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ICTJ Activity

Strengthening Jurisprudence

The ICTJ has presented two amicus curiae briefs in Colombia. Through these the Center has provided critical advice on ongoing cases and contributed to the implementation of state obligations under international law.

In May 2005 the ICTJ presented an amicus brief on the Mapiripán massacre in Colombia to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The brief set forth the legal standards for the government's investigation of serious human rights abuses and warned that de facto impunity may be exacerbated by demobilization policies.

The controversial Law 975 (Justice and Peace Law) prompted the ICTJ to submit its second amicus brief, this time to the Constitutional Court of Colombia. This brief provided comparative information on how other countries have worked to ensure accountability and clarify the truth about past abuses, even in politically challenging circumstances. Specifically the ICTJ brief argued that as originally configured the Justice and Peace Law would affront victims' rights by trivializing investigatory standards for human rights violations, restricting access to trials, and limiting access to reparations. The Constitutional Court quoted the brief extensively and incorporated its petitions into its May 2006 decision.

The National Debate on Transitional Justice

Together with the Fundación Social and the Project Counseling Service, the ICTJ published a survey on victims' perceptions and expectations of transitional justice in 2006. The findings represent the first time that a quantitative study has mapped victims' needs for justice. Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed said victims should receive some form of reparation; 79 percent believe that Colombians have a right to truth; 74 percent express a favorable attitude toward reconciliation; and 63 percent believe that combatants must be prosecuted. The Center will continue to use these findings to contribute to transitional justice policy in Colombia.

Over three days in September 2006 the ICTJ, the Fundación Social, and the Municipality of Medellin held an international conference attended by some 800 people and representatives of five truth commissions. The Center has identified at least 20 instances of local truth-seeking initiatives, including a proposal being developed by the Municipality of Medellin itself. The conference, opened by the mayor of Medellin, marked the first time these groups met to discuss their work in a collaborative manner. The ICTJ will continue to assist these groups and other truth-seeking efforts through a series of smaller workshops in the coming year.

Through funding received from the European Commission's Rapid Response Mechanism, the ICTJ established an office in Bogotá in August 2006. Working closely with the National Reparations and Reconciliation Commission (CNRR), the ICTJ successfully held five consultative meetings with the CNRR and victims' groups around the country. In cooperation with the CNRR the Center proposed a two-year action plan that the Commission formally approved in February 2007.

Current activities

Since October 2006 the ICTJ has a permanent office in Colombia and has worked in support of different initiatives related to the implementation of Law 975 and other measures of transitional justice. The ICTJ currently work in four areas:

Truth-seeking (historical memory): Supporting the CNRR's Working Group of Historial Memory, as well as diverse unofficial truth-seeking initiatives in Antioquia, Valle, and the Atlantic Coast (European Union, Stability Fund); giving technical support to the Truth Commission established by the Supreme Court of Justice to investigate the November 1985 massacre committed there (EU and Ford Foundation).

Reparations: Carrying out applied research on public policies of the national government (Acción Social) and the implications of the judgments of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in six cases; supporting four unofficial initiatives on reparations in Valle, Chocó, and Antioquia; drafting a proposal for a general policy on reparations (in association with DeJusticia). The EU supports all these actions. The ICTJ has also been involved in advising the Ministry of Interior and Justice and the CNRR on preparation of an administrative reparations program and is currently involved in giving technical advice to the Congress regarding a general law on reparations and humanitarian assistance for victims.

Prosecutions: Supporting the effort of the Attorney General's Office in including victims in the proceedings established by the Justice and Peace Law; giving technical advice in association with the Procuraduría General de la Nación on property restitution and mental health policies; with general support of the Swedish government, supporting training initiatives for public defenders and magistrates of the Justice and Peace Tribunals. In association with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Center has recently designed an intervention policy and provided advisory services for the Supreme Court of Justice in connection with the investigations involving high level politicians and their connections to paramilitary groups "parapolitics".

Communications and Outreach: With the support of the Canadian government the ICTJ developed a six-month research project on transitional justice and published three volumes on truth-seeking, reparations, and prosecutions. It also supports an initiative by Morris Productions to develop a film on exhumations. In association with the Museum of Antioquia the Center is developing a broad initiative linking culture and memory in Medellin. ICTJ Colombia distributes a newsletter for the Americas, focusing primarily on transitional justice issues in Colombia and maintains the Spanish-language version of the ICTJ website.

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Background

Colombia has endured the longest-running armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere. Successive waves of confrontation among guerrilla, government, and paramilitary groups have caused enormous loss of life, weakened the rule of law, and instilled hostility and despair in the national psyche. The shifting boundaries between patterns of victimization, drug trafficking and political crime, and the tension between security and human rights  pose particular challenges for those seeking accountability for past abuses and respect for human rights in the context of a peace process.

Recent political scandals, partly brought about by the demobilization of paramilitary groups and linking paramilitary leaders to top Uribe government officials, have confirmed Colombians' mistrust of the state and fears that a legitimate human rights policy remains a distant goal. At the same time the exposure of links between paramilitary perpetrators and powerful political elites provides Colombia with an opportunity to enact a genuine transition toward the rule of law based on the progressive Colombian Constitution of 1991.

In this context academic and human rights practitioners have developed a rich national discussion on transitional justice and peacebuilding. Over the past few years this heightened interest in transitional justice has become more urgent, along with the need to achieve successful negotiation and disarmament and to establish working mechanisms that ensure lasting peace.

In mid-2003 truth, reparations, and accountability took on new importance in public and private debate, when the paramilitary federation, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), pledged to demobilize and disarm in exchange for a government commitment to minimize the threat of long prison sentences for the most serious human rights violations. Initially the government proposed a law that would have replaced prison time with alternative penalties but would have fallen short of international law protecting victims' rights. After a long and complex legislative debate the Colombian Parliament adopted a bill signed by President Alvaro Uribe in July 2005. However, the law was immediately challenged in the Constitutional Court, which declared critical aspects of it unconstitutional and modified others.

After constitutional review the law retains the possibility of a reduction of penalties for demobilized members of illegal groups who cooperate fully in clarifying crimes, hand-over illegally seized property for the purpose of contributing to reparations policies and clearly contributing to dismantle illegal structures. The constitutional decision ensures the rights of victims to participate actively in all stages of the criminal process. Paramilitary members not cooperating fully or returning to crime will lose the benefit of reduced penalties and automatically receive substantial prison terms.

Civil society organizations have severely criticized implementation of the law, demanding that the prosecutorial authorities grant effective access to the process by victims and their legal representatives. Victims' advocates warn that implementing decrees weaken the constitutional decision and give few guarantees that the prosecutors will effectively investigate crimes committed by demobilized combatants.

Colombia is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a body that can try cases of abuse when domestic judicial systems cannot because of inability or unwillingness. It is likely that the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor will continue to monitor developments in the country.

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(Updated July 2008)