COLOMBIA:
Cooperation for Peace,
Not War
By Helda Martínez
BOGOTA, (IPS) - "A
state becomes a violator
of human rights when it
fails to guarantee,
promote or defend them,"
said Argentine
ambassador to Colombia
Martín Balza during the
Third International
Conference on Colombia.
Balza was addressing the
participants after the
conclusions of a report
presented by 500
representatives of human
rights groups and other
social organisations
from around the country
were read out during a
plenary session of the
conference held in the
Colombian capital. The
report documented
selective killings,
forced disappearance,
forced displacement,
paramilitary violence,
neglect by the state,
and widespread impunity.
The Nov. 29-Dec. 1
conference is a
follow-up to the
meetings held by the
international community
in 2003 in London and in
Colombia’s Caribbean
resort city of Cartagena
in 2005.
In London in 2003,
representatives of the
right-wing Colombian
government of Álvaro
Uribe met with delegates
of the United Nations,
the European Union,
Switzerland, Norway,
Canada, the United
States and Japan, who
along with Argentina,
Brazil, Mexico and Chile
created the G24
international conference
process, of which Balza
is now the president.
This year’s conference
was political in nature,
rather than a meeting of
donors, as in the past,
Antonio Madariaga, head
of the non-governmental
organisation Corporación
Viva la Ciudadanía, told
IPS.
"The current
circumstances in the
country require that we
focus on the challenges
and problems of
democracy, the rights of
victims, the struggle
against inequity and
exclusion, prospects in
the fight against drugs,
respect for human rights
and the construction of
peace," he added.
In the London
Declaration adopted at
the 2003 conference, the
international community
outlined guidelines for
relations and
cooperation with
Colombia, while
expressing deep concern
about the humanitarian
and human rights crisis
in this country. It also
urged the Colombian
government to promptly
implement U.N. human
rights recommendations
and to take effective
action against impunity
and collusion,
especially with
paramilitary groups.
In Cartagena, in 2005,
the international
community discussed the
negotiations between the
far-right paramilitary
groups and the
government, as well as
the process of
reinsertion of the
demobilised
paramilitaries.
"This year we advanced
in terms of bolstering
recognition of the
legitimacy of the
activities of civil
society," said Madariaga
during the conference,
in which delegates of
the G24, the United
Nations, the World Bank,
the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB)
and the Andean
Development Corporation
(the financial arm of
the Andean Community
trade bloc) took part.
In the conference, the
Uribe administration was
represented by Vice
President Francisco
Santos, the directors of
the government’s human
rights office, and
officials from the
programme for the
reinsertion of former
members of irregular
armed groups and the
president’s social
action agency. The
president himself also
made an appearance.
The officials defended
the government’s
controversial
"democratic security"
policy, said 30,000
members of paramilitary
groups had demobilised
-- a number that has
been widely questioned,
as prior to the
negotiations the
estimated number of
members was much lower
-- pointed to an
expansion of health and
education coverage, and
highlighted government
spending aimed at
strengthening the
justice system, reducing
unemployment and
bolstering social
inclusion.
But a representative of
the Kankuamo indigenous
community said the
"statistics look very
nice when they are not
built on pain."
"Our community has
shrunk by 47 percent in
the last six years, as a
result of the armed
conflict. Eighty percent
of those killed were
victims of the
paramilitaries," he told
IPS, asking not to be
identified by name.
"We don't want the
foreign debt to be paid
with our land," said
another indigenous
delegate, a member of
the Embera Katio
community from the
northwestern department
(province) of Córdoba,
where the Urrá I
hydroelectric dam
operates. The hydropower
plant was built despite
criticism of
environmental damages
and the expropriation of
indigenous land, near
the projected site of
the Urrá II
hydroelectric dam.
A local community leader
from the department of
Chocó, on the Pacific
ocean, who was forced to
flee to the north of the
country, said his home
region is "unliveable,
and even if you wanted
to return, you would
have as a neighbour a
demobilised
paramilitary, and I tell
you, I find that really
frightening."
The Alianza, an umbrella
group of 132 social
organisations, human
rights groups,
associations of victims
of forced displacement,
environmentalists and
cultural organisations,
distributed copies of a
report on the situation
in Colombia.
This year, the human
rights situation has
been characterised by
the re-arming of
paramilitary groups, the
emergence of new
organised crime groups,
and the responsibility
of the security forces
in killing civilians,
says the Alianza’s
report.
Human rights activists
say the G24
international conference
process has had a
positive effect.
Gustavo Gallón, director
of the Colombian
Commission of Jurists (CCJ),
a human rights group
that holds consultative
status with the United
Nations, told IPS that
"the role of the G24
should be celebrated,
because it takes note of
the views of both sides,
and to some extent
influences the
government to get it to
tone down its approach
and respect Colombian
society."
Gallón said the
rightwing Uribe
administration’s "proud
and triumphalist
discourse could be
disputed."
"For example, what about
the 549 people killed
during the paramilitary
demobilisation process,
as documented by the
office of the U.N. high
commissioner" for human
rights? he asked.
"And if the
paramilitaries numbered
12,000 at the start of
the process, where did
the 40,000 now reported
by the government come
from? If 30,000
demobilised, it means
the paramilitary groups
grew enormously under
this government," said
Gallón.
Andrea Lari and Mariano
García of the U.S.-based
Refugees International
told IPS that on a visit
to the city of Tumaco,
in the southern
department of Nariño, a
week ago they found
around 5,000 displaced
families receiving no
assistance whatsoever,
living in subhuman
conditions.
"We are talking to the
government and the
agencies so that they
can begin providing
assistance," said Lari.
"The humanitarian crisis
and the large numbers of
displaced persons have
to be top priorities in
the discussions between
the Colombian government
and the international
community," said García.
"This is our fifth trip
to Colombia in three
years, and although some
progress has been seen
as a result of the
Constitutional Court’s
order that the displaced
population must be given
assistance, there has
been no clear
improvement," said Lari.
"It is because of
situations like this
that the U.S. Congress
is reviewing its policy
towards Colombia."
Resident U.N.
coordinator in Colombia
Bruno Moro said he was
pleased with the
conference, which he
said would help build
dialogue.
"It's obvious, of
course, that Colombia’s
problems cannot be fixed
overnight, but there is
hope, there is a path
that can be followed,"
he remarked to IPS.
Argentine Ambassador
Balza, a retired
general, said that "with
a good strategy, war can
be won, but with a great
strategy, peace can be
achieved."
|
