Colombia Will Withdraw Plan to Expand Military Jurisdiction
February 19, 2012, 10:33 AM ESTBy Blake Schmidt
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia’s government said it will withdraw its proposal to expand military jurisdiction over cases of abuses by Colombian security forces after human-rights groups opposed the measure.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said he’ll instead ask Congress to make clear in the constitution that human-rights abuses including torture, extrajudicial killings, disappearances and rapes shouldn’t go before military courts, according to a statement on the ministry’s website late yesterday.
A justice reform bill that had been promoted by the government of President Juan Manuel Santos to expand the role of military courts would “dramatically reverse” progress made in investigating human-rights violations, Human Rights Watch said in December.
“By virtually guaranteeing impunity for human-rights violations committed by the security forces, it could ultimately expose Colombia to investigations by the International Criminal Court,” the New York-based group’s America’s director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, said in a letter addressed to Santos and released by e-mail in December.
--Editors: Joe Sabo, Sylvia Wier.
To contact the reporters on this story: Blake Schmidt in Bogota at bschmidt16@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net.
