U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE IN COLOMBIA GETS ONLY ONE-YEAR RENEWAL FOR CHARTER.
The Colombian government has permitted the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) office in Bogota to renew its mandate for one year, substantially less than the four-year renewal the UN had sought. The agency has been highly critical of the government of President Alvaro Uribe, which has led Uribe's administration to return fire, leveling criticisms and pressure against the agency.
The UN office has become the most prominent human rights monitor in Colombia since its creation a decade ago, having verified more than 8,100 rights abuses by leftist rebels, paramilitary groups, and government forces as part of the four-decades-old civil war in Colombia, which has one of the hemisphere's worst rights records.
Four-year renewal withheld by Colombian government
Foreign diplomats and rights activists had alleged that President Uribe sought to stymie the office's effort to renew its four-year mandate in Colombia (see NotiSur, 2006-09-08). Those critics also accused the Uribe government of pressuring the UN to appoint a chief perceived as less critical of the government and pushing for the softening of negative reviews of the government's actions.
But Colombia said on Sept. 12 that it would allow the UN human rights agency that has accused the government of not aggressively addressing abuses to remain in the country for another year.
Vice President Francisco Santos said the agency's four-year mandate, which expires at the end of September, would be extended for a year to give officials a "prudent amount of time" to analyze the agency's work and negotiate changes in its monitoring activity.
The announcement followed a Sept. 12 meeting with President Alvaro Uribe and Juan Pablo Corlazzoli, a representative of the UNHCHR. More than a hundred human rights groups and the European Union (EU) had urged the government to renew the mandate for another four years without changes.
The agency has frequently run afoul of high-ranking officials by highlighting government inaction to protect and investigate abuses against labor leaders, indigenous activists, and other threatened groups. It also has criticized the participation of security forces in killings of innocent civilians.
The office has spoken out against a government peace deal with right-wing paramilitary groups--who are accused of some of the worst atrocities in the country's recent history--which it says runs roughshod over the rights of victims and international law.
Santos, whose office is...
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