Human Rights Measure
Decree 460 of 2020: By Which Measures are Dictated to Guarantee the Provision of the Service in Charge of Family Police Stations, within the State of Economic, Social and Ecological Emergency (Decreto 460 de 2020: Por el Cual se Dictan Medidas para Garantizar la Prestación del Servicio a Cargo de las Comisarías de Familia, Dentro del Estado de Emergencia Económica, Social y Ecológica)
In order to ensure the continuation of services to address violence against women, and to have in place a framework that incorporates a focus on gender in the response to COVID-19, this decree notes that “family police stations” play a role in “the duty to guarantee the right to a life free of violence within the family and the duty of the State to act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, and punish violence against women.” As such, “district and municipal mayors must . . . carry out their duties” with respect to protection in cases of family violence and adopt “urgent measures” to protect girls, boys, and adolescents, as well as to prevent COVID-19 contagion. To that end, actions to be taken included “offer[ing] means of transportation adequate to [the COVID situation] when the transfer of girls, boys, adolescents, women, and elderly victims of domestic violence to places of protection and isolation [is] required,” “immediately arrang[ing] the exclusive use of telephone and virtual means so that the family police stations provide psychosocial guidance and permanent legal advice,” and “in the event that there exists a risk of aggression or violence in the home,” having in place “adequate spaces for women, boys, girls, adolescents, and older adults” who need protection while also “comply[ing] with isolation measures.”
