Abstract

PORRAS SANTANILLA, Laura Cecilia  and  RODRIGUEZ MORALES, Andrés. Is the Colombian Constitutional Court Failing to Protect the Working Poor?. Rev. latinoam. derecho soc [online]. 2022, n.35, pp.3-26.  Epub Feb 07, 2023. ISSN 2448-7899.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iij.24487899e.2022.35.17270.

This article studies tutela rulings issued by the Colombian Constitutional Court in cases where rebuscadores (as we call poor people that work in public spaces) activate the judicial system to prevent state authorities from evicting them. We present two main findings. In the first place, we argue that the tutela has been useful to coordinate abstract constitutional rights (such as the right to work and to a minimum income) with different local regulations that impact the lives of the poor, such as those that prohibit watching out for cars on the street. In cases of waste pickers, bicycle taxi drivers, and sex workers, among others, the Court protects the plaintiffs’ rights understanding that preventing them from working in public space is a purely symbolic aspiration until they are offered employment alternatives and/or social assistance programs that cover their minimum income. However, in the case of street vendors evicted for “invading” the public space, we argue that the Court is moving away from the established constitutional balance that protected their right to work, using, for this purpose, dubious procedural arguments that should be reconsidered in future rulings.

Keywords : Rebusque; street vendors; Colombian Constitutional Court; tutela; Colombia.

        · abstract in Spanish | French     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )