Peace and human rights in Colombia: No peace for Colombia's human rights activists?

By Christina Ankenbrand and Jana Hornberger

Following the conclusion of the peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas in November 2016, Colombia has taken a major step towards peace. However, transforming a conflict that has been carried out violently for many years requires more than just signing a piece of paper. A culture of violence has dominated Colombia for decades and it will take time for a culture of peace to prevail, in which formerly hostile population groups can enter into constructive, friendly relations. Above all, those who campaign for peace and justice continue to be victims of violence themselves. The situation of human rights activists in Colombia has been worrying over the past decades and has not improved even one year after the peace agreement.

Peace and human rights

The preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes it clear that peace and human rights are closely linked. It states that "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human community is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world" [1].

Peace means more than the absence of war and violent conflict. Peace is a process and, according to the common definition of peace researcher Johan Galtung, includes not only the absence of personal violence but also the absence of structural and cultural violence, i.e. inequality, discrimination and poverty [2]. Put simply, peace means a decrease in violence and an increase in justice. The realization of and respect for human rights can be seen as a key indicator of this. However, peace is much more than that. From a critical and holistic perspective, it must not be forgotten that peace is a context-dependent and relational process that must take place at the relationship level between the various actors. [3]

The basis for lasting, stable peace can only be created if social relationships can change alongside political and socio-economic structures. However, this is a lengthy process that requires time and patience. The state also has an important role to play here, as it is responsible for protecting the lives, rights and security of its inhabitants. Where this is not the case, human rights activists in particular try to draw attention to social and political grievances. However, the very people who stand up for the rights of certain population groups are often the victims of human rights violations.

In Latin America, the situation for human rights activists is dangerous. In many countries, there are deep lines of conflict and extreme social inequality. Many people therefore stand up for their rights or the rights of others. Quite a few of them pay for this commitment with their lives. One of the best-known international examples is the murder of Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres, who was fighting against the construction of a controversial hydropower plant and was shot dead by unknown assailants on March 3, 2016. [ 4] There are many cases like this, most of which remain unsolved.

Human rights activists are women and men who fight for the basic rights of their fellow human beings and the environment, often because they themselves belong to a group whose livelihood and freedom rights are under extreme threat. In Colombia and in the wider Latin American context, it is people from civil society such as women, indigenous and Afro-Latin American groups, land and environmental activists, farmers' organizations, or members of the LGBT movement(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) as well as national non-governmental organizations, law firms, journalists or artists who work under life-threatening conditions.

Human rights in Colombia: The reality of human rights activists one year after the peace agreement with the FARC

In recent decades, Colombia has been the scene of one of the longest internal conflicts in the world, in which around 220,000 people have lost their lives since 1948 [5]. The main conflict lines of the conflict extend along the topics of territory and land ownership, coca cultivation and the associated drug war as well as political co-determination. In this context, around 8 million people have been victims of torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, massacres, mines or displacement [6]. However, these figures should be viewed critically, as research and investigations into the number of fatalities in the conflict only began relatively late due to a lack of political will. In addition, there are still considerable logistical and methodological problems in collecting relevant data in Colombia. One reason for this is that the violence in Colombia was at times stronger in the countryside than in the cities. The rural areas of Colombia are very difficult to access due to a lack of poor infrastructure. In addition, the concept of victim is complex in the Colombian context. For a long time, there was no standardized definition of who could and could not call themselves a victim. With Law 1448 of 2011 (Ley de víctimas y restitución de tierras - Victims' Law and Regulation of Land Restitution), a uniform system was created for the first time [7].

In recent decades, there have been repeated efforts at national level to end the conflict with the guerrilla groups, but the governments and the guerrilla groups have never been able to agree on sustainable solutions. Since 2012, there have been signs of a stable negotiation process between the government under President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC(Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), the largest guerrilla group. In September 2016, both parties signed a peace agreement, which the population rejected by a narrow majority in a referendum around a week later. Despite the failed referendum, the president and the head of the FARC signed a revised peace agreement in November. The Constitutional Court ruled that the adoption of the revised agreement was valid. There has now been official peace with the FARC since December 2016. Since then, the country has experienced a wave of positive developments that give hope for a successful peace process after decades of violence. In addition, negotiations with the second largest guerrilla group, the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional), have been taking place in the Ecuadorian capital Quito since the beginning of the year [8].

