5.5. Constitutional Court

5.5. Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court is an independent tribunal, committed to safeguarding and protecting human rights. It often intervenes to order the state to provide for the equal rights of marginalised groups.1175F868 For instance, in December 2023, the Court ordered the government to better protect human rights defenders and bring to justice those involved in the killings (SU-546 of 2023), declaring their situation to be unconstitutional due to the increasing rates of aggressions against human rights defenders in general, and due to the blocked capacity of the State to prevent and control such violence.76869 In 2022, a similar ruling was made regarding the human rights violations of former combatants and signatories to the 2016 FARC-EP Peace Agreement (SU-020 of 2022).1177F870 The court has also issues a series of decisions against the operational problems of the UNP, and highlighting the barriers stopping the successful implementation of the Early Warning System of the Ombudsperson's office, and the need for greater national and regional coordination and funding for the protection of former combatants and human rights defenders.871 DeJusticia remarked that the growing number of court decisions on the protection of human rights defenders reflects mounting frustration with the institutional framework's ineffectiveness. The judiciary has become the last resort for civil society when the government fails or refuses to uphold its own standards. Since 2022, however, this series of judicial decisions has strengthened the leverage and accountability capacity of human rights defenders and their allies, enabling them to exert greater pressure on the government for more effective action.⁸⁷²