Colombia: The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights Declares State Of Colombia Responsible For Assault On Jineth Bedoya — CFWIJ Welcomes The Judgment

Location: Colombia, Bogota
Date: October 20, 2021

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights held the Colombian state responsible for the abduction, rape, and torture of journalist Jineth Bedoya in 2000. The court claimed that officials of the state were not only directly responsible for the torture Jineth suffered but institutions enabled the sexual assault by not taking the threats against Jineth seriously despite earlier complaints. The courts believed the negligence was a result of gender discrimination and ordered that those involved should be given adequate punishment.

In the year 2000, Jineth was abducted from outside a prison in Bogota, which she was visiting at the time to conduct an interview with a member of a paramilitary group. She was moved to a different location where she was physically and sexually assaulted. The state attorney general’s office confirmed the allegations. However, only three of her attackers were actually sentenced by the Colombian courts, while several high-ranking suspects escaped the trials scot-free. The lack of transparency in the trial and the obvious attempts to cover-up was the reason that the case proceeded to the  Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2019. Even there, the state’s defense team deployed several delay tactics to disrupt proceedings, as CFWIJ earlier reported.

On Monday, however, The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued its judgment claiming that it found “serious, precise and consistent evidence of state participation in the acts of physical, sexual and psychological torture against the journalist.” The court went on to add that the attack against Jineth was not isolated in nature, it was a larger violation of the right to information and the right to free press of all Colombian citizens. This landmark judgement is the first time the human rights court has released a judgment about sexual violence against a female journalist, holding the state culpable.

The court has thus ordered the State of Colombia to investigate, prosecute and punish all those responsible for the crimes against Jineth, alongside several institutional measures to ensure the safety of women journalists. The court acknowledged the risk women journalists run of being targeted with gender based violence while reporting on the field and the need to rectify that through structural change. In light of which it ordered the establishment of a public system for collecting updated data and figures on gender violence and threats and violence against journalists as well as a fund for the prevention, protection and assistance of women journalists who are victims of gender violence.

“October 18, 2021 goes down in history as the day when a fight, which began for an individual crime, led to the vindication of the rights of thousands of women victims of sexual violence and of women journalists who leave part of their lives in your office,” Jineth said in a tweet following the decision.

El 18 de octubre de 2021 pasa a la historia como el día en que una lucha, que empezó por un crimen individual, llevó a la reivindicación de derechos de miles de mujeres víctimas de violencia sexual y de mujeres periodistas que dejan parte de la vida en su oficio #NoEsHoraDeCallar

— Jineth Bedoya Lima (@jbedoyalima) October 18, 2021

The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. We demand that the Colombian state abide by the judgement issued and all those who were complicit in the crime are held to account. We also hope this case serves as a reminder for all regarding the gender dynamics in the field of journalism and the urgent need, not only for safety valves for journalists belonging to gender minorities, but also an urgent effort to balance out the playing field in order to ensure the security of journalists on the field as well as the civil rights of the citizens at large. We continue to be in awe of the grace and courage Jineth Bedoya has demonstrated over the last two decades and we hope this landmark judgement ushers in a better world for women journalists around the world.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

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