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In a letter sent to the president, the rapporteurs for the Environment, Toxic Substances, Right to Health and Right to Food, among others, affirm that the government’s proposal to resume aerial spraying with the herbicide would pose enormous risks to human rights. and the environment.
Until now, it is known, two months later, that seven United Nations special rapporteurs, through a letter sent on December 17, 2020, asked President Iván Duque and the Congress of the Republic to reject the intention to reactivate the Program for the Eradication of Illicit Crops with Glyphosate (PECIG) due to the risks it poses to human rights and the environment.
According to the letter with the concept of the rapporteurs – that of Toxic Substances, that of Afro-descendants, that of the Environment, that of the Right to Food, that of the Right to Health, that of the Situation of Human Rights Defenders and that of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples— the resumption of this program “would violate the Peace Agreement and against the provisions of the Constitutional Court regarding the hierarchy between the strategies for the eradication of illicit crops ”, which in fact, prioritizes manual eradication over any other method.
In the document, attached above, the rapporteurs express their concern about the effects of glyphosate spraying in relation to the contamination of water bodies, especially in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic. “This contamination occurs not only because the bodies of water are sprayed, but also because of the filtration of the chemical into groundwater,” they say.
Likewise, they assured that the decision to return to spraying is being carried out “in a context of systematic violence.to against indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples and human rights defenders who work to protect the right to health and the environment in the country ”.
As if that were not enough, they also stated that the resumption of the fumigation with glyphosate would threaten and violate the rights protected by International Law and on which Colombia has signed commitments. Among which is to protect the population from hazardous substances and wastes, such as herbicide.
It is not a minor fact, highlights the letter, that according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, of the social leaders murdered in Colombia during 2019 and the first half of 2020, 37 of the victims have promoted the National Comprehensive Program for Substitution of crops for illicit use (PNIS) or lost their life amid the abuses of authority in the operations of forced eradication of crops.
In addition, the letter continues, of the total massacres reported in 2020, the 78% would have taken place in municipalities where the Public Force proposed to resume aerial spraying with glyphosate.
The letter from the rapporteurs is the response to a request sent by DeJusticia and 16 other organizations and academic centers that they sent in November 2020. There they were alerted about the Government’s plan to resume spraying and the implication that this would entail for the affected communities. .
Similarly, the rapporteurs asked President Duque to provide information on the measures he has proposed to prevent the risks posed by fumigation. According to DeJusticia, the rapporteurs have already received a response from the government, but this has not been made public.
We recommend:
* “Colombia’s historic peace accord is in danger”: US organizations to Biden.
* There are 164 massacres since the Peace Agreement was signed, alerts the JEP.
* Alert in Catatumbo for the start of land fumigation of glyphosate to coca crops.
