UN rights expert says Colombian soldiers killed for personal profit, impunity remains high
By APThursday, May 27, 2010
UN expert: Colombian soldiers killed for profit
GENEVA — A U.N. investigator says he has seen evidence that Colombian security forces committed “a significant number” of murders, often for personal profit.
Philip Alston, the U.N. expert on extrajudicial executions, says the murders weren’t part of government policy but few have been punished.
He says so-called “false positive” killings began occurring more frequently across the South American country in 2004 and as soldiers sought to demonstrate success by increasing the number of guerrillas allegedly killed in gunfights.
Alston’s statement Thursday says the government has taken steps to prevent such killings but that up to 98.5 percent remain unpunished.
Officials at Colombia’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva could not immediately be reached for comment.
