I. LAND AND PEOPLE 1 - 33
A. Ethnic and social characteristics 1 - 7 B. Demographic characteristics 8 - 32 C. Some socio-economic indicators 33
II. GENERAL POLITICAL STRUCTURE 34 - 68
A. System of government 34 - 37 B. Structure of the Colombian State 38 - 68
III. GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 69 - 130
A. Rights, guarantees and duties 69 - 75 B. Competent authorities for the protection of human rights 76 - 87 C. Special actions by the Government to protect and promote human rights, and recent legislative measures and initiatives 88 - 130
Ethnic characteristics
1. According to surveys carried out by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology, 58 per cent of the Colombian population is mestizo, 20 per cent white, 14 per cent mulatto, 4 per cent black, 1.7 per cent indigenous and 2.3 per cent of other races.
2. Colombia is also a country with a diversity of regions and cultures. There are five major regions: the Atlantic coast, the biogeographical region of Chocó (or Pacific region), the Orinoco region, Amazonia and the Andean region, which today are home to a population of 35 million people, who in cultural terms are predominantly mestizo.
3. Two major ethnic and social groups may be geographically and culturally distinguished from the general population: the Afrocolombian communities, numbering approximately one million people and living mainly along the Pacific coast and certain areas on the Atlantic coast; and the indigenous Amerindian peoples, of which there are about 82 groups with a total population of 700,000, living in territories in the Andes and in vast stretches of the lowlands (Orinoquía, Amazonia, Chocó and the Guajira peninsula). To these must be added the populations of the islands of San Andrés and Providencia (1,000 persons) (see annexes The annexes may be consulted at the Centre for Human Rights., maps and tables 1 and 2).
Language
4. Colombia recognizes Spanish as its national language; the country also has a wealth of languages among its indigenous communities. Sixty-four languages belonging to 13 families of languages have been identified (Chibcha, Arawak, Caribe, Macro-Tukano, Witot, Sikuani, Quechua, Kamsa, Kofan, Nukak-Maku, Bora, Saliba and Puinabe). The Constitution of 1991 (article 10) establishes the languages and dialects of the ethnic groups as official in their territories, and directs that teaching should be bilingual in the communities that have their own linguistic traditions; in addition, educational programmes adapted to the ethnic characteristics of the various communities - ethno-education - are now being implemented.
Religion
5. Article 19 of the Constitution states: "Freedom of religion is guaranteed. All persons have the right to freely profess and individually or collectively disseminate their religion." According to the most recent demographic data, 95 per cent of the population are Roman Catholic and the remaining 5 per cent profess other religions.
Education
6. Under article 67 of the Constitution, "Education is an individual right and a public service which has a social function ... The State, society and the family are responsible for education, which shall be compulsory from 5 to 15 years of age and shall include, as a minimum, 1 year of pre-school education and 9 years of basic education."
7. In 1993 (latest official figures) the numbers of pupils, teachers and schools, by urban and rural areas, public and private sectors, pre-school, basic primary and secondary levels, were as follows:
Source: DNP-UDS-Education Division, Ministry of Education. Information certified by the Secretary for Education.
8. With the help of the subnational population projections prepared in 1991, it has been possible to observe - in a standardized series - the evolution of the country's population in the second half of this century.
9. Colombia has been one of the fastest countries in Latin America to cover the various stages of population transition, moving from high birth and mortality rates at the beginning of the period (see table) to falling birth rates and relatively low mortality rates towards the end of the period.
10. As the living and health conditions of the population have improved, as a result of the introduction of new medical technologies, the country has achieved significant advances in hygiene. Together with substantially increased access by women to education and work, this has led to important changes in reproductive behaviour (use of family planning, older age of mothers at the birth of their first child, smaller family size, etc.), which has helped the country to progress rapidly through the stages of demographic transition, a phenomenon that took more than a century in some developed countries and has taken only three decades in Colombia.
11. Increasing access to safe water and health services and greater information about food and nutrition are factors that, together with the Government's mass immunization campaigns, have resulted in a substantial drop in infant mortality, which fell from 123.2 to 27.3 per thousand between the beginning and the end of the period (1950-1994).
Source: DANE, Adjusted Population Censuses 1951-1964-1973 and 1985.
DANE, Colombia: Subnational Population Projections 1985-2000.
p: provisional figure.
Population growth
12. The rapid decline in birth and mortality rates, decisive factors in population growth, have been reflected in this indicator (annual growth rate - r -) which fell from 3 per cent at about the time of the 1964 census to 1.7 per cent at the present. If deceleration of growth continues at the present rate, a rate of 1.4 per cent is estimated for the year 2000.
13. The rapid process of urbanization the country has experienced has led to differential rates of growth in the urban centres and the rest of the country, moving from an essentially rural structure (61.3 per cent rural population in 1951) to an eminently urban structure (72.9 per cent urban population in 1993).
Fertility
14. The rapid decline in fertility (the global fertility rate fell from 6.8 in 1951 to an anticipated 2.7 this year) has largely contributed to the decline in the country's population growth.
15. The demographic change has been general throughout all parts of the country, but rates of reproduction have not changed to the same extent in all regions. In the large cities, the process is moving much faster, since there is greater access to information on methods of birth control and new patterns of behaviour are being adopted.
16. Analysing the behaviour of the fertility rate, it will be noted that it is considerably higher in the rural sector - 4.9 in 1986 and 3.8 in 1990, as compared with 2.8 in 1986 and 2.5 in 1990 in the urban sector.
17. The spread and adoption of contraception has had a notable effect in reducing family size and on the reproductive behaviour of women (as already indicated), raising the average age of women at the birth of the first child from 16.9 years at the beginning of the 1960s to 22.1 years at the present time.
