1 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
The Republic of Colombia
Position Paper
2 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
I. General Statement
As a proud member of the Organization of American States (OAS), the
Delegation of Colombia is extremely eager and thrilled to be among fellow member
states to discuss all important issues that are at hand. The Delegation of Colombia
recognizes how important the Organization of American States is not only to Latin
America, but to the western hemisphere as a whole and is proud to be able to participate
in this year’s session. This delegation is in high hopes that all member states will work
together in diplomatic and peaceful means to strive for the betterment of the western
hemisphere and work together towards the strengthening of peace and security as a
whole.
The goal for this delegation is to “promote, by cooperative action, their economic,
social, and cultural development”1 as well as hope that all fellow member states can
cooperate and explore all decisions diplomatically.
“Colombia has a huge variety of plant and animal species, and we have enormous
potential. Small and midsized companies should come to Colombia. From here, they have
access to the entire Latin America market” as stated by President Juan Manuel Santos.
The Delegation of Colombia has extreme unearthed and unexplored potential, as much of
the member states do as well and all is needed is the need for exploration and excavation.
It is a time for all member states to utilize their strengths to the maximum which is what
the Delegation of Colombia will strive to do and encourages all fellow member states to
do the same in order to better the western hemisphere and the Organization of American
States as a whole. It is a time to reach new goals and this organization has immense
potential that is greatly used by all member states and can be even greater.
The Delegation of Colombia has made immense strides in progression towards
the unequal wealth distribution, the growing elderly and retired population, the
eradication of poverty, sharing and allocating water resources, standards on surveillance,
meeting new hemispheric security challenges, protection of political refugees and asylum
seekers, and establishing standards for prisoner rights and prison conditions.
The goal for this Organization is to raise hemispheric standards and strengthen
each member state as an individual and utilize those strengths to form a powerful, secure
and strong western hemisphere.
The Delegation of Colombia is extremely aware of each member states
sovereignty and notes with gratitude that in the Organization of American States Charter,
Chapter II, Article 3e states that “Every State has the right to choose, without external
interference, its political, economic, and social system and to organize itself in the way
best suited to it, and has the duty to abstain from intervening in the affairs of another
State. Subject to the foregoing, the American States shall cooperate fully among
themselves, independently of the nature of their political, economic and social systems”.2
Bearing all this in mind, the Delegation of Colombia hopes to achieve success
through cooperative, diplomatic and peaceful means in order to strengthen the
1
2
The Organization of American States Charter, Chapter 1, Article 2f
The Organization of American States Charter, Chapter 2, Article 3e
3 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
Organization of American States as a whole. This delegation hopes for a well-executed
general assembly with plenty of diplomatic and peaceful debate.
II. Particular Statements
A. General Committee (GC)
Topic One: Programs to Address Disparities in Wealth Distribution
The Delegation of Colombia, much like most of the member states in the western
hemisphere is facing a major issue of wealth distribution. According to the CIA world
fact book3, over thirty percent of all Colombians are living below the poverty line and
most of the economy is held by six percent of the wealthy population.
There is a lack of basic human rights, which include the lack of security, the lack
of health care, the lack of education and the lack of employment. Because of this lack in
basic humanitarian rights, there is a cycle of poverty that the impoverished population
live in, meaning that they are born into poverty, live in population without having access
to education and healthcare and continually work at a young age and end their education
to help their families make money and therefore are never skilled to get actual
employment with health benefits, security of employment and the chance to break out of
the poverty cycle thereby continuing it for future generations. Through agrarian land
reform, better access to education, and employment programs for the impoverished
population, this delegation hopes to raise a strong percentage of this population out of
poverty and to break the poverty cycle.
In the 1950’s, Bolivia, Mexico and Chile went through immense agrarian land
reform where they passed land reform legislation in order to help out the impoverished
people. Through this legislation, the government allotted a certain amount of land to
peasants for them to live on and thrive and through this, these farmers reduced rural
inequality and the poverty level decreased in these areas because these impoverished
people were responsible for sustaining themselves and even began to contribute to the
agricultural sector of the economy. There was immense agriculture innovation and
cultivation by putting unused land into use.4
Education is the most powerful tool that can be instilled into the mind, and
especially for the young this is essential for future economic and social development.
