BOGOTA, Sept 3 (TrustLaw) - Colombia's military offensive against armed rebels has allowed government troops to re-establish the state's presence in some conflict-ridden areas. Local and international analysts argue that the country now urgently needs to focus on an integrated approach to try to end its armed conflict, which includes reinforcing the rule of law and reforming its justice system to main those security gains and tackle high levels of impunity.
Following are some facts to highlight the extent of impunity in Colombia.
* An estimated 2,700 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia since 1986, according to the local non-governmental organisation, the National Labour School. Only around five percent of these killings have resulted in a conviction.
* The attorney general’s office is currently investigating more than 2,000 cases involving army officials who have allegedly killed civilians to inflate rebel body counts. In 2008, 27 army officers were fired but few have been convicted for extrajudicial killings.
* The number of judges, magistrates and prosecutors in Colombia has not risen to keep up with the increase in the number of cases under investigation. In the last 15 years, the number of cases has risen by 180 percent but the number of new judicial officials investigating crimes has only grown by 20 percent, according to government figures.
* In Bogota, there are 25 state prosecutors in charge with investigating serious crimes, the majority murder cases. This means each prosecutor would have to solve nearly 65 crimes based on the capital’s murder rate last year.
* During this year, 18,000 people were arrested in Colombia for carrying arms illegally but 90 percent of those captured have already been set free, according to the country’s police chief.
* Political infighting between the previous government of Alvaro Uribe and the country’s constitutional and supreme courts has meant that three of Colombia’s top judicial posts, including the attorney general, have been carried out by acting heads in recent months.
* Across Colombia, the murder rate has fallen from nearly 26,500 murders in 2000 to 15,817 in 2009, according to police figures. But urban crime is on the rise. The government blames new alliances forged between rebel groups and drug traffickers as one of the reasons behind the recent spike in murders in Colombia’s main cities.
* During the first three months of this year, 503 people were killed in drug-related violence in the city of Medellin.
** Read an interview with the regional head of International Crisis Group, Markus Schultze-Kraft, about Colombia's urgent need to bolster the rule of law**
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
