Gender violence in the political life of Colombian women and its challenges to freedom of expression.
In Colombia the bill which seeks to establish measures to prevent and eradicate violence against women in political life. This project arose in response to the high Indices of violence against women - candidates and journalists - during the electoral periods referring to Congress and the Presidency.
The normative content seeks to eradicate all violent behavior that may manifest itself in any way and that affects candidates and politicians in different spheres, during their exercise of the rights to elect and be elected. An effort that can negatively affect the right to freedom of expression if international standards are not taken into account.
Amicus curiae of CELE
This bill reached the Constitutional Court as part of the automatic review of constitutional control. There, CELE intervened through an amicus curiae so that the high court could study the project, taking into account international standards such as the three-part test proposed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court) related to the legality, necessity and proportionality of the law.
The Center found that it does not comply with the legality requirement since it presents several ambiguities in its wording that can affect the freedom of expression of citizens, as well as freedom of the press, through arbitrary interpretations by the entities. , officials and even by some judges.
In the writing you can find broad concepts such as “verbal and/or written offenses”, “social boycott”, “hate messages” or “reproduction of hate messages”, which are not completely clear and do not meet the necessary specificity. just as the Inter-American Court through the ruling Herrera Ulloa Vs. Costa Rica. As indicated there, States have the duty to create clear and precise laws when regulating matters related to the limitation of freedom of expression and access to information - as is the present case - especially when they are expressions. – which includes uncomfortable expressions – that are part of the political control of female officials in a duly consolidated democracy.
On the other hand, it should be noted that the project leaves the door open to resort to the criminal system when it comes to “insults and slander” against public officials. In this aspect, it is relevant to take into account that the crime in Colombia still does not meet said test since it is disproportionate in light of the different interpretations that the Inter-American Court has issued, for example, what was said in the Kimel case vs. Argentina. In this case, the Inter-American Court managed to eliminate the prison sentence for the crime of slander and libel for going against the purposes of the American Convention on Human Rights for the protection of freedom of expression. This ruling highlights the need to study with special caution the use of criminal law as a measure to restrict this right, since it generates a deterrent effect on those who wish to express opinions. And it is important to pay attention to this, since in matters of law you have to strike a balance when trying to regulate expressions.
On this matter, CELE also presented a intervention before the Constitutional Court of Colombia about the disproportionality that the prison sentence for the crime of slander and insult represents on freedom of expression.
Some conclusions
It is understood that the intention of the project is to protect the rights of women in political life, which is an aspect laudable since it has been shown that this type of violence prevents the full enjoyment of political rights in different spheres of women for the simple fact of being women. However, it is important to keep in mind that the path must be built in such a way that it can allow a balance between the rights related to women's political participation and freedom of expression.
As far as the penal system is concerned, the Center had already proposed a practical alternative that the Constitutional Court itself gave us through the ruling T-087 of 2023 where she managed to balance the protection of women against sexist violence and respect for the freedom of expression of those who utter this type of speech - which are usually violent but in many cases also protected. We will be eagerly awaiting the Court's ruling.
