Human Rights in Colombia

On November 8, in Bogota, Colombia, Human Rights Watch released "A Wrong Turn: The Record of the Colombian Attorney General's Office." The report documented how Colombia's Attorney General, Luis Camilo Osorio, has undermined or derailed key human rights investigations carried out by his office's human rights unit. During the week they spent in Colombia, Human Rights Watch's Americas Director Jose Miguel Vivanco, Senior Researcher Robin Kirk, and Washington Advocacy Director Tom Malinowski met with newly elected President Alvaro Uribe, his vice president, and the Interior, Foreign and Defense Ministers, as well as members of the Constitutional Court, the police and military leadership, and human rights NGOs. They also held successful meetings with members of the diplomatic corps, including the U.S. Ambassador and her staff, European ambassadors, and Latin American ambassadors. The press conference generated extensive media coverage, including a long article in the New York Times, and has increased pressure on the Colombian government to show real results in breaking links between military units and paramilitary groups, and in prosecuting outstanding cases of abuse.