Armed Conflict In Colombia, More Than 60 Years

Armed conflict in Colombia, more than 60 years

Summary

The Colombian armed conflict has as many edges as the number of stars in heaven. It is a social fact that for more than 60 years has been present in the country’s history demanding great efforts of institutions for their management and solution. Nothing has been easy, to the point that the international community in addition to being attentive to what happens with the current peace process, has also offered its good offices to contribute to the achievement of a firm and lasting peace.

Similarly, within the country, professionals specialized in different topics that are related to peace are contributing to their research and in -depth studies of such important issues as internal displacement, transitional justice, the protection of the most vulnerable population, the murder of journalists and social leaders; the violation of human rights and legislation that frames the entire peace process. Colombia is a country that is learning on the road to peace, so what is written in this work and what is about to write, remains little in this long journey that has as its purpose establishes the bases for a peaceful coexistence.

Introduction

Beyond being a relationship of positions related to the issue of armed conflict in Colombia, the document presented in this work is emerging as a perspective look of the main aspects that influence the peace process that takes place in the country.

The armed confrontation, which for more than 60 years has generated a great impact on all the levels of Colombia, changed direction towards the search for a stable and lasting peace.

And this is how since September 26, 2016, with the signing of the Final Peace Agreement, a new spectrum for Colombians was opened. This transcendental fact also accommodated a new way of looking at the reality of the country. This is how the agenda of the media and debates in political and social contexts changed unfailingly towards issues such as transitional justice, truth, justice and reparation; The preservation of human rights, the treatment of victims, the special justice for peace among others.

Therefore, in this work different positions are presented on these and other issues that political debates were taken at national and international level, when talking about Colombia is about. This is how here the position of jurists, investigators and writers of national reality, on such complex issues as internal displacement, minors in internal conflict, human rights and victims, the Truth Commission, the Court, the Court constitutional and the peace process, among others.

The issues can be many more, but this time, the invitation is so that, from these reflections, studies and considerations, a little more of this great social and political phenomenon is known that develops in one of the most important moments From the history of the country.

There are many lines that are pending to write, the contribution of hundreds of Colombians who see passively and even without hope is still pending, the course of a moment of history that, in a short term, will redefine the political and social landscape of Colombia.

The beginning of a path to peace

On the issue of armed conflict in Colombia, articles and debates have been written that evidence. An example of this is Prieto’s text (1998) entitled Armed Conflict, which argues that promulgated regulations, which is a social phenomenon, have not been enough to counteract it, because a good part of their obligations were still be fulfilled.

The national standards proposed to meet the displacement, as proposed by Prieto at that time, are in line or correspondence with what is raised internationally to achieve an apparent balance between the context, the needs and the ability to recognize the forced displacement as a problem that deserves specific attention, which is why its effectiveness is questioned. In that direction, the author of the text raises, that although there are a good number of norms that can contribute at least to mitigate the effects of displacement, the fact that the phenomenon that, according to the perspective that, according to the perspective that, according to the perspective Exposed in the text, it reinforces inequality once displaced people arrive in the city, for example.

The contribution made by the text has to do with that identifies displacement as a social problem that, although it has attention from the normative point of view.

Hernández (2000), argues in his text called "Minors and armed conflict", states that human rights in Colombia as a guarantee by the State, is reflected with the situation of minors recruited for the armed war. He points out that this problematic has been discussed in all political institutions at the national level also in the international field due to its negative impact on minors.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the 1989 Children’s Rights Convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions, with its additional protocols of 1977, are internal approaches that express concerns on this subject, in countries that suffer or have suffered the political, social and economic violence of the State and Guerillas.

Hernández (2000) takes up the studies for the United Nations of Graça Mache on the impact generated by the armed conflict on minors in the various countries where they become subjects of violence. Likewise, he takes up instruments that allow minor protection, among which we find the following:

• Declaration on the protection of women and the child in armed conflict (first and second sections).
• Beijing rules (articles 13.5, 18.2 and 19.1).
• Rome Statute (Articles 7 and 8).
• ILO Agreement 182.
• Red Cross Movement and Red Crescent.
• Resolution 1261 (1999) of the United Nations Security Council (Hernández, 2000, P. 147-148).

