Isolda Agazzi/Human Rights Tribune – Gustavo Gallon told a round table discussion outside the Human Rights Council on June 6, that ‘the human rights crisis in Colombia is on the way to becoming a rule of law crisis because the President is encroaching more and more into the competences of other powers, beginning with the judiciary.’ Gallon said he is told that the Uribe government is very popular. "If that is so, it is very worrying that a large part of the population supports policies that are totally contrary to human rights. Its a symptom of decadence and rot within Colombian society.’

The Jurists Commission of Jurists estimates that over 12,000 people were assassinated or disappeared, outside the context of combat, during Uribe’s reign, between July 2002 and June 2007. Among them, 955 were victims of extrajudicial executions directly carried out by the army or the police. ‘It is scandalous !’ exclaimed Gallon. 30% of violations where the perpetrator was known, were attributed to guerrilla forces. And 70% implicated the government, either through state agents or by omission or complicity with paramilitary organizations. In spite of this 30,000 paramilitaries were released and enjoyed impunity during this period.

A quarter of parliamentarians under investigation

He points his finger at the demobilization agreement concluded between the government and paramilitary units in December 2002, which effectively granted them a quasi-amnesty. ‘The law called Justice and Peace, that concretizes the agreement, was declared partially anti-constitutional by the Constitutional Court in July 2006. But the government, by adopting several decrees, succeeded in having it implemented nevertheless, ‘an interference in the work of Parliament and the judicial aparatus,’ said Gallon.

And still the President continues to assume powers that he does not have. On May 13 he extradited 14 paramilitary leaders, accused of drug trafficking to the United States, who were under the ‘Justice and Peace’ law.

For five years, human rights organizations have denounced criminal actions that have resulted in at least 3,500 deaths and recorded disappearances attributed to paramilitary forces since the beginning of the negotiating process. NGOs consider that the paramilitary leaders extradited should have been subjected to the regular criminal court proceedings in Colombia, which calls for sentences up to 60 years in prison for crimes against humanity. In sending them to the US, the government has deprived Colombian victims access to national justice. ‘Another worrying element is the open investigation against numerous deputies and governors accused of complicity with paramilitary units in murder, election fraud and viuolence against voters.’ Overall, this means a good quarter of members of Parliament. And to defend a member of a former Senator related to Uribe, who is currently in detention for alleged links to paramilitary groups, ‘President Uribe has filed a criminal libel complaint against the President of the Supreme Court,’ said Gustavo Gallon.

Buying the vote of an ex-Parlementarian

Gallon adds that declarations by witnesses implicate President Uribe in criminal activities and the judicial actions against his ministers. He also accuses the President of using the media to oppose the Supreme Court. And for the moment, it works. ‘People write to journalists and call radio stations to say that the Supreme Court is against the President. It’s a totally populist idea.’

The Colombian media has also widely reported reveleations by Yidis Medina, a former member of Parliament who said that his vote had been bought by the government to approve constitutional reform to allow the re-election of Alvaro Uribe. ‘Were other votes bought ? No one knows but this raises questions about the validity of constitutional reform and Uribe’s reelection and is very serious,’ said Gallon.

Opening the door to the Criminal Court

In his annual report to the Human Rights Council, Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on summary and extrajudicial executions, cited 8 communications sent to the Colombian government regarding the deaths of 13 people. The Rapporteur estimates he received four ‘very satisfactory’ responses from Bogota and four ‘incomplete’ responses.

But these exchanges do not satisfy NGOs. Jomary Ortegon of the ’José Alvear Restrepo Lawyer’s Collective’. A lawyer with the group, Jomary Ortegon said the extradition of the 14 paramilitary leaders is proof that the government does not want to investigate the crimes they committed, which he said would justify an intervention by the International Criminal Court. “The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) presented communications with the ICC about impunity in Colombia but there has not been a follow-up. If international NGOs can help us by sending notices to the ICC, we would be very gratful,” said Ortegon.

The Colombian Mission in Geneva was contacted by HRT but did not return our calls.

Translated from French by Pamela Taylor