Oversight of Judgment T-302 of 2017
El Espectador and Dejusticia carry out an analysis in La Guajira on the non-compliance with Judgment T-302 of 2017 against the 4 minimum constitutional objectives.
Intervention of the citizen Oversight group in the Technical Session. August 2, 2022- Constitutional Court.
Technical Session for the protection of fundamental rights of Wayuu children.
"A sentence means almost nothing in itself, its true value depends on its ability to help transform reality. Some voices tell us today that there is progress here. Others tell us that they have not arrived here."
"We are going to request the direct participation of the Attorney General's Office and the Prosecutor's Office because there are problems in the management of resources. We are going to continue breathing very close to those who have public responsibilities"
"The Court is the last hope of those who have no voice. We hope not to let them down. I promise to take many steps forward and not just one, because we cannot fail them.
Judge José Fernando Cuartas.
AUTO 696 OF 2022 Constitutional Court. Posted on May 23, 2022.
Reference: supervision of the implementation of judgment T-302 of 2017.
Subject: adoption of precautionary measures to protect the fundamental rights of girls, boys and adolescents of the Wayuu people belonging to the municipalities of Riohacha, Manaure, Maicao and Uribia in the department of La Guajira. The design and implementation of a Provisional Plan of Action .
Substantiating Judge: JOSÉ FERNANDO REYES CUARTAS.
DIPLOMA IN COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL CONTROL
II REPORT ON MONITORING AND VERIFICATION OF THE CITIZEN OVERSIGHT
Presentation
With the organization and implementation of the Citizen Oversight, the non-governmental organizations that comprise it assumed the ethical, social and political responsibility of influencing the trend scenario that occurs in the department of La Guajira, and that manifests itself through the humanitarian crisis in which Wayuu boys and girls and their communities are developing, and that the Court has placed on the national agenda through Judgment T-302 of 2017, where the state of affairs was declared unconstitutional, due to the rape of the rights to water, food security and nutrition, health and participation.
The Political Constitution in art. 270 recognizes citizens the right to participate in decisions that affect their development and to monitor public management and its results at different administrative levels. Law 134 of 1994, by means of which norms are dictated on the mechanisms of Citizen Participation, art. 100 states that civil organizations may establish citizen oversight bodies.
Judgment T-302 of 2017, in numeral 9.2.3, on the special follow-up mechanism, states that "(...) because civil society in this matter has been truly active in highlighting the situation of violation of human rights of indigenous children, the organizations and experts that participated in this process, will be able to participate in the follow-up as citizen observers”.
For this reason, the declaration of the Unconstitutional State of Affairs through Judgment T-302 of 2017 deserves all the attention and effort to proactively contribute to monitoring compliance with the mandates contained and aimed at achieving the minimum constitutional objectives. .
The Constitutional Court in Order 042 of 2021 points out the urgency that the territory has in overcoming the unconstitutional state of affairs and that for this, those responsible must adopt the appropriate and necessary measures to reestablish and achieve the protected rights, beyond the constitutional limits of all public policy. Additionally, count on the effective participation of the Wayuu community.
He reiterates that it is necessary to really know the database that identifies the cases and deaths of children due to malnutrition and calls not only the ICBF, but also all the entities that must ensure the health and well-being of children, identifying which have been the preventive and sanitary precautionary measures adopted effectively to prevent the deaths of minors. In the same way, the database that supports the information reported to the Court, the measures adopted and progress to face the problems of underreporting and lack of information.
To fulfill the task, this oversight office has a technical team to follow up on the implementation of the Judgment through the following relevant activities: 1) study of the main actions and reports contained in the judicial verification file; 2) analysis of the development plans of the 5 territorial entities of La Guajira challenged in the Judgment; 3) genuine dialogue with indigenous leaders and communities; 4) field verification work including interviews and surveys; 5) permanent analysis of territorial and community information and 6) analysis of the actions carried out and approaches presented by the sued entities and the control organisms.
This second report is the result of the permanent work in the field by the technical team and which is assumed as the accountability for the period from November 2020 to October 2021. This document is structured based on considering the regional context , highlighting the economic and sociocultural conditions of the population. The most relevant issues of the Judgment and the shares that have been sold by the sued entities in each of the objectives that are determined are also addressed. In addition to exposing the dynamics of the behavior of the entities that are part of the Mechanism for Follow-up and Surveillance of the Judgment, an important space is provided to make visible the voices and proposals of civil society organizations and that have become more constant from the technical session convened by the Constitutional Court in June of this year.
In the verification component of the works and actions carried out by the institutions involved in the three levels of government, those developed in the constitutional minimum objectives of the right to water, food security and nutrition are exposed, taking into account the incidence in the indicators of results indicated in the Judgment and that are related to the death of children under 5 years of age due to causes associated with malnutrition and morbidity in three types of malnutrition, a situation that makes the unconstitutional state of matter more critical if one takes into account the existing baseline at the time of issuance of the Judgment.
Download public statement organizations.
Playlist videos attached report.
Expert report Weiler Guerra on La Guajira.
Timeline
The Constitutional Court Visits La Guajira.
The widespread violation of human rights in a department where the unconstitutional state of affairs is perpetuated and which was evidenced by the Constitutional Court, in 2017 with the publication of Judgment T-302, has under the magnifying glass of this judicial body, the follow-up on compliance with the legal document that carries 4 years without the presentation of an action plan being achieved.
At the beginning of the year and dated February 10, the Court published Order 042 of 2021, where it was notified that the follow-up of the Judgment would again be led by the Constitutional Court and that from that date a series of evidentiary collections would indicate to the Magistrates the progress, or the obstacles for the fulfillment of this in the territory.
