Colombia has failed to meet any of the human rights conditions that U.S. law imposes as a prerequisite to military aid, three leading human rights groups said today.
In a new briefing paper that details Colombia's human rights record, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) disputed the human rights certification made on September 9 by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who released an estimated $70 million in training, weapons, munitions and other supplies to a military with a record of serious human rights violations.
"To claim that Colombia has met human rights conditions makes a mockery of the law," said Eric Olson, Americas Advocacy Director for Amnesty International USA. "The US government is papering over the dismal failure of the Colombian government to meet these minimum human rights standards. Turning a blind eye to Colombia's human rights crisis can only increase violence and undermine the aspirations of all who yearn for justice and security there."
Under section 567 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, the Colombian government must show that its military has suspended officers credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights or to have aided and abetted paramilitary groups; cooperated with the civilian judicial authorities who prosecute soldiers in civilian courts; and taken effective measures to break ties with paramilitary groups and execute outstanding arrest warrants for paramilitary leaders.
"Since the last certification, there have been new reports of clashes between the military and paramilitary groups," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. "But the fundamental problems remain the same: no serious progress toward suspending officers implicated in abuses, toward effective judicial investigations of abuses, or toward breaking the persistent links between the military and paramilitary groups."
The briefing paper issued by the three groups describes, using specific case examples, how none of the three conditions has been satisfied. The briefing also shows how the Colombian government's resolve to uphold human rights has sharply deteriorated since May 2002, when the previous human rights certification was granted. New President Álvaro Uribe has taken actions that threaten to further weaken accountability for human rights violations while contributing to the growth of outlawed paramilitary groups.
"This certification is an offense to those in Colombia who are being threatened or killed for their commitment to human rights," said WOLA Executive Director Bill Spencer. "It is also an affront to the U.S. Congress, which is being strong-armed by an administration set on fighting a war in Colombia hand in hand with the worst elements of that country's military."
The groups also raised questions about the record of Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio, who took office in July 2001. Osorio has dismissed or forced the resignation of prosecutors in charge of sensitive human rights investigations and derailed benchmark cases, among them the prosecution of retired Gen. Rito Alejo del Río, charged with forming paramilitary groups in the 1990s. General Del Río was cashiered in 1998 and the U.S. government cancelled his visa to the United States. In a recent article published in The Wall Street Journal, Osorio was quoted accusing 45 members of the U.S. Congress of engaging in a "war" to discredit the Colombian authorities, stemming from their signatures on a letter expressing concern about human rights.