One of the most relevant conclusions is that a series of legal, political and also social mechanisms have been generated in the Colombian territory, to generate a protection of minors with the relationship of human rights, both to avoid their relationship and to promote the decoupling Of those who are within the conflict.

Fuentes y Cote (2004) in his thesis “The role of truth commissions in the formation of historical memory: construction of a story?"They argue the problemantic problem in Colombia has taken unimaginable proportions, and one of the possible outputs to overcome it has been to appeal to the past to do a collective memory exercise that allows identifying the roots and the establishment of the Truth Commission , which is an institution that aims to establish the happened in a conflict, with the objective of a national reconciliation and to promote the transition to peaceful coexistence.

When making an approach to the concept of the Truth Commission, they express that, although there are differences between the truth commissions of all countries, where they are installed, it can be seen that they stand out that they are common to them and are: the construction of the truth, the Relationship with the Judiciary and the transition period to which the commissions are supposed to point

Fuentes y Cote (2004) resume the works of Sergio Acosta, of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Chile. Also, collective memory from what is raised by Mauris Halbwach and Iván Cepeda.

One of the most important conclusions shows that behind the defense made of the truth commissions lies an attempt to satisfy the aspirations that have not been obtained by going to the entities of the Judiciary to punish people and the claim of a Speech until disqualified; The discussion is also reflected in the face of the function of the traditional judiciary (times of public conflict), whose deficiencies, having taken part of the problem taking into account what would have to decide.

In the Report of the Organization of American States OAS and Inter -American Commission on Human Rights, Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (2005) that is entitled Impunity, self-Censory and Internal Armed Conflict: Analysis of the situation of freedom of expression in Colombia in Colombia , state responses are studied for aggressions of which journalists in Colombia have been victims in addition to the existing government policy to promote and protect free expression as a human right involved in this actions.

The text highlights the fact that there is a regulatory framework to comply with that purpose, but that apparently they are not enough because they continue to commit aggressions and violent acts whose victims are journalists, defenders of rights and leaders commutaries. In this order of ideas, the impunity and decline of entities specialized in the investigation of the violent facts committed towards this population is highlighted.

The most relevant contribution of the text is the fact of showing how freedom of expression is being seriously affected by the armed conflict since a number of victims (journalists above all) have been murdered developed their work.

In the end, the text closes with a series of recommendations for serious, impartial and effective investigations on the acts of violence and intimidation against journalists and that the culprits of them are sanctioned.

In Order NO 005 of 2009, sentenced by the Constitutional Court, it is tried. It is also established what is breaking and what could be recommended in general terms, understanding that the situation of black or Afro communities in relation to forced displacement remains more complicated than others.

The text presents in its background the need for a differential approach which recognizes the diversity of the Afro -descendant displaced, in other words, to provide special attention to the displaced people belonging to black or Afro communities, so that at the time of proposing the agreements the agreements attention is effective and in this sense seeks to guarantee the rights of this population. Until the FEHCA, this task has not been fully developed because the authorities responsible for carrying it out have not been able to clearly establish the way they should perform this attention, especially when the main obstacle is that there are no resources to achieve sufficient coverage that allows The attention of the displaced population.

While the order NO 005 of 2009 is a good attempt to facilitate the improvement of the living conditions of the black communities, whether from the legal point of view, much is still much to specify in terms of public policy and especially of the action state.

Gamboa Paternina (2011) in his thesis "Analysis of violations of fundamental human rights in the case of extrajudicial executions of Soacha (2008-2010), based on the discussion about human rights", the pertinent thing is to carry out an analysis Critical about the protection, promotion and violation of human rights in the participation of non -state actors and violent actors, therefore the complicity of public institutions with illegal agents for the achievement of apparently legal purposes has been irrefutable. All this leads to determining the political consequences facing the State against international organizations, for example, the International Criminal Court; social mobilizations around justice for victims and their relatives. Therefore it is the purpose of this work to analyze the extrajudicial executions that took place in the town of Soacha in 2008; Analysis that starts from the importance of this particular case in the Colombian context of human rights. Theoretically, the democratic security policy and Ministerial Directive 029 of 2005 of the Ministry of National Defense are supported.

A very important conclusion is based on the fact that a human law violator is the Colombian State, which has become a political culture that limits the civilian population to be guaranteed, as soon as their rights are violated by the State.

