Struggle against impunity in Colombia
The high level of impunity is among the main obstacles to an end to the armed conflict in Colombia. On a recent visit to the country, the NHRF met with grantees determined to fight impunity through the documentation of human rights abuses.
Among the main strategies applied by Colombian civil society organisations in the struggle against impunity are the careful documentation of human rights abuses and the compilation of a national database of human rights abuses. The NHRF currently supports two organisations that are instrumental in providing data from the local level to the Banco de datos – the national database of human rights.
Banco de datosis operated by the Bogotá - based organisation Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular (CINEP). CINEP receives information about human rights abuses from various civil society organisations working on a local level across the country. Based on these contributions, CINEP produces the biannual publication Noche y Niebla, which contains systematised information about all reported violations, as well as periodic thematic reports. The database is the main comprehensive register of human rights abuses in Colombia, and is increasingly cited in international reports and diplomatic documents.
In the period 2006 – 2010, CINEP and other human rights organisations used the database to campaign against the practice of falsos positivos. The term refers to incidents of extrajudicial killings carried out by the military with the victims subsequently dressed in guerilla uniforms and presented to the public as killed in combat, generating internal perks to soldiers and the impression that the military was advancing in the war. The practice was widespread in Colombia but largely unknown for the press and large parts of the public, allowing the perpetrators to continue the practice with impunity. With sustained efforts to raise awareness about the issue, some sections of the media and eventually a small number of Congressmen finally brought the issue onto the political agenda.
The revelation of the massive extent of the practice was a scandal that attracted international attention, and led to accusations and trials involving high ranking military officials. The scandal also led to a substantial reduction in the number of incidents. In the biannual publication of NHRF grantee Observatorio Surcolombiano de Derechos Humanos y Violencia (OBSURDH), the number of extrajudicial killings in the southern Department of Huila decreased from 85 cases in 2007 to 5 cases in 2010. Despite this progress, however, incidents of falsos positivos continue to occur, and the level of impunity for perpetrators remains at unacceptable levels.