In accordance with the current constitution, Colombia is a Social State based on the rule of law, organised in the form of a unitary republic with political centralisation and administrative decentralisation. Political power is separated into three branches; legislative, executive and judiciary, and various authorities such as the State Crown Prosecution Service, Attorney s Office or Public Prosecutor's Office, Comptroller's Office and Citizen Oversight Committees. The President operates as Head of State and Government simultaneously, delegating his functions to cabinet ministers, among other officials who are freely appointed and dismissed. At least 30% of public roles must be occupied by women. After his victory in the second round of elections (June 2010), Juan Manuel Santos replaced lvaro Uribe as President of the Republic for the 2010-2014 term. Uribes Government was marred by a succession of scandals linked to extrajudicial executions perpetrated by the army, a process of paramilitary demobilisation that was widely questioned and the illegal surveillance of human rights defenders, journalists, opposition politicians and magistrates of the Supreme Court, by the national intelligence service.

The Colombian Parliament is bicameral and is composed of the Senate (102 national constituency seats) and the Chamber of Deputies (166 regional constituency seats, proportional to the population of each department and the Capital District). Five of these seats belong to minority sectors such as indigenous populations, Afro-Colombians and Columbians who live abroad. The judicial system includes the Constitutional Court (responsible for ensuring compliance with the Constitution), the Supreme Court of Justice (court of final appeal for civil, labour and criminal matters), the Council of State (principal court in administrative appeals) and the Superior Council of the Judiciary (responsible for judicial administration). The last legislative elections were held in March 2010. There were reports of vote buying and disproportionate increases in voting, considered evidence that forces linked to criminal groups can still maintain a share of the power in Congress. Four months after the elections, one day before the installation of the new congress, amid strong interrogation, the official results of the legislative elections were published by the National Electoral Council.

During more than five decades of internal armed conflict, thousands of Colombians have been displaced and assassinated, and enforced disappearances are common. Figures released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2010 confirm that Colombia is the first country in the world to expulse refugees and displaced persons. According to UNHCR, at the end of 2009 almost 3.8 million cases of refugees and displaced persons were recorded in Colombia, exceeding Iraq (3.6 million), Afghanistan (3.3 million), Pakistan (3 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2,7 million), Somalia (2,2 million) and Sudan (1,6 million).

Violence in Colombia has different sources. Traditionally, the armed forces have been used to combat guerrilla groups, drug traffickers, armed militia groups, paramilitaries, etc. The civil population is the victim and it often finds itself caught in the crossfire. A phenomenon which has seriously affected some Colombian children and youths is the sicariato, that is, children and young people who are armed and then hired by drug traffickers and other violent groups to kill or threaten their rivals, or the popular leaders and unions they want to eliminate.

The Judiciary is formally independent, but is subject to pressure and intimidation and is considered responsible for cases of corruption. Security forces are accused of collaborating with the paramilitaries and impunity is central to human rights problems. Guerrilla organisations are also responsible for serious abuse and violation of fundamental rights. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) often use anti-personnel mines. According to the Governments reports, 76 civilians suffered from injuries between January and August 2010 as a result of anti-personnel mines and undetonated ammunition. Some members of the security forces have been prosecuted, but no high-ranking officers have been brought to trial and sentences are not very common. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index-2010, for Transparency International, Colombia occupies the 78th position of 178 countries.

All discrimination is prohibited on the grounds of race, sex, religion, disability, language or social status. However, this prohibition is not respected and discrimination against indigenous people and minorities is commonplace.

Drug trafficking continues to generate an illicit economy that moves astronomical quantities of drugs and perpetuates the spiral of violence. Income distribution is highly skewed, and 59% of the population lives below the poverty line.

Access to government information is permitted, unless it relates to defence or national security. Journalism suffers from threats and harassment and journalists tend to practice self-censorship. Many journalists are in voluntary exile as a consequence of the threats they have suffered that come from different sources, including illegal groups, the paramilitaries, army and police. Intelligence agencies are reported tapping telephone conversations without authorisation, despite a Constitutional Court order which revokes an anti-terrorist law that granted authorities the right to intercept private communications. Paramilitaries and guerrillas also monitor private communications. Internet access is unrestricted. Teachers have been the targets of armed groups and thousands of them are internally displaced or in exile. Colombia is a country of origin and transit for the trafficking of children and women for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The Government offers public education for children aged 5 to 15. Primary education is universal and compulsory, but families are charged for enrolment fees, books, school supplies and transportation, and these costs are prohibitive for the rural poor. The National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) estimates that 75% of children aged 5 to 15 attend school. School meal programmes have been implemented in some cities. Childrens education is disrupted for many reasons. The International Organisation for Migration estimates that 6,000 to 11,000 children are members of illegal armed groups. UNICEF estimates the figure to be higher, at 14,000. Children are recruited forcibly, but a significant percentage of child soldiers are volunteers. An increase in the number of minors deserting these illegal armed groups is reported even though children fear for the safety of their families if they escape. These children who have been soldiers have little schooling and require special assistance to integrate into education. The high incidence of child victims of extrajudicial killings is cause for concern. An ILO Committee urged the Government to monitor the extent of violence, sexual abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation of children in families, schools and institutions, and in other care. Training is urgently needed for professionals working with children. Education International and its member organisation FECODE have encouraged the development of curricula for the reintegration of former child soldiers into school as well as the development of teaching manuals and material dedicated to education for peace and reconciliation.

