We ask the Special Jurisdiction for Peace to extend the deadline for the submission of victims’ reports

A few days before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace closes the deadline for the submission of reports on the damages suffered by the victims of the armed conflict, victims’ and human rights organizations are calling for the submission period to be extended for at least six more months.

On March 21, the Chamber for the Recognition of Truth, Responsibility and Determination of Facts and Conduct (SRVR) of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) will stop receiving reports from victims of the armed conflict that account for violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. For this reason, several civil society organizations have submitted a petition to extend, for at least six months, the term for victims’, women’s, gender-based violence, indigenous, black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, Palenquero, Rrom, and human rights organizations to have the opportunity to submit new reports.

The petition is based on six reasons that argue that the situation experienced by victims in Colombia is extraordinary, and that participation in the submission of reports has been negatively affected by force majeure factors and, therefore, the extension of the deadline is necessary and urgent, as its objective is to guarantee the centrality of victims within the procedures of access to justice in the JEP.

1.The reconfiguration of the conflict and violence in the territories

As the SRVR has already noted and it is public knowledge, the reconfiguration of the conflict and the increase in violence have prevented several organizations from freely exercising their work and, thus, from presenting their reports or participating in optimal conditions in the mechanisms for the vindication of their rights. The presence and strengthening of armed groups in the territories, as well as the beginning of the electoral period , have meant the resurgence of violence in some regions of the country and in almost all municipalities included in the Special Transitory Circumscriptions for Peace.

 

2. Pandemic still hampering report construction

Two years after the declaration of the pandemic caused by Covid-19, the measures to mitigate its spread are still having an effect, restricting the mobility of the communities and the organizations that accompany them. Specifically, there are three factors that hinder effective victim participation and reporting:

• The presence of armed actors in the territories is combined with measures to contain the spread of the virus. In some cases, these factors have accentuated the isolation to which many communities had been subjected since before the pandemic.

 

• Although it appears that Colombia has overcome the most severe stage of the pandemic, this is only conjecture and there is still a possibility that the country could face a new wave of contagion. The lack of continuity in the reporting processes weakens the ties between the communities and those who carry out the reports, which require time to be strengthened again.

 

• It is also important to note that the economic situation of the people who take part in the reports, especially women, has worsened. This means that they focus their efforts on supporting themselves and their families, and are unable to continue with their effective participation in the report construction processes.

 

3.Challenges associated with SRVR construction and reporting

 

During our work we have identified some barriers for the collection and systematization of information, which are vital for the construction of the reports. In addition, there have been several organizations that have requested support to carry them out, as they require strengthening and training processes to present them to the SRVR.

Moreover, the fact that these organizations have not been able to submit their reports affects the work of the SRVR, as it implies that the SRVR has not received all the relevant information to advance the prioritization process, nor to carry out its investigations.

 

4.The advances of the Integral System for Peace must be taken advantage of

In a few months the final report that the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition (CEV) is preparing to end its mandate will be published. This document will bring the victims a new panorama and many of them will want to contribute from a judicial perspective to the Integral System for Peace. The JEP must be prepared to deal with these cases.

 

5.The importance of broad, real and effective victim participation

The progress made by the SRVR in the first cases has made the work of the SJP more visible, which has generated an incipient trust between the communities and certain public entities. As a result, during the last year new organizations have requested accompaniment and advice to document and present their cases before the SJP.

In the same vein, the SRVR has announced the opening of new cases that include crimes committed by the FARC-EP, crimes committed by the security forces, state agents who are not members of the security forces and civilian third parties, and crimes committed against ethnic peoples. For this reason, the SRVR convened victims’ organizations to participate in hearings to gather their opinions on this second round of prioritization of cases between February 21 and March 10, 2022.

Closing the deadline for the submission of reports at the same time that new macro-cases are opened would imply, on the one hand, that the SJP loses the opportunity to receive new and relevant information and, on the other hand, that the organizations and victims are affected in their right to participate in the effective implementation of this second prioritization.

 

6.Enabling new scenarios for the presentation and/or extension of reports to the SRVR in oral form

In order for the process of access to justice to be faithful to the stories that the victims themselves present -including the impacts of the violations of their human rights, their resistance processes and their demands- it is important and necessary for the SJP to create new spaces for active listening so that the victims can express their experiences in the armed conflict.

 

A transitional process with a restorative approach only makes sense if the victims are the fundamental actors in the process and are recognized as political subjects who demand their rights. For this reason, we consider it necessary for the SRVR to extend the deadline for submitting reports.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Mennonite Christian Association for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action (Justapaz)

Association of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees (ASFADDES)

Association of Displaced Women of Meta (ASOMUDEM)

Association for Social and Alternative Promotion (MINGA)

Benposta Nación de Muchach@s

Casa de la Mujer (Women’s House)

Psychosocial Consulting and Development Center (Taller de Vida)

Center for the Study of Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia)

Coalition Against the Involvement of Children and Young People in the Armed Conflict in Colombia (COALICO)

José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR)

Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz)

Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ)

Meta Civic Committee for Human Rights (CCDHM)

Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP)

Yira Castro Legal Corporation – CJYC

Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CPDH)

Coordination Colombia Europe United States (CCEEU)

Human Rights Coordination of the Association of Indigenous Councils of the Municipality of Villagarzón Putumayo (ACIMVIP)

Human Rights Coordination of the National Organization of the Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC)

Corporation Choapo

Corporation Claretiana Norman Pérez Bello

Corporation Colectivo Sociojurídico Orlando Fals Borda

Legal Corporation Libertad

Corporation Reiniciar

Corporation Sisma Mujer

Corporation Vida-Paz

Corporation Vínculos

Defense for Children International (DNI Colombia)

Creciendo Unidos Foundation (FCU)

Forjando Futuros Foundation 

Nidya Erika Bautista Foundation 

Joel Sierra Regional Human Rights Foundation

Humanidad Vigente Corporación Jurídica

Instituto Latinoamericano para una Sociedad y un Derecho Alternativos (ILSA)

Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado (MOVICE)

Observatorio Surcolombiano de Derechos Humanos, Paz y Territorio (OBSURDH)

Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia (ONIC)

Pastoral Social Regional Suroriente Colombiano

Red Proyecto Sur

Servicio jesuita a Refugiados Colombia (JRS/COL)