[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Wednesday released a report [materials] containing evidence that many Colombian army generals and colonels knew about or should have known about extrajudicial killings of civilians between 2002 and 2008. According to the group, prosecutors are investigating a total of 3,000 cases involving military troops killing civilians to boost death counts to combat and instill fear in armed guerrilla groups in the country. The report alleges that many upper level military officials knew and may have supported the “false positive” killings exhibited in the report. José Miguel Vivanco, executive Americas director at Human Rights Watch, stated in regards to the killings, “[f]alse positive killings amount to one of the worst episodes of mass atrocity in the Western Hemisphere in recent years, and there is mounting evidence that many senior army officers bear responsibility.” HRW further called on military officials to cooperate with the ongoing investigations to help bring justice for the victims and their families.

Criminal activity by illegal armed groups has been an ongoing issue within Colombia, with some progress being made recently. In June 2014 the country’s government and the FARC rebels agreed to create [JURIST report] a truth commission to investigate the deaths of thousands of people in the last five decades of the country’s conflict. In March 2014 Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report [JURIST report] stating that illegal armed groups have caused hundreds of people to flee Colombia’s main Pacific port of Buenaventura in the previous two years. In August 2013 Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled [JURIST report] that a law providing reduced penalties for rebels who confess crimes related to their membership in illegal armed groups is constitutional.