Colombia urged to modify demobilization law
The United Nations on Thursday urged Colombia to recognize the rights of victims of the country's decades-long guerrilla war by reforming the Justice and Peace Law, under which the paramilitary group Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) is demobilizing.

Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights, requested the reform in a UN annual report on Colombia, published in Geneva, local media reported on Thursday.

"Reforms are needed to ensure this law is compatible with international principles and norms covering victims' right to truth, justice and reparations," said Arbour.

Thousands of AUC combatants have demobilized under the law, which offers them a monthly stipend of about 180 U.S. dollars and amnesty from prosecution for rebellion and minor crimes if they abandon their guerrilla lives.

But as part of the peace initiative, the government has vowed to investigate the human rights record of paramilitary factions and punish with up to eight years in prison any members who have committed abuses.

However, the UN has criticized such penalties as insufficient.

The UN report has asked the Colombian government to fight domestic violence and violence against women, and to prevent and investigate extrajudicial executions and kidnappings.

The report will be presented on Monday to the 53-nation UN human rights commission.

For more than four decades, Colombia has been mired in internal armed conflicts that kill more than 5,000 people a year.

The AUC was financed by right-wing groups to fight the country's left-wing guerrillas -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army.