The situation of human rights activists in Colombia was repeatedly worrying during the conflict. Targeted assassinations of politically active people by paramilitaries and security forces were a sad reality time and again during the conflict. For example, the inhabitants of Comuna 13, a community in Medellín, experienced a wave of violence in the 2000s under the so-called Operación Orión. Selective and targeted persecution and murder of human rights activists as well as arbitrary violence against the civilian population were part of this military operation, which has still not been prosecuted. [9]

The dangers for human rights activists are manifold. They include threats, intimidation, murder, illegal tailing by state secret services, defamation of the highest government authorities or imprisonment and criminal trials [10]. For over 30 years, between 70 and 120 human rights activists have been murdered in Colombia every year [11]. Even one year after the peace agreement, the situation has not improved: In 2016, almost 80 human rights defenders were murdered in Colombia and hundreds were victims of threats or violent attacks [12]. Currently, the most affected are local community leaders, especially those who campaign for rights in the context of land and environmental conflicts in rural areas or who live and are active in coca-growing areas.

The main reasons for this persistent reality include the persistence of paramilitary structures, impunity and state failure. In recent years, the government has repeatedly emphasized that action is being taken against the paramilitary structures. These are now officially referred to as "criminal gangs"(bandas criminales - "BACRIM") - a euphemism for violent actors who have by no means been eradicated or seriously prosecuted. Colombian paramilitarism is a highly complex phenomenon of conflict that is closely interwoven with the national power and elite structures and still permeates and determines them today. In addition, the public political space is not yet open to critical voices and disadvantaged population groups. Where human rights activists campaign for rights such as liberty, equality and fraternity (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), the right to life, liberty and security of person (Article 3) or the right to property (Article 17), their own rights such as the right to freedom of expression and information (Article 19) or even the right to life, liberty and security of person (Article 3) are threatened. This means that human rights activists remain a vulnerable group.

Colombia on the road to peace: The importance of human rights

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the peace agreement with the FARC de jure fulfills international human rights obligations and, if carefully implemented, can guide the state in holistically addressing and overcoming structural human rights problems [13]. According to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the proposals relating to land reform and illegal drug cultivation are particularly helpful in this regard: Addressing economic, social and cultural rights would help to overcome violence, social marginalization and political exclusion and increase the exercise of civil and political rights.

In addition to the laying down of arms and political participation of the FARC, the peace agreement provides for the victims of the conflict to be informed and compensated, a special justice system for peace to be set up and greater socio-economic justice to be ensured through land reforms and combating illegal drug cultivation. The agreement therefore represents a good basis for a sustainable peace process and the FARC has declared its willingness to follow this path. However, not all actors benefit from the peace process and are prepared to go along with the implementation of peaceful structures. In particular, the power vacuum left behind by the FARC is being filled by illegally armed actors such as the BACRIM or the smaller guerrilla group ELN. Human rights activists who point out the crimes and injustices committed by these actors represent an obstacle to their interests and run the risk of becoming victims of human rights violations themselves.

It is important that the state provides better protection for human rights activists, increases its commitment to human rights and the establishment of pluralistic, democratic structures, and prosecutes, investigates and punishes human rights violations more vigorously. It will also be of central importance to establish a culture of peace, whereby peace and human rights education will play a particularly important role. This can, for example, strengthen the awareness that peace is also a social process that begins with each individual. According to the US peace researcher John Paul Lederach, peace in Colombia will be achieved when every Colombian is prepared to respect differences and is able to enter into constructive relationships with the other - with the other that they did not like or did not want to listen to for more than half a century [14]. Without standing up for and remembering human rights on a daily basis, which form the basis for living together in freedom, equality, solidarity and justice, there can be no path to lasting peace.

About the authors

Portrait Christina Ankenbrand

Christina Ankenbrand is a research associate at the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate. She studied Political and Administrative Science as well as Peace and Conflict Studies and has dealt extensively with conflicts in Africa and Latin America. During an internship at the German Embassy in Bogotá during her studies, she worked on the topic of human rights in Colombia, where she had already lived and worked for several months as part of a voluntary service after completing her Abitur.

Portrait Jana Hornberger

Jana Hornberger is a research associate at the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate. She studied political science and peace and conflict research and has worked intensively on conflicts in Latin America, in particular Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. She has worked in the field of human rights monitoring in Guatemala and completed a research stay in Colombia in the summer of 2017.

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