With better access to education, there would be a decrease in the poverty rate in not only
Colombia, but in the western hemisphere as a whole. This delegation is hoping that with
better educational facilities and more qualified teachers, that the will and desire to remain
in school will be stronger. If the younger generations had a stronger drive to continue
their schooling, that they would be better educated and skilled to be qualified for better
employment and be able to break the poverty cycle. The Organization of American States
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/co.html
Blake, Charles. Politics in Latin America. 2008, Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 200201
3
4
4 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
Charter states in Chapter 7, Article 34h hopes for “Rapid eradication of illiteracy and
expansion of educational opportunities for all”.5
With the Delegation of Colombia having over thirty percent of its entire
population living below the poverty line, there has to be a time for employment to change
and make steps forward. The Republic of Colombia is greatly invested in improving its
national employment and improvement by means of making free trade agreements and
promoting domestic investment. By providing pilot programs to employ impoverished
people, it will provide people that have never had access to some basic human rights
access to health care by being employed in a government sector. With this, by being
employed and receiving payments for work, it will raise people out of the poverty level
just by having a job. The implementation of domestic jobs is as important as education
and will be able to help civilians whether nationals or aliens because it is up to every state
to have jurisdiction over them and promote as well as protect their basic human rights.
This delegation hopes to decrease the inequality of wealth distribution in not only
Colombia but all of the Western Hemisphere and believes that with these solutions that
this will be achievable for all member states. Through agrarian land reform, better access
to education and more domestic employment, it will be more than possible to take a step
in the direction of equality.
B. Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (ESID)
Topic One. Eradication of Poverty within the Context of Sustainable Development
The Bolivarian Republic of Colombia understands the importance of breaking out
of the poverty cycle and to motivate people to try and get out of poverty. Colombia
believes that breaking the cycle starts with a good education. Literacy rates need to
increase to help promote the advancement of culture. By doing so the state can look
towards a brighter future with more educated citizens.
Educated citizens are not only a benefit for the individual but for the whole state
as a whole. It helps people be aware of their health, finances, and politics. As citizens
increase their knowledge on health issues, that means that the government’s expense of
health insurance can be lowered and the lower income citizens can make better health
decisions to help keep themselves healthy and working. Knowing about diseases and how
they can be contracted would be taught in classes and also learning how to read opens so
many more doors of knowledge.
Colombia needs a change in its education to help more students and families. In
the Colombian budget about ten percent of it goes toward education. Other Latin
American countries are about the same. Ten percent is not much going toward something
that is so vital to a country. Citizens that live in the more urban areas of Colombia are
exposed to better teachers than those citizens that live in more rural areas are not as
lucky. Most of their teachers are not as well educated and do not have the qualifications
that should be met to be teaching students.
5
The Organization of American States Charter Chapter 7, Article 34h
5 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
Primary education is provided and paid for by the government, this is age six to
twelve. There is little early childhood schooling and care but with the help of National
Institute for Family Welfare things are changing and providing more and more daycares.
Secondary schooling is an additional two years of vocational education and then the
following two years are more specific to a trade that the student is interested in and is
during the age of 12 to 16. Primary school starts to loose attendance due to having to help
their families.
Tertiary education is very unfamiliar type of education for those not in urban
areas. It seems that children and families that live in rural areas are at an unfair
disadvantage when it comes to education. If these citizens where able to learn more and
help build themselves at our poverty by education, then they could be looking at other
jobs with better paying rates and less excruciating hours. By educating oneself, only
positive things can come out of it. There are more opportunities for them and more
chances to break the cycle of poverty.
Topic Two: Sharing and Allocation of Water Resources
The Republic of Colombia first would recognize and commend the tireless
work done by all of the member states within the Organization of American States (OAS)
for their contribution towards improving the hemispheric water quality. The Delegation
of Colombia, however, believes that the best way to solve the pressing issue of a
degraded water quality is to apprehend the problem at the source. Furthermore, the
delegation strongly believes that long term, self-sustaining improvements to factors
which are proven to greatly lessen the quality of water are a more wise investment of
water resources and monies and will prove to be more beneficial over time than would a
short term improvement of water itself.
Seeing that the single biggest direct cause of tropical deforestation is conversion
to cropland and pasture6; furthermore, noting that a leading cause of sedimentation to
rivers is the erosion of soil as a result of deforestation, the Delegation of Colombia seeks
to improve the quality of water by improving the causes at the heart of the issue.
