Human Rights Activists Have It Rough in Columbia

Jessie Lucas
September 26th
6:44

Columbia is having some problems despite its government efforts. Killing, torture, threats, and arrests of human rights defenders persist. These acts are committed by both guerrillas and law officers. Columbia has had a lot of issues between their government, rebels, paramilitary groups, as well as criminal gangs for over forty years. It is the people who are fighting for human rights that are the ones being harassed. The activists are all kinds of people from different backgrounds but are all treated the same: Badly. (Wow understatement!) The problem persists because many government officials are in fact the “bad guys”, terrorists or guerrillas. They are now pushing for the Attorney General’s office to investigate and prosecute those who are committing these crimes. There is also an issue with surveillance and wiretapping of rights defenders. However for all that is still going wrong in Colombia, this is actually an improvement as compared to 2002
Personal opinion here, I believe that everyone should be allowed their basic human rights and nobody should be subjected to torture, threats, and arrests without reason. Oh yeah and that whole being killed thing…that’s not good either. What is truly bothersome about this particular situation is that it is those who are trying to make a difference and help others that are being targeted. Also troubling is the fact that there is enough corruption in the government that these guerrillas and law officers get away with it. I mean really, do you need to put human rights activists under surveillance and tap their phones? I think the government is afraid of an all out riot or coup but tormenting the people is not the best way to prevent that. In fact I think it should tick them off more and make them want to riot! Oh Columbia, for all the improvement you have tried to make, you are still quite a long way from peace.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32114&Cr=&Cr1=