1.3. FINALIDAD
2.2.1. Aspectos generales y clasificación de anemia:
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The oral accusatory system was implemented in four geographic phases between 2005 and January 2008. The Colombian constitution requires that criminal cases be processed under either the old written system or the new oral accusatory system, depending on when the alleged crime occurred.
conviction rate of 60 to 80 percent, with Colombia reporting 48,000 convictions in the first 2 years of implementation. Furthermore, the number of complainants and witnesses increased since implementation, which suggests a greater public confidence in the new system.
Justice also provided about $10 million for fiscal years 2005 to 2007 to both the Fiscalia’s Justice and Peace Unit and Human Rights Unit to support the AUC demobilization under the Justice and Peace Process. The Justice and Peace Unit oversees the process through which demobilized paramilitaries give depositions that detail their knowledge of the
paramilitary structure and of crimes such as mass killings or human rights abuses. Justice has provided more than $2 million in equipment, including video recording technology, to aid in the processing of approximately 5,000 depositions at the Justice and Peace offices in Bogotá, Medellin, and Barranquilla. The unit also collects and processes complaints filed by victims of paramilitary violence. The Human Rights Unit is tasked with the investigation and prosecution of human rights violations, such as attacks on union leaders, forced disappearances, and mass graves, as well as the investigation and prosecution of demobilized paramilitary members suspected of human rights violations.
According to Colombian officials, depositions have led to the confession of over 1,400 crimes that the government had no prior knowledge of, as well as the locations of an estimated 10,000 murder victims in 3,500 grave sites. Over 1,200 victims’ remains have been recovered through
exhumations, and the human identification labs continue to work on the identification of the remains using DNA testing. According to Justice, the depositions of 25 paramilitary leaders have been initiated and, in May 2008, 15 leaders were extradited to the United States. The Justice and Peace Unit has received over 130,000 victims’ claims.
Justice also provided about $10 million from fiscal years 2005 to 2007 to increase the capacity for the Colombian government to investigate criminal cases. Justice provided vehicles and funds for investigators to travel to crime scenes and collect evidence; specialized forensic training and equipment for Colombian exhumation teams that unearth victims’ remains based on information uncovered in depositions; and training, technical assistance, and DNA processing kits to Colombian human identification labs to streamline and improve DNA identification
efficiency. Justice is also funding a project to collect DNA samples from 10,000 demobilized AUC members and enter the data into a DNA
identification database, which could later be compared with DNA found at crime scenes. Additionally, funds were allocated to contract 30 attorneys
to assist with the analysis and processing of thousands of complaints from paramilitary victims. Finally, Justice provided specialized criminal training in the areas of money laundering and anticorruption.
Figure 17: Justice Training on Mass Grave Exhumation at Fiscalia Headquarters
Despite U.S. assistance toward improving Colombian investigative and prosecutorial capabilities, Colombian officials expressed concern that they lack the capacity to pursue criminal cases due to a lack of personnel, air mobility, and security, particularly given that most of the paramilitary killings and other AUC crimes occurred in rural areas too dangerous or too difficult to reach by road. In particular:
Source: GAO.
• Fiscalia and Justice officials said neither the Justice and Peace Unit nor the Human Rights Unit have enough investigators and prosecutors to fully execute their missions. For example, 45 prosecutors from the Human Rights Unit have to cover more than 4,000 assigned cases. From 2002 to 2007, the unit produced less than 400 convictions. Further, thousands of depositions and victim complaints, which Colombian officials say are likely to reveal additional crimes, have yet to be processed by the Fiscalia. As of October 2007, over 3,000 known grave sites had not been exhumed and less than half of the recovered human remains had been identified. Justice has provided assistance to expand the unit, including regional units in 7 cities outside of Bogotá. Moreover, Justice reported in September 2008 that the Human Rights Unit has received an additional 72 prosecutors and 110 investigators, but noted that more investigators are needed.
• According to Colombian and U.S. officials, criminal and human rights investigations and exhumation of graves often require hours and
sometimes days to complete. The investigators often have to go to conflictive areas that are impossible to access without sufficient
transportation resources. For example, in remote areas investigators often need army or police helicopters. The Colombian National Policehave programmed over 15,600 flying hours for their helicopters for 2008;
however, police officials stated that none of these hours were allocated for Fiscalia investigations. U.S. officials confirmed Fiscalia’s need for
additional transportation resources, including funding for commercial transportation as well as assets provided by Colombian security forces.
From the outset of Plan Colombia, Congress made clear that it expects all U.S. support programs would eventually transition to Colombia. With the completion of Plan Colombia and the start-up of its second phase, Congress reiterated this guidance and called on State and other affected agencies to increase the pace of nationalization with a focus on the major aviation programs under Plan Colombia that are largely funded by State.70
In response to this guidance and budget cuts to fiscal year 2008 military assistance to Colombia instituted by Congress, State and Defense have accelerated efforts to nationalize or partly nationalize the five major Colombian military and National Police aviation programs supported by the United States.71
Apart from these efforts, State has taken action to nationalize portions of its nonaviation program support, and State and Defense are seeking to transfer a portion of the assistance Defense manages in other program areas to the Colombians by 2010. Justice and USAID view their efforts as extending over a longer period than U.S. support to the Colombian military and have not yet developed specific nationalization plans; however, each agency is seeking to provide its Colombian counterparts with the technical capabilities needed to manage program operations on their own. U.S. nationalization efforts collectively face the challenges of uncertain funding levels and questions pertaining to Colombia’s near-term ability to assume additional funding responsibilities.