The United Nations today criticized new anti-terror powers given to Colombia's military, calling them incompatible with international law.
The measures - including the right to make arrests without warrants, tap phones and collect evidence in war zones - were approved by congress on Wednesday to give US-backed security forces more teeth to hunt down rebels fighting a four-decade guerrilla war.
"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office in Colombia notes again that any measure taken to counteract violence and terrorism must respect human rights and hopes that the Colombian authorities will honor their international commitments regarding the protection and guarantee of those rights," the office said in a news release.
Among the most controversial measures is one granting the armed forces authority to conduct investigations and collect evidence in war zones - a task reserved until now for civilian prosecutors.
The government of hard-line President Alvaro Uribe, which calls the legislation an essential weapon to combat powerful Marxist guerrillas, must submit supplemental legislation by March before the law can go into effect.
The country's high court, which last year struck down emergency powers decreed by Mr Uribe, must also sign off on the law, which would run for four years.
The Colombian armed forces, which last month underwent a major shake-up in Mr Uribe's campaign for more decisive results on the battlefield, have a history of collaborating with right-wing death squads.
Rights groups, including the US-based Human Rights Watch, say they have documented several cases of military officers tampering with evidence about battles or mass killings by death squads.
The military, which has received billions of dollars in military aid from the United States in recent years, maintains tougher laws are needed to win a war that claims the lives of thousands of people every year.
But the United Nations said in its statement that Colombia "already has constitutional and legal provisions" to fight the war.