EI and FEDCODE defend and promote the need to consider schools as areas of peace.

The nursery school programme runs from ages 3 to 6. The net enrolment rate (NER) is 47% (49% girls). 45% of ECE is private. 50,462 teachers (96% women) work at this level. The pupil/teacher ratio (PTR) is 21:1.

Compulsory education begins at age 5. Primary education begins at age 6 and lasts for 5 years. The NER is 90% (49% girls). Of the children who enrol in Grade 1, 77% reach the last grade of primary school. 4% of students repeat grades. There are 188,147 primary school teachers (77% women). The PTR is 30:1. There is an overcrowding of children in classes in urban areas. In a new rural areas programme, Escuela Nueva, multi-grade classrooms have been instituted.

Secondary education starts at age 11 and lasts for 6 years. 22% of secondary education is private. 8% of students study in technical vocational programmes. The NER is 73% (51% girls) and 3% of students repeat grades. There are 121,849 teachers in lower secondary schools and 42,491 in upper secondary. The PTR is 25:1.

1,570,470 students are enrolled in tertiary institutions, for a Gross Enrolment Rate of 37%. 16,090 students study abroad, mainly in the USA (7,533), France (1,754), Venezuela (1,206), Germany (988) and Spain (797).

Discrimination is prohibited against children with disabilities in education, employment or other public services. The social security fund cannot refuse to provide services for children with disabilities regardless of the costs involved. However, little progress is reported with education of disabled children. Support teachers, supervisors and trained personnel are not available in programmes to integrate children with disabilities into mainstream classrooms.

The law provides for the granting of asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a system for providing protection for refugees. An active presence in the country is maintained by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The UNHCR reports that 74% of all internally displaced persons (IDPs) are women and children who are vulnerable to physical abuse, sexual exploitation and criminal recruitment. Among the IDPs are teachers who have been targeted by paramilitary groups, and efforts have been made to help them move to safe locations and continue teaching.

Afro-Colombian and indigenous children, and all children living in rural and remote areas, have limited access to education and healthcare. The skewed allocation of resources continues to exacerbate this situation. 22% of Colombians are of African origin. Afro-Colombians face economic and social discrimination and they tend to earn below the minimum wage. The region with the highest percentage of Afro-Colombians (El Choc) ranks lowest in terms of education. Some of the worst political violence, involving the struggle for control of key drug and weapons smuggling corridors, occurs in regions inhabited by Afro-Colombians. Indigenous people make up 2% of the population. They suffer discrimination and live on the margins of society, victimised by all sides in the conflict. They have rights to their ancestral lands, but these rights are contested by illegal armed groups.

Academic freedom is not legally restricted, but paramilitary groups and guerrillas maintain a presence on university campuses. National tests and standards are reported as obstacles to academic freedom. Control of private universities also tends to be seen as a deterrent to academic freedom. Teachers and their students at all levels have been victimised by all sides in the conflict. Guerrillas murder, threaten and kidnap academics and their family members for financial and political reasons. Teachers have been targeted because of their opposition to forced recruitment of children and their community leadership. They have been accused of dissemination of political propaganda in the classroom. Threats and harassment have caused many university professors, teachers and students to avoid discussing controversial topics. Many academics remain in exile. The leadership of FECODE has been targeted by paramilitary groups for many years. EI and its member organisations have assisted colleagues who have gone into exile and have assisted internally displaced teachers. EI supported the work of FECODE and the Ministry of Education to establish a programme for at-risk teachers. Efforts are made to relocate such teachers and their families.

Discrimination against women is prohibited in law, which requires effective participation by women at decision-making levels of public administration. However, women are disproportionately affected by unemployment and their salaries are lower than those of men. Rural women are most affected by wage discrimination and unemployment. Single mothers face serious economic and social problems. No laws prohibit sexual harassment, and it is a pervasive problem. Domestic violence is a serious problem, but only a small percentage of such crimes are reported to authorities. Paramilitaries and guerrillas rape and abuse women and children for allegedly fraternising with the enemy or violating imposed codes of conduct or dress restrictions. Women and girls are subject to a continuum of violence. Amnesty International accused all parties in the conflict of abusing women. The FARC has large numbers of female combatants in its ranks. Prostitution is widespread and exacerbated by a poor economy and internal displacement. Trafficking women for sexual exploitation is also a problem.

