Colombia: Stop Abuses by Paramilitaries’ Successor Groups
Government must Protect Civilians, Prosecute Groups’ Members and Accomplices
February 3, 2010
(Bogotá) - Colombia needs to respond effectively to the violent groups committing human rights abuses that have emerged around the country in the aftermath of the flawed demobilization of paramilitary groups, Human Rights Watch says in a report released today.
The 122-page report, "Paramilitaries' Heirs: The New Face of Violence in Colombia," documents widespread and serious abuses by successor groups to the paramilitary coalition known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC). The successor groups regularly commit massacres, killings, forced displacement, rape, and extortion, and create a threatening atmosphere in the communities they control. Often, they target human rights defenders, trade unionists, victims of the paramilitaries who are seeking justice, and community members who do not follow their orders. The report is accompanied by a multimedia presentation that includes photos and audio of some of the Colombians targeted by the successor groups.
"Whatever you call these groups - whether paramilitaries, gangs, or some other name - their impact on human rights in Colombia today should not be minimized," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "Like the paramilitaries, these successor groups are committing horrific atrocities, and they need to be stopped."
Based on nearly two years of field research, the report describes the successor groups' brutal impact on human rights in Colombia, highlighting four regions where the groups have a substantial presence: the city of Medellín, the Urabá region of Chocó state, and the states of Meta and Nariño.
The successor groups pose a growing threat to the enjoyment of human rights in Colombian society. The most conservative estimates, by the Colombian National Police, put the groups' membership at over 4,000, and assert that they have a presence in 24 of Colombia's 32 departments. The groups are actively recruiting new members and despite arrests of some of their leaders, they are moving quickly to replace their leadership and expand their areas of operation.
The rise of the groups has coincided with a significant increase in the national rates of internal displacement from 2004 at least through 2007. Much of the displacement is occurring in regions where successor groups are active. In some areas, like Medellín, where the homicide rate has nearly doubled in the past year, the groups' operations have resulted in a dramatic increase in violence.
More:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/02/02/colombia-stop-abuses-paramilitaries-successor-groups~~~~~Justice & Peace Law and Decree 128
Since 2003, paramilitary groups, responsible for the vast majority of human rights violations in Colombia for over a decade, have been involved in a government-sponsored “demobilization” process. More than 25,000 paramilitaries have supposedly demobilized under a process which has been criticized by AI and other Colombian and international human rights groups, as well as by the OHCHR and the IACHR. The process is lacking in effective mechanisms for justice and in its inability to ensure that paramilitary members actually cease violent activities.
In fact, paramilitarism has not been dismantled, it has simply been “re-engineered.” Many demobilized combatants are being encouraged to join “civilian informer networks,” to provide military intelligence to the security forces, and to become “civic guards”. Since many areas of Colombia have now been wrested from guerrilla control, and paramilitary control established in many of these areas, they no longer see a need to have large numbers of heavily-armed uniformed paramilitaries.
However, evidence suggests that many paramilitary structures remain virtually intact and that paramilitaries continue to kill. Amnesty International continues to document human rights violations committed by paramilitary groups, sometimes operating under new names, and often in collusion with the security forces.
AI would welcome a demobilization process which would lead to the effective dismantling of paramilitarism and end the links between the security forces and paramilitaries. But the current demobilization process is unlikely to guarantee the effective dismantling of such structures. In fact, it is facilitating the re-emergence of paramilitarism and undermining the right of victims to truth, justice and reparation.
More:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/colombia/demobilization/justice_and_peace.html~~~~~Colombia Has Not Met Human Rights Conditions for U.S. Military ...
