HUMAN RIGHTS: U.N. Commission Sets ‘Deadline’ for Colombian Gov’t

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Apr 22 2005 (IPS) - The United Nations Commission on Human Rights underlined on Friday the need for the Colombian government to present a timetable, by the middle of the year, for implementing the U.N. body’s recommendations for putting an end to abuses against civilians committed in the context of the country’s civil war.

The chairperson’s statement on the situation of human rights in Colombia expresses the U.N. Commission’s concern and insistence that Colombia make progress on the human rights front, said lawyer and activist Gustavo Gallón, head of the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ).

The Commission chair, Indonesian ambassador Makarim Wibisono, presented the statement to the 53 members of the Commission, which set up a local branch of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) in Colombia nine years ago.

Discussion of the statement by representatives of the Colombian government and the European Union ended Friday, when the chairperson’s statement was approved. This week was the last week of the Commission’s 61st annual session.

Beatrice Quadranti with the International Federation on Human Rights told IPS that “we were successful in getting the term ‘armed conflict’ included in the statement,” in reference to the civil war that has had Colombia in its grip for over four decades.

The right-wing government of Alvaro Uribe refuses to accept that description of the situation in the South American country, exclusively referring to “terrorism” instead, she noted.

Patrizia Scannella with the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International said her organisation “welcomes the support that is given in the text to the (local) Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (Louise Arbour) in Colombia, in particular to the continuation of its mandate.”

The chairperson’s statement says the local office carries out the important task of “monitoring” the human rights situation, a term that the Colombian delegates unsuccessfully attempted to eliminate from the document.

That was an achievement by the EU, which felt heavy pressure from Colombian authorities until an agreement was finally reached Friday morning, said Quadranti.

The activist also praised the chairperson’s statement’s call for the establishment of a comprehensive legal framework for the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process of the illegal armed groups that fully recognises and guarantees the rights to truth, justice and reparations.

A government bill that would create a legal framework for the ongoing negotiations with the paramilitary groups, currently under debate in the Colombian Congress, is described by critics as an “amnesty law” that would let paramilitary human rights abusers off the hook.

Scannella said Amnesty welcomes the chairperson statement’s “recognition of the responsibility of the guerrilla forces, the army-backed paramilitaries and the security forces in the violation of human rights and international humanitarian law as well.”

For the past four decades, left-wing rebels in Colombia have been pitted against the army and its allies, the right-wing paramilitary groups blamed by United Nations agencies and international human rights organisations for the lion’s share of atrocities committed in Colombia.

The Amnesty activist also praised “the fact that it has been recognised that there is an ongoing collusion of the state agents with the paramilitaries.”

Gallón underlined the statement’s strong insistence that Colombia comply with the U.N. Commission’s recommendations.

“It mentions the need to obtain ‘further results promptly’,” he said. “That’s only logical, because the Commission has been working on this issue for nine years, since the local OHCHR office was opened, and the situation in the country is still extremely serious. Hence, the insistence on results is natural.”

Gallón said the Commission’s call for progress is in line with the conclusions reached by several meetings held last year by representatives of the international community and the Colombian government and civil society groups.

“The human rights crisis must be resolved, and the formula for doing so is outlined in these recommendations from the Office of the High Commissioner,” said the human rights lawyer.

One of the articles in the chairperson’s statement urges all of the parties to the armed conflict to respect international humanitarian law, including the principles of “distinction…and immunity of the civilian population.”

Gallón said the reference to the principle of distinction was particularly important because “the government’s security policy is based on an attempt at ignoring the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants.”

President Uribe “has stated several times that he does not believe in the principle of distinction and that we are all combatants and must all support the security forces,” said the activist.

The government has set up programmes like the network of civilian informants, who receive orders from military commanders or the police. “It is a militarisation of society,” said Gallón.

Wibisono’s statement also refers to the problem of recruitment of children. A report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch estimates the number of minors in the ranks of Colombia’s paramilitary and guerrilla organisations at 10,000 or 11,000.

Altogether, the irregular armies are made up of perhaps 40,000 combatants, which means the problem of child soldiers is very significant, in both absolute and proportional terms, said Gallón.

Furthermore, it is not only the insurgents and paramilitary militias that draw minors into the armed conflict, but the regular army as well, said the Colombian activist.

Although the government does not actually recruit minors because it is prohibited by Colombian law, it does use them as messengers and human shields, and soldiers often occupy schools, he pointed out.

The document approved in Geneva Friday expresses concern for the size of the internally displaced population in Colombia. But Gallón said the Commission lacks updated figures on the question, which was not addressed in an in-depth manner by the report presented by the OHCHR.

In the two and a half years since Uribe took office, more than half a million people have joined the ranks of those forcibly displaced by the violence, who already numbered almost three million in 2002.

The Uribe administration has attempted to show an improvement in the situation, based on the fact that in its first year in office, there was a drop in the number of newly displaced persons in comparison to the last year of the previous government, said Gallón.

But what happened is that the previous administration saw the total number of internally displaced grow by 400,000 in its last year, he explained.

The following year, the total grew by “only” 200,000, so the new government has tried to make it look like there was a 50 percent decline, said Gallón.

This year’s chairperson’s statement incorporated a new article condemning continued violations of the rights of women and girls, and the “climate of impunity” in which they occur.

Scannella noted that Amnesty issued a report last year “which highlighted the impact of the internal armed conflict on women and girls.

“And we welcome the fact that there is now an explicit and strong reference to gender-based violations and on the need to address issues related to sexual violence as well,” she added.