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Country Profile: Colombia
Background
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A peasant leads his mules, Thursday, May 13, 2004, through a path overlooking Gaitania, in the coffee growing mountains of the Tolima state, 255 miles southwest of Bogota, that was the cradle of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) |
In 2002, as President Alvaro Uribe was being sworn into office, bombs rocked Bogota, the capitol of Colombia, and tore holes into the presidential compound, underscoring the volatility of the nation and the task before him. He would be expected to seek solutions to a decades-long armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Since his inauguration, President Uribe has taken a tough stance against narco-traffickers and has taken some measures to demobilize paramilitaries associated with the government, and he has a high degree of support from the U.S. government, including $7.5 billion in aid in 2006 alone.
Progress has been made in increasing security in the urban centers and on some roads since Uribe came to power. The president is credited with ensuring the safety of motorists on major roads throughout the country that were once under control of right and left-wing paramilitary forces. He is also applauded for the reduction in kidnappings. However, many civil society groups in Colombia note that the situation is still dire, particularly for human rights defenders, journalists, and those living in rural areas. These groups also are strongly critical of Uribe's reliance on military approaches to end the armed conflict. They claim there needs to be a stronger focus on economic development, social justice, and human rights for the conflict to cease.
Role of the United States and its Policies
Colombia is the prime ally of the United States in the Andean Region. Plan Colombia, inaugurated in 2000, is a multibillion dollar joint program of the Colombian and U.S. governments to simultaneously fight the "war on terror" and the "war on drugs" in Colombia.
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Colombia's Gustavo Moncayo, center bottom under a white umbrella, a teacher whose son was captured in a 1997 rebel attack, waves as he marches accompanied by supporters in the outskirts of Bogota, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. Moncayo, a 55-year-old teacher, father of a soldier kidnapped by guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a decade ago trudged into Bogota to meet with President Alvaro Uribe after a seven-week trek across the country to protest the plight of hostages. (AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez) | The Plan acknowledges the inextricable link between narcotics and paramilitary groups. To meet its goals of ending narcotics trafficking to the United States and the armed conflict in Colombia, its main activities include aerial spraying of coca plants and pouring money into the Colombian security forces. The Plan also provides limited provisions for economic development, judicial reform, and promotion of human rights.This program has been the subject of sustained criticism from the international human rights community and local Colombian human rights defenders because of its strong emphasis on traditional security-related initiatives such as defense, security, and coca plant eradication rather than on socio-economic or rule of law initiatives such as health, education, development programs, or judicial reform. A major concern to Gustavo Gallon, director of the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), is the lack of follow-through on the part of the United States to enforce the human rights conditionalities, known as the "Leahy Provision," outlined in the Plan. These conditionalities, he says, are oftentimes ignored in order to meet security initiative goals.The pressure placed on military success has created a phenomenon known in Colombia as "false positives." Jorge Ceballos, director of La Clinica Noel, explains that government soldiers have reportedly killed local civilians to have evidence to report to their superiors of army efforts to combat alleged guerilla activities This issue is also presented in a 2006 CCJ report:
[the army] places an excessive value and sometimes an exclusive value on casualties of the opponent, and it punishes disproportionately its own failures. The consequence: a tendency to obtain casualties without taking risks, without exposing themselves too much or, better still, not at all. The results: defenseless civilians are shown as dead in battles that never occurred.
Furthermore, the Plan is criticized for its adverse affects on narcotics-trafficking. Since 2000, despite controversial aerial spraying, coca production has increased substantially. The aerial fumigations have in fact moved where coca production is occurring, creating new areas of conflict, rather than cutting off funding to guerillas. Justapaz, a religiously based human rights group, conveyed their concern that aerial spraying is harming legal crops, contaminating drinking water, and causing food shortages and birth defects in already disadvantaged rural communities.Conditions for Human Rights Defenders
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Police detain a man during a protest of bus drivers in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, May 2, 2006. Bus drivers representing a handful of unions were striking to protest against Bogota's massive transportation system, Transmilenio, and new city rules that limit the circulation of old buses in bad condition. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) |
Human rights defenders, journalists, and trade unionists are the most targeted groups in Colombia for disappearances, kidnappings, and murders. The majority of these violations are perpetrated by governmental officials and guerillas. Many human rights groups must take security precautions as threats, break-ins, and attacks are commonplace. The government and armed groups create a climate of fear in an attempt to silence human rights defenders and journalists. While the government has made some efforts to improve its rights record, human rights defenders continue to expose violations and governmental negligence. The Colombian Commission of Jurists note that a major problem in successfully preventing human rights violations is a lack of action by the government and security forces to intervene and governmental tolerance of some paramilitary groups' activities.
The government has taken steps to increase public awareness about human rights and to decrease the occurrence of violations, including holding conferences on human rights issues and creating offices dedicated solely to certain sectors of human rights, such as children's rights, indigenous rights, and women's rights. The government has worked with nongovernmental human rights organizations to draft legislation; however, much of the collaboration between NGOs and the government is hindered by a mutual distrust.
Right to Life
Extrajudicial killings, carried out by both governmental forces and armed groups, happen regularly. A recent publication by the Colombian Commission of Jurists covered the time period of 2002-2006 in which they report that 11,292 people were assassinated. The group shows a significant increase in the yearly averages of extrajudicial killing since Uribe gained power, despite the government's claims of significant decreases in the number of murders and disappearances.
Disappearances and extrajudicial killings most often occur in rural and costal areas that are impoverished and run by guerilla forces. These are also the areas where most human rights defenders work, subjecting them to constant risk of being attacked.
Privacy & Protection of Human Rights Defenders
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Kogi indigenous tribe members watch a demobilization ceremony in the remote village of Quebrada del Sol, near Sierra Nevada Santa Martha, Colombia, Friday, Feb. 3, 2006. More than 1,200 fighters from the Tayrona Resistance Bloc faction of the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces, or AUC, gathered in this remote hamlet to lay down their arms as part of an ongoing disarmament process. (AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez) |
The government monitors closely the work of human rights defenders. In the past year there have been several break-ins at nongovernmental organizations during which documents and computers were stolen. While the government claims no responsibility for these events, many in the human rights community, based on past experience, believe they may have been ordered by governmental officials.
The government has been connected to plots against human rights defenders, according to reports by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and the Center for International Policy. The most publicized of which is known as "Operation Dragon," and targeted Berenice Celeyta, president of NOMADESC and 175 other human rights and labor activists. This assassination plot was exposed in 2004. "We have been persecuted and threatened. They watch our offices and intercept our telephones. We are threatened with beatings and many other things to dissuade us from being involved in human rights," says Celeyta.
Freedom of Speech/Press
Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to operate. Hundreds of journalists have been killed since the early 1990s, and many more have disappeared or been physically attacked. The government and guerilla groups intimidate journalists, threatening them against reporting on issues detrimental to their agendas. Because of this and fear for their lives, many journalists practice self-censorship.
Self-censorship is a large reason why much of the public in Colombia is unaware of massive human rights violations and the continuation of the armed conflict. A prominent human rights lawyer in Colombia cites this as one of the main reasons for political apathy and the 80 percent approval rating for President Uribe's policies on the part of the Colombian public.
Links
International Organizations
The Washington Office on Latin America: Colombia Page
United States Office on Colombia
Colombian Support Network
Colombian Organizations
Justapaz
CINEP
Comision Vida, Justicia y Paz
Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights
Foundation for the Freedom of Press
News
El Colombiano
BBC
Updated August 2007
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