E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.1 page 10 43. The Government explained that conflicts of jurisdiction are decided by a judicial body independent of the Government. The Constitutional Court’s restriction on the scope of military authority has been incorporated into the draft Military Criminal Code, which defines “service-related crimes”. The draft Code gives the ordinary courts jurisdiction over the aforementioned human rights violations. 44. Regarding justice for past offences, the Government had accepted the recommendations of the Special Investigative Commission into the violent events that took place in Trujillo, recognizing the responsibility of the State, and was honouring its undertakings to that Commission. It believed that amicable settlements involving the Government, investigative bodies and representatives of the victims’ families were an effective mechanism in that regard. 45. On the suspension from active service of members of the security forces under investigation by either the Procurator-General’s or the Attorney-General’s Office, the Government indicated that disciplinary decisions by the Procurator-General’s Office against law-enforcement officers and others were rigorously enforced. 46. As to the disarming and disbanding of paramilitary groups, the National Human Rights Unit, established in 1994, was described as a judicial mechanism to counter paramilitary activities, the Attorney-General’s Office having done much to capture and prosecute such groups. The Government mentioned the President’s message to the nation denouncing the actions of groups that took justice into their own hands and urging the State security bodies to bring them to book. 47. The Government reported the passage of Act No. 418, amending and extending Acts Nos. 104 of 1993 and 241 of 1995, under which individuals may be deemed already to have served their sentences in conflicts settlements or conflict humanization cases, provided they or the groups they belong to abandon their activities and are reintegrated into society. Decree No. 2.895 of 3 December 1997 set up a Search Squad to coordinate action by the State against groups that take the law into their own hands. Together, the Attorney-General’s Office and the security forces were attempting to execute 374 arrest warrants. According to a report by the Ministry of National Defence, 48 members of paramilitary groups were killed and 231 arrested and turned over to the Attorney-General’s Office in 1997 and 1998 for alleged links with such groups. 48. The possession of firearms by civilians was restricted under Decree No. 2.535 of 1993 and regulated by Decree No. 1.809 of 1994. The Government pointed out that outlaws had access to large sums of money through kidnapping, extortion and drug-related activities which enabled them to acquire weapons on the international black market and smuggle them into the country. The Government hoped for greater cooperation with exporting countries in its efforts to bring the situation under control. Nearly 80 per cent of the weapons in the possession of special surveillance and private security services had been handed in. 49. On the need for greater awareness among top political and military figures about the legitimacy and need for civic organizations, the Government said it regretted the events that had cost human rights workers their lives. It recognized the legitimate work performed by human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and, in a presidential directive, had called on