Colombia took one step closer to entering the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Forced Disappearance on Tuesday as the country’s Congress approved the convention’s ratification. The signature of President Juan Manuel Santos and the approval of Colombia’s Constitutional Court are now all that await the convention – both of which are expected shortly. According to BBC Mundo, the convention, passed by the UN General Assembly in 2006, requires ratification by 20 countries before entering into force. It just so happens that Colombia would be that magic country number 20. [The 19 prior signatories include Albania, Argentina, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Germany, Honduras, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Senegal, Spain and Uruguay].
Human rights lawyer Federico Andreu Guzmán, involved in drafting the convention, says its novelty lies in adding three new categories of human rights to the international framework – the right to not be disappeared, the right to truth, and the right to victim reparations. The convention also goes beyond the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearances by, among things, prohibiting the possibility of amnesty against perpetrators, opening new international venues up for victims to pursue justice, and protecting the children of the disappeared. Colombian congressman Ivan Cepeda, the Colombian lawmaker credited with pushing the convention along in Congress, called Tuesday’s ratification, “a victory for the human rights movement and for the victims of forced disappearance who have insisted for three decades that there be an international means for ending such crimes.” The BBC says at least 30,000 individuals are estimated to be among those who have been “forcibly disappeared” by the Colombian state, right wing paramilitary groups, and left wing rebel groups.
Tuesday’s congressional approval came as officials from Human Rights Watch visited Colombia for a week of meetings with the Colombian officials. El Tiempo says the delegation, led by Americas director José Miguel Vivanco and HRW board member Jorge Castaneda, will be looking at extrajudicial killings, illegal detentions, and delays in prosecuting human rights violators, among other issues. On Tuesday HRW called a recently proposed reparations bill, which includes a clause on the restitution of lands to displaced Colombians, a “positive” step forward, although as Colombia Reports writes there are growing signs that “neo-paramilitarism” is on the rise. In the department of Córdoba, for example, displaced Colombians seeking to reclaim their lands are increasingly coming under attack. A new report from Verdad Abierta says that so far in 2010 there have been at least 182 cases of disappearances reported.
To other stories:
· Colombia’s El Tiempo is also reporting on the arrival of a high-level delegation of US officials to Bogotá on Sunday. The group will include Hillary Clinton’s number two, Undersecretary of State James Steinberg; Assistant Secretary of State, Arturo Valenzuela; and Maria Otero, Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. Notably absent from the meeting’s proposed agenda – any explicit reference to drugs. To the contrary, officials say good governance, democracy, human rights, energy, and science and technology will be the principal issues under discussion. WOLA’s Adam Isacson says this may be the first time since the 1970s that the word “drugs” is not included in bilateral talks between the two countries. Isacson adds that the meetings likely represent an attempt by Washington to maintain its presence in a region where most countries have sought to distance themselves from the US, pursuing agendas that have become increasingly independent from Washington. Johns Hopkins’ Riordan Roett, meanwhile, sees the visit as the beginning of a push by the Obama administration for a Colombia free trade agreement.
· In Mexico, rights groups say Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s proposal to put military officials accused of certain rights abuses before civilian courts does not go far enough. The New York Times this morning says the “cornerstone” of the new plan is the proposal to hold civilian trials for soldiers accused of “forced disappearances,” rape or torture. In addition it would allow victims to file anonymous complaints for the first time — including by fax or e-mail. It would institute new protections for witnesses. However, the Office of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico, as well as Amnesty International, said Tuesday the plan does not bring Mexico in line with international rights norms as it limits the categories of crimes which would be sent to civilian trial. Extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, and physical beatings, would remain outside, advocates maintain. According to Nik Steinberg of Human Rights Watch the Inter-American Court has been clear that “military jurisdiction cannot operate in any circumstances” where civilian human rights have been violated. WOLA’s Maureen Meyer echoes that opinion. “Victims of human rights violations committed by the military deserve a comprehensive reform of the military code so their cases can be tried in civilian court,” WOLA maintains.
· More Mexico news. EFE reports on another missing mayor-elect in state of Tamaulipas. Unofficial reports suggest the PRI politico – missing for one week – may have been kidnapped. Also from EFE, a report on how Mexican cartels are “diversifying their operations,” taking increased interest in “piracy, prostitution, theft of oil and minerals, the sale of adulterated liquor and other illegal activities.” One such example includes the case of a recently arrested “money manager” for La Familia, who it now appears sold 1.1 million tons of illegally extracted iron ore in China for $42 million. A source at the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America also tells the news agency that cartels are becoming more interested in seeking control of particular mines in the state of Michoacan – an attempt to “justify the income from their operations.”
· McClatchy reports on the emergence of drug violence in Acapulco. BBC Mundo on recruitment of drug traffickers which is going on in US prisons. According to the report, new traffickers are often first introduced to cartels while in American prisons and upon deportation back to Mexico, many have actively entered the ranks of the cartels. A great panel discussion on the Border Drug Wars with longtime border journalists Charles Bowden and Ed Vulliamy, via CSPAN. And news that a 20 year old criminology student has been named the chief of police in the border town of Guadelupe. The former mayor, Jesus Manuel Lara Rodriguez, was killed June 19, and it now seems 20-year-old Marisol Valles Garcia was the only candidate who applied for the unenviable job of protecting the violence-stricken town of 10,000.
· On Bolivia, the Committee to Protect Journalists expresses its concern over the country’s new anti-racism law and the potential effect it could have on freedom of expression.
· From La Silla Vacía, some interesting discussion about what Colombia ought to champion from its new non-permanent seat on the UN’s Security Council. A new international framework on drugs seems to be a popular option.
· The IMF says South American countries should slow domestic demand so as to avoid the threat of inflation and worsening trade deficits. There’s something strange to hear the following words from the IMF regarding Lat Am economies: “For most of South America, it is all about the risks of too much of a good thing, to avoid possible excesses of demand and finance.”
· The latest poll numbers from Brazil show Dilma Rouseff regaining a bit of lost ground against opponent José Serra, although the race remains tight. The polling firm Vox Populi this week shows Dilma over Serra, 51% to 39%. When blank and null votes are excluded, Dilma’s estimated victory rises to 57% against Serra’s 43%.
· And finally opinions. The Latin America Working Group’s Lisa Haugaard on on-going rights abuses in Honduras, at the Huffington Post. New America’s Anya Landau French, at Foreign Policy, on how the Obama administration has sat by and done nothing while Cuba has begun to take significant steps toward reform. And the Institute for Policy Studies’ John Feffer, author of the indispensable weekly foreign policy essay, “World Beat,” writes this week on the on-going search for justice in Latin America – and Guatemala more specifically.
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