20 - The Right to Freedom of Thought in Colombia

Summary

This chapter examines freedom of thought in Colombia. No Constitution of Colombia has stipulated the right to freedom of thought since the country’s independence. However, its existence is currently undisputed in the Colombian legal system due to the Constitutional Court jurisprudence. Since 1997, the Court has defined this freedom as a stand-alone forum internum right and has delineated its content and attributes. However, case-law references to this right have been mainly rhetorical for at least three reasons. First, scepticism about its practical utility given that thoughts have been considered impossible to access. Second, cases related to the right to freedom of thought usually involve interests that also fall under the protective remit of other rights, which are directly stipulated by the Constitution. Third, the Court’s characterization of the relation and differences between the right to freedom of thought and other rights (i.e., freedom of expression and freedom of conscience) is inconsistent, complex, as well as conceptually and practically unclear. We do think it is necessary for the Colombian legal system to make advancements on the conceptual and normative independence of freedom of thought to reinforce the protection of the forum internum.