Within the seventh paragraph, a technical session was ordered, which would be held in person on April 2 of the current year, in the municipality of Uribia and later, the corporation in the company of the attendees, would travel to the communities "Nueva Venezuela and 23 de Abril, both located 20 minutes from the town center, where judicial inspection proceedings would be carried out; However, if the sanitary conditions derived from covid 19 made it difficult to enter or visit in person, it would be done virtually and the visit would be postponed.
Finally, the visit was scheduled for September 24, 2021 and the Oversight team made a prior visit to learn about the state of the Wayuu communities present there.
Technical Session on the obstacles to compliance with Judgment T-302 of 2017.
Analysis of the care, education and child development model implemented by the ICBF in La Guajira. Do the UCA's work well, or is it a model that needs urgent attention?
According to the ICBF, the early childhood education operating model in La Guajira has had great success based on its efficiency, the expansion of coverage, the opportunity of service, sustainability of care and, fundamentally, the reduction of children and girls under 5 years of age who died from diseases associated with malnutrition.
During July and August, the technical team of the Citizen Oversight Office carried out a field verification and was able to delve into different dimensions of the care model. In the analysis, the databases that the regional ICBF of La Guajira made available to the Oversight Office, the reports and official letters contained in the file of Judgment T-302 of 2017 under surveillance of the Constitutional Court and the different official documents were used. They were sent directly to the technical team. At the same time, an instrument was implemented to collect quantitative information and semi-structured interviews were carried out in different focus groups made up of beneficiaries, educational agents, facilitators of the pedagogical process and traditional authorities.
When comparing the absolute coverage that the ICBF maintained in 2013 (beginning of the humanitarian crisis in La Guajira) with that of 2021, in the territorial entities covered by Ruling T-302 of 2017, the resulting expansion of coverage is 9,801 beneficiaries . This action was complemented by the reallocation of 14,040 seats, which were transferred from Maicao (1,115) and Riohacha (12,925) to the municipalities of Manaure and Uribia, which in 2013 presented precarious demographic coverage for the age group under 5 years of age.
Real coverage rose in Manaure and Uribia at the expense of lowering it in Maicao and Riohacha; which, at present, are below the departmental average, which generates a high number of unattended children between 6 months and 5 years, pregnant and lactating mothers due to lack of quotas. This strategy was supported by increasing, dispersing the service units and lowering the number of beneficiaries per UCA's, which went from 587 in 2013 to 2,655, lowering the average number of beneficiaries per unit from 67 to 19 children under 5 years of age.
First report of the Citizen Oversight Office for the implementation of Ruling T-302 of 2017.
Wayuu children have reinforced protection measures granted by the Constitutional Court of Colombia, after the publication of Judgment T-302 of 2017, which ordered: take measures to stop the death of indigenous children caused by preventable diseases. After 1 year of verification work in the field, the technical team of the citizen oversight publishes its report and the findings and conclusions on the non-compliance with Judgment T-302 of 2017.
Download our report powerpoint
The Citizen Oversight Office visits the deep wells of Manaure and Uribia
Since 2015, in the department of La Guajira, the inauguration of deep wells began as water solutions for more than 20 indigenous communities in dispersed rural areas. Today, 6 years after delivery, close to 90% of the wells do not work and the wells that still maintain their water supply capacity have managed to stay in operation with the community's own resources. Who were responsible for these unsustainable deliveries? How do these communities live today and how do they get the water they consume?
We invite you to take a virtual tour of the state of these wells with us.
Look at the status of each of the wells in the following list of videos
Public fonts, pilot project in Manaure.
In 2018, the Government of President Iván Duque launched the Guajira Azul program that seeks, with the construction of public fountains in the Manaure region, to supply drinking water to the communities present in dispersed rural areas and thus increase the coverage of 4 % to 70%. The program began with the construction of modules in the area called Guajira Azul, with a main basin that bears this name and 6 receiving basins in charge of distribution. Today Guajira Azul also supplies the urban area of Manaure and its capacity does not achieve full coverage of the indigenous population and the supply of drinking water. The supply of the satellite batteries presents problems due to the distribution of water in tank trucks that must travel roads in precarious conditions.
Check out our virtual tour of the stacks
It is urgent to comply with Judgment T-302 of 2017.
In 2021, Sentence T -302 of 2017 will be 3 years old, without an action plan for compliance having been drawn up to date. Learn about the request we make to the Constitutional Court.
Ruling T-302 of 2017
In 2017, the Constitutional Court published Judgment T-302 of 2017 that sets out guidelines, objectives and indicators for the construction of an action plan that promotes the overcoming of the unconstitutional state of affairs in La Guajira and with this it is possible to save the Wayuu children who die from diseases associated with malnutrition. However, 3 years later that action plan still does not exist. Who are responsible for its implementation?
Download document Ruling T-302 of 2017.
Auto 042 of 2021 Constitutional Court.
Given the breach of Judgment T-302 of 2017, which orders the overcoming of the unconstitutional state of affairs in La Guajira, that is: to provide a permanent solution to the supply of drinking water, sustainable food, effective access to health and participation of the Wayuu community , to curb the morbidity and mortality of children of this ethnic group, due to diseases associated with malnutrition and that in the first 3 months of 2021, according to INS reports, there have been 6 deaths of children under 5 years of age, representing 32% of the cases reported at the national level, the Constitutional Court issued Auto 042 of 2021 with which it resumes jurisdiction to determine compliance with Judgment T-302 of 2017.
The Court indicated that despite the extensions and terms granted to the respondent entities, the non-compliance with the Judgment is evident. The lack of articulation of the entities, the ignorance of it by the Wayuu community in their own language and the failure in genuine dialogue, has prevented the structuring of the public policy or action plan for its effective implementation.