August 30, 2010
Colombian and U.S. Human Rights Groups Call on the United States to Condition Aid and Support the Rule of Law
As Colombian and U.S. human rights and nongovernmental groups, we call on the U.S. government not to certify that Colombia is meeting the human rights conditions for receipt of U.S. military assistance. To do so would violate the law governing U.S. foreign assistance, because not only has Colombia failed to meet the conditions, it has taken a significant step backward during the last year-long certification period, particularly in failing to bring human rights crimes by security forces to justice. Certifying under these conditions would tell Colombia's new administration that the United States will not hold it accountable for abuses. By withholding certification, which is a judgment on the past administration's record, the United States would help support the rule of law in Colombia. It would send a firm message that the U.S. government expects the new administration to distinguish itself from its predecessor by upholding human rights.
~snip~
Pronounced lack of compliance during this period with provisions requiring progress on dismantling paramilitary networks and new illegal armed groups. Far from being dismantled, paramilitaries and emerging criminal groups have expanded their presence in the last two years. They operate in at least 600 of 1090<4> municipalities and many groups are led by men who were leaders of the AUC. There continues to be evidence of military-paramilitary collaboration which takes place in at least 10 departments of the country. One example is Argelia, where since 2006 to the present, crimes committed by paramilitary structures have often taken place near military and police checkpoints, or when there are mobilizations of troops around the perimeter of villages while paramilitaries operate within. The incidence of massacres and targeted assassinations in many areas of the country is increasing again, as was clearly seen in the wave of paramilitary death threats across the country in April and May, with hundreds of individuals and nongovernmental groups targeted.
~snip~
These examples demonstrate how the Colombian government has failed to comply with the conditions in U.S. law and in many of these key issues there has been a marked deterioration. Certifying in the light of these rampant human rights violations and persistent impunity would be violating and undermining the law. We call on the State Department to withhold certification and promote a real and sustained improvement in human rights standards in Colombia.
More:
http://www.wola.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=viewp&id=1152&Itemid=2(Washington Office on Latin America)
~~~~~ A Dirtier War: Colombia's Fake "Peace Process" and US Policy
Written by Jake Hess request for Colombia.
In response to years of sustained pressure from the Colombia solidarity movement, Congressional Democrats have proposed positive amendments to the Bush administration's annual foreign aid appropriations request for Colombia. If the Democrats have their way, overall funding will be cut by 10%, while 45% of the total package will now be devoted to economic and humanitarian assistance, the remainder to the military. (1) These changes have been hailed as a major step forward by progressive US-based organizations working on reforming US Colombia policy. (2)
During the Clinton administration, Colombia became, outside of Israel and Egypt, the leading recipient of US military aid in the world. Since 2000, under Plan Colombia, Washington has funded Bogotá to the tune of some $5 billion, (3) about 80% of which has been military aid. (4) Overall, in the past decade, 2/3rds of all US military and police aid to Latin America has been devoted to Colombia. (5) This militarized approach to Colombia's conflict has rightly elicited constant protest from human rights organizations from across the world.
The Democratic proposals, then, are a welcome departure from the recent past. Yet, the victory would be at best a hollow one, as the majority of aid would still be directed at Colombia's repressive military, regularly implicated in horrendous human rights abuses. Moreover, despite the proposed cuts, Colombia is "expected to get an additional $150 million in purely military and police assistance through a separate appropriation in the defense budget bill", as the Houston Chronicle reported. (6)
~snip~
Supporters of Uribe often acknowledge these crimes, but argue that the US should continue to support his regime regardless, as it has allegedly made tremendous strides in combating guerrillas and 'demobilizing' paramilitaries. To turn our backs now would be to undermine years of unprecedented progress on this front, the logic goes.
Yet, the evidence presented in this article - drawn mostly from international human rights organizations and mainstream press reports - demonstrates that the fake 'peace process' initiated by Uribe has little impact on these organizations, or the human rights situation in Colombia generally. Despite the charade of deathsquad 'demobilization', paramilitaries are just as strong - if not stronger - and just as alive as they were prior to his tenure. More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/791-a-dirtier-war-colombias-fake-qpeace-processq-and-us-policy
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