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Colombia's president vowed to strengthen the education and training of ESMAD agents in the use of force, human rights, and police procedures.
After one month of ignoring police brutality reports, Colombia's President Ivan Duque on Sunday announced that his country will undergo a police reform to put an end to human rights violations.
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"We will modernize the Defense Ministry and transform the Mobile Anti-Riot Squadron (ESMAD) and the National Police," Duque said during a police officer promotion ceremony in Bogota.
The Duque administration hopes to achieve police excellence by drafting a new "Disciplinary Statute", restructuring the institution's General Inspectorate, and creating a new system for receiving complaints.
He also promised to strengthen the education and training of ESMAD agents in the use of force, human rights, citizen attention, and police procedures.
In Colombia, @cerosetenta joined with @bellingcat and @ForensicArchi to track and map police violence during recent protests. Demonstrations began on April 28, against a tax reform proposed by Iván Duque's government.
— Global Investigative Journalism Network (@gijn) June 3, 2021
By @MarinaEstarque | @LatAmJournalism https://t.co/SzGbtRgX1z
"We will apply protocols for the legitimate use of force and we will draft a bill for the use and trade of non-lethal weapons in Colombia," Duque announced to contain the protests that broke out against his mandate on April 28.
Finally, police officers' uniforms will no longer be green but blue, and the Defense Ministry will be renamed the National Defense and Citizen Security Ministry.
Duque made this announcement amid escalating police brutality in the country, where at least 47 people died at the hands of an officer from April 28 to May 31.
#Colombia | The police fire tear gas at protesters in Facatativa.#PoliceBrutality #ParoNacional1J pic.twitter.com/y6R2Qsh6op
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) June 1, 2021
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