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UK ends bilateral military aid to Colombia

UK ends bilateral military aid to Colombia

• Concerns over human rights prompts decision
• Colombia says move is 'severe blow' to military

Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 April 2009 12.31 BST Article history

Britain has quietly ended nearly a decade of military aid to Colombia's armed forces after accusations of gross violations of human rights, including the murder of civilians who were shot and reported as guerrillas killed in combat.

The Colombian government was "extremely surprised" by the decision to cut off the bilateral cooperation programmes, the deputy defence minister, Sergio Jaramillo, told the Guardian.

The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, announced the move in a written statement to the House of Commons last month, stating that the government "shares the concern … that there are officers and soldiers of the Colombian armed forces who have been involved in, or allowed, abuses".

"Our bilateral human rights projects with the Colombian ministry of defence will cease," the statement said.

The projects included a landmine clearance programme that had been under way since 2000 and a human rights training project that began in 2006. Together, funding for the programmes totalled £190,000 a year.

While the financial value is relatively small, the termination of British military aid has symbolic significance for Colombia. Jaramillo called the decision a "severe blow" to the armed forces from a "great ally".

"No other European country has worked as closely with the army as the United Kingdom," he said.

Colombia's military had long been accused of colluding with illegal rightwing paramilitary groups. Investigators are looking into 1,296 cases since 2002 of reported executions of civilians by army soldiers who dressed the victims in rebel uniforms and planted weapons on them to present them as legitimate guerrilla casualties.

The UN high commissioner for human rights described the practice as "widespread and systematic". Many of the cases came to light after a public outcry over the fate of 11 men missing from a poor suburb of Bogotá who were then reported as combat deaths thousands of miles away, days after their disappearance. Twenty-seven officers, including three generals were discharged over those killings.

A Foreign Office spokesman said none of the aid had gone directly to any of the units involved in the killing of civilians, adding it would be "extremely unfortunate" if they had, since the UK training programme had been aimed at raising awareness of human rights.

Jaramillo said that precisely because of the situation, "it makes no sense whatsoever to cut support for human rights at this critical time."

In November, the US, Colombia's largest military aid donor at about $500m (£340m) a year, suspended the eligibility for funding to several army units that were believed to be involved in the extrajudicial executions, known as "false positives".

While welcoming the UK's decision as "a step in the right direction", the London-based group Justice for Colombia said that the "more offensive" elements of British military aid, labelled counter-narcotics assistance, was not affected.

The Foreign Office spokesman acknowledged it would continue to work with "some members of the armed forces" on anti-drug programmes. The UK does not reveal the financial value of that assistance due to "security concerns", he said.

The UK will also continue to fund landmine clearance projects through the UN office in Colombia, as well as more than £1m for civilian human rights projects, £900,000 to support UN drugs projects, and £250,000 to fight what has been described as rampant impunity from prosecution enjoyed by some Colombians.

In the statement to the Commons, Miliband said: "The challenge for the Colombian government is to ensure the strategic human rights principles we have helped to promote are embedded and consistently practised by all members of their armed services."

By STEVENYCER on Apr 29, 2009, 10:31 in Politics & the war.

STEVENYCER says on Apr 29, 2009, 10:33:

As the article states, the symbolic message this sends is much more severe to Colombia than its financial impact. When will they get their act together???

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sanandressi says on Apr 29, 2009, 10:40:

Is not the current PM a socialist leftist?

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romy says on Apr 29, 2009, 10:40:

I agree with Jaramillo
-Jaramillo said that precisely because of the situation, "it makes no sense whatsoever to cut support for human rights at this critical time."

It has become evident that a human rights program is necessary, so now they're going to cut off its funding?

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tasco66 says on Apr 29, 2009, 11:07:

The UK is bankrupt. This has nothing to do with lefty human rights propaganda:

The trouble with free elections is, you never know who is going to win (Leonid Brezhnev)

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markobhoy says on Apr 29, 2009, 12:54:

i don't find it embarrasing at all.

frankly, the UK should not be wasting away taxpayers money helping fund the Colombian military, no matter how insignificant the contribution previously was.

as for brown, i don't think anyone could ever call him a socialist ;) well unless you're pat robertson and you believe that anyone left of pinochet is suspect.

the governing labour party (previously left...now centre) is a complete mess just now.

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tasco66 says on Apr 29, 2009, 13:09:

"the UK should not be wasting away taxpayers money helping fund the Colombian military,"

Yep, UK taxpayers money should only go to fat cat bankers who ran their financial institutions to the ground...

The trouble with free elections is, you never know who is going to win (Leonid Brezhnev)

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markobhoy says on Apr 29, 2009, 13:26:

indeed.

the problem is that these leftist governments are incapable of producing legislation to regulate the market! these socialists use a laissez faire system that only benefits those in finance ;) time to bring in some free-marketeers from the right...hmmm

by the way, the above video of hannan is quite funny. though, people who are interested in british politics (and there are not too many on this board) will know that he advocated even less regulation that he had criticised the government for. he's a phoney...though watching brown having to sit through the tirade is amusing nonetheless

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tasco66 says on Apr 29, 2009, 13:40:

"the problem is that these leftist governments are incapable of producing legislation to regulate the market!"

You got that one right. UK lefties have been in power since 1997 (they can't blame the right for the finacial mess now can they?) and in America we now have this:

April 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration’s bank- rescue efforts will probably fail because the programs have been designed to help Wall Street rather than create a viable financial system, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said.

“All the ingredients they have so far are weak, and there are several missing ingredients,” Stiglitz said in an interview yesterday. The people who designed the plans are “either in the pocket of the banks or they’re incompetent.”

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afYsmJyngAXQ&refer=hom...

The trouble with free elections is, you never know who is going to win (Leonid Brezhnev)

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markobhoy says on Apr 29, 2009, 15:01:

i'm not sure if you fully grasped that bit of irony

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RogueOne says on Apr 29, 2009, 19:11:

The UK pulling out or withdrawing aid anywhere in the world is usually celebrated yearly as some kind of "Independence day". Good riddance - Fiesta time!

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romy says on Apr 29, 2009, 20:03:

I read somewhere that it's not an end to aid, but a change in means as which aid is provided. I think they are going to fund NGOs instead of GOs. I'll post the link if I can find it again.

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