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| Rights Group List Abuses by Guerrillas in Colombia |
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Posted by FoM on July 10, 2001 at 09:05:46 PT By Juan Forero Source: New York Times 
The largest rebel group here regularly violates the rights of noncombatants by attacking civilians, kidnapping for ransom, recruiting children and focusing on medical workers, all in spite of the group's occasional pledges to abide by some international rights norms, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.Written as a 9,000-word letter to the rebel leader, Manuel Marulanda, the report says the organization, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has increased attacks on civilians by using homemade gas-cylinder bombs, notoriously inaccurate weapons that are usually aimed at police outposts but often destroy whole neighborhoods. The rebels are also responsible for disappearances, the mistreatment of prisoners and the executions of people judged in unauthorized courts to be enemy collaborators, Human Rights Watch said. The report is to be issued on Tuesday in Washington. The rebels received a copy last week. The findings have been compiled as Colombia remains locked in an increasingly brutal conflict in which massacres of civilians, displacements of villagers and abductions are weekly occurrences. Groups like Human Rights Watch fault the right- wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a paramilitary organization financed by landowners to attack rebels, for most abuses. But the rebel force, or FARC, is increasingly responsible for rights violations, said José Miguel Vivanco, director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch. In an interview last week, Mr. Vivanco, who signed the letter to Mr. Marulanda, said the rebel group had often used the principles of international humanitarian law for its own purposes. Examples cited included the rebels' calling on the government to agree to a prisoner exchange or pushing for the army to track down paramilitary gunmen. Rebel leaders who met with Human Rights Watch researchers have said international standards represent "elite interests" and are not applicable here. "We've come to the conclusion that they're using international humanitarian law as just part of a P.R. operation," Mr. Vivanco said by telephone from Washington. "It's part of their rhetoric. But they have shown no will, no intention whatsoever, to enforce those principles in practice." Human Rights Watch, which researched the report in trips here last summer and this year, said evidence showed that the rebels executed a member of Congress, Diego Turbay, and six other people on Dec. 29, 2000, an attack that the group has denied. The report also criticized the guerrillas for "grossly inappropriate punishment" against two rebels believed responsible for the deaths on March 5, 1999, of three Americans who were visiting an Indian tribe. Rebel leaders told Human Rights Watch that the two were sentenced to dig a 55- yard-long trench and clear land. American officials have asked, in vain, for the two to be handed over. Human Rights Watch, which visited rebel-controlled territory in southern Colombia, said the force had "established a pattern of abducting civilians suspected of supporting paramilitary groups, many of whom are later killed." Last year, the force killed 496 civilians after having accused many of being paramilitary or government sympathizers, according to a leading Colombian rights group cited by Human Rights Watch. The report calls "particularly repugnant" the use of children as combatants and spies. Human Rights Watch notes that rebel leaders have said they will not use children younger than 15. Despite some welcome developments like the demobilization of 62 children in February, large numbers of fighters are under 15, the rights group said. Mr. Vivanco noted that his was Human Rights Watch's first letter written directly to Mr. Marulanda. It represents, Mr. Vivanco added, a trend by rights groups and others to "hold the top guys accountable for the actions of their troops." Colombia Drug War News Legalizing Abuses in Colombia CannabisNews Articles - FARC Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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