[News] Protect Ex-Farc Members or Risk Losing Peace: UN Tells Colombia

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Protect-Ex-Farc-Members-or-Risk-Losing-Peace-UN-Tells-Colombia-20190604-0021.html 



  Protect Ex-Farc Members or Risk Losing Peace: UN Tells Colombia

June 4, 2019
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The incessant slaughter of ex-combatants of the Revolutionary Armed 
Forces of Colombia (FARC) is a threat to the nation’s peace process, 
theUnited Nations said in a statement 
<https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1039781>Tuesday.

    /*RELATED:
    Colombia: Guerrillas Innocent of Hundreds of Violent Killings
    <https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-Guerrillas-Innocent-of-Hundreds-of-Violent-Killings-20190528-0017.html>*/

The murder ofDimar Torres Arevalo 
<https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-Police-Gun-Down-Ex-FARC-Guerrilla-Community-Enraged-20190425-0028.html> 
outside of a National Army Camp in April triggered a call for justice 
from both the U.N. special rapporteur and the Work Group on Enforced 
Disappearances.

"This attack is a challenge for the peace process since it does not 
comply with the Final Agreement that requires respect for the lives of 
all ex-combatants who lay down their arms. Therefore, it is a violation 
of the guarantees agreed by Colombia,” an official statement said.

According to the U.N., members of Torres Arevalo’s community notified 
six independent experts of the man’s disappearance and the state 
military’s apparent disinterest in the case or his whereabouts. A fresh 
grave, three shovels, and the Torres’s remains were later found near the 
military base.

Along the Venezuelan border, Torres was making his way home after 
leaving his village to buy tools when police officers shot and killed 
him at an army checkpoint. Witnesses at the scene say police tried to 
blame the shooting on Torres, saying he reached for an officer’s weapon. 
However, after villagers of the Carrizal community stumbled on the 
grave, authorities took responsibility for the death.

U.N. officials denounced the compounding number of deaths and demanded 
the state take action to investigate this case and others. Colombia must 
“cease inciting violence against demobilized individuals” and realize 
the important role the nation must play to protect ex-combatants and 
their families 
<https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Colombians-Protest-After-Infant-of-FARC-Ex-Militant-Murdered-20190417-0029.html> 
and see perpetrators are brought to justice.

“Ignoring guarantees pledged to former rebel fighters increases the 
prospect of them deserting the peace and reintegration process and the 
possibility of them joining dissident groups or taking up arms again to 
protect themselves,” the U.N. warned, adding that “the government must 
take immediate steps to implement the peace accords.”

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (Ohchr) 
presented its annual 2018 report on March 14, stating that President 
Ivan Duque will have a "historic responsibility to continue implementing 
the Agreement."

As Colombian defense budget increased by more than five percent, the 
Human Rights body encouraged Duque’s government to prioritize public 
spending on prevention, since the U.N.’s Secretary-General estimated 
that prevention measures could reduce costs generated by violence and 
conflicts by up to 30 percent.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20190605/dd7d2070/attachment.htm>