Clinton Waives Rights Standards

(CBS)  President Clinton Wednesday waived human rights requirements that were part of a U.S. law granting $1.3 billion in aid to Colombia to fight the drug trade.

Concluding "that it is in the national security interest of the United States to furnish assistance—to the government of Colombia without regard" to the human rights provisions of the funding legislation, Mr. Clinton approved the funding for "Plan Colombia" a week ahead of his August 30th trip to Bogota.

Plan Colombia involves sending Blackhawk helicopters and non-combat U.S. advisors to bolster the efforts of Colombia's military to fight narcotics traffickers and rebel groups battling the government in an ongoing civil war.

U.S. human rights advocates had called on the president to delay the delivery of aid. Just Tuesday, a Human Rights Watch official said, "It would be inconceivable, given Colombia's glaring human rights failings" to allow the aid.

Opponents worry the plan will involve the U.S. military in a complex civil war and say the plan favors interdiction over encouraging farmers to grow alternative crops rather than coca. And monitoring groups argue that it funds a military with a poor human rights record.

The Plan Colombia law called for the State Department to recommend to the White House whether to certify Colombia's compliance with the human rights provisions or not. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made the recommendation to the president last week, but a spokesperson refused to say what she proposed.

In a Memorandum of Justification released with the waiver, Mr. Clinton said, "Our assistance package is crucial to maintaining our counterdrug efforts and helping the Colombian government and people to preserve Colombia's democracy."

The administration will have to certify Colombia's compliance again later this year. The president warned, "The government of Colombia will need some time before we will be able to certify several of the criteria."

The Plan Colombia funding law required the Colombian Army Commander to suspend soldiers believed to be human rights violators.

The White House said that, "At the present time, the Military Commander of the Colombian Armed Forces has only limited authority to promptly suspend" such troops, but hoped new regulations would increase that authority.

A stipulation that the army punish human rights transgressors was also not met, but the White House said the situation was improving— the human rights prosecutors' office handled 303 cases in 1999, including 1officers.

However, the president said "Civilian authorities, including the Prosecutor General, have expressed concern over the number of security force personnel who have escaped from military confinement while awaiting trial in civilian courts."

The White House said Colombia's efforts to crack down on right-wing paramilitaries, who have entered the government's war against left-wing guerillas, were not adequate

And the president claims that Congress' requirement that Colombia wipe out its poppy and coca production by 2005 was not realistic and probably would not be met.

Finally, the administration said that a requirement that the Colombian army set up a judicial corps to punish wrongdoers within its ranks might be met soon: "The military penal reform bill (which became effective August 12, 2000) requires, for the first time, that the military legal system operate outside and independent of the chain of command."

However, critics aren't nearly that optimistic.

"How (could) the administration expect that Colombia will improve its human rights record in the next six months if the message is the one they are sending today?" said Jose Miguel Vivanco, the Human Rights Watch official. "I think the current policy shows clearly that human rights is subordinate to the interest of the administration to engage with the military of Colombia."

The Plan Colombia legislation caps the number of U.S. troops to be used in Colombia at 500, but the president can waive that limitation for up to 90 days if "the Armed Forces of the United States are involved in hostilities or that imminent involvement by the Armed Forces of the United States in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances."

Even before Plan Colombia, there were U.S. troops in Colombia—and U.S. casualties. In July 1999, five U.S. soldiers died in a plane crash while conducting reconnaissance for anti-drug efforts.

According to the State Department, some of the aid in Plan Colombia is earmarked for strengthening the Colombian judiciary and promoting alternative crops.


By JARRETT MURPHY