In the World Economic Forum 2010 Global Gender Gap report, the country went from ranking in 22nd position of 115 in 2006, to 55th of 134 countries from all continents in 2010.

One of the main hindrances to gender equality is the low participation of women in the labour market, an area in which Colombia ranks 113th out of 134 nations. The World Economic Forum uses an indicator of zero to one to measure equality, where one indicates that men and women have the same rights. In female labour participation, Colombia has been allocated 0.55 and for wage equality 0.59.

The legal minimum age for work is inconsistent with the age for completion of basic education, and only 38% of working children attend school. Legally the employment of children under 12 is prohibited, while children aged 12 and 13 are limited to light work for a maximum of 4 hours a day, with parental permission.

Children aged 14 and 15 may work a maximum of 6 hours a day, and at 16 and 17 this is increased to 8 hours a day. In the informal sector, child labour is a serious problem. Child workers are prohibited from working at night or under conditions conducive to the risk of bodily harm; they are also prohibited from working in specific occupations, such as mining and construction. Unfortunately such laws are ignored in practice, and it is estimated that 15% of children work under such conditions. Between 200,000 and 400,000 children work in illegal mining, gemstone operations and in agriculture, while another 200,000 work in the illegal drug trade, often as coca pickers.

National Committee for the Eradication of Child Labour includes representatives from various government ministries as well as unions, employer associations and NGOs. Strategies are proposed to protect children by strengthening the education system. Conversely, a significant percentage of children are forced to serve as paramilitary or guerrilla combatants or coca pickers. Initiatives have been introduced by trade-union organisations, including the Colombian Federation of Teachers (FECODE), member organisation of EI, to combat child labour and to counteract sexual exploitation, pornography and sex tourism involving children. A consequence of these actions has been provided by ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts.

Workers may form and join trade unions, except members of the armed forces and police, and persons performing essential public services.

Violence against trade unionists is endemic. Union leaders are targets of attacks by the security forces, paramilitaries and armed groups for political reasons. Members of unions affiliated with the CUT, the country's largest confederation, have been targeted, and the murder of trade unionists is strongly linked to their labour activism. The Committee of Experts of the Commission for application of the international labour standards of the ILO has noted on many occasions that an anti-union climate pervades the country.
Violation of the right to life continues to be an all too common form of political violence in Colombia, and within the trade-union movement a high proportion of its victims are teachers. The Colombian Federation of Teachers (FECODE), member organisation of EI, has documented the assassination of 27 trade unionist teachers in 2010 alone. More than 300 teachers have been threatened using their activities as a pretext for those threats. However, led by President Santos, the Government is denying these rights and attributing them to other motives, casting a shadow of doubt over the activities and lives of the unionised teachers. Since 1990, 927 trade unionist teachers have been murdered in Colombia. More than 3,000 have been threatened, more than 1,000 have been internally displaced, 70 have been forced to leave the country with their families and 60 have disappeared. In these cases, impunity has been the rule: only 25 per cent of the 2,800 or more murdered trade unionists documented by the National Trade Union School-NTUS are being investigated by the Crown Prosecution Service for the criminal investigation of these crimes. Even though the Crown Prosecution Service has initiated the investigation of more than 1,300 cases of anti-unionist violence (including several hundred cases which do not appear in the NTUS list), sentences have been obtained in only 14 per cent of these cases. In addition, investigations may be fragmented in their execution and may not take into account whether the motive for the crime was linked to the victims trade union activities.

Paramilitaries are said to be responsible for 97% of the violence, and perpetrators operate with impunity. The Government often arrests and detains union members on suspicion of engaging in terrorist activity. Charges against the leaders tend to be dismissed for lack of evidence. EI and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have implemented some programmes to provide protection to threatened unionists, including a programme to relocate at-risk teachers. The ILO has criticised the requirement that government officials must be present at meetings convened to take a strike vote and the prohibition of the strikes in a wide range of non-essential public services.

The right to organise and bargain collectively is respected in the private sector but is not implemented fully in the public sector. Contracts between individual workers and their employers are not subject to collective bargaining, a fact that complicates and discourages trade union organisation. There are an increasing number of worker cooperatives. The Employers must provide at least the minimum wage and the same health and retirement benefits as other workers receive. Private sector employers are accused of forcing workers to form cooperatives which they then manage. The law prohibits the use of strike-breakers. Public sector employees must accept binding arbitration if mediation fails. Slavery and any form of forced or compulsory labour are illegal. A minimum wage is set annually as a benchmark for collective bargaining. The monthly minimum wage has not kept up with inflation and does not provide workers and their families with a decent standard of living. The maximum working day is set at 8 hours and the working week is 48 hours.
In September 2010, EI and FECODE filed complaints with the ILO Commission of Experts, presenting reports of murders, abductions, and disappearances, illegal threats to teachers and their detention and torture.