Céspedes Báez (2012) in his article “Law of victims of Colombia and the responsibility of legal persons for human rights violations”, Victims Law intended to regulate the effects that the armed conflict leaves as a sequel to the civilian population, since The law includes the legal reforms that were considered as necessary to restore the rule of law through the fulfillment and protection of victims’ rights. However, this new regulation is too broad and quite complex, therefore, it is urgent to make a more detained analysis of its multiple provisions.

Céspedes Báez (2012) examines the real scope and conflicts of the article to propose some solutions and fill the great emptiness that currently exists in the country in legal matters. This is how one of the important conclusions it reached, is that article 46 has not been subject to detailed study, it seems that it is oriented to the investigation and judgment of legal persons related to human rights violations and international humanitarian law In the Colombian context.

On the other hand Cepeda (2012) in his article “Constitutional Court and armed conflict. Control of social policies within the framework of the conflict in Colombia ”, argues that a description of the actions carried out by the Constitutional Court on the armed conflict in Colombia must be established to establish the guarantees of the rights of victims and design a policy proposal public for overcoming the armed conflict in the territory.

Hence, the management of bibliographic references is used as an analysis tool, which account for the approach to judicial practices in the Colombian state, to identify the experiences of social transformation through public policies.

CEPEDA (2012) states that the judges of the judges for the approach and design of the award of the rights to the victims of the armed conflict must be analyzed, for this reason the competence and the role of the judge that generates actions to award Rights, especially in the field of conflict, and the fundamental right of security. The author takes up Uprimmy (2006) for his theoretical basis where he exposes the considerations of judicial law used by the judges.

Likewise, the article identifies the strategies of the Constitutional Court for the repair of rights and overcoming the conflict, where the analysis and evaluation of government designs and the surveillance of social policies regarding the treatment of the conflict are developed.

As a fundamental conclusion Cepeda (2012) explains that through the Constitutional Court the judges are raised as political subjects due to the ability they must have for the control and surveillance of social policies that guarantee the fundamental rights of the victims of the armed conflict in Colombia.

In the same year the article “Represent the suffering of victims in violent conflicts: scope, obstacles and perspectives” written by De Gamboa and Herrera (2012). These authors point out that after the peace negotiation process with the self-defense groups in the presidency of Álvaro Uribe Vélez, a complex regulation was generated that sought to reorient the life of society, due to a past of violation of human rights.

In this sense, the objective of the article is to analyze as through the tools of transitional justice allow citizens, victim of the armed conflict, to obtain reflecting the damage they have suffered from political violence and the search to guarantee their rights by part of the State.

The authors return to Tzvetan Todorov to establish their explanation on the speeches of the victims and where memory plays an important role, without forgetting that the latter is an act of representing and remembering that it is not neutral, to take into account that not any kind Appeal to the past serves to do justice to the victims (de Gamboa and Herrera, 2012).

The conclusion reached by the authors is that the speeches that are oriented to the memory of the testimonies of the victims of the armed conflict in Colombia, within the framework of an inclusive democracy, and the process of construction of “shared memory” must be seen as an activities oriented to political configuration that allows to guide the processes of justice and social transformation.

The text entitled Report of the Human Rights Situation in Colombia 2008-2013. International platforms and organizations. Universal Periodic Exam 2013, the situation that is being experienced in Colombia is exposed and the different ways such as the violation of human rights: extrajudicial executions, persecution of union and social leaders, murder of journalists and human rights defenders, forced displacement, forced displacement, Violence against women, generalized impunity.

This report makes it clear that the country is living a situation of violence and degradation of conflict in all spaces of society, including what has to do with the application of justice, because there are no guarantees for those responsible for administering The judicial apparatus can hardly be delimited the field of action to find legal formulas that contribute to the clarification of situations that have to do with the violation of human rights.

The contribution of this text has to do with the identification of a crisis of institutionality that reinforces the impunity and constant violation of human rights in the country, a situation that is exacerbated with the passing of time and the capacities present in the country to resolve What has to do with the application of justice, access to rights and guarantees of life.

For Gómez (2013) in his article “Between hope and frustration: social struggles for a legal framework for repair in Colombia 2004 -2011” points out that the recent political process led to the institutionalization of the discourse of the rights of victims, And specifically, to the issuance of the so -called "Victims Law".

