Concern Grows Over Colombia’s Military Nominees

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia—International NGOs, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and  Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), are voicing their concerns over the Colombian government’s nominees for military promotion. The nominees include five senior officials that have been linked to credible evidence demonstrating their implication in extrajudicial executions and abuses. They will not be promoted until the senate approves the promotion.

Colombia is set to promote Military personnel accused of war crimes. (Photo Courtesy of Telesur)
Colombia is set to promote Military personnel accused of war crimes. (Photo Courtesy of Telesur)

Human Rights Watch linked credible and convincing evidence of the nominees’ involvement in abuse, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of civilians during the civil war from the years 2002-2008. The killings are known as ‘False Positives,’ in which civilians were killed or forcibly disappeared in order to increase the reported number of guerrilla fighters killed during combat. The military followed this practice for promotions and benefits. José Miguel Vivanco, the HRW director of the Americas stated, “The Colombian Senate should review these promotions carefully and ensure that any officer against whom there is credible evidence of abuses is not promoted.” He continued by emphasizing, “Otherwise, it would reinforce the longstanding message that senior officers in Colombia can get away with murder.” In addition, HRW, has found that many of the brigades, led by the commanders in line for promotion, were involved a number of these killings. In these cases, the commander of the brigade “at least knew or should have known about the wrongful killings, and therefore may be criminally liable.”

WOLA expressed similar concerns earlier in the year by sending a letter to Colombian officials. Adam Isacson from WOLA stated, “Colombia is finally nearing an end to its decades-long armed conflict, and is holding more and more human rights abusers accountable, but promoting these officials without first letting the criminal justice system do its work would represent a setback.”

Colombia has in the past convicted an estimated 800 low-ranking army members involved in extrajudicial killings. Yet, Colombia has failed in prosecuting high level military officials—instead they have been promoted to higher military ranks.

For more information, please see:

Telesur—Colombia Criticized for Promoting Corrupt Army Generals—16 January 2016.

WOLA—Colombia Set to Promote Military Officers Linked to ‘False Positives’ Scandal, Other Abuses—14 January 2016.

Human Rights Watch—Colombia: Disqualify Criminal Suspects from Army Promotions—10 November 2016.

La Prensa—HRW Pide a Colombia ‘Frenar’ Ascenso de Militares por Ejecuciones Extrajudiciales—10 November 2016.

PILPG: War Crimes Prosecution Watch Volume 11, Issue 18: November 14, 2016

Case School of Law Logo

FREDERICK K. COX
INTERNATIONAL LAW CENTER

Founder/Advisor
Michael P. Scharf

 War Crimes Prosecution Watch

Volume 11 – Issue 18
November 14, 2016

 PILPG Logo

Editor-in-Chief
Kevin J. Vogel

Technical Editor-in-Chief
Jeradon Z. Mura

Managing Editors
Dustin Narcisse
Victoria Sarant

War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. To subscribe, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line.

Opinions expressed in the articles herein represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the War Crimes Prosecution Watch staff, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law or Public International Law & Policy Group.

Contents

AFRICA

CENTRAL AFRICA

Central African Republic

Sudan & South Sudan

Democratic Republic of the Congo

WEST AFRICA

Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Lake Chad Region — Chad, Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon

Mali

EAST AFRICA

Uganda

Kenya

Rwanda (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda)

Somalia

NORTH AFRICA

Libya

EUROPE

Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Domestic Prosecutions In The Former Yugoslavia

MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA

Yemen

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal

War Crimes Investigations in Burma

Israel and Palestine

North Korea

Iraq

Syria

AMERICAS

North & Central America

South America

TOPICS

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Terrorism

Piracy

Gender-Based Violence

Commentary and Perspectives

WORTH READING

Mass Grave with Approximately 100 Bodies Found Near Mosul

by Yesim Usluca
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi investigators are examining a mass grave discovered by Iraqi soldiers advancing on the Islamic State-held city of Mosul.

Authorities believe the mass grave contains approximately 100 bodies (Photo courtesy of BBC News)
Authorities believe the mass grave contains approximately 100 bodies (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

On Monday, November 7th, Iraqi troops noticed a pungent smell while approaching the town of Mosul. The mass grave was discovered behind an “earthen embankment” near an agricultural college. Upon bulldozing, the land revealed bones poking out from beneath the surface, along with scraps of clothing, garbage bags, and “human remains swarming with flies.” An Iraqi cabinet official in charge of mass grave inspections stated that investigators are on their way to the grave site to conduct examinations and determine the cause of death.

