SPECIAL REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW SITUATION IN 2012

SPECIAL REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW SITUATION IN 2012 CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND POPULAR EDUCATION CINEP/Peace Program (CINEP/PPP) May 2013 To read the entire document please contact comunicaciones@cinep.org.co

Special Report CINEP/ PPP 2013

Special Report Center for Research and Popular Education/Peace Program (CINEP/PPP)

GENERAL DIRECTOR Dr. Luis Guillermo Guerrero Guevara GENERAL INFORMATION SYSTEM Alejandro Angulo Novoa, S.J. INSTITUTIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE DATA BANK Javier Giraldo Moreno, S.J. INSTITUTIONAL ADVOCACY AND COMMUNICATION PROJECT Laura González Pérez

This report was prepared by Advocacy and Communication project Human Rights and Political Violence Data Bank Center for Research and Popular Education/Peace Program (CINEP/PPP) Carrera 5 No. 33 B – 02 Phone (57–1) 245 61 81 Fax (57–1) 287 90 89 Bogotá D.C. – Colombia cinep@cinep.org.co www.cinep.org.co May 2013

Special Report CINEP/ PPP 2013

SPECIAL REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW SITUATION IN 2012 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In this report, CINEP/PPP, through its Human Rights and Political Violence Data Bank1, presents the human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) situation in Colombia during 2012.

Extrajudicial executions continue to be carried out in Colombia. There were 20 cases involving 52 victims in 2012, compared with 17 cases involving 85 victims in 2011. While we recognize that the national government has made efforts to address this problem, it is clear that these measures continue to be insufficient and must be complemented in order to ensure the protection of human rights and IHL, to assert greater control to prevent human rights and IHL violations by members of the Public Forces, and to fully ensure that such violations are not repeated. The persecution of victims, survivors and their families by the Public Forces is alarming, and effective measures are required to ensure the protection of and respect for human rights in this area.

The panorama of judicial investigations is also of concern, given the time that they are taking, the current state of proceedings, and the relatively few results obtained in light of the number of cases reported and judgments rendered. This situation is exacerbated by the limited collaboration of the military criminal justice system with the ordinary justice system, the expiration of limitation periods, the continuing service of soldiers convicted of serious violations of IHL, and the absence of measures to protect victims’ families, witnesses, prosecutors and judges.

These findings are consistent with the cases reported by the Human Rights and Political Violence Data Bank of the CINEP/PPP in 2010 and 2011, in which no significant progress has been made.

Human rights defenders, communities that denounce human rights violations and protect the civilian population, and victims, particularly the so-called “false positives”, face a critical situation, as they continue to be systematically threatened.

Human Rights Violations Issues 45 and 46 of the journal Noche y Niebla (January - June and July - December, 2012) reveal that paramilitaries were the worst human rights violators during the reporting period, having participated in 565 cases, following by National Police units, which were involved in 268 cases, and National Army troops, who were responsible for 187 cases.

Paramilitaries were also the worst offenders in terms of IHL violations (493 cases), followed by the FARC-EP (347 cases), the National Army (118 cases), Combatants (98 cases), the National Police (72 cases), and the ELN (48 cases) (see: Noche y Niebla, Issues 45 and 46).

1 The Human Rights and Political Violence Data Bank of the CINEP/PPP offers an overview of the human rights and political violence situation in Colombia. Given the limitations on access to information, we present a perspective of the conflict without disputing figures or data from other sources. Our commitment is to victims’ right to the truth and to reporting a story that is rarely told by official sources in the country and the international community.

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In relation to methods of victimization, we have corroborated the continuing occurrence of “false positives”. Between January and December, 2012, we recorded 20 cases of “false positives” involving 52 victims who were killed, wounded or arbitrarily arrested; 6 of these cases were perpetrated between January and May, and 14 between July 9 and December 19. We also learned of 58 “false positive” cases that were perpetrated between June 1, 1992 and December 20, 2011, which had not been reported in earlier publications because they were not presented and documented until 2012.

In 2012, we learned of the occurrence of 11 CASES OF EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS against 12 victims, of which 10 were perpetrated by National Army troops and one by National Police units; 8 CASES OF ARBITRARY ARRESTS against 39 victims, of which two were perpetrated by National Army troops, one

by National Police units, two by the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI), one by the National Army and the CTI, one by the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the National Police (DIJIN), and one by Venezuelan Army troops. We also know of ONE CASE OF A VICTIM WOUNDED by National Army troops.

The “false positive” victims include peasants, laborers, students, political opponents, merchants, independent workers, a former council member, a disabled woman, a member of an indigenous group, a journalist, and others about whom we have no information. The events occurred in Cauca (6 cases), Antioquia (4 cases), Valle del Cauca (3 cases), and one case in each of the following territories: Meta, Bogotá D.C, Norte de Santander, Caquetá, Córdoba, Sucre, and on the border with Venezuela. In the context of persecution of social movements, the principal victims were land claimants, indigenous organizations, displaced persons’ organizations, peasant organizations, peace communities and humanitarian zones, student organizations, community organizations, union organizations, political opposition and social protest groups, Afro-Colombians, human rights defenders, and those reporting human rights violations. In addition, pamphlets threatening indigent people, drug addicts, sex workers and members of the LGTBI community were circulated.

Methods of victimization such as threats, torture, forced disappearance, displacement, arbitrary arrest, killing and wounding by anti-personnel mines, and “social cleansing” actions continue to be implemented at a national level. Assaults against human rights defenders have been particularly serious. FARC-EP and ELN guerillas, paramilitary groups, National Army troops and unidentified combatants were also responsible for the use of ILLEGAL MINES/BOOBY TRAPS (64 cases), the use of PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES AS SHIELDS, and the CONFINEMENT OF COMMUNITIES, methods that victimized mainly children, young people and adult civilians, especially members of the peasant population.

