UN warns that Abelardo de la Espriella's decree in Colombia facilitates police repression

Published at: 16/10/2026 08:31 AM

The Office in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a severe warning about the new decree regulating social protest signed by President Abelardo de la Espriella, warning that the legal text substantially modifies the rules of the security forces and incorporates regulatory loopholes that authorize the discretionary use of state violence.

According to information highlighted in Telesur, the international organization questioned whether government regulations empower police forces to dissolve demonstrations and suspend channels of dialogue without exhausting prior mediation mechanisms, violating international standards for the protection of human rights.

The United Nations representative emphasized that the notion of violence adopted by the Colombian Executive goes beyond the frameworks of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, criminalizing the mere carrying of objects or road blocks, justifying disproportionate coercive interventions against popular mobilizations.

The UN warning comes in the midst of a climate of growing social conflict in the New Granada country, where trade union federations and community movements articulate a calendar of street days in rejection of the authoritarian turn of the Government, projecting the call for a national strike.

Mazo News Team