18. Analysing the crude birth rate - the simplest and most basic indicator of fertility - we find that it fell by half during the reference period, from 47.3 at the outset to 24.0 births per 1,000 population at the end of the period. This decline has reduced the base of the population pyramid, so that the first five-year age groups are gradually shrinking (in relation to the following age groups), resulting in the ageing of the country's population.
Mortality
19. In Colombia overall mortality rates have fallen to levels comparable with those of countries with more advanced conditions of development, declining from rates of around 17 per thousand in 1950-1955 to 5.9 per thousand at the present. Analysing mortality by gender, it will be seen that the rate among males is higher at all ages, and especially in the age groups at the beginning and end of life.
20. The death rate declined steadily from 13.5 per thousand in 1953 to 5.0 per thousand in 1988, at which point it levelled off. This stability may have been determined by better recording of deaths, the change in the age structure of the population and the increased degree of urbanization. The mortality rate is higher for men. The structure of deaths by age has altered in recent years: whereas in 1954 half of deaths occurred before the age of five, by 1991 this proportion had fallen to 10.3 per cent; at the same time, the proportion of deaths among persons aged over 60 years increased from 20 per cent in 1954 to 46.3 per cent in 1991.
21. One of the indicators that has evolved most favourably over the last few decades is the infant mortality rate, which was 123.2 per thousand live births annually among infants under one year in the first five-year period of the series, and is now approximately 27 per thousand. This decline is evidence of improvement in the quality of life of the population and (hygiene, nutrition, immunization and other factors) and is directly associated with the country's level of development, with a direct effect on increased life expectancy at birth.
22. Although the breakdown by sectors is not available, it is known that because of the differences in development between the urban and rural areas, mortality among infants under one year is consequently higher in the rural areas.
23. Demographic analysis by gender has shown that approximately 105 males are born for every 100 females. However, the risk of mortality at birth or in the first year of life is much higher for males, so that the rate of survival in the first year (and at all ages) is higher among females.
Life expectancy
24. In 1990 a Colombian lived on average for 28 years and no less than 250 out of every 1,000 live births died each year before reaching their first birthday. For the first three decades, life expectancy averaged 36 years. Between 1940 and 1960, it increased to 58 years, and the great progress achieved in efforts to control the rate of mortality now enables Colombians to live for an average of 69 years (67.1 years for men and 71 years for women). If we look at the trend from 1980 to 1993, we see that life expectancy increased by almost five years during that period, from 64.7 to 69.0 years.
25. If we look at life expectancy by gender, it will be seen that it is higher for females than for males at all stages and that the gain in years has been greater over the whole of the period. Where women have gained 20 years, men have gained approximately 17. Similarly, it will be seen that the gender differential has also increased, progressing from three years at the start of the series to nearly six at the end, which clearly indicates a comparative advantage for women in regard to their potential for life.
Age structure of the population
26. One of the most significant consequences of the declining birth rate and the control of mortality has been the change in the age structure of the population. The proportion of children under 15 years, which was 46 per cent in about 1973, is now only 35 per cent, while the population in the intermediate age groups (15 to 64 years) has been increasing in relative terms, rising from 51 per cent to 60 per cent over the same period. The same is true for the population over 65 years, which rose by one point from 3 per cent to 4 per cent.
27. Projections for the year 2000 indicate that young people under 15 years will constitute about 30 per cent of the total population, the central groups will rise to 65 per cent and the remaining 5 per cent will comprise the population of 65 years and over.
Urban/rural distribution of the population
28. One of the processes that has been most clearly observed in the country in the last few decades is the phenomenon of urbanization and the concentration of the population in the cities. This has given rise to considerable changes in the spatial distribution of the population during the period under analysis.
29. If we examine the figures shown in the table of demographic indicators, it will be observed that there is a substantial population increase in the cities and a decrease in the rest of the country. The urban population was 38.7 per cent of the overall population in the 1950s, while according to the most recent census, this proportion has risen to approximately 73 per cent (provisional figure). The rural population, which at the start of the series accounted for 61.3 per cent, has fallen by the end to only 27.1 per cent of the national total.
30. The number and proportion of persons living in urban areas is increasing. In 1973, 60 per cent of the population lived in localities with more than 1,500 inhabitants; this figure is now estimated to have reached 75 per cent.
31. Deceleration in the rate of growth has spread to the whole of the country, but with differences in spatial distribution. Vigourous expansion is to be observed in the departments of the Atlantic Coast, Meta, Valle and the National Territories (those which have shown the highest rates of growth on the whole); stagnation or slight decline in the Andean region; and chronic depression in the east, south and west of the country (with the exception of the Cauca Valley).
32. In conclusion, the spatial distribution of the population from the mid-century on has been characterized by a decline in the rural areas of the Andes, movement of the population towards the great plains, and an accentuated process of urbanization and population concentration in the big cities.
33. A number of economic and social indicators are presented below to give an overview of the country's situation and follow the progress of the sectoral objectives, strategies, programmes and plans proposed in the development plans.
Source: DANE, National household survey, stage 83, March 1994.
1991
1992
1993
633.05
680.40
863.30
Source: Banco de la República. Financial statistics.
1/ Including private debts guaranteed by the public sector and short-term debts.
2/ Registered debts. Figures as at 30 June 1993.
1980-1993 pr
Source: DANE. National accounts
p: provisional
pr: preliminary
Source: DANE, National accounts.
1/ Food products except beverages/various foods for animals and others.
p: Provisional figures.
n.a.: Data not available.
Source: DANE. Foreign trade statistics.
Source: DANE. National accounts.
1/ Final consumption within the national territory by both residents and non-residents.