UNHCHR PRESENTS ITS 2003 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ON COLOMBIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 002764

SIPDIS

GENEVA FOR JEFF DELAURENTIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2014
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, PREL, CO, UN
SUBJECT: UNHCHR PRESENTS ITS 2003 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ON
COLOMBIA

REF: BOGOTA 1748

Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).

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Summary
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1. (U) On March 10, the Colombia office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) released its 2003
report on the human rights situation in Colombia. The report
states that although the GOC has made some progress, the
human rights situation remains critical. It also claims that
the GOC has failed to fully comply with a majority of the 27
human rights recommendations published in last year's report,
and includes 27 recommendations for 2004, 23 of which are
carried over from 2003. The GOC said the report did not give
its democratic security policy enough credit for improving
the human rights situation and did not adequately emphasize
the gravity of the threat posed by the illegal armed groups.
We will continue to work with the GOC, UNHCHR, and the G-24
to help with compliance in 2004. End Summary.

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UNHCHR Releases its 2003 Human Rights Report on Colombia
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2. (U) On March 10, the Colombia office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR),under director
Michael Fruhling, released its human rights report for 2003,
which states that although advances have been made, the human
rights situation in Colombia remains critical. It notes that
the country's three principal illegal armed groups (the FARC,
ELN, and AUC) continued terrorizing the civilian population
through bombings, kidnappings, the recruitment of minors, and
the use of anti-personnel mines. Terrorist organizations
also disregarded international humanitarian law and ignored
the UN's human rights recommendations.

3. (U) The report acknowledged that the Government made some
advances. Declines in homicides, massacres, attacks on
civilians, indiscriminate attacks, hostage taking, acts of
terrorism, and forced displacements were noted positively and
attributed in part to the presence of state security forces
in all municipalities. Still, the UN called for other state
institutions, such as the Inspector General's Office
(Procuraduria) and the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office
(Defensoria),to have a similar presence throughout the
country. The report also acknowledged the Government's
willingness to negotiate with illegal armed groups.

4. (C) UNHCHR remains concerned about an increase in
complaints of arbitrary or illegal detentions, forced
disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and violations of
the rights to due process and privacy. The report reiterated
concerns about: links between paramilitaries and government
officials, particularly by members of the military and the
Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia); significant
paramilitary influence in certain regions of the country; and
paramilitary ceasefire violations. It also expressed its
concern that the proposed "conditional parole" bill would
allow paramilitary members to escape criminal sentences. The
report noted an increase in complaints of torture and
mistreatment by government authorities. (Note: According to
Max Furrer (strictly protect),Protection Coordinator for the
Colombia office of the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC),the ICRC has not seen an increase in official
mistreatment -- including torture -- of detainees in 2003.
End note.) The report also highlighted the critical
circumstances of "vulnerable" populations, such as women,
children, indigenous persons, and Afro-Colombians.

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The 27 Recommendations of 2003
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5. (U) The report acknowledged Government progress on several
of the office's 27 human rights recommendations for 2003, but
noted that the GOC began to implement the recommendations )-
inconsistently -- only in the final months of 2003. UNHCHR
said it has had fluid dialogue with diverse GOC entities,
&but the commitment to put these recommendations into effect
was rejected by some of the highest officials, which limited
satisfactory implementation of the majority of them.8 As
noted in more detail in reftel, the GOC has fulfilled the
recommendation on anti-personnel mines (13),achieved
significant progress in improving the effectiveness of the
Early Warning System (1),and made some, but not enough,
progress in protecting human rights defenders (2),increasing
protection for communities at risk (4),and improving the
public security forces' compliance with international
humanitarian law (12).

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More Recommendations for 2004
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6. (U) The High Commissioner proposed another set of
recommendations for 2004, again grouped under six headings:
prevention and protection; the internal armed conflict; the
rule of law and impunity; economic and social policies; the
promotion of a culture of respect for human rights; and
technical cooperation and advice from his office. Nineteen
recommendations are directed exclusively at the Colombian
state (including Congress and the independent Prosecutor
General's Office),four to illegal armed groups, and four to
the GOC, civil society, and illegal armed groups jointly.
Twenty-three recommendations are carryovers -- some slightly
revised -- from the 2003 list. The four new recommendations
are: 1) the High Commissioner urges all those directly
involved in the internal armed conflict to observe the
humanitarian principles of limitation, distinction, and
proportionality; 2) the High Commissioner exhorts the
Prosecutor General to safeguard and respect the independence
of prosecutors in the performance of all their duties and
guarantee that detentions and searches are supported by
sufficient evidence; c) the High Commissioner calls on the
Office of the Inspector General and the Office of the Human
Rights Ombudsman to promote and instill respect for
procedural guarantees for those deprived of liberty whose
legal situation has not been defined; and d) the High
Commissioner recommends that the Government and organizations
of human rights defenders develop and institutionalize stable
communication channels, at both national and regional levels.


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GOC Response
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7. (U) Carlos Franco, director of the Presidential Program
for Human Rights, responded to the UN's report for the GOC.
He said the report failed to give the GOC enough credit for
human rights progress achieved as a result of President
Uribe's democratic security policy. Franco added that the
report did not sufficiently emphasize the threat posed by
illegal armed groups, which at present makes it practically
impossible for the state to fully "guarantee" civilians'
human rights. Franco reacted favorably to the report's plea
for regular interaction between the GOC and UNHCHR, and was
pleased with the report's acknowledgment of declines in
various categories of human rights violations and the GOC's
willingness to dialogue with illegal armed groups. He
concluded by stating that the GOC believes that strengthening
democratic security throughout the country is the best
guarantee of human rights and that the GOC will continue to
work on implementing UNHCHR's 27 human rights recommendations.

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Comment
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8. (C) Comment: The UN's report was as expected. Although
Fruhling noted some progress by the GOC, he continued to
insist on a strict interpretation of what the GOC must do to
comply with various recommendations. For example, despite
the fact that many representatives of the international
community disagreed, Fruhling maintained that the GOC did not
satisfy a recommendation regarding human rights training
because the training was not conducted specifically by the
Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman. (Note: For 2004, the
reference to the Ombudsman's Office as the only entity
capable of carrying out the training has been removed. End
note.) Among the 23 recommendations carried over to 2004 are
three with which the GOC has repeatedly stated it disagrees,
namely, an independent review of military intelligence files
(although the requirement of a published report has been
removed),a request not to implement the anti-terrorist
statute, and the immediate suspension, in advance of
investigations, of military personnel accused of human rights
violations. End comment.
WOOD