Illegal Profilings of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in U.S. Spotlight

On July 16, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that, if approved by the Senate, will compel the Secretary of State in coordination with Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence to submit a report to determine whether the assistance of the United States security sector to the Government of Colombia was used for the purposes of surveillance or illegal intelligence activities on civilian population. It would also aim to identify whether human rights defenders, journalists, judicial personnel, and members of the opposition would be among those affected.  

This alert was issued after Semana Magazine published its “Secret Folders” investigation, in which it denounces the surveillance and profiling actions by the Colombian Army over more than 130 people, including human rights defenders, national and international journalists, politicians, union leaders, and other members of the armed forces. After the public complaint, doubts persist about the possible use of international assistance offered by the United States to carry out these illegal surveillance activities.

This issue has aroused the concern of U.S. Congressmen, and at least 100 of them asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to demand Ivan Duque's government to commit itself to the implementation of the Peace Agreement to protect human rights defenders, including journalists. To date, however, there is no public response from the Government to this request.   

So far, the Colombian Government has not disclosed the findings of the disciplinary and criminal proceedings it announced in May 2020, when the complaint was published, nor has it responded to the petition rights submitted by FLIP and journalists victims. In this regard, the Foundation considers it essential and timely for international cooperation to ask Ivan Duque's government to speed up the results of the investigations to protect reporters who are at risk from these surveillance actions. In this regard, it is important for US authorities to take a thorough look at these processes so that the results will make it possible to know the truth about those responsible for the intelligence work and what the scope of these was. 

For FLIP, it is important that this report contains detailed information on the participation of Colombian State agents in the surveillance activities aimed at the press, with details on the activities, the objectives and their scope, in order to identify the chain of command involved in these actions. In addition, as proposed by the United States House of Representatives, the report should account on the use of resources to assist the security sector for these work coming from said country, and the response by the Department of State and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to these complaints. In this regard, the report is expected to answer the following questions to the Colombian State, posed by the reporters affected:

• Who gave the order to profile and surveil journalists and media by military intelligence agencies, which directly attacks free exercise of journalism guarantees in the country?
• One of the objectives of military intelligence is to protect human rights, and to prevent and counter internal or external threats related to national security. Are journalists and media under surveillance by the State a threat to national security? Which criteria justifies the implementation of activities against the press that are originally set up to combat crime?
• Who were the recipients and/or had access to the folders with the profiles and espionage to journalists, politicians, and human rights defenders?
• Does President Ivan Duque, the Ministry of Defense or any of his senior officials have knowledge of these illegal espionage activities? What actions will they take to ensure that journalists can practice their profession without being targeted for profiling, espionage, and stigmatization?

FLIP values positively the commitment of the U.S. authorities to advance oversight actions around these complaints involving the Colombian armed forces. This sends a strong message of rejection of this type of anti-democratic action, and highlights the need for rapid investigations by the Colombian Government and the judicial authorities.

For FLIP, it is essential to clarify the scope of these profiling and surveillance practices on journalists by military intelligence agencies, to assess the risk they pose to journalists. These actions violate Colombian State's obligations in the press freedom area, which are inherent to authoritarian regimes, and call into question the right to an informed society and for guarantees for the free exercise of journalism in the country.  

In this sense, FLIP calls on the Department of State and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to publish their findings, if applicable, to be taken into account in the investigations that the Colombian State is advancing. This input can be vital for expediting disciplinary and criminal investigations, as well as risk assessments by the National Protection Unit, so that the necessary security measures to protect journalists who have been victims of violations of press freedom by the State are taken.

The Foundation also reiterates the call to the Prosecutor's Office of the Nation and the Attorney General’s Office of the Nation to make rapid progress in the investigations in order to clarify the criminal acts, determine the levels of responsibility of the aggressors and to impose the appropriate sanctions.