Approximately 7.8 million hectares of forested land is cleared each year7 with OAS states
clearing over 662 thousand square kilometers.8 The cutting down of trees is inextricably
linked to a decrease in water quality due to the decreased regulation of erosion and
sediment flow caused by rampant deforestation.9 Water saturated with sediment and landbased pollution agents flows downstream and oftentimes ends up having a direct impact
on the quality of a people’s drinking water and ultimately the quality of life of the same
people who require a clean source of drinking water to survive.
Keeping this in mind, the Delegation of the Republic of Colombia seeks to put an
end to the need for further deforestation throughout the OAS as a result of unsustainable
6http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Deforestation/deforestation_update3.
php
7 http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html
8 http://www.worldpreservationfoundation.org/blog/news/deforestationstatistics/#.VhcuaPlVikp
9 http://www.totallydrinkable.com/deforestation-and-water-quality.html
6 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
cattle ranching practices which will greatly retard the overarching problem of
deforestation in and of itself. In order to do so, the Delegation of Colombia would
suggest the implementation of Silvopastures and Silvopastoral Systems (SPS) in place of
traditional ranching practices – practices which, due to their inherent inefficiency, hold a
direct correlation to the decrease of water quality. These environmentally friendly
practices aim to increase the efficiency of a smaller plot of land so as to increase the
overall yield of production while presenting no necessity to expand the operation further
by destroying forests. The way this feat is achieved would be by negating the traditional
view of pastureland and planting various trees and shrubs interspersed among leguminous
herbs and fodder crops. The implementation of greater botanical resources such as those
mentioned will not only improve the quality of sustenance intake, but it will eliminate the
need for the use of pesticides and pollutants; it will eliminate the need for deforestation
for the purposes of cattle ranching; but ultimately, it will help to lessen greatly the
monetary burden of purifying the water taken from freshwater sources throughout the
OAS.
The Delegation of the Republic of Colombia believes confidently that the
implementation of these environmentally sustainable ranching practices will improve the
overall quality of water throughout the hemisphere and will place those delegations that
so wisely choose to practice these measures at the forefront of environmental
sustainability.
C. Secretariat for Multidimensional Security (SMS)
Topic One: Hemispheric Standards on Surveillance and Information Gathering
The delegation of Colombia recognizes the ever increasing importance of cyber
security in the 21st century. The delegation believes this to be an issue that has the
potential to impact every member state, and is looking forward to collaborating
with other countries on this threat. The very nature of this threat is different from
conventional security threats facing members of this organization, and this
delegation strongly believes that international cooperation is necessary to
effectively address this issue.
Colombia adapted the Plan Vive Digital as part of the 2010 – 2014 National
Development Plan recognized the need for not only contingency plans, but active
defense against cyber threats. With internet use growing rapidly within not only
Latin America, but the world, the chances of attacks have gone up drastically.
Colombian internet use has gone up over 370% from 2005 – 2010, and recently the
government has passed a new series of laws to better punish illegal activity.10
The Colombian government agencies have also been raising awareness about
the importance of creating an effective cyber defense policy since early 2007. The
Colombian government, working with the Organization of American States , through
National Council on Economic and Social Policy Republic of Colombia
National Planning Department
10
7 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism , organized a committee hearing
on cyber defense preparedness in May 2008.11
Topic Two: Updating the Rio Treaty to Meet New Hemispheric Security Challenges
The Delegation of the Republic of Colombia recognizes the importance of
updating the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal assistance to better deal with present
conflicts, new threats to security and rising political crisis that are not enclosed within the
context on which the treaty was originally established. The Delegation of Colombia not
only believes in the Rio Treaty’s relevance in strengthening collaboration and support
amongst member states but in its imperative role in dealing with today’s hemispheric
challenges. The Delegation of Colombia also believes in the treaty’s integrity to
ultimately maintain member states’ solidarity amongst each other intact.
The Delegation of Colombia acknowledges the time and context in which the
treaty was created in 1947, when an armed attack from across the seas was a substantive
menace to the western hemisphere. The Rio Treaty became a hemispheric defense
system, a doctrine invoked to respond to an armed attack or threat of aggression against a
member state as an attack to all. Today, however, the hemisphere is presented with new
crisis that affect its peace and security. The Delegation of Colombia believes that by
updating the treaty to include border conflicts as a present threat and new substantive
menace the Organization of American States will ensure the protection of those affected
by the crisis and once again reaffirm member state’s collaboration and solidarity.
