Condemning violence in Colombia.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: OAS - Brief Article

ON A SITE VISIT to Colombia, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the violence that has resulted from that country's internal armed conflict and said the human rights situation had "gradually deteriorated" since its last visit four years earlier.

The violence--including massacres, mutilations, kidnappings, and threats--has had a particularly dramatic impact on the most vulnerable sectors of the population, the Commission said in a written statement issued at the end of its visit In December. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and in several regions "entire populations feel abandoned, given the state's failure or inability to protect its citizens from violence."

In many cases, civilians have been victims of violence perpetrated by armed dissident groups that have been fighting the government for decades, the Commission said. It also expressed its concern about paramilitary violence and about Colombians' growing acceptance of paramilitary activities. "Firm, resolute action by democratic sectors is needed to...