Political Risk:
Moderate
Score:
54/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
33/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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In Colombia, the Colombian Congress has eight functions as stipulated in Law 5 of 1992, [1] which are defined in Article 6 as: the…
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Congress has legislative powers regarding the defence sector and has exercised actions in this regard. Between 2016 and 2018, the Congress of the Republic…
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There are continued pressures by armed organisations, some paramilitary, on Members of Congress, including physical threats. [1] Between 2018 and 2019, some opposition Congress…
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Q2
30/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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Law 3 of 1992 sets up a Standing Constitutional Commisson in charge of “national defence and public force.” Artcle 137 of the Colombian Constitution…
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The Constitutional Court in its Judgment C-540 of 2001 considers that the standing committees of the Congress of the Republic are composed of pre-established…
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Congress has a responsibility to review the relevant defence policies and decisions every 4 years in accordance with the legislative term length. The Congress…
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Committee meeting sessions take place in their own right and they do not depend on calls for convening or subpoenas by the government or…
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With regard to long-term supervision, once a year the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces and the Police submit a policy implementation report…
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Given the construction of public policies on defence and national security are carried out from the perspective of the government, it is clear that…
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Q3
44/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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The defence and security policy in Colombia is defined at the ministerial and sectoral level, based on the dialogue within the Executive. In February…
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The discussion about defence and security policy focuses largely on identifying threats, but it lacks depth in addressing strategies to deal with them. The…
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Citizen consultation processes are promoted through a variety of different areas of participation, such as through formal mechanisms like the Citizen Oversight Committees established…
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The adoption of the Transparency Act in 2014 achieved a major shift towards greater publicity and access to information corresponding to the accounts, decisions,…
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Q4
50/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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Historically, decisions regarding defence and security issues in Colombia have been handled with secrecy by the Colombian state, given the context of the armed…
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In Colombia, civil society organisations are very active and cover a wide variety of social, political, economic, and environmental issues. However, levels of violence…
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In Colombia there is a legal and regulatory framework around the promotion of transparency and access to information in order to counter corruption, as…
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Q5
88/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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On 29 March 1996, Colombia signed the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, whose aim was to prevent, detect, sanction, and eradicate corruption, as well as…
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Colombia is compliant with most of its obligations in priority areas defined by the ratified Conventions. On the website of the Secretariat for Transparency,…
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Q6
75/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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There is regular public debate on advocacy issues amongst academics, journalists, opinion-makers and social organisations. After the signing of the Peace Agreement, discussions around…
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During the presidential term of Iván Duque, spaces for public debate have been promoted through the “Building country” workshops, whose objective is to establish…
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Q7
63/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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Colombia has a consolidated regulatory framework around the fight against corruption: a) Law 1474 of 12 July 2011, “Anti-Corruption Statute”, which dictates rules aimed…
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Law 1474 of 2011, [1] on the fight against corruption, stipulates that all public entities must build a strategy to combat corruption and address…
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Q8
75/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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There is not enough information to score this indicator. The Colombian legislation clearly stipulates that internal control offices have the independence to carry out…
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With respect to the independence of officials of internal oversight offices, Article 8 of the Anti-Corruption Statute [1] mentions that appointments are made by…
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The Ministry of Defence, the Armed Forces and the Police understand the specific risks of corruption in their institutions, which is why they have…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. According to opinion polls conducted during the periods 2017-2019, there is a high level…
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Q10
75/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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In accordance with Article 73 of Law 1474 of 2011, [1] the Anti-Corruption Statute, each government entity must annually develop an “Anti-Corruption and Citizen…
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Article 73 of Law 1474 of 2011 states that the “Anti-Corruption and Citizen Care Plan” referenced in 10A needs to be elaborated in a…
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Following the guidelines of the Administrative Department of the Civil Service, it is possible to adjust and/or modify the Anti-Corruption and Citizen Service Plans…
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Defence Budgets
Q11
67/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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All public entities must develop and publish an Annual Procurement Plan, which is the contractual planning instrument of each institution and allows for the…
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Article 6 of Decree 1510 of 2013 [1] obliges all state entities to publish their Annual Procurement Plan, in addition to updates made during…
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The oversight functions of procurement plans are stipulated in the Colombian legal framework in Law 80 of 1993, Decree 1082 of 2015 and Law…
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Q12
100/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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The general budget of the nation is developed through six stages that make up the budget cycle, defined and regulated by Decree 4730 of…
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The budget for the defence sector is developed by the planning offices of the entities who have the responsibility to plan, advise, develop, consolidate,…
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Q13
