LAWG/LAWGEF Statements, Memos, and Speeches

January 2013

By: Lisa Haugaard and Omar Martinez, Latin America Working Group

Peace Process Advances; Civil Society Involvement in Peace Negotiations—or Lack Thereof; Colombian Congress Approves an Enormous Setback for Justice; 2012: A Year of Ups and Downs for Labor in Colombia

Expanding Military Jurisdiction in Colombia: A Major Setback for Justice
Versión en español.

January 28, 2013

Colombia’s recent passage [1] of a constitutional amendment that expands military jurisdiction in cases of human rights violations is a major setback for justice. The reform would allow grave human rights crimes to be investigated and tried by the military justice system, in direct conflict with years of jurisprudence of Colombia’s high courts and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights [2].

U.S. Security Assistance and Human Rights in the Americas Today: This Much at Least Must Be Done

Statement by Lisa Haugaard, Executive Director, Latin America Working Group Education Fund at the Just the Facts Conference:
Security, Civil-Military Relations, and U.S. Policy in the Americas Today

September 28, 2012

How do you ensure that U.S. security assistance supports and does not undercut human rights? 

As a human rights advocate, my best answer is quite simple:
The United States should not provide training and assistance to highly abusive military or police forces.

However, the U.S. government often does give assistance and training to abusive security forces. 

In those cases, at an absolute minimum, there must be enforceable human rights conditions over all military and police assistance, through all sources, including through the Defense as well as State budget, and the State Department and the Congress must be willing to enforce them.

US Office on Colombia and Latin America Working Group Education Fund Applaud Steps towards Peace Negotiations in Colombia

We applaud the announcement that the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have agreed to begin formal negotiations. We salute Colombia in this effort to bring a negotiated end to the nearly 50-year-old internal conflict. We also are encouraged to hear the National Liberation Army’s (ELN) stated willingness to enter into peace talks.

We believe it is imperative that combatants and civilians alike be guaranteed the full application of human rights and international humanitarian law protections throughout this process.

A lasting peace requires addressing the root causes of the conflict.  The peace process must include substantial space for civil society involvement and input, including by women, Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities and other sectors brutally affected by the war, in order to ensure that historic underlying economic and social conflicts and decades of human rights abuses and international humanitarian law violations by all parties to the conflict are addressed.

We hope that this initiative brings about the lasting peace with justice that Colombians long for and deserve.

September 10, 2012