Background

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. UN independent experts regularly undertake country visits to report on human rights issues. Visits, which typically last for two weeks, include meetings between the Special Rapporteur and individuals affected by poverty, public officials, members of parliamentary and judicial bodies, official institutions, civil society organizations, and academics. At the conclusion of country visits, the Special Rapporteur presents a detailed statement of his initial findings. He subsequently submits a final report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report informs other processes, including the review of the country in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council and by human rights treaty bodies.

The Special Rapporteur, Olivier De Schutter, is a Professor of Law at UCLouvain and at SciencesPo (Paris), with extensive experience as an independent UN human rights expert. Between 2008-2014, he served as Special Rapporteur on the right to food. He was a Member of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights between 2015-2020, a position he held until he took up his functions as Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on 1 May 2020. Last June 2023, during its 53^rd session, the United Nations Human Rights Council renewed his mandate for a further three years (2023-2026).

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, will conduct an official visit to Colombia from 26 August to 4 September 2024, at the invitation of the Government of Colombia.

Objectives

The Special Rapporteur’s visit aims at assessing the efforts to combat poverty and to protect the human rights of people in poverty in Colombia. He invites all interested individuals and organizations, including civil society organizations, activists, and academics, to provide input on the priority issues listed below to assist him in preparing for the visit.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

While all submissions are welcome, and the questions below are by no means exhaustive, the Special Rapporteur would be grateful for comments that address in particular the following topics:

• The nature of poverty and inequality in Colombia, including how poverty is or should be defined and measured, its prevalence, and its distribution.
• The impact of poverty on civil and political rights, as well as on economic, social and cultural rights such as the rights to health, housing, food, education, and social security.
• The potential of and challenges facing the existing social protection system to address poverty, inequality, and social exclusion, especially with a view to protecting informal workers, children, ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, rural populations, refugees and migrant workers, unregistered/unrecognized citizens, and other groups particularly affected by poverty.
• The question of indigenous peoples, minority groups and rural populations’ access and title to land and income-generating activities, and their intersection with existing issues of land encroachment, poverty and inequality.
• The measures and actions that Colombia is implementing to mitigate the impact of climate change on vulnerable people and people living in poverty and to move towards a development model that mitigates climate change and halts the erosion of biodiversity whilst ensuring a just transition.
• The role of fiscal spending, public finance management, and tax policy in relation to poverty.
• Union rights and in-work poverty, including as regards workers operating as part of global supply chains.
• Locations that should be visited by the Special Rapporteur.
• Individuals and organisations the Special Rapporteur should meet with during his visit.

Submissions can be sent to hrc-sr-extremepoverty@un.org by 14 June 2024. Kindly send your submission as an attachment to an email. Where possible, submissions in English, French, or Spanish are encouraged, as capacity for translation is limited and this would significantly facilitate review by the Special Rapporteur and his staff.

The Special Rapporteur’s visit will lead to a detailed end of mission statement on 4 September 2024, and a final report presented to the UN Human Rights Council, in June 2025

How inputs will be used

We will publish all submissions unless the submitting individual and/or organisation requests that their submission be kept confidential. Please indicate in your submission whether we may publish all or part of it on the website of the Special Rapporteur.

The Special Rapporteur greatly appreciates the effort that goes into making such contributions and looks forward to reading all submissions.

Media inquiries

Regular updates on the visit to Colombia will be posted on the website of the Special Rapporteur and via his Twitter account. A media advisory with additional information about the visit will be issued and published online on 19 August 2024.

On 4 September 2024, the Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference in Bogota where he will present a statement with his initial findings. Before and during the visit, the Special Rapporteur’s engagement with media will be limited to commenting on the scope of the visit, meetings held, and issues discussed during these meetings. Only at the press conference and thereafter will the Special Rapporteur be in a position to comment on his findings and conclusions.

Media inquiries, including requests to join the Special Rapporteur’s press list, may be directed to Patricia Varela (+41 22 928 9234; patricia.varelabenzo@un.org) and Kate Holmes (+44 780 350 2410; kate.holmes@srpoverty.org).

Twitter: @DeSchutterO and @srpoverty

For more information, please write to hrc-sr-extremepoverty@un.org or info@srpoverty.org