The Failure of Peace: Transitional Justice’s Inefficacy in Upholding Victims’ Rights in the Colombian Peace Process

In the interest of ending the 50 year-old internal armed conflict, the Colombian government and FARC-EP advance efforts to reach a peace agreement. The agenda of the Havana talks consists of five issues, one of which is at the heart of achieving peace: the protection of the rights of the conflict’s victims. Nevertheless, what is the cost the victims have to pay to enter the new era of peace? On December 15, 2015, President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londoño, leader of the guerrilla force, signed the “Agreement on Victims of the Conflict.” With the implementation of transitional justice, the agreement outlines a set of special conditions that grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes considered “less severe.” The agreement’s use of transitional justice interferes with the full satisfaction of the victims’ rights. This paper exposes this failure with an exploration of the conflict’s history emphasizing human rights violations. In addition, it will develop into an analysis of transitional justice, its processes and limitations. Finally, this paper will examine the extent to which the agreement upholds the rights of the victims. In a case as complex as Colombia’s, a peace process and an agreement on victims must acknowledge the harm delivered to the population to create reparations that guarantee justice