The Delegation of Colombia firmly believes in each country’s sovereignty but
strongly encourages the Organization of American States member states to facilitate
dialogue and participation when a border crisis is present in the hemisphere to avoid any
future situations. The Delegation of Colombia is looking forward for member states that
have ceased their commitment to the treaty to reevaluate their position and ultimately
unite towards a more secure and peaceful hemisphere.
D. Secretariat for Political Affairs (SPA)
Topic One: Protection for Political Refugees and Asylum Seekers
The Republic of Colombia acknowledges the ever-growing problem of refugees
and asylum seekers. Through cooperation amongst fellow member states of the
Organization of American States (OAS), the Delegation of Colombia believes that the
OAS can make an impact for the betterment of these people who have been forcibly
removed from their home.
In Latin America in particular, the Delegation of Colombia is concerned with the
large amount of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP’s). At the end of 2014,
"Ministerio de Educación de Colombia, Estructura del sistema educativo".
29 June 2007.
11
8 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
Latin America was faced with over 400,000 refugees and over 6,000,000 IDP’s12. While
there are refugee crises all over the world that the OAS as a global organization should
recognize, there is a growing problem within our own hemisphere that can’t be ignored.
To address the needs of the Americas’ own people in crisis, the best option for
many of these people is to help them return home. All too often, refugees and IDP’s are
forced into areas that are ill-equipped for human life, in cities and countries that are
unsympathetic to their culture, and have a hard time finding good work due to having lost
all of their papers and having no way to access these documents13. The United Nations
High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has laid out a broad plan that can be refined to
be more suited towards the Americas and their people14.
Colombia has donated over $30 million to the UNHCR’s goals, as they realize the
need to support their people is of paramount importance15. Many of these have been
pushed out of their homes due to natural disasters such as flooding and the violence with
the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a rebel socialist group
aimed at dismantling the current government and installing a much more liberal
government16. The government of Colombia however has entered into peace talks with
FARC, and with the violence between the guerrilla group and the Colombian government
dwindling, the land that was once hostile territory can once again be inhabited by the
IDP’s and refugees that were forced to leave the land they once called home.
Not only will this plan be beneficial to the refugees and IDP’s, this will be
beneficial to Colombia and its neighbors. Colombia will no longer be victim to the everpresent brain drain, forcing the best and brightest people in the country out to more
developed countries in search of better opportunities for them and their families17. It will
also remove all of the IDP’s from the already crowded cities and give them the chance to
return to the land their ancestors once called home. For Colombia’s neighbors, they will
no longer have the strain of thousands of Colombia refugees pouring into their borders,
and will be more able to help with other refugee issues, such as the pressing refugee issue
regarding Syria.
The Republic of Colombia believes that the dedication and hard work brought
forth by their fellow members of the OAS can change the status of refugees in the
Americas, giving them the chance for a new life in their old home. The Delegation of
Colombia is more than willing to collaborate with their fellow delegates to ensure a better
future for all refugees and IDP’s.
Topic Two: Establishing Hemispheric Standards for Prisoner Rights and Prison
Conditions
12
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e45be46.html
http://www.coha.org/colombias-invisible-crisis-internally-displaced-persons/
14 http://www.unhcr.org/4c2203309.html
15 http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e492ad6.html
16 http://www.unric.org/en/colombia/27013-the-guerrilla-groups-in-colombia
13
17
http://colombiareports.com/40-colombian-migrants-are-illegal/
9 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
The Republic of Colombia recognizes the troubling human rights violations of
inmates within Colombian Prisons. The Republic of Colombia extends its thanks to the
Organization of American States for its continued efforts to protect the basic human
rights of prisoners and assist in establishing standards for prison conditions. Colombia's
constitution advocates the protection of human rights, stating “The right to dignity is
guaranteed. The law will provide the manner in which it
will be upheld”18, yet the penal system is at complete odds with its humanitarian
message.
One of Colombia's worst prisons, La Tramacua, was built using United States
funding and advisement from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. It should have set the standard
for new prison culture. Instead it is infamous for the poor living conditions and treatment
of those incarcerated within. These include: limited access to running water, food
withheld for days as punishment, poorly prepared meals which tested for traces of fecal
matter, prisoners constantly subjected to acts of violence, especially political prisoners
and POW’s; and untried prisoners being held within the same facilities as violent
criminals, many times purposely thrown to the prison gangs to be killed19.
