Tuesday Feb 28, 2023 - Colombia - United Nations Human Rights Council, More women in powerful positions, Colombian Prisons

These are the trending news headlines in Colombia on Tuesday Feb 28, 2023

Colombia is set to participate in the 52nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which begins today in Geneva, Switzerland. The country's mission will take the approach of "Total Peace" to address violence and achieve justice in social, environmental, and economic spheres. Colombia's participation in this forum demonstrates its commitment to respecting and guaranteeing human rights, while also presenting national interests to the international community and seeking opportunities for collaboration with other countries. The Human Rights Council, an intergovernmental body of the UN, consists of 47 member states and aims to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide.

The Superintendence of Finance reports that women have a greater presence in oversight and control positions in private entities, according to data collected from supervised entities. The overall figures show that women make up 30.84% of senior management and control bodies in the private sector, with higher representation in financial audit, compliance officers, and consumer advocates. Brokerage firms have the highest quota for women at 66% in those positions, while financial cooperatives show 80% of women in financial audit and compliance officer roles and 100% of women in the consumer advocate position. However, women still have little representation in top positions in the public sector, according to the report. These findings are particularly relevant as the Par Ranking, which evaluates gender equality in the business sector in Colombia, is about to be published.

In some Colombian prisons, inmates can obtain certain benefits, such as choosing their own cell or accessing illegal technology. According to Fernando Tamayo Arboleda, professor and director of the Prison Group at the Legal Clinic of the University of the Andes, this is due to corruption, security and governance issues, and the precarious conditions of the prisons themselves. Tamayo explains that corruption reaches even to judges and officials responsible for making decisions about confinement, while the conditions within the prisons replicate the social inequalities and stratification present outside. Precarious conditions make it easier for political, economic, or social power to benefit some inmates, who may even profit from the needs of others.

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