The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Senator Hernán Motta Motta of Colombia, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/179/11(a)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 178th session (May 2006),

Recalling that Mr. Motta, a member of the Unión Patriótica (Patriotic Union) party, was on a hit list drawn up by the paramilitary group led by Mr. Carlos Castaño Gil, that Mr. Motta received death threats which forced him into exile in October 1997, and that the investigations were discontinued in mid-2001 without yielding any result,

Recalling that following a petition lodged in March 1997 pertaining to the persecution of the Unión Patriótica, a friendly settlement procedure has been under way since 1999 before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR); it nevertheless produced no result, reportedly owing to a lack of will on the part of the Colombian authorities, and in May 2006 the Commission therefore reportedly embarked upon the examination on the merits of the Unión Patriótica case, which has been termed a political genocide case,

Noting that, in her latest report on the human rights situation in Colombia of May 2006 (E/CN.4/2006/9), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights "encourages the Government to adopt and implement a public policy to combat impunity ..." and exhorts the judiciary and the Office of the Prosecutor General "to investigate and sanction human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law in an adequate and timely manner",

1. Deeply regrets that after seven years the friendly settlement procedure, which would have permitted a settlement also of the case of Mr. Motta and allowed him to return to Colombia without fear for his life, has failed, and that the procedure on the merits of the case may well take many more years and so once again delay the prospect of justice being done;

2. Would appreciate receiving information on the current stage of the proceedings in the Unión Patriótica case before the IACHR;

3. Reiterates that, under international human rights law and the American Convention on Human Rights, the State of Colombia is obliged to make a determined effort to ensure that justice is done by holding perpetrators of human rights abuses to account and by providing victims and their families with reparation; andthat the proceedings pending before the IACHR do not dispense them of these duties;

4. Requests the Secretary General to seek the requested information from all parties concerned;

5. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 116th Assembly (April-May 2007).

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