Human Rights Watch today called on the Colombian guerrillas to take concrete steps to improve their worsening record of abuses, rather than trying to deflect criticism of their record.
On July 22, Human Rights Watch received a two-page response to its July 10 letter to Manuel Marulanda, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP). The FARC-EP response does not attempt to defend the FARC-EP's record on the merits. Instead, the response, which includes a number of misstatements, simply impugns Human Rights Watch's motives for criticizing FARC abuses.
"Commander Marulanda has failed to address a single one of the concerns we raised," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. "Instead of taking our criticisms seriously, he's issued a harangue that distracts attention from the real issues. Once again, I invite the FARC-EP leadership to remedy the damage their forces do in Colombia by ensuring that these forces respect international humanitarian law."
In its twenty-page letter, Human Rights Watch described the FARC-EP's responsibility for serious abuses, including killings of civilians, hostage-taking, the use of child soldiers, grossly unfair trials, the cruel and inhuman treatment of captured combatants, the forced displacement of civilians, and the continuing use of prohibited weapons, including gas cylinder bombs.
Human Rights Watch's letter also noted that the FARC-EP has committed abductions and extrajudicial executions in the zone ceded to its control for talks with the government (zona de despeje). Human Rights Watch did not, however, call for the abrogation of the Zone, as the FARC-EP's response wrongly asserts. The Colombian government granted the Switzerland-sized area to the FARC-EP in November 1998 to further peace talks.
Human Rights Watch conducted a mission to the Zone in May and June of 2000. There, Human Rights Watch held meetings with several high-level FARC-EP commanders who disputed the applicability of international humanitarian law principles to the conduct of the FARC-EP. In its letter to Marulanda, Human Rights Watch explained that the relevant international norms are not subject to negotiation, but must be upheld by each of the parties to the armed conflict in Colombia.
Human Rights Watch has been publishing reports on human rights conditions in Colombia since 1982, criticizing abuses committed by all parties to the conflict. To maintain its independence, Human Rights Watch does not accept financial support from any government or government-funded agency.
Contrary to the FARC-EP's statements, Human Rights Watch has actively criticized U.S. government abuses, both domestically and internationally. Besides publishing numerous reports on police brutality, prison conditions, immigrant rights and the death penalty in the United States, Human Rights Watch also reported on U.S. abuses during the Gulf War, and on NATO's violations of the laws of war during the conflict in Yugoslavia.