Other Human Rights Violations: In 2012, we recorded 64 cases of ILLEGAL MINES/BOOBY TRAPS in which 335 victims were killed or wounded.

We also recorded 51 cases of social intolerance committed by paramilitaries and the National Army in various places throughout the country. Paramilitaries made threats motivated by social intolerance against 32 groups, executed 29 people, wounded 5, and threatened to kill 17. The National Army was responsible for wounding one person as a result of social intolerance. The victims were mostly homeless people and/or drug users and dealers and young slum dwellers. In one case, paramilitaries threatened to kill a leader of the LGTBI community.

We also recorded 57 CASES in various places throughout the country in which Social Intolerance Groups caused the death of 53 people (mostly homeless people and/or drug users and dealers and young slum dwellers), wounded 5 people, threatened 6 people and made death threats against members of 17 groups.

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Special Report CINEP/ PPP 2013

With respect to the issue of mining, 12 CASES were reported involving the murder of 13 people by paramilitary groups (10 victims) and unidentified armed groups (3 victims). In addition, 3 people were arrested by the Police, 2 people were injured, 4 were threatened by paramilitaries, and 2 groups were victims of death threats. The events occurred in Puerto Gaitán, Meta (2 cases); Remedios, Segovia and Caucasia, Antioquia (5 cases); Marmato, Caldas (2 cases); La Sierra, Cauca (1 case); Montecristo, Bolívar (1 case); and Tumaco, Nariño (1 case).

During 2012, we learned of 24 cases in which the victims were individual and community land claimants; 11 cases occurred during the first half of the year and 13 occurred during the second half.

In the second half of 2012, 24 people and 7 groups were threatened; 7 of the cases were committed by members of unidentified armed groups, and 6 cases were perpetrated by paramilitaries.

The Situation of Human Rights Defenders and Victims Defending human rights, reporting violations and being a publicly recognized victim represent serious risks to life in Colombia. Human rights defenders risk their lives by becoming military targets of opposing combatants.

Of particular concern is the suffering of “false positive” victims and survivors and their families, who are being subjected to systematic persecution allegedly carried out by members of state security organizations.

A reduction in violence or citizen fears that limit access to information?

In preparing the last five issues of Noche y Niebla between 2010 and 2012, we have noted a reduction in the number cases reported during the periods of analysis and a considerable increase in the number of cases corresponding to previous years. We wonder whether this reflects a decrease in the level of violence, or a problem of access to information stemming from the fact that victims, their families and victims’ organizations are not reporting violations out of fear of reprisals, preferring to do so years later when they feel there is less risk.

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SPECIAL REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW SITUATION IN 2012 RECOMMENDATIONS To the National Government: •

Coordinate better with regional and local governments, focusing efforts on the development of regional capacities to better confront threats, early warnings, and the complaints of groups and citizens about the risk of human rights violations in the regions.

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Adopt all measures necessary for recognizing the legitimacy of victims and their families in their search for the truth, justice and reparations.

•

Ensure the prosecution of extrajudicial executions and other types of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the country.

•

Ensure the protection of victims, witnesses, victims’ advocates and human rights defenders in general, prosecutors, judges, and their families in extrajudicial execution cases, to advance the search for the truth.

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Given the insignificant results produced by military criminal justice prosecutions of extrajudicial executions, we urge the national government to consider changing the jurisdiction over such crimes from the military criminal justice system to the ordinary justice system, and to review all military criminal justice decisions.

•

Adopt the many recommendations that have been made by national and international organizations, and take appropriate measures to improve the human rights and IHL situation in Colombia.

To the International Community:

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Continue to support practices and policies that promote the effectiveness of human rights and international humanitarian law in Colombia.

•

Provide more active assistance in initiatives to protect and defend human rights, as a means for protecting democracy in Colombia.

•

Continue to monitor and engage in dialogue with the national government in order to encourage greater compliance with its human rights and international humanitarian law policies.

•

Support the national government in its efforts to implement the Victims’ Law and to contribute to the international dialogue that enhances the visibility of the human rights and IHL situation in Colombia, seeking joint contributions and outcomes that will ensure that violations are not repeated and that victims, complainants and their families are protected.

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To National NGOs: •

Continue to implement and strengthen the process of documenting cases involving the different modalities of human rights violations in the country.

•

Continue to provide and strengthen assistance to the most vulnerable social sectors, prioritizing the provision of legal advice to victims and their families, so that the attempts against their lives and integrity do not go unpunished.

To the Regional and Local Governments: •

Engage in better coordination with the National Government.

•

Develop better technical capacities – political and legal – for applying national and international legal frameworks that favor the protection and defense of human rights and IHL.

•

Provide verification mechanisms in order to respond to early warnings and complaints of human rights and IHL violations and to enable prompt and effective actions to protect the lives of citizens.

To Civil Society: •

Report. Do not be permissive of human rights violations committed by individuals, groups and/or institutions.

•

Protect human rights as a supreme good of the human condition. Reject all situations that threaten your life, integrity and dignity and those of the people with whom you share your lives, transcending prejudices based on social status, race, sex and religious or political preferences.

•

Be critical of the actions of institutions, especially political, military and police institutions, which could place human rights at risk. Exercise your right to reject such actions by voting, filing formal complaints, engaging in non-violent social mobilization, and promoting and supporting initiatives that protect and defend human rights.

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Special Report CINEP/ PPP 2013