I am writing to raise with you some of Human Rights Watch’s concerns over the situation of human rights and the rule of law in Colombia, in the hope that you will adopt them as high priorities for your new term in office.
Washington, D.C., August 4, 2006
President Álvaro Uribe Vélez
Presidency of the Republic of Colombia
Palacio de Nariño
Bogota, Colombia
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to raise with you some of Human Rights Watch’s concerns over the situation of human rights and the rule of law in Colombia, in the hope that you will adopt them as high priorities for your new term in office.
When you first took office, in August of 2002, you stated that when you have “a country saturated by criminal groups, you must saturate it with the rule of law.” Since then, you have also stated that your national policy is directed at stopping violence while protecting citizens’ rights and public freedoms, and “strengthen[ing] pluralism” through institutions that “protect all persons equally” regardless of their status. These are noble ideals, which are both consistent and mutually reinforcing with human rights principles.
You have regularly repeated these statements over the past four years. Unfortunately, however, throughout your first term there has been a profound and troubling inconsistency between your discourse and the policies of your government. The ideals that you claim to espouse often have not been translated into practice. On the contrary, several of your government’s policies have undermined the rule of law and human rights protections.
Now that you are at the start of your new term, we urge you to move beyond the mere assertion of these ideals to the crafting and implementation of policies that reflect and are consistent with them. In particular, we believe the following issues should be top priorities:
1. Implementing a genuine demobilization process
A genuine demobilization of Colombia’s armed groups is an important, indeed critical goal. However, the paramilitary demobilization process that your government has been supporting is not likely to achieve that objective, at least not in the manner it has been conducted to date.
Thousands of supposed paramilitaries have turned in arms and entered reintegration programs. But paramilitary commanders have yet to show that they have given up their massive illegally acquired wealth or their lucrative criminal activities. As long as they retain their financial power, they will also retain their capacity to recruit new troops, bribe authorities, and threaten the civilian population.
Disturbing indicators of the paramilitaries’ persistent influence include reports of paramilitary infiltration of the Intelligence Service (the “DAS”); increasing threats against academics, union leaders, human rights defenders, and journalists; and the formation of new paramilitary groups.
Several provisions of the Justice and Peace Law that your government shepherded through Congress directly undermined basic principles of the rule of law. The law gave paramilitary commanders no incentive to truly demobilize: even if they lied to the authorities, hid most of their wealth, and kept their criminal organizations intact, they could keep their reduced sentences, suffering no credible penalty. Under these conditions, the law was an invitation to paramilitaries to cheat the country.
Fortunately, the Constitutional Court’s recent decision on the Justice and Peace Law greatly improved the law through its interpretation of key provisions. The court ruling creates an opportunity for the government to turn this process around, transforming it into an effective and genuine demobilization of paramilitaries.
Indeed, we believe your government should welcome the court decision, as it is almost perfectly consistent with your public statements about how you understood the law. You have personally stated that you thought the law required the paramilitaries to confess their crimes, to give up all their illegal assets, to provide reparation to their victims, and risk losing benefits if they lied.
Nonetheless, supposedly “demobilized” paramilitary commanders have suggested that they are unwilling to comply with the court decision and that they want some new kind of “national agreement” to govern their demobilization. Moreover, in recent days there have been reports that your government may be planning to accede to these commanders’ demands, by passing a decree that would allow them to avoid the requirements of the Constitutional Court decision, keep their wealth, and serve their reduced sentences on “agricultural colonies.” Such a decree, if passed, would undermine Colombia’s already weak rule of law and destroy the credibility the process could have gained thanks to the Court decision.
Your government should not give in to the pressures of these mafia-like groups, who through terror, corruption, and crime have done so much harm to Colombia. It is now time for your government to stand firm, to show its respect for the rule of law and its commitment to a genuine demobilization. The most important and valuable step you can take now, to prevent the paramilitary leadership from playing games with the country, is to insist upon their full demobilization in accordance with the Justice and Peace Law as interpreted by Colombia’s highest court.
In addition, as this process goes forward, it will be crucial that your government develop a plan to identify and recover the vast expanses of land the paramilitaries have taken by force; ensure that paramilitaries who commit new crimes, lie, or withhold assets lose their benefits; and investigate these groups’ criminal and financial structures to ensure their full dismantlement.
Your government should also make it a top priority to give full financial, political, and administrative support to the primary institutions and individuals charged with implementing the Law: the Attorney General’s Office and the courts. Today, many prosecutors, investigators, and judges have to do their work alone, with little security and limited resources. Many are left exposed to intimidation, bribes, physical attacks, and even death by ruthless armed groups. Without the national government’s unequivocal support, they will find it extremely difficult to do their jobs effectively.
