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

UNCLASSIFIED
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assistant criminal investigators and administrative personnel (341 of which are newly
created positions). The Justice and Peace Unit currently has 184 prosecutors, 433
criminal investigators, and 410 assistants and other staff. This totals 1,027 people,
slightly below the decree‘s goal number, but still insufficient to perform the tasks facing
the Unit.
Likewise, Colombian funding for the Unit remains insufficient to respond to the
workload. Though increased from 2007 funding levels (10.2 billion pesos = $5.1
million), the Unit‘s 2008 (15.0 billion pesos = $7.5 million) and 2009 funding levels
(14.8 billion pesos = $7.4 million), 1.8 billion pesos ($900,000) of which is earmarked
for a search project for the disappeared), must cover the personnel increase and
infrastructure strengthening. This effectively makes these allotments a reduction over
2007 levels. 26 While U.S. assistance does not provide direct support for salaries or the
hiring of new prosecutors and investigators, the United States does continue to fund
training and technical assistance to help build the capacity of the Justice and Peace Unit.
Between January 2003 and December 2007, 31,748 paramilitary members
collectively demobilized. As of April 30, 2009, 27 the MOI&J had called up 3,751
demobilized paramilitary members to begin to fulfill the requirements of the JPP by
listing their crimes, which could then be investigated and cross-referenced with victim
testimony. The Colombian government had received complaints related to 25,591
alleged crimes that affected 34,101 victims. Of the 3,751, 1,812 had begun the second
phase of the JPP, confessing to and describing in detail each of their crimes during an
oral voluntary confession. As of April 30, 2009, 28 these voluntary confessions had
identified 9,712 crimes with 11,307 victims. For those that have not begun the voluntary
confession process, the government has published their names and other identifying
information in an attempt to get them to come forward. Those that do not come forward
and give voluntary confessions will be excluded from the JPP.
To improve coordination between government agencies with regard to victims
participating in the JPP, on October 11, 2006 the MOI&J created the Inter-institutional
Committee on Justice and Peace, which serves as the collection point for data on the
participation of victims in this process. As of April 30, 2009, 29 over 211,850 victims had
registered to participate in the JPP. Of these, 26,479 had participated in the voluntary
26 All conversions calculated at 1 USD = 2,000 COP
27 Time frame available as of July 31, 2009.
28 Time frame available as of July 31, 2009.
29 Time frame available as of July 31, 2009.
UNCLASSIFIED