“The role of international

humanitarian law in the

search for peace:
Lessons from Colombia”
César Rojas-Orozco
Atores e Processos de Paz 27 Out 2023
Questions
1. What role can IHL have in a non-international armed conflict?

Structure of the article

1. IHL can facilitate transition and reconciliation
2. IHL can frame gestures of peace
3. IHL provides a framework for accountability and reparation
4. IHL can help to legally shield peace agreements
▪ Conclusions: IHL can have a significant impact in peace processes
[Colombian conflict in a nutshell]
▪ Started in 1960s, stemming from rebelling fruit workers organized into militias to fight
against the bipartisan alternation system
▪ Conflicting parties:
Government
Paramilitary groups (far-right)
Criminal groups linked to drug trafficking
Guerrilla groups (far-left) FARC
 Internal displacements
 2 M children were victims, 8000 missing (UNICEF)
 18% of population victimized in some way
 1. IHL can facilitate transition and reconciliation (I)

2011 Law on Victims and Land Restitution opens way for dialogue

▪ The Parties finally recognize themselves as actors in an Armed Conflict, after

decades in which the Government saw the Guerrillas as a terrorist threat.

▪ This recognition leads the Parties to agree to abide by IHL principles [FARC refuses
to use the IHL vocabulary, but confirms that their principles match those of IHL]

Government of Colombia and FARC, Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict
and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace, Bogotá, 24 November 2016

Motivation to accept: • Armed groups hoped for recognition of the

• Expectation to receive amnesties legitimacy of their causes
• Intention to reduce humanitarian costs of
the conflict
1. IHL can facilitate transition and reconciliation (II)

 Amnesties given in 2016 worked as incentives to adhere to the peace process

 Explicit adherence of FARC to the principles of IHL humanized the conflict and
lead to a significant reduction of abduction of civilians as a way to finance the
struggle  improvements in guerrilla members’ reputation + acceptance
2. IHL can frame gestures of peace

Three examples:
▪ “Gestos de Paz” – March 15: joint announcement of an initiative to
promote the dismantlement of minefields → incentive for trust and de- IHL Rule 83
escalation
▪ Special Unit to search for missing persons due to the conflict created IHL Rule 117
before the signing of the agreement in 2016. Parties explicitly request
for ICRC’s support → gaining trust from population
▪ FARC agree to free prisioners <15 & not to recruit <18 → “a strictly Art. 4(3)(c) AP II
humanitarian measure”

Building trust opens way for transition  Peace process

3. IHL provides a framework for accountability and
reparation
▪ Kant: Peace [amnesty]
▪ Amnesty as a rule (macro-cases) except in cases of war crimes
▪ Punishment for war crime perpetrators
▪ Reparations and compensations, based on UN’s Basic Principles and
Guidelines in 2005

+
▪ Law on Victims and Land Restitution in 2011

Guaranteeing accountability for perpetrators and reparations for victims creates

conditions for the peace process and its sustainability.
4. IHL can help to legally shield peace agreements

▪ At the start of the negotiation, FARC considers the negotiation agenda as a

Special Agreement under Common Article 3 (as a NIAC)
▪ Parties resort to IHL [concepts and methodology] to give the agreement an
international dimension, hoping to thus shield it to any changes by the next 3
elected governments

1. Improvement in procedural quality: IHL provides a neutral language that

enables negotiation
2. The agreement is elevated to international legal standards

All parties, even the most reluctant ones, enter the negotiation
Conclusions
1. “When IHL is observed, it is easier to conclude and implement peace
agreements through the mechanism of amnesty”

2. (…) “Compliance with IHL is less likely to be ensured during a protracted

armed conflict than when peace is in sight”

3. Use of IHL as a regime for framing peace talks & legally enforce the final
Peace Agreement [shielding]
Invisibilidade

Papel das mulheres

- FARC exclusivamente masculinas? Se não, que representatividade tinham as mulheres

no processo de paz?
- Mães: dos civis raptados, das crianças/jovens recrutadas
- Como foram consideradas no processo de reconciliação?
- Como se relacionaram com as sucessivas propostas de amnistias?