Colombia peace talks suffer from ‘humanitarian void': NGO [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia peace talks suffer from ‘humanitarian void': NGO
Sep 30, 2014 posted by Joel Gillin

The peace process between the FARC and the Colombian government suffers from a lack of credibility and a “humanitarian void,” citing the lack of a ceasefire and continued violations of human rights by neo-paramilitary successor groups, according to a prominent conflict-monitoring NGO.

Camilo Gonzalez, president of the Institute for the Study of Development and Peace (Indepaz), told Colombia Reports that the government needs to “reach accords and commitments regarding human rights and a ceasefire so that the population can give credibility to the peace process.”

These comments come in the wake a recent study that attributed 43% of the human rights violations in Colombia in 2013 to the state, while paramilitary successor groups were allegedly responsible for 44% of the violations.

MORE: State, ‘paramilitaries’ responsible for most of Colombia’s human rights violations: Report

Human rights ignored

Gonzalez said the publication of these numbers by the Center for Research and Public education (CINEP), a conflict analysis NGO, was important in order to alert the government of “the need of the armed forces to decisively respect the civilian population.”

More:
http://colombiareports.co/colombia-peace-process-suffers-humanitarian-void-ngo-director/