I want to know, there is supposed to be a certification on human rights in Colombia, but some press reports say that this year that certification is not necessary.
Human rights does remain a central issue in our bilateral relations with Colombia.
We'll continue to engage the government of Colombia on concrete measures that it should take to improve its human rights performance. The White House did determine that the legislation doesn't require formal certifications by the secretary of State or a waiver by the president in order to proceed to spend the money that's appropriated by the emergency supplemental, but the president decided that we should submit a voluntary report to our Congress that provides our assessment of the progress. In terms of the progress, we note general progress by the Colombian government and the armed forces on most human rights issues. This report will offer the evidence of progress and improvement in matters involving civilian judicial jurisdiction over the military, separation of suspected human rights abusers from the armed forces, development of proper judicial procedures within the military, and efforts to control the paramilitary forces in Colombia. The report will also note areas where we think additional steps should be taken by the Colombian government.