E/CN.4/1995/111
page 5
in which human rights violations occurred, as well as on the legal and
institutional background and addressed specific recommendations to the
Government.
10.
The visit by the then Special Rapporteur on summary or arbitrary
executions, Mr. Amos Wako, took place in October 1989. He submitted a report
on that visit to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-sixth session
(E/CN.4/1990/22/Add.1), which contained an analysis of violations of the right
to life in the context of the violence then prevailing, statistical
information received, a description of specific massacres, those sectors
of the population that were particularly vulnerable, the Government’s
counter-insurgency campaign and its repercussions on the civilian population,
an assessment of action taken by the Government, as well as conclusions and
recommendations focusing on the following areas of principal concern:
violations of the right to life by paramilitary groups operating in close
cooperation with the armed forces and the police; the impunity of members of
paramilitary groups and security forces responsible for such violations, as
well as grave shortcomings within the administration of justice which
contributed to the phenomenon of impunity; and social injustice particularly
affecting peasants and workers (E/CN.4/1990/22/Add.1, paras. 60-74). A number
of significant developments have taken place since then.
11.
Under the administration of President Gaviria (1990-1994), peace
agreements were concluded with four armed insurgent movements comprising
approximately 3,500 combatants. Thus, in 1990 and 1991, the M-19 Movement, a
faction of the Ejército Popular de Liberación (EPL) (Popular Liberation Army)
which turned into the political movement Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (Hope,
Peace and Freedom), the Partido Revolucionario de Trabajadores (PRT)
(Revolutionary Workers’ Party) and the Quintín Lamé group, laid down their
arms and formed the political movement Alianza Democrática/M-19 (Democratic
Alliance/M-19). On 9 April 1994, a peace agreement was concluded with
the Corriente de Renovación Socialista, a dissident faction of the
Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) (National Liberation Army). However,
negotiations with the Coordinadora guerrillera "Simón Bolívar" composed of the
Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) (Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia), the ELN and the EPL, broke down in 1992, leading to renewed
violence. Furthermore, attempts at the reinsertion into civilian life of
ex-combatants eligible for amnesty under the terms of these agreements have
not always been successful: thus, a group of former combatants of the
demobilized M-19 have reportedly reunited in 1994 and formed the
Comando Jaime Cañón.
12.
In response to the continuing problem of violence in Colombia,
President Gaviria’s National Strategy against Violence, first formulated in
1991, emphasized the use of force for the repression of violence directed
against the State. A number of measures, such as the establishment of
internal control mechanisms within State institutions and the strengthening of
the Regional Justice system (see paras. 13 and 14 below) should counter human
rights violations by members of the security forces. In this connection,
chapter II below examines the impact of the continued armed conflict between
the insurgents and the security forces on the situation of human rights and
its particularly negative effect on the civilian population.