Few victim reparations, impunity for violators hinder Colombia human rights: HRW
Few victim reparations, impunity for violators hinder Colombia human rights: HRW
posted by Taran Volckhausen
Jan 21, 2014
Colombia in 2013 once again received a failing grade on human rights, a problem made worse by the justice system’s impunity for human rights abusers, and slow progress on victim reparation, according to Human Right Watch (HRW) on Tuesday.
A report published by the human rights group highlighted the problems facing Colombia due to the presence of illegal armed groups, including warring left-wing guerrillas and right-wing neo-paramilitaries and drug traffickers, operating in the country. Since 1985, HRW claimed that over 5 million Colombians have been displaced from their homes, including 150,000 people displaced in 2012 alone, giving the country the second-highest rate of internal displacement worldwide.
While the report gave President Juan Manuel Santos higher marks for defending human rights than his predecessor Alvaro Uribe, HRW argued that the government was still failing to protect human rights in many respects through incomplete reforms and counter-productive reforms.
Limited progress on victim reparations
Although Santos signed in 2011 the Victims and Land Restitution Bill, a flagship reform for his administration to restore land to displaced victims of the armed conflict, HRW criticized the government’s “limited advances” in this arena of human rights since the law was passed.
More:
http://colombiareports.co/colombias-continued-human-rights-failure-impacted-impunity-hrw/