Gómez (2013) argues a position based on the critical perspectives in the field of sociology of human law and rights, with which he tries to support that the configuration of a new regulatory framework for the repair of the victims of the armed conflict in Colombia, is the product of a discursive construction where, on the one hand, the actions of political and legal mobilization led by the networks of human rights and victims converged, and on the other, conditions of political opportunity that allowed the institutionalization of the speeches and senses promoted by These networks.

Some of the most relevant conclusions, states that victims’ support networks developed several actions consisting of the incorporation of the transnational discourse of rights to truth, justice and reparation on the national scenario, as well as social mobilization and social mobilization and Victims policy through the construction of a rights discourse from below; that despite the persuasive force of the discourse of the rights of victims, opportunity structures were required to allow the issuance of a legal framework in repair matters.

On the other hand, Carvajal (2014) points out that it is difficult to establish an appropriate balance between the care of freedom and human rights by the State with the possibility of its restriction reasonably, through security policies. However, the security model implemented in Colombia with the objective of guaranteeing the rights of the whole society increased the violation of human rights.

For the author, international justice is a relevant element for victims because through international law, states are sought:

They must comply with the international mandates that have accepted, for this reason, the use of international instances to resolve human rights conflicts is increasingly frequent today by the victims who seek to avoid impunity (Carvajal, 2014, p. 106).

Hence, international justice is currently important within democracies, since the expression of their failures or recommendations advance in the identification of the problems of the political institutions of the State against human rights.

For Carvajal (2014) the investigation problem focuses on establishing how the decisions issued by the Inter -American Court of Human Rights, study the armed conflict in Colombia and thus examine the processes on the Colombian armed conflict.

The methodology used by Carvajal (2014) is the documentary analysis, taking into account four sentences issued against the Colombian State, in addition to an interdisciplinary look and the frame of reference is the policy, law and international justice.

Another important fact within the framework of the termination of the armed conflict in Colombia is that of the establishment of transitional justice. After a long period of massive and systematic violation of human rights, a form of transition justice that responds for these facts that conventional justice is not in a position to meet.

In Colombia, this form of justice is part of the Special Justice for Peace, JEP, which was agreed in the peace negotiations that were carried out in Havana, Cuba, ending with the signing of a definitive peace agreement the peace September 26, 2016.

And in terms of truth and justice, Paz (2019) In his article Commission of Truth puts the focus on murders of social leaders, he announced that in the last month the debate on the murder of social leaders was accentuated, which It was the issue of the first dialogue for the non -repetition of the Truth Commission that was held in Bogotá at the beginning of June this year. The figure of 60 murders, which is completed so far this year, led the commission to focus on this situation that has been constant.

Paz (2019), in this Virtual Press Report, expresses that, according to figures from the Truth Commission, 4.757 social leaders were killed at the hands of armed groups outside the law, among them were peasant leaders who faced the guerrillas and paramilitaries, as well as criminal mining, some of them were dedicated to politics, journalism or the protection and defense of communities and territories. From January 2016 to date, the number of killed leaders is 400. In this first exercise of dialogue, the Truth Commission, at the head of Father Francisco de Roux the following questions were asked: why they killed them, why they are killing them and what are we going to do so that this does not continue.

On the other hand, in June it was sanctioned by the President, Iván Duque, the Statutory Law or Law 1957, which was subject to debate for the president’s refusal to sign it. With this fact the legal framework was completed under which justice for peace works. In this standard regulatory details of the JEP are set.

Transitional justice, as established by the stroke, justice, truth, dignity of the International Center for Transitional Justice, has as its main objective the recognition of the dignity of individuals, the repair and admission of rights violations and preventing them.

conclusion

Colombia is a country that is built again through the path of the search for truth and reconciliation, after a prolonged armed conflict, which in some scenarios has not ceased in its entirety.

The reconciliation processes are usually so long, that for some citizens it can even go unnoticed, but when progressing in their strengthening opens important doors that strengthen the peaceful coexistence of the territories.

The debate is open, and the task raised on this path, which, although it is true that it is not easy is the only way out of achieving a better quality of life for Colombians.

Bibliographic references

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• Cepeda, r. (2012). Constitutional Court and armed conflict. Control of social policies within the framework of the conflict in Colombia. In: Faculty of Law and Political Science Magazine, 42 (117), 425-453. Bolivarian Pontifical University.
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