E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.1 page 7 26. In fulfilment of its obligation to compensate victims, the Government provided fuller replies than those previously given to the Rapporteurs and also responded to comments on information the Rapporteurs had received from non-governmental sources. 27. In that connection, the Government recalled the constitutional and legal basis of compensation, pursuant to article 90 of the 1991 Political Charter of Colombia, which falls under the State’s responsibility and dates back to the last century, and articles 77 and 78 of the Administrative Disputes Code and Act No. 288 of 1996. 28. Act No. 288 of 1996, which the Government had already commented on in its earlier reply to the Rapporteurs after non-governmental sources had highlighted shortcomings in it, establishes methods for compensating victims of human rights violations by virtue of the provisions adopted by international bodies, more specifically the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Committee (E/CN.4/1998/38, paras. 55-59). 29. Non-governmental sources had pointed out that the Act was confined solely to financial compensation and did not envisage, for instance, social redress, the clearing of the names of the victims and fulfilment of the State’s obligation to guarantee the rights to truth and justice. In so doing, the Act limited the scope of recommendations for compensation made by international bodies and excluded equally binding recomendations from other intergovernmental bodies for the protection of human rights such as the International Labour Organization and the Committee against Torture (E/CN.4/1998/38, para. 56). 30. In response, the Government explained that the fact that the Act focused on the compensation of victims did not mean that the areas mentioned in the allegations were disregarded in other norms and mechanisms. Social redress was considered by the Government case by case when the fabric of society was thought to have been affected, as, for example had happened in the cases of the violent eruptions in Trujillo, Valle, and the massacres in los Uvos and Caloto, Cauca, and the district of Villatina in Medellín. 31. Recommendations by international organizations, limited in Act No. 288 to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Committee, were included partly because of their quasi-judicial procedures, their roots in international agreements and the fact that they could be invoked by any person or non-governmental organization. The Government also pointed out that the Committee of Ministers created under the Act had issued 25 resolutions on 16 cases of human rights violations, benefiting over 100 people. Truth and justice were monitored through other mechanisms under domestic law. 32. In the area of civil justice, the Rapporteurs recommended the allocation of adequate resources and that judicial police functions be carried out exclusively by a civilian entity, namely the technical unit of the criminal investigation police. They also recommended that the provincial and departmental branches of the Procurator-General’s Office be given sufficient autonomy and resources, and that, as long as the regional justice system existed, crimes falling under its jurisdiction should be clearly defined to guarantee the rights of defendants and eliminate existing restrictions. Effective protection should be provided for all members of the