Colombia – Conflict-affected areas

II. CHALLENGES

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Additionally, the participation of the business sector in the coordinated implementation of the stabilization policy will be an important challenge in order to consolidate the culture of legality in areas affected by poverty, the presence of illegal economies, institutional weakness and generalized violence. It is clear that the presence of the business sector in certain areas of the country, accompanied by the institutional presence of the State, should contribute to improving the living conditions of people in the rural areas most affected by violence, thus helping to close the gaps and achieve greater equity and inclusion, particularly in the most remote and unprotected areas.

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On the other hand, an additional challenge is the already existing circumstances of violence in the territory, which have affected business activity. The Government has even taken measures to benefit those corporations that have been affected by the violence in Colombia, which is evidence of the existence of this problem.

In the situation caused by Covid-19, violations have been denounced due to massive layoffs, the non-adoption of biosecurity measures for workers, public health effects on specially protected groups such as indigenous people, the worsening of violence in some sectors of the country and informality.

 

VIII. FUNDAMENTAL PILLARS

i. Fundamental Pillar 1: The State’s obligation to protect human rights

Strand 6 [Eje nº 6]: In areas affected by violence, provide guidance and assistance to companies in order to promote the promotion and guarantee of human rights

• The Observatory of the Presidential Advisory Office for Human Rights, together with the National System for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, will be responsible for identifying areas where there is a possible impact on human rights. Once this analysis has been carried out, the Business and Human Rights area, together with business associations and local authorities, will train companies on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
• The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development will develop tools to prevent human rights violations related to socio-environmental conflicts by strengthening Regional Environmental Dialogue Centres and providing guidance to affected communities.

Strand 8 [Eje nº 8]: Participation strategies for people in the reintegration process, as well as initiatives that strengthen the stabilisation and consolidation of the country

• The Agency for Reintegration and Normalisation will disseminate the strategy for the participation of people in the reintegration process in the business, productive and peacebuilding spheres.
• The Agency for Reintegration and Normalisation will encourage the public and private business sector to involve people in the reintegration and reincorporation processes.
• The Presidential Advisory Office for Stabilisation will formulate and implement a policy document containing a human rights approach for the participation of the public and private business sector in the stabilisation and consolidation of the country.
• The Unit for the Attention and Integral Reparation of Victims (UARIV) will implement a strategy in which companies are linked through their social management, social architecture or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the creation of income-generating opportunities for victims affected by violence.
• The Unit for the Attention and Integral Reparation of Victims (UARIV) will implement strategies with international cooperation actors, the social sector and the private sector that contribute to productive inclusion, recovery of historical memory, peace-building, reconciliation, promotion of human rights and reconstruction of the social fabric of the victims of violence.