Colombia land restitution law a 'facade': Community leader .

Colombia land restitution law a 'facade': Community leader .
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00 Jacob Stringer

Colombia's Victims and Land Restitution Law has achieved little in a year and a half and the government's protection program leaves people vulnerable, said a land restitution leader on Wednesday.

"It's a facade, I do not believe in the Victims Law," Rosa Amelia Hernandez, a land restitution leader in the northern Colombian department of Cordoba, told Colombia Reports. "There's no support. Many people have not heard of the law and we have to meet in the street because we have nowhere else."

~snip~
Many people are reportedly scared to report the threats they receive, threats that often come from neo-paramilitary groups who, according to the community leader, are "the same people" who were in the AUC, which was demobilized by former president, Alvaro Uribe.

~snip~
Some NGOs have also questioned the progress of land restitution under the Victims Law, claiming in September that most of the groups returning to their land had done so on their own accord without government assistance.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/27685-colombia-land-restitution-law-a-facade-community-leader.html