Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Forced Disappearances in Colombia

[1] This could be interpreted as a result a control of the medias by the state (medias who constantly post news about guerrilla actions and violence but pass under silence many of the disappearances).
[2] http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.aspx?id=1539219
[3] http://www.amnesty.org/en/forced-disappearances
[4] In the 1970s, forced disappearance was used as a repressive measure to eliminate the political opponents of the regime, in the 1980 social organizations, students, peasants and trade unionists were also targeted. By 1990, disappearance became more collective and aimed at terrorizing entire groups of populations.
[5] http://www.colectivodeabogados.org/Desaparecida-Sandra-Viviana
[6] http://blog.amnestyusa.org/iar/continued-impunity-forced-disappearances-in-colombia/
[7] Breaking the Silence”, Latin America Working Group Education Fund and U.S. Office on Colombia, December 2010, p.11.  http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/Colombia/BreakingTheSilence.pdf.

[8]  Ibid., p.16.
[9] Criminals can in theory and by law be extradited but this measure has been widely criticized as a way for the government to grant a certain degree of impunity : “The question now is how useful extradition remains as a judicial tool in Colombia, with some signs that it is increasingly employed for political ends” http://internationalextraditionblog.com/2011/08/11/extradition-from-colombia-still-a-tool-for-justice-and-abuse/
[10] http://colombia.indymedia.org/news/2011/08/123251.php
[11] The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has ruled on certain cases of forced disappearances. For example, on February 24, 2011, in the case of Juan Gelman, Maria Claudia Garcia Maria Iruretagoyena Macarena Gelman and Gelman Garcia against the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.
[12] Question of enforced or involuntary disappearances, Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Mission to Colombia (5-13 July 2005), United Nations Economic and Social Council, E/CN.4/2006/56/Add.1 17 January 2006. P.13.
[13]  In terms of impunity, there has been a very important step forward in relation to the theme of justice and reparation with the condemnation, on the 15th of September 2011,  of  Jorge Noguera. Former head of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) and a regional manager of ex-president Alvaro Uribe, he was sentenced to 25 years of prison for  ” aggravated conspiracy and homicide in the 2004 murder of university professor and activist Alfredo Correa de Andreis […] of destroying and hiding public documents and revealing secret information.    http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105120
[14]http://www.oidhaco.org/?art=1134&title=Europe%20must%20break%20its%20silence%20on%20Enforced%20Disappearances%20in%20Colombia&lang=en

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