The Indeterminate Content of the Field of Transitional Justice in Colombia

Transitional justice (TJ) must confront the denial of atrocities. Despite the sophistication of the national human rights legal framework in Colombia, a significant level of normative indeterminacy qualifies TJ, as if the field could work in a “constitutional vacuum.” As a consequence, various political agents, who intentionally attempt to determine the content of the TJ scheme, have used the field strategically. The strategic use of the field ranges from total observance of the human rights framework all the way to attempts to circumvent human rights obligations. These attempts to dodge human rights obligations contribute to the denial of atrocities. If TJ rhetoric is to contribute to accountability in Colombia, it must contribute to the realization of victims’ rights, not contribute to the devaluation of standards. In order to reach such a purpose, two requirements are necessary: from a substantive perspective, TJ must observe the essential core of international standards regarding truth, justice and reparation, which serve as constitutional parameters even in the context of legislative authority or judicial weighting; and from a procedural perspective, TJ must apply a sound methodology that considers a contextualized approach to comparative analysis, in order to avoid the non-reflexive transplantation of international experiences