The UN officials human rights official made the statement regarding the future of the human rights monitoring in Colombia. The civil war, which was waged in Colombia for half a century, has led to disastrous consequences, said the UN official. People were not just kidnapped and tortured, they were lost in the hundreds. Families did not even try to look for the missing, because knew very well who is guilty — Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels.
The UN representative on human rights promised on Thursday he will closely watch how special peace tribunals set up under Colombia’s peace accord operate. According to the UN, Colombian people should know that war era is over, now it’s time for order and justice.
On the eve of the voting on Oct 2, Colombians should decide whether to ratify or reject the peace accord that was signed this week between the government and FARC, the country’s biggest rebel movement.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said he reserves the right to “comment forcefully” if rulings by the tribunals stray from international standards for punishing serious abuses. Zeid after the two-hour meeting with Rodrigo Londoño, the head of the FARC, concluded while Colombia has made progress in some areas of human rights, in other areas there has been virtually none. Mr. Zeid added:
“I was shocked that a country like Colombia can have rural areas where people are living at the most basic subsistence levels. For me, it was really eye-opening. So it’s a country of massive potential but it needs to overcome the clutches of the past.”