While there has been public outcry to close down penitentiaries like this, the sad
reality is that Colombian prisons are faced with severe overcrowding. Colombia's INPEC
(Instituto National Penetenciario y Carcelario) states that the overcrowding rate is at 53%
nationally, spread out over its 138 prisons. Yet 35% of those incarcerated are either still
awaiting trial or have never been told of the charges held against them20. Former
Colombian congressman, Benjamin Higita, has said in several interviews that in the last
twenty years there have been close to 40 reforms made to the penal code in an attempt to
increase sanctions and revise criminal sentencing. Despite this, the incarceration rates
continue to increase at a frightening rate, partly due to representatives pushing through
prison sentence bills that will guarantee votes21.
Focusing first on those being detained without sentencing, The United Nations
states that those awaiting trial are to be held separate from convicted criminals and are to
be treated as innocent until proven guilty. One way to combat the daunting issue of
overcrowding would be first to establish who is convicted and who is not, so that those
untried prisoners may have a fair trial and access to legal counsel. POW's should be tried
or released back to their nations. Second, the UN states that civil prisoners are to be held
in separate facilities than those who have committed criminal offenses, and criminal
18
Political Constitution of Colombia (1991); Title II, Chapter 1: Article 21
19
James Jordan, Alliance for Global Justice, https://afgj.org/a-visit-insidecolombias-most-notorious-prison-la-tramacua (accessed October 8, 2015).
20
Joel Gillin, Colombia Reports, http://colombiareports.com/35-of-colombiaprisoners-not-convicted-of-crime/ (accessed October 7, 2015).
EFE, El Espectador,
http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/nacional/sobrepoblacion-centroscarcelarios-de-53-nivel-nacional-articulo-520164 (accessed on October 7, 2015).
21
Wally Broderick, The Bogota Post,
http://thebogotapost.com/2015/07/27/prisons-chronicle-of-a-brutality-foretold/
(accessed on October 7, 2015).
10 The Republic of Colombia
Texas State University
offenders are to be separated by the severity of their crime22. Persons imprisoned for
debts or other civil matters should be given community service work or probation in
order to pay back what they owe, while at the same time stating out of prison and
reducing the number of those being held.
Taking all this into account, the UN sets forth the following in terms of Food and
Hygiene in its Mandela Rules (E/CN.15/2015/L.6/Rev.1):
Every prisoner shall be provided by the administration at the usual hours with food of
nutritional value adequate for health and strength, of wholesome quality and well
prepared and served. All parts of an institution regularly used by prisoners shall be
properly maintained and kept scrupulously clean at all times. Adequate bathing and
shower installations shall be provided so that every prisoner may be enabled and required
to have a bath or shower, at a temperature suitable to the climate, as frequently as
necessary for general hygiene
Non-profits organizations such as the Catholic Church be contacted to held
alleviate these issues. The Catholic Church has programs like this already in place
throughout Europe and have had great success. Volunteers give their time and expertise
to ensure that prisoners are properly fed, clothed and have access to clean water. Drinking
water and prepared meals would be donated daily; and desperately needed renovations to
pipes for showers and toilets would be made. By implementing a similar program in
Colombia, the burden of cost would be absorbed by the Church. Additionally, the
Catholic Church provides prisoners all over the globe with rehabilitation services through
their DISMAS and Welcome Home Reentry programs. These comes in the form of faith
based support while in prison, help learning trades, and finding jobs upon release. These
services can be extended to those being incarcerated and would help reduce both their
sentences and the number of people held.
The Republic of Colombia therefore seeks to standardize heavy sanctions and
fines to be handed down to prisons, prison guards and member states if these conditions
are not met. Access to clean water shall not be withheld from prisoners and water quality
will be tested once a week to ensure it is up to standard levels according to each member
state and free of contaminates. Food Service workers will be required by law to wash
their hands and wear gloves before handling food, in an effort to decrease crosscontamination. It is through these efforts that the Republic of Colombia hopes to hold all
prisons in the western hemisphere to the standards set forth by the United Nations and
collaborate as the Organization Of American States to improve the lives of prisoners.
22
United Nations, Mandela Rules (E/CN.15/2015/L.6/Rev.1),
http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/tenders/Mandela Rules.pdf (accessed on
October 8, 2015).