Threats against judicial officials hamper prosecutions in Colombia, and corruption often exacerbated by drugs trade, says US report
BOGOTA (TrustLaw) - Colombia’s corrupt and inefficient justice system is hampering its attempts to bring prosecutions for human rights abuses and other crimes, according to the United States.
Threats and attacks on judges and prosecutors have made it difficult to put suspects on trial, and corruption is often exacerbated by the drugs trade, the U.S. government said in its annual human rights report published this week.
“While the (Colombian) law provides for an independent judiciary, much of the judicial system was overburdened, inefficient, and hindered by subornation and intimidation of judges, prosecutors, and witnesses,” it added.
"Impunity and an inefficient justice system subject to intimidation limited the state’s ability to prosecute effectively those accused of human rights abuses and to process former paramilitaries."
Judicial officials were subjected to threats and acts of violence, the report said.
“Although the Prosecutor General’s Office had a witness protection program for witnesses in criminal cases, witnesses who did not enter the program remained vulnerable to intimidation, and many refused to testify,” it added.
Colombia is the world’s leading producer of cocaine, with the bulk destined for the United States. This provides a fertile breeding ground for corruption within the country's judicial system and police force.
The government of Juan Manuel Santos has made some progress in improving Colombia’s human rights record and the attorney general’s office has received more resources, the report found.
But human rights violations including extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, politically motivated murders, particularly against trade unionists and Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, remain problems in the South American nation, it said.
U.S ALLY
The report, published by the U.S. state department, looks at the labour and human rights situation in countries across the world
Its release comes amid concerns expressed by Colombian and U.S. rights groups that the U.S. government did not do enough to ensure Colombia's labour rights and human rights record had significantly improved before enacting the free trade deal with Colombia (FTA) earlier this month.
"Violence, threats, harassment, and other practices against trade unionists continued to affect the exercise of the right to freedom of association," the report stated.
Colombia is a big recipient of U.S. aid and is an important ally for Washington in Latin America. The United States has given over $7 billion since 2000 in military and other aid for Colombia, some of which is dependent on Colombia improving its human rights record.
This means what the U.S government says about Colombia’s human rights record is often a politically charged and sensitive affair.
The Colombian government was quick to criticise the report’s findings.
In an interview with local radio, Colombia’s foreign minister, Maria Holguin, said the report was “unfairly harsh” and didn’t take into account the progress Colombia had made in improving its human rights record.
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