Off the wire
• Recast: China hands over ROK fugitive on Interpol's most wanted list  • Hong Kong stocks close 2.01 pct higher  • Philippine death toll from typhoon Melor rises to nine  • 1st LD: U.S. defense chief in Baghdad on unannounced visit: TV  • Yemen warring sides exchange accusations on shaky cease-fire violation  • Commentary: China, biggest victim of cybercrime, champions "community of common destiny" in cyberspace  • Brazil lower house speaker faces expulsion process  • China Focus: Restructuring puts China growth on dual tracks  • Japan's Rakuten to open online flagship store in China  • China hands over ROK fugitive on Interpol's most wanted list  
You are here: 　 Home

Colombian gov't, FARC guerrillas agree on reparations for war victims

Xinhua, December 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced here Tuesday that they had agreed on reparations and on serving justice for the victims of their 50-year conflict.

"We have taken a major step forward in building a stable and lasting peace and in ending a war that has bled the country for over half a century," said a statement by the representatives of the guarantor countries, Rodolfo Benitez of Cuba and Dag Nylander of Norway.

Reparations for victims were the most complex issue during the peace talks and had been under negotiation since August 2014.

Three separate judicial bodies will be formed specifically to address the reparations for victims and punishment for war criminals,the statement said, adding that a special tribunal will oversee the granting of amnesty to those found not guilty of war crimes.

Another tribunal will prosecute war criminals, and a separate truth commission will study the full scope of the war and seek to record any crime that occurred in the half-century conflict.

Benitez stressed that the agreement aims at compensating the victims, placing their reparations and treatment in the center of the peace process.

It will provide victims with dignity and justice, and lay the groundwork for ending violence in Colombia, Nylander added.

10 victims of the confrontation traveled to Havana on Monday to participate in the signing of the deal.

This marked the fourth major part of the agenda to be agreed upon, prior to which the two sides had struck deal on land and rural development, the political participation of former guerrillas and the fight against drug trafficking.

The war in Colombia has left over 220,000 people dead and more than 6 million displaced, official figures show. Endi