The first officials at the site noted that the grave likely holds approximately 100 bodies, most of which are decapitated. Although the victims’ identities are currently unclear, authorities believe that the bodies are likely those of Iraqi security forces members and their relatives. There is rising concern, however, that children may be among the deceased due to a child’s stuffed animal that had been pulled from the grave by a soldier.

The U.N. Office of Human Rights indicated that it is investigating into whether the mass grave is connected to reports of police officers being killed in the same area. The spokeswoman for the Office of Human Rights stated that it had received reports of 50 former Iraqi police officers killed in a building outside Mosul. She further noted that the building cited in these reports was the same as the agricultural college near which the mass grave was found.

On Tuesday, November 8th, authorities discovered two additional mass graves containing 23 bodies, including the remains of women and children. Officials are concerned that these mass graves could be just the “tip of the iceberg.” It appears to be the latest of several mass graves found in territory that has been retaken from the Islamic State, which is known for massacring hundreds of individuals across northern and central Iraq.

For more information, please see:

Northwest Herald—Investigators probe mass grave found near Mosul, Iraq—09 November 2016

Wall Street Journal—Remains in Mass Grave Near Mosul Identified—08 November 2016

Fox News—Iraqis investigate decapitated bodies in mass grave near ISIS-held Mosul—08 November 2016

BBC News—Mass graves in Iraq reveal Islamic State horrors—08 November 2016

Syria Deeply Weekly Update: The Battle for Raqqa Begins

WEEKLY UPDATE
November 11, 2016
Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments concerning Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is a brief overview of what happened this week:The battle for Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the so-called Islamic State, began on Sunday. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab opposition groups backed by the United States, is leading the first phase of the operation against ISIS militants.The U.S.-led coalition is coordinating airstrikes on Raqqa with SDF fighters on the ground. At least 20 civilians were killed in coalition airstrikes on a town north of Raqqa, including nine women and two children. SDF forces took control of six villages north of Raqqa city in the first 24 hours and have seized a total of 17 villages since the offensive began.Last week, Turkey said it would also participate in the battle against ISIS in Raqqa. However, on Monday, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that it is “naive” to use Syrian Kurdish SDF fighters in the operation. After a meeting between NATO members in Ankara later that day, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joe Dunford said that Turkey and the U.S. would work together “on the long-term plan for seizing, holding and governing Raqqa … We always knew the SDF wasn’t the solution for holding and governing Raqqa.”As U.S.-led coalition and U.S.-backed forces fight for control of Raqqa, the Syrian government and its allies have stepped up attacks in the Damascus countryside. In Eastern Ghouta, government airstrikes on a kindergarten in the opposition-controlled town of Harasta killed at least six children on Sunday. Later in the week, several airstrikes on the opposition-controlled city of Douma and the town of Saqba in Eastern Ghouta killed at least 12 people.

Weekly Highlights:

Analysis: How Civilians Will Lose in the Battle Against ISIS in Raqqa

As the U.S.-led offensive against ISIS pushes fighters out of Mosul into Syria, a similar offensive has begun against militants in Raqqa, but that’s not likely to stop them from mounting attacks, writes journalist Mohamad Bazzi.
Iraq’s elite counterterrorism forces gather ahead of an operation to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, outside Erbil, Iraq. Simultaneous attacks are taking place on the Islamic State-held cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa, the de facto ISIS capital in Syria. AP/Khalid Mohammed, File

Wheelchair Race Gives Hope to Injured in Besieged Eastern Ghouta

Amid the rubble in the Damascus suburbs, a wheelchair race sheds light on the growing number of people with lifelong injuries caused by the conflict in Syria, and survivors’ attempts to reengage with a war-ravaged community.
Men compete in a wheelchair race in the streets of Eastern Ghouta. Syrian Revolution Network

Long Read: Why Khan Eshieh Palestinian Camp Could Be the Next Yarmouk

As fighting intensifies in the area around Syria’s Khan Eshieh – the so-called “camp of return” – and UNRWA draws parallels with the Yarmouk camp in Damascus, thousands of Palestinian refugees who call Khan Eshieh home face displacement for a second time.
Residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk in Damascus, Syria, queue to receive food supplies. UNRWA via AP, File

Additional Reading:

Top image: U.S.-backed fighters taking a rest during fighting with the Islamic State group near Ein Issa, north of Raqqa, Syria. Qasioun, a Syrian Opposition Media Outlet, via AP