memorandum of justification concerning human ... - Just the Facts

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Armed Forces dismissed in connection with the Soacha murders.
Cooperation from Ministry of Defense on Extrajudicial Killings
When the special commission‘s findings were made public on November 17, 2008,
it made a series of recommendations to the Ministry of Defense on how to strengthen
human rights protection within the Armed Forces:
Revise the Application of Military Doctrine: A three-month review of military
doctrine at the tactical level in order to verify the way it was being used, and to
identify faults in intelligence, operational, and logistical proceedings (control and use
of arms and munitions in particular);
Revise Human Rights Training: Among other things, to establish a system for
evaluating understanding of human rights;
Create an Immediate Inspection Commission (CII): The CII would travel
immediately to the location of complaints about human rights abuses or infractions of
international humanitarian law and would analyze cases from an operational
perspective in order to make recommendations to the Inspector on administrative and
disciplinary actions, and any corresponding reviews of operational procedures;
Reinforce Independence of Inspector Delegates: Create a diagnostic to identify
methods for this, especially in clarifying their reporting relationship to the Inspector
General‘s Office within the Ministry of Defense, and not to units to which they are
assigned;
Restructure Operational Judicial Advisors: Create a structural hierarchy for the
advisors and ensure that they report through a Bogotá headquarters in order to create
unity of criteria and independence for these positions;
Strengthen Procedures for Authorizing Military Objectives: Ensure that approval
is needed from the General Command of the Armed Forces before force is used
against criminal organizations, implement periodic evaluation mechanisms of
authorized uses of force, and ensure that the police maintain primary responsibility for
defeating criminal organizations;
Improve Performance Evaluation: Improve evaluation techniques to ensure that
each unit is evaluated on its performance in accordance with predetermined objectives
for the type of operation they are carrying out in accordance with the threat/hostility
level in the area;
Adjust ROEs: Put in place a system for applying ROEs that takes into account threat
levels in the area;
Establish Human Rights Certification: Establish a human rights certification
course for all officials seeking promotion to Colonel or General;
Strengthen Role of Judicial Branch: In compliance with Directives 10 and 19,
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