Pueblo Bello Massacre v. Colombia
Key Judgment
Legal Relevance
Keywords: Obligation to Prevent | Children/Youth | Deprivation of Liberty | Judicial Protection | State/Non-State Agents
Themes: Persons and Groups Affected | Prevention | Related Crimes
The Court found the State responsible for the acts of the paramilitary group because it did not diligently adopt the necessary measures to protect the civilian population, including the right to life, in this case. The Court highlighted that despite some State efforts to prohibit, prevent and punish the activities of such groups, by having encouraged their creation in the first place, the State created a dangerous situation for its inhabitants and failed to adopt all the necessary or sufficient measures to avoid these groups continuing to cause harm. The Court found that such a situation heightened the State’s special obligations of prevention and protection in the zones where the paramilitary groups were present. It also heightened the State’s responsibility to investigate in a diligent manner the acts or omissions of State agents and individuals who attack the civilian population.
Judgment Date
January 31, 2006
Country
Colombia
Judicial Body
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Articles violated
Article 1(1) [ACHR], Article 4(1) [ACHR], Article 5(1) [ACHR], Article 5(2) [ACHR], Article 7(1) [ACHR], Article 7(2) [ACHR], Article 8(1) [ACHR], Article 25 [ACHR]
Articles not violated / not dealt with
Article 13 [ACHR]
Facts of the Case
The events occurred in the context of an armed incursion by a paramilitary group into the village of Pueblo Bello, as part of their territorial expansion. The victims were 43 peasants, including three minors. On 14 January 1990, they were tied up and taken in vans to a farm where a paramilitary leader was waiting to interrogate and torture them. Of the 43 victims, 37 disappeared, and 6 were extrajudicially executed.