Lawmakers Call for Linking Colombia Aid to Human Rights
Last week, eight U.S. lawmakers called for cuts to the planned U.S. security assistance package to Colombia for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 in response to continuing reports of human rights violations, violence and impunity in the country.
In a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the members of Congress expressed concern that Colombia had not fully complied with human rights conditions necessary for the country to receive U.S. security aid, especially with regard to the protection of human rights defenders and the human rights of vulnerable Afro-Colombian communities in the Pacific Coast region of the country. The letter came after the State Department certified on September 17 that the Colombian government had improved respect for human rights “both within the armed forces and in Colombia at large.”
The letter stressed that the U.S. government should pressure the Colombian government to meet the human rights conditions attached to Colombia aid in the 2014 Foreign Aid Law. According to this bill, 25 percent of assistance to Colombia’s armed forces should be withheld until the State Department certifies that:
- Members of the Colombian military alleged to have committed human rights violations, or have aided or benefitted from illegal armed groups, are tried in civilian courts, and the military is cooperating with investigations;
- Paramilitary groups are being dismantled, the government is protecting the rights of human rights defenders, journalists, trade unionists, and other social activists, as well as respecting the rights and territory of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities; and
- The government is investigating and punishing those responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes, and is not offering amnesty to such persons.
Questioning the State Department certification that the Colombian government is protecting the rights of certain communities, the lawmakers cited a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report from March that documented a number of serious human rights abuses in the Pacific port of Buenaventura, including killings, disappearances, torture and sexual assault of women committed primarily by criminal gangs. Lawmakers also referenced a July HRW report about widespread abuses in the city of Tumaco in 2013 and 2014 committed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), including forced displacement, forced recruitment, sexual violence, extortion and impunity.
While a “portion of US military aid to Colombia is conditioned on the government’s respect for Afro-Colombian communities’ rights,” the letter contended that the Colombian government is not currently doing enough to protect citizens in this Pacific Coast region. The lawmakers indicate that “impunity is the norm” and only seven convictions have been obtained in the 1,300 homicides cases that have occurred in Tumaco since 2009. Although the Colombian government has announced new measures for increasing social investment and strengthening judicial investigations, the legislators remain concerned about continued abuses. The legislators called for the Colombian government to “adopt urgent measures to stop ongoing violence, protect the cities’ residents and effectively investigate and prosecute those responsible for atrocities there.”
In 2014, State Department-managed security assistance to Colombia totaled more than $164 million, but the U.S. lawmakers are proposing a partial suspension of the almost $133 million requested for State Department security assistance in FY 2015 if proper steps are not taken to “stop the human rights crises in Tumaco and Buenaventura” and to “implement an emergency plan to address the extreme poverty and social exclusion” affecting this region of Colombia.
The letter was signed by Democrats Henry Johnson, John Lewis, James McGovern, Sam Farr, John Conyers, Barbara Lee, George Miller and Emanuel Cleaver.
Left-leaning members of the European Parliament have similarly urged the European Union to withhold aid to Colombia until human rights are respected and the peace process has been finalized. As with the letter to Kerry, the MEPs cited rampant judicial impunity as a major concern. The EU has stated that it will wait for the outcome of the peace talks before determining the amount of aid it will give.