A global rights group warned Monday that some of the most heinous crimes committed by military personnel against civilians during Colombia's armed conflict could go unpunished under an agreement between the government and FARC guerrillas.
Among the most controversial crimes involving Colombian military personnel are so-called "false positives" -- civilians murdered by the army and reported as guerrillas killed in combat in order to earn promotions for those involved.
However, a peace deal outlined in December between Colombia's government and its main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), will not punish those responsible for such atrocities, Human Rights Watch said.
"The web of loopholes and ambiguities in the agreement could guarantee that many of those responsible for false-positive killings, ranging from low-ranking soldiers to generals, will escape justice," HRW's Americas division director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, said in a statement.
The agreement, the product of more than three years of negotiations, sets out a special system for trying those accused of atrocities on both sides in the war.
Those who admit to their crimes will be given lighter sentences under the special judicial regime.
Under the agreement, military commanders could argue that they had no knowledge or control over the crimes attributed to their troops, a provision that HRW called "inconsistent with international law."
The rights group asked that such cases be resolved in ordinary courts.
According to HRW, between 2002 and 2008, army brigades executed some 3,000 civilians.
The South American country remains in the grips of a civil war that has killed more than 200,000 people since the FARC was founded in 1964.
A global rights group warned Monday that some of the most heinous crimes committed by military personnel against civilians during Colombia’s armed conflict could go unpunished under an agreement between the government and FARC guerrillas.
Among the most controversial crimes involving Colombian military personnel are so-called “false positives” — civilians murdered by the army and reported as guerrillas killed in combat in order to earn promotions for those involved.
However, a peace deal outlined in December between Colombia’s government and its main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), will not punish those responsible for such atrocities, Human Rights Watch said.
“The web of loopholes and ambiguities in the agreement could guarantee that many of those responsible for false-positive killings, ranging from low-ranking soldiers to generals, will escape justice,” HRW’s Americas division director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, said in a statement.
The agreement, the product of more than three years of negotiations, sets out a special system for trying those accused of atrocities on both sides in the war.
Those who admit to their crimes will be given lighter sentences under the special judicial regime.
Under the agreement, military commanders could argue that they had no knowledge or control over the crimes attributed to their troops, a provision that HRW called “inconsistent with international law.”
The rights group asked that such cases be resolved in ordinary courts.
According to HRW, between 2002 and 2008, army brigades executed some 3,000 civilians.
The South American country remains in the grips of a civil war that has killed more than 200,000 people since the FARC was founded in 1964.
