The U.S. believes that Colombia has made “significant positive developments” on human rights issues in 2010, EFE reported on Friday.
The U.S. State Department presented its annual human rights report to Congress on Friday, observing a “remarkable” improvement on human rights issues in Colombia over the past year.
This positive result could be credited to new President Juan Manuel Santos, who after assuming the presidency, “strengthened the relationship with civil society and human rights defenders, held high-level consulting sessions, publicly expressed support for human rights defenders and engaged in a dialogue with them,” the report stated.
The report also noted that Colombia supported efforts to increase penalties for threats and acts of violence against human rights defenders.
In Latin America, three countries were found to have committed grave human rights violations – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua while Colombia, Indonesia and Guinea had made significant improvements in this area.
This time last year, the U.S. government reportedly criticized Colombia over “significant” human rights abuses and “impunity” of corrupt officials.
The positive news for Colombia comes just hours after Colombia Reports reported that Human Rights Watch has ordered the U.S. Congress to monitor human rights promises made by President Santos as part of the recent labor deal struck between the two countries. The labor deal has demanded that Colombia improve the situation of trade unionists, who have been targets of violence for decades.