63/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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Strictly speaking, the Second Commission of Congress has the power to supervise defence matters. However, Article 2 of Law 3 of 1992 states that…
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The Second Committee does not have the competence, influence, nor responsibility for carrying out possible amendments to the Law of the National Budget or…
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Q14
50/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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The General Budget of the Nation is disclosed to the public through the website of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit. For the…
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It is evident that, although there is a transparency law in Colombia that seeks to regulate the right of access to public information, there…
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The Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information stipulates the right of every person to request and receive information from public entities. The…
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Q15
67/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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The publication of sources of defence income that do not come from government allocations is not clearly identifiable in the defence sector budget for…
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Institutional scrutiny of defence revenue that does not come from the central government is carried out by the internal oversight offices and the Planning…
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We cannot distinguish scrutiny specifically for this indicator, but, generally, it is evident that there is considerable and consistent scrutiny within the media about…
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Q16
81/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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The Office of Internal Control in the Ministry of Defence is in charge of carrying out internal audits and permanent controls on spending. There…
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The supervision and application of the internal audit process by the internal control office develops actions for all corruption-related issues within the Ministry of…
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As per the Law of Transparency, all reports made by the internal control office are public and easily accessible. Therefore, civil society organisations or…
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The findings of the control offices are disseminated in management reports, reports on the evaluation of the internal control system, reports of self-assessment by…
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Q17
75/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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In Colombia, the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) conducts external audits and has a constitutional mandate to exercise surveillance of fiscal management in…
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Article 267 of the Colombian Constitution states that the Office of the Comptroller General has functional and budgetary autonomy. [1] Law 42 of 1993…
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The CGR, in accordance with the Transparency Law, [1] publishes only the results of its audits, but not the progress of its processes on…
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Once the audit has been conducted by the CGR and the report has been delivered, the entities are obliged to submit an improvement plan…
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
45/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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The Colombian State has the role of controlling and planning the management and/or use of natural resources. The State is the owner of the…
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The defence sector consists of 18 decentralized entities that make up the Social and Business Group of the Defence (GSED). [1] None of them…
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In the context of the armed conflict and the post-conflict process, possible links and relations between the military forces and police groups are seen…
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Details of the budget implementation for the defence sector are published quarterly on the website of the Ministry of Defence. [1] This publication includes…
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The defence sector has the ‘Line of Honor’ strategy in order to receive complaints and allegations from all entities in the sector. [1] The…
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Organised Crime
Q19
0/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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After the signing of the Peace Agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian Government, various social organisations including CINEP…
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The Colombian government is aware of the relationship or ties that organised crime and paramilitary groups have had with Armed Forces. These relations have…
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Q20
58/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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The Military Forces have a group of norms and institutions whose objective is the investigation of crimes committed in service. Decree 1797 of 2000,…
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The Inspection Offices of the different Armed Forces are independent, neutral, and impartial to the disciplinary investigations and audits they conduct. This is explicitly…
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In Colombia there is debate about the competence of Military Criminal Justice and ordinary justice, since it is not yet clear the scope of…
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
NEI/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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The entity responsible for carrying out strategic intelligence and counter-intelligence for the State is the National Directorate of Intelligence (DNI). [1] The DNI is…
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The documentation available by request through the control and surveillance assistance procedures is often reserved in nature, so the National Directorate of Intelligence (DNI)…
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Q22
17/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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On the National Directorate of Intelligence (DNI) website, it states that all positions of the entity are of free appointment and removal. According to…
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There is no available evidence to conclude that there are objective and accessible criteria for access to Senior defense positions. Selection is questionable, since…
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Given the evidence found, it is not possible to determine that there is a comprehensive background investigation process on the suitability of the individual…
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Export Controls
Q23
25/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
View QuestionLobbying in Defence
There is no overarching legal framework governing lobbying in Colombia, although it is a practice that is carried out permanently in Congress of the…
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This indicator has been marked Not Applicable, as there is no legislation that regulates lobbying in the defence sector.
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This indicator has been marked Not Applicable, as there is no legislation that regulates lobbying in the defence sector.
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This indicator has been marked Not Applicable, as there is no legislation that regulates lobbying in the defence sector.
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