RIGHTS: Historic Court Under the Spotlight in New Film

The International Criminal Court has struggled since its inception to realise its core mandate to prosecute the world’s worst human rights offenders, putting on trial propagators of genocide, war crimes and the inductors of child soldiers into civil conflict.

COLOMBIA: Moving Towards a Paramilitary State?

Visibly indignant, former Colombian president César Gaviria (1990-1994) denounced this week what he called an "appalling" article in a draft political reform law currently under debate in Congress.

COLOMBIA: Security Bought at a Terrible Price, Report Warns

Colombia’s government must urgently address human rights abuses to enhance its security policy and bring lasting peace to the country, says a new policy brief by the International Crisis Group (ICG).

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Victims of State Crimes Speak Out

In the midst of civil war and repression in San Vicente del Caguán, a municipality in southern Colombia, local communities and activists continue to hold forums to draw attention to human rights abuses. What keeps them going?

COLOMBIA: Paramilitary Chief Says He Helped Finance Uribe’s Campaign

Former Colombian paramilitary chief and drug lord Diego Murillo, alias "Don Berna", testified in a U.S. court that he helped finance President Álvaro Uribe’s first election campaign, in 2002.

Q&A: Indigenous People in Colombia “Have Become a Strong Force”

There is a heavy turnover of social movement leaders in Colombia, given the frequency with which they are killed, displaced or forced into exile. And because of the dangers, those who step up to the plate can be considered veritable heroes – one of whom is indigenous leader Aída Quilcué.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Fact-Finding Mission “Shocked”

A delegation of seven British Labour members of parliament and 10 trade union leaders from the U.S., Canada and Britain said they were in a "state of shock" over what they heard during a week-long fact-finding mission to Colombia.

COLOMBIA: Growing International Support for Peace

The Nasa indigenous people who live in southwestern Colombia risked their very lives when they took it upon themselves to blow up munitions and weapons they discovered on their lands.

U.S./LATAM: Economic Crisis May Overwhelm Obama’s Goodwill

For all the goodwill that U.S. President Barack Obama is showing toward Latin America, he may find his efforts overwhelmed by the global economic crisis and growing pressure from labour unions - a key Democratic constituency - opposed to the kind of "free trade'' agreements favoured by his two predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

US-COLOMBIA: "Drug Lords" Getting Free Pass on Worse Crimes?

Yet another of Colombia’s top paramilitary leaders was extradited to the U.S. Thursday to be brought up on drug trafficking charges despite the objections of some rights groups and questions raised by Colombian politicians visiting Washington.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: “Situation Remains Extremely Serious” – UN Report

Extrajudicial executions, difficulty for victims’ families to gain access to justice, persecution of human rights defenders, kidnappings, and continued armed activity by previously demobilised members of paramilitary groups are the main concerns of the office in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR Colombia).

COLOMBIA: Equal Rights for Same-Sex Partners

Members of the gay civil rights advocacy group Colombia Diversa just celebrated their fifth anniversary with a big event, which the occasion clearly merited due to a recent landmark decision by the Constitutional Court recognising equal rights for heterosexual and same-sex partners in common-law unions.

COLOMBIA: Awa Indians Hemmed in by War

Colombia’s FARC guerrillas admitted to killing eight Awá Indians who they accused of being army informants. Expert on military affairs Ariel Ávila said this indigenous community in the war-torn province of Nariño had formed vigilante "self-defence" groups.

COLOMBIA: Spurious Cases Against Human Rights Defenders

Six months after human rights defender Julio Avella was put behind bars, a prosecutor reviewing the case threw out the charges against him, which were based on the testimony of former guerrillas and police and army reports, on the grounds that they were "contradictory, incoherent, inconsistent and illogical."

COLOMBIA: Rebels Kill Awa Indians as Army Informants

A local group of Colombia’s FARC guerrillas acknowledged that it had killed eight members of the Awá indigenous group, who it accused of being army informants.

COLOMBIA: A Hundred-Year War on Drugs

The anti-drug, anti-insurgent Plan Colombia is, paradoxically, at the heart of the tragedy involving Awa indigenous people who were murdered this month by the FARC guerrillas.

COLOMBIA: Ex-Hostage Says FARC Killed 11 Captives

"Why did they kill them? Out of physical cowardice. It's what we call murder. Sheer physical cowardice. It's what we call a war crime," said former lawmaker Sigifredo López, just freed by the FARC, about the massacre of his 11 colleagues on Jun. 18, 2007, when they were hostages of the Colombian guerrillas.

COLOMBIA: Freed Hostage Calls for Peace Negotiations

"At one point I thought we weren't going to find him," said Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba about Alan Jara, the latest hostage to be freed as a goodwill gesture by insurgents after more than seven-and-a-half years as their captive in the jungle.

COLOMBIA: One More Day’s Delay for Civilian Hostages

Alan Jara, the former governor of the central province of Meta, was released by Colombian guerrillas on Tuesday, instead of Monday as originally scheduled. Former regional lawmaker for the western province of Valle del Cauca, Sigifredo López, was scheduled to have been freed on Wednesday, but his handover has now been postponed until Thursday.

COLOMBIA: Entire Battalion Dismantled Over Killings of Civilians

The purge of the Colombian army over killings of civilians passed off as guerrilla casualties continues, this time with the dismantling of an entire army brigade and the removal of 11 officers who served in another battalion.

COLOMBIA: Hostage Release Plan at a Standstill

"Operation Mistrust" could be the name of the efforts surrounding the planned unilateral release of six hostages by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has run aground a month after it was announced.