A delegation from NGO Human Rights Watch is in Colombia to meet with President Juan Manuel Santos, social organizations, and the U.S. ambassador, newspaper El Tiempo reported Tuesday.
It is the first time the NGO has met officially with the Colombian government since Santos took office in August. According to El Tiempo, the organization hopes to make recommendations to Bogota regarding human rights.
HRW will discuss issues such as the extrajudicial killings of civilians, illegal wiretapping by state intelligence agency DAS, and delays in transferring cases of human rights violations from military tribunals to civilian courts.
The NGO also stressed the importance of electing a new prosecutor general, who is “competent and of recognized integrity and credibility,” the newspaper wrote. Colombia’s Supreme Court until now failed to elect a new prosecutor general from a shortlist made by former President Alvaro Uribe since the end of the term of former Prosecutor General Mario Iguaran in mid 2009.
On Tuesday, the delegation meets with Interior and Justice Minister German Vargas Lleras, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera, Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin and U.S. Ambassador Peter Michael McKinley.
On Wednesday, the delegation, led by its Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco and Mexico’s former Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda, will meet with Santos and his Vice President Angelino Garzon.
