Impunity and Accountability in Colombia

1. Defining Terms

We all use terms like peace and justice every day. But what do these terms mean in practice?

1. Ask students to brainstorm a list of words that come to mind related to the concept of “Impunity”. Then ask them to do the same for the word “Accountable.”

2. What are the basic components or principles of Transitional Justice that should be included in a definition? Ask people to work in small groups of 3-6 people to develop a list of these principles. Ask the groups to share their lists, reporting one principle at a time and not repeating any principles that other groups have already stated. At the end, discuss with the group what characteristics would NOT be a signal of a transitional justice process.

3. Four basic elements of transitional justice are truth seeking, reparations, prosecutions, and guarantees of non-repetition. Keeping these in mind, ask students to look at some of the ways the ICTJ has worked in various countries. Divide the class into groups to research different ICTJ case studies and produce a short paper that answers the following questions: Are all four elements being addressed in each country? If not what could be done to address the elements that are missing? Be sure to take cultural differences into consideration.

2. Trauma healing, Justice and Meaning Making

Radio host Mark Sommer points out that Margarita Morales transformed her personal tragedy into a purposeful life.

1. What do people lose in the midst of war or oppressive regimes and what do these losses mean for justice? Ask people to work in small groups of 3-6 people to generate a list of ideas about how justice attends to these losses on the individual, family, community, and national levels.

2. Ask students to write a one page reflection or poem describing the role of “meaning making” in the lives of victims and for the pursuit of justice.

3. In class, ask class members to get into pairs. Ask students to share with each other from their personal experiences on these questions: How do we make meaning out of tragedy? What impact does “meaning making” have on individuals, communities and societies?

3. Impunity

For many years in Colombia, widespread impunity is more common than efforts to address human rights abuses.

1. International criminal law has emerged to curb and eventually eliminate impunity for human rights abusers. Using the statement, “International criminal law will end impunity,” identify the extremes of a spectrum—for example the left corner of the room is total agreement with the statement and the right corner is total disagreement. Ask students to stand on the spectrum according to their degree of agreement or disagreement with the statement. Ask students to talk with those closest to them about why they are standing where they are. These groups can then share highlights from their discussion with the rest of the class.

2. In Colombia human rights abuses by paramilitary and guerilla groups are receiving more attention than military human rights abuses. In pairs, ask students to discuss the impact of allowing impunity for the military on attempts to hold paramilitary and guerilla groups accountable.

3. Ask students to produce a 3-5 page paper on the value and impact of strengthening civil society for the purpose of reducing a culture of impunity.

4. Impunity and Accountability

In Colombia, officials are trying to change a culture of impunity into one of accountability.

1. A “me vs. them” mentality drives people to perpetrate violence against their fellow citizens. In small groups, ask half of the groups to answer the following question: What can be done to transform this exclusive mentality into an integrative one? The other half should answer the question: How could such transformation support accountability instead of impunity? Groups can then share one or two highlights from their discussions.

2. Uldy Teresa Jimenez talks about the case of “the Parrot” (that is Wilson Salazar Carrazcal who was a member of the Hector Julio Peinado Becerra group) in Colombia and describes an apology he made to the families of two of his victims. Were you surprised to hear that the family accepted his apology? What role do such encounters between victims and perpetrators have for accountability? In groups of two or three, ask students to role-play for 15 minutes an encounter between victim and perpetrator based on this situation. In a large group, debrief by asking students to share what they learned in playing the roles of victim or perpetrator.

3. Divide the class into four groups. Assign each group a level of society (individual, community, organizations, and structures). Ask each group to answer the following questions at the level of society they have been assigned: What are the social factors related to war? Taking these social factors into consideration, draw up a list of who might be accountable for the violence that occurred and for the culture of impunity. What could accountability look like at your level of society? Ask the groups to present their answers.

4. Ask students to research and write a report paper on the current state of Colombia (or another conflict) and draw up a plan for accountability. The plan should include benchmarks for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years and 20+ years.

5. How does accountability apply to groups and nations? In pairs, ask people to answer the following question: What does group accountability look like? Have the pairs join into groups of 4-6 to discuss their answers and then to answer the following question: What does national and international accountability look like? Have groups share their answers with the class.

5. (Transitional) Justice Initiatives

“Transitional justice was a term created in order to explain the difficult forms in which justice could be met in the middle of transitions from authoritarian regimes into democratic governments and also from internal armed conflicts or internal wars into peaceful settlements.” ~Javier Ciurlizza, in Impunity and Accountability in Colombia

1. Economic inequality in Colombia is widespread. In groups of 4-6, ask students to discuss the following questions: What role does economic inequality play in the success of transitional justice initiatives? What can be done to balance the inequality?

2. In groups, brainstorm ways of reintegrating perpetrators/aggressors back into the community that take into account justice and the safety of victims. Ask half the groups to conduct the exercise from the perspective of perpetrators/aggressors and the other half from the perspective of the victims. Ask the groups to share their answers with the class.

3. In many instances, offenders/aggressors are trying to undo an injustice they have experienced. In groups of four, ask students to talk about how the reality of being a victim and offender at the same time affects the justice process. Have two students from each group move to another group to discuss the importance of accountability for breaking the victim/offender cycle. (For information on the Victim/Offender Cycle see Yoder, C. (2005). Little book of trauma healing: When violence strikes and community security is threatened. Intercourse: Good Books.)

4. In Colombia, the AUC (United Defense Forces of Colombia) has been in part funded by American businesspersons—do American businesspersons carry a degree of responsibility for the Colombian conflict? Why or why not? If so, how might they be included in the justice process? Divide the class into groups to discuss these questions from the perspectives of Colombians and American businesspersons. The groups can be brought together to simulate a discussion between the two interested parties.

6. Compare/Contrast

This section provides a guided study for comparing/contrasting the case of Colombia with others around the world.

1. Studies demonstrate that women play a unique role in ending violence and in the healing process. Ask students to research what roles women have played in ending violent conflicts around the world, with each student choosing a specific country or region. Bougainville, Liberia, and Bosnia are examples of good case studies for comparison. Students should come to class prepared to compare the Colombian conflict to other conflicts. In groups, ask students to answer the following questions: How have women contributed to ending violence and in the healing process? How have/can women contribute uniquely to the situation in Colombia?

2. The number of internally displaced people (IDP) in Colombia continues to grow. Research what issues and obstacles IDPs face and consider what accountability might mean for them. Ask students to compare/contrast the issues of IDPs in Colombia with the issues IDPs are facing in countries such as Sri Lanka, Sudan, Serbia, or another country. Ask them to write a short reflection on what would need to be addressed in order for IDPs to experience a sense of justice.

3. Compare the law of Peace and Justice in Colombia with other similar initiatives in countries such as Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste and Argentina. The class can be divided into groups of four (each assigned one country to compare with Colombia) to answer the following questions: What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of the initiatives in these countries? What lessons can Colombia learn from these case studies? How would these lessons change or strengthen the law of Peace and Justice in Colombia? Groups can present their findings.

Written by: Janet Hines