UN condemns Colombia's displacement 'impunity'

[Judi Lynn]

UN condemns Colombia's displacement 'impunity'
Friday, 27 January 2012 07:32
Miriam Wells

The United Nations has condemned Colombia for failing to prosecute cases of forced displacement.

Speaking at a specially-convened hearing on accountability, the UN's representative for displaced people in Colombia, Terry Morell, said that there was near total impunity for those who stole land or forced people from their homes.

Morell called on the Prosecutor General to take urgent action, highlighting more than 1,400 murders of displacement victims between 2007 and 2010, and claiming that 99% of displacement crimes went unpunished. Forced displacements continue at an alarming rate, with the UN's last estimate of Colombia's internally displaced people (IDP) figure as 3.67 million, the highest rate in the world.

It had been "forgotten," said Morell, that 70,000 people, or 92% of the population, had fled the village of Mapiripan and its surrounding areas following an AUC massacre in 1997.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/21816-un-and-colombia-clash-over-displacement-impunity.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Workers Uniting protests at the killing of Colombian trade unionists

Jan 30, 2012 – Alex Ivanou
Workers Uniting protests at the killing of Colombian trade unionists

In a letter to the president of Colombia, the USW and Unite trade unions call for an investigation into the brutal killings of Mauricio Redondo (USO) and Víctor Manuel Hilarion (SINTRAPAZ).

COLOMBIA: The new transatlantic trade union, Workers Uniting, formed by the USW (Canada and United Sates) and Unite (United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland) has written to the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, to protest at the recent killing of Colombian trade unionists.

The letter highlights two cases. First, Mauricio Redondo, leader of the oil workers’ union, USO, killed on January 17, along with his wife, leaving five children. Second, Víctor Manuel Hilarion Palacios, an agricultural workers’ union leader, disappeared on January 9 while travelling to an event near Río Nevado. His body was taken to the CTI (part of the Public Prosecutor’s Office) in the town of Villavicencio. Soldiers claimed he was killed in cross-fire but family and colleagues who saw the body said it bore visible signs of torture.

More:
http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=28656&l=2