The Peace Process in Colombia: seeds of hope for an embattled labour movement

Daniel Hawkins

On the 2nd of October, the Colombian electorate will vote in a plebiscite to gauge popular sentiment about the peace accords recently finalised between the Colombian Government and the guerrilla group, Las FARC (in Spanish, the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia). The accords and their expected electoral approval would end the armed conflict waged between las FARC, the Colombian Government, and numerous paramilitary factions which has caused more than 220 000 violent deaths (Centro de Memoria Histórica, 2013) and created millions of victims, making Colombia the country with the second highest number of internally displaced people in the world – more than 6 million (Semana, 2015). Indeed, this peace deal, negotiated over the past four years in Havana, Cuba, would culminate in the transition of las FARC from an armed insurgency group, formally inaugurated 52 years ago, into a political party accorded minor congressional representation[1].

The deal, brokered during four years of intense negotiations, has six chapters[2] and marks a novel attempt to seriously incorporate a platform for justice and victims within the more concrete process of ensuring that the insurgent armed group makes the transition from guerrilla struggle to electoral politics. The chapter on victims seeks to uphold three core elements via a form of transitional justice, based on truth, reparation and no repetition. All those who openly and completely profess their crimes will be accorded a form of non-incarcerated punishment, which will involve territorial seclusion together with community focused, reparation-type work. All other perpetrators of crimes against humanity who do not voluntarily confess will face jail time of 15 to 20 years. This model of justice moves beyond a Kantian and Hegelian understanding of punishment as retribution towards a Hobbesian understanding, wherein penance should focus on the reformation and education of the guilty party.