court [...], they drafted a report on the assessments of the
risk faced by its members and request[ed] measures be taken to protect
Danilo rueda’s working environment [...]. As such, they reported the
following to the Foreign Ministry and request[ed] that the National
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