[JURIST] Members of the guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government reached an agreement on Wednesday regarding punishing civil rights abuses, a move commended [press release] by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile]. The two parties met in Cuba after 32 months of negotiations. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos also announced [press release, in Spanish] on Wednesday that a final peace agreement will be reached by March 23, 2016, and that the FARC has agreed to give up all of its weapons within 60 days of the final peace agreement. He assured the nation that there will be justice system to accurately investigate and prosecute those accused of crimes such as genocide, kidnapping, sexual violence and crimes against humanity during the conflict. The minimum sentences for these crimes will be 20 years in prison, and Santos expressed that prosecution will not be directed solely at members of the FARC. Peace in Colombia, Santos said, will help the nation be successful on a greater scale and lead to improved public safety, education, economy and tourism.

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.