Issue-Transitional Justice
For the indecisive
Today we vote on the peace plebiscite, which is the main decision that we will have as citizens in the coming decades. Thus, we should make an effort to participate. For those of us without a defined vote, I would like to share the analysis that led me to decide YES.
Read MoreVoice and vote for peace
Peace needs our voice and vote. Since today until October 2nd, we should use our words so peace can see the light.
Read MoreThe Special Peace Jurisdiction: between jail and restorative justice
One of the innovations of the Special Jurisdiction Peace within the Peace Accord is the way in which it combines retributive and restorative justice, which is better, at least in its design, than many other transitional arrangements.
Read MoreBrexit’s lessons
Brexit, which will make the United Kindgom (UK) leave the European Union (UE) brings at least two lessons for the plebiscite, especially for young voters.
Read MoreOn forgiveness and the YES vote
The final peace accord is already building peace. In fact, it is triggering one of the essential and most difficult conditions: the recognition and the request for forgiveness for those responsible of the victims’ suffering during the most painful events in the war.
The FARC must economically contribute to victims’ reparation
No one believes the lie that the FARC is an organization with no money and that the relevant agencies have no clue about the guerilla’s resources.
Read MoreAn impunity accord?
vote NO on the plebiscite claim that they are not against negotiated peace, but
that they believe the accord to be unacceptable because of the impunity it establishes due to the fact that it does not require jail time
for all those responsible for international crimes like massacres, kidnappings,
disappearances, children recruitment or sexual violence.
In the face of doubt…YES
Some considered that Maria Isabel Rueda was inconsistent when after severely criticizing the peace process, she decided to vote YES on the plebiscite.
Read MoreEnsuring the confusion
The Inspctor General attributed the invalidation of his reelection to the Havana accords and his opposition to the peace process, seeking to create confusion, minimize the illegalities that he committed so he could be reelected and deligitimize the State Council sentence. If the decisions was a response to the accords, it could not be backed by the law.
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A justice system for peace
The peace accord is an opportunity to face several challenges in the judicial system. In this column, I discuss one priority challenge for all citizens.
Read MoreThe peace framework and the Attorney General’s Office of the Internacional Criminal Court
Some weeks ago news was announced of a true bomb. The news was about two private letters- leaked by media – in which the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court addressed the Constitutional Court, with the intention of making some clarifications about its vision of the Legal Framework for Peace. According to media reports, these letters could become an insurmountable obstacle for the process, given that the arguments made by the Prosecutor questioned the international validity of the peace framework and, therefore they could discredit an eventual decision by the Court supporting the framework.
Read MoreLetter bombs?
Semana magazine used the term “letter bombs” to refer to two communications that Fatou Bensouda, fiscal of the International Criminal Court, sent to the Constitutional Court. The choice of terms is due to the letters’ possible impact on the imminent decision of the regarding the legal peace framework.
Read MoreThe farce of public land
Many individuals divided their land in small segments so that their friends and family can claim them from the government, according to the law.
Read MoreLegal Peace Framework: the hearing before the Constitutional Court
A radiography of the diverse positions regarding the Legal Peace Framework and the alternatives that the Court has in terms of punishment of authors of atrocious crimes.
Read MoreVictims, rights and peace
We have to build a vision of the peace process that respects and is sensitive to victims’ rights. But, at the same time, we have to advance toward a vision of victims’ rights, which is sensitive to the demands and possibilities of a peace process.
Read MoreA newspaper page is enough…
Last Tuesday, President Santos announced that it would reduce the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights´term in our country, with the argument that Colombia “has advanced sufficiently” not to need any “more United Nations human rights offices”.
Read MorePolitical participation and armed conflict
The proposals of political participation of FARC have received harsh criticism. The target has not only been the most controversial and maximalist proposals, such as the call for a constituent assembly or the whole reformation of the state.
Read MoreTo recover the land to die for it?
The more than 100 rulings on land restitution are a step forward, but threats to complainants and related deaths put this process at risk.
Read MorePeace, law and rights
A peace agreement will be very difficult, almost impossible, if FARC believes that the peace process is merely a political issue without legal limitations.
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