Finally, paramilitary commanders who are wanted in the United States should know that if they fail to fully demobilize and dismantle their structures, your government will not hesitate to extradite them to the United States. The threat of extradition has been the most important factor motivating these commanders’ interest in the process. It is essential that your government keep this leverage and use it credibly.
2. Fighting impunity and preventing abuses
Colombia’s long-running failure to effectively investigate, prosecute, and punish human rights abuses has created an environment in which abusers correctly assume that they will never be held accountable for their crimes. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of killings of journalists, human rights defenders, academics, and union leaders are never resolved. The same is true of nearly all massacres and forced disappearances, and of most instances of collusion between paramilitary groups and the military. In cases of military abuses, low-ranking officers sometimes get punished, but hardly ever is a commanding officer prosecuted.
Some of your government’s policies have aggravated this situation. This is particularly true of your decision to offer demobilization benefits to FARC members who have already been convicted and are in prison for gross violations of international humanitarian law, such as kidnappings and killings. By reducing the sentences of the few people who have actually been held accountable for atrocities, your government reinforces the message that abuses are rarely, if ever, going to be punished.
In the next few years, Colombia’s commitment to ending impunity will continue to be tested. It is crucial, for example, that the responsibility of members of the Army’s Third Brigade—including of high-ranking officers—for this year’s massacre at Jamundi of members of an elite anti-narcotics police unit be thoroughly investigated in the civilian justice system.
Another emblematic case involves mounting and credible allegations that the members of the military, particularly in the state of Antioquia, have repeatedly killed civilians and then dressed them up as guerrillas killed in combat.
It is also essential that investigators make progress in the San Jose de Apartado cases. This community has a tragic and long history of massacres and abuses, almost none of which has been resolved. Evidence in some of these cases points to involvement by the 17th Brigade of the Army, yet not one military officer has been prosecuted.
We also urge you to immediately take effective measures to address the serious and widespread problem of forced disappearances in Colombia. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported earlier this year that it had verified 317 cases of forced disappearance in the past year, a substantial increase over the previous year. Many other cases likely have not been reported. In an alarming trend, forced disappearances often are occurring in areas controlled by the paramilitaries, despite the demobilization process.
3. Respecting civil society and facilitating international observation
In your September 30, 2003, speech before the United Nations, you stated that “if [you] ask for international support, it is because [you] are open to international observation.” Accordingly, you noted that you had extended the presence of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) in Colombia and you respected human rights organizations and workers because of their contributions to democracy.
However, in recent months, there have been troubling reports that your government now wishes to restrict the mandate of the UNHCHR’s Office in Colombia, to prevent it from reporting publicly on human rights abuses.
The UNHCHR is the only international entity capable of monitoring the human rights situation in Colombia on a constant basis, with a fixed presence on the ground. Its reports have addressed central issues, such as impunity for human rights abuses, extrajudicial executions, and the problems in the demobilization process. If you are serious about being open to international observation, you should extend the mandate of the office, in the same terms under which it has operated to date.
We also urge you and officials from your government to refrain from making statements like those you made in 2003, accusing human rights organizations of “serving terrorism,” or those you made earlier this year, when you accused the news media of harming the country when they published reports you disliked. Such statements only serve to intimidate and stigmatize human rights defenders and journalists, putting them at risk, and deepening the distrust between civil society and government.
4. Support for key democratic institutions
A final area in which you will have a chance to show your commitment to democracy, pluralism, and human rights is in your support for, and appointments to, key democratic institutions in Colombia, including the Constitutional Court, Inspector General’s Office, Ombudsman’s Office, and Attorney General’s Office.
Some of these institutions, such as the Constitutional Court, have developed outstanding reputations in Latin America, precisely because they have been led by individuals with strong commitments to the rule of law, fundamental freedoms, and the protection of citizens’ rights.
Over the next few years, you will have several opportunities to nominate candidates to fill vacancies in each of these institutions. We encourage you to fulfill your responsibility to strengthen Colombia’s institutions by ensuring not only that all nominees have strong democratic credentials, but also that they have a demonstrated commitment to transparency and human rights.
Your second term as president presents a new opportunity to put the ideals and values that you so frequently invoke into practice. We urge you to give high priority to implementing policies designed to further those ideals.
We appreciate your attention to these important matters.
Sincerely,
/s/
José Miguel Vivanco
Executive Director, Americas Division
