Author: Eugenia

The Colombian Truth Commission has an innovative mandate without precedent in other truth commissions, which involves working with people who had to flee the country during the five decades of armed conflict.

In the case of Europe, in May 2019, the Commission signed a collaboration agreement with the International Catalan Institute for Peace to act as Technical Secretariat, with the aim of facilitating work with Colombian victims, social organizations and institutions in the European countries where these people reside.

The centrality of the victims and their active participation in this whole experience means that the process of working with them can in itself constitute an act of recognition towards them and, at the same time, have the effect of healing and closing the wounds brought about by the conflict. Therefore, for ICIP as technical secretariat, this process with the victims is the main focus of the work, and has been conceived and addressed as an objective in itself.

In Europe, participation has been structured on three levels:

• Nodes or support groups for the Commission. There are 15 support groups in 10 countries: Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain (Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid, Basque Country and Valencia), France and South of France, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland;
• Intermodal working groups or coordination spaces throughout Europe in relation to thematic areas: gender, psychosocial accompaniment, recognition of victims, relatives of victims of enforced disappearance, second and third generations in exile;
• Taking testimonies, for which some 90 people have been trained and have contributed to the work of clarification with victims living in European countries.

Specifically, in its role as Technical Secretariat in Europe, ICIP has the following duties:

• Accompany, advise, facilitate and coordinate the interviewers, the nodes and the working groups in Europe.
• To serve as a liaison between the initiatives in Europe and the Commission.
• To inform the Commission on the processes of participation in Europe and to make proposals to strengthen them.
• Assist the Commission in the logistical and methodological organization of activities and events in Europe.

The mandate of the Colombian Truth Commission is to contribute to the clarification of the events that took place within the framework of the Colombian armed conflict for over 50 years; to promote the recognition of the victims and the responsibilities of those who participated directly and indirectly in the conflict; and to promote coexistence in the territories in order to guarantee non-recurrence.

In addition, in a way that is unprecedented in transitional justice processes, the Commission works directly with the Colombian community living abroad, as an actor-subject deserving attention and participation. According to the Commission itself, at least 500,000 Colombians living abroad have requested international protection, and this does not include the second generation or people who left the country without requesting protection status.

The Commission recognizes the importance of including the experiences and voices of this Colombia living outside Colombia in the story of the country that is being shaped. It has therefore generated a territorial deployment at the international level that has involved processes of support for the Commission in 23 countries in Europe, North America, Central America, the Andean region and South America.

In Europe, the work has been guided by ICIP, in its role as the Commission’s technical secretariat, and participation has basically been structured on three levels:

• Nodes or support groups for the Commission;
• Internodal working groups;
• Interviewers for the taking of testimonies.

In this process, the Commission has trained around 90 people to take testimonies from victims of the armed conflict residing in Europe, in order to contribute to the clarification of the facts through a unique methodology with a psychosocial approach.

To promote this support network, one of the main methodological concepts in the process has been to create spaces for participation and coordination among diverse actors: victims of various armed actors who are not organized, organizations of Colombian victims, peace and human rights activists, organizations in host countries, and people from the arts world and from academia, among others.

Along these lines, in Europe, there are 15 support groups in 10 countries: Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain (Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid, Basque Country and Valencia), France and South of France, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland. These nodes are spaces for the convergence of people and organizations that meet to join efforts and previous experiences in memory and peacebuilding in support of the Commission’s mandate.

In addition, there are intermodal groups, as coordinating spaces throughout Europe in relation to specific thematic areas: gender, psychosocial accompaniment, recognition of victims, relatives of victims of enforced disappearance, and second and third generations in exile.

On 26 September 2016, the Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace, between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo), was signed.

As a result of the Peace Agreement, a series of Transitional Justice mechanisms were created that are part of a Comprehensive System for Truth, Justice, Reparations and Non-Recurrence. One of these instruments is the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Recurrence, which formally began its work with a three-year mandate in November 2018.  The objectives of the Commission are as follows:

• To clarify the patterns of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law violations; the causes and factors of persistence, impacts and forms of resistance; as well as the relationship between drug trafficking, paramilitarism and land dispossession in relation to the internal armed conflict.
• To promote the recognition of the victims as important subjects for the transformation of the country; the voluntary acknowledgement of responsibilities by the perpetrators (direct and indirect); and the recognition by society that these violations must not be repeated.
• To contribute to coexistence in the territories, providing an opportunity to regain trust, to learn to engage in dialogue with opponents and to relate to each other peacefully.

In addition, it has the mandate to work with the Colombian community living abroad, as an actor-subject that deserves attention and participation.  According to the Commission itself, of the more than five million Colombians living abroad, at least 500,000 have requested international protection, which does not include the second generation or people who left the country without requesting protection status.

The degree of involvement and participation of the diaspora in the Colombian Truth Commission is unprecedented in transitional justice contexts. This work with victims abroad has led to the creation of support groups for the Commission’s work (also called nodes) in 23 countries worldwide, 10 of them in Europe.