Related Rule
Colombia
Practice Relating to Rule 55. Access for Humanitarian Relief to Civilians in Need
Section A. Access for humanitarian relief
Colombia’s Basic Military Manual (1995) states the duty to allow relief organizations, such as the Red Cross, to perform humanitarian activities in favour of non-combatants and civilians.
Colombia, Derecho Internacional Humanitario – Manual Básico para las Personerías y las Fuerzas Armadas de Colombia, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional, 1995, pp. 21, 22, 30 and 42.
Colombia’s Decree No. 138 (2005) states:
All authorities and persons in Colombia must protect … relief personnel and the persons who permanently or temporarily carry out humanitarian tasks in situations of armed conflict or natural disasters, facilitating their free transit and the transport of drugs, food and drink and humanitarian aid, evacuating the dead, wounded and sick, cooperating with them as necessary for the fulfilment of their tasks.
Colombia, Decree No. 138, 2005, Article 16.
The Report on the Practice of Colombia refers to a draft internal working paper in which the Colombian Government stated: “The accomplishment of the functions of humanitarian organizations shall be facilitated.”
Report on the Practice of Colombia, 1998, Chapter 4.1, referring to Presidential Council, Proposal of the Government to the Coordinator Guerrillerra Simón Bolívar to humanize war, Draft Internal Working Paper, Part entitled “El Derecho Internacional Humanitario”, § 8.
