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Is there peace in Colombia?

To create lasting peace does not mean to sign good agreements – the implementation of the agreement is a chapter in itself.




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

The civil war in Colombia has been around since 1964, and it has claimed over 260 000 human life. The background to the conflict is poverty and social inequality in rural areas: One percent of landowners own 43 percent of agricultural land. Socialist guerrilla groups such as FARC and ELN have fought for radical land redistribution, while right-wing paramilitary groups have fought the guerrillas and killed civilian activists. In the middle of the 1980 century, the FARC entered into a ceasefire agreement in which they ended the armed struggle and instead made a choice for the left-wing Union Patriocia. The agreement was destroyed by the paramilitaries, who launched a terror campaign in which they executed closer 3000 of party members.

The current peace agreement between the state and the FARC was unanimously ratified by the upper and lower house of the Colombian parliament and the 30 respectively. November and the 1. December last year. The unanimity was due to the opposition, led by former President Alvaro Uribe, leaving the hall in protest before the vote. Uribe is known to have had close economic, political and family ties to the paramilitary umbrella organization AUC, which was dissolved against the amnesty in 2006. After the AUC disbanded, many of the paramilitaries continued their activities in criminal gangs engaged in drug production and preventing displaced poor farmers from returning home and claiming their land.

During Uribe's reign, an estimated 3400 poor civilians were executed by government soldiers and reported as dead guerrillas to decorate the "statistics" of how the FARC was doing. Sitting President and Peace Prize winner Juan Santos was Minister of Defense during this period. However, after Santos was elected president in 2010, he broke with Uribe's hard line. and initiated the negotiations with the FARC. One of the first things Santos and the FARC agreed upon was to ask Norway and Cuba to be facilitators in the negotiations. The negotiations took place in Oslo and Havana, resulting in the agreement signed by both parties this fall. The agreement concluded includes converting the FARC into a political party that is guaranteed a minimum of ten seats in parliament for the next two periods; measures to combat rural poverty; amnesty for the majority of FARC members and community punishment instead of imprisonment for guerrilla members who have committed serious crimes.

"The scale of political violence and of killings and violence targeting civil society representatives, human rights defenders, environmentalists and political opposition has exploded."

Violence and impunity. Foreign journalist Arne Halvorsen writes in the book The road at the Peace Prize that Norway had the trust of both parties from previous negotiations, and that Norwegian diplomats played an important role as facilitators by making sure the negotiations were about specific points with clear deadlines. In the book, he interviews Latin American scientist Adam Isacson from the United States, who states that "without Norway's calm but effective diplomacy, the peace process could have been traced several times."

Norwegian diplomacy has gained prestige for having contributed to peace agreements in Israel / Palestine, Sri Lanka and South Sudan, among other places. But a characteristic of the three mentioned agreements is unfortunately that even though they are never so good on paper, they have not worked in practice – because they have not been implemented. Israelis and Palestinians are further apart than in a long time, the conflict in Sri Lanka ended with total victory for the government army, and in South Sudan there is political chaos and civil war. Ny Tid has asked Halvard Hjermundrud, chairman of the board of Peace Brigades International Norway, what is the biggest challenge now that the agreement in Colombia is to be implemented.

"The biggest challenge is the complete lack of guarantees that political opposition and social movements can do their job," Hjermundrud responds. "The scale of political violence and of killings and violence targeting civil society representatives, human rights defenders, environmentalists and political opposition has exploded. From 80 to over 100 killings of human rights defenders and civil society representatives are reported in 2016, and it still has the first few weeks of 2017. The safeguards are not at all adequate, and the impunity for attacks on civil society is almost total. "
Hjermundrud warns against the wave of violence threatening to destroy key elements of the peace agreement. "The FARC is still not demobilized and has not yet made its transition to the political party," he points out. "Still, today's situation in the public is compared to early stages of the extermination of Union Patriotica, due to the lack of guarantees for various forms of political opposition and social movements, and the sheer scale of attacks, killings and assassinations of civil society actors. For example, the left-wing social and political movement The patriotic march has been subjected to countless attacks. Over 120 of their members have been killed in recent years. A new killing happened just a few days ago. ”

Norway has an important role in following up on the implementation of the peace agreement because of its special position in Colombia, Hjermundrud believes: "It is now more important than ever that the international community, including Norway, continues to support the peace process and demands that the agreement be implemented , ”He emphasizes. “Norway should continue its direct support to local human rights organizations in the country, both politically and economically. Norway must also continue to play a positive role in the efforts to recognize and demand protection for civil society and human rights defenders. "

"Abuses against human rights defenders and social leaders are still a serious problem. This testifies to the fact that there are countervailing forces that do not appear to benefit from the peace process. "

OUT: Counter forces are turning. Ny Tid asks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs how Norway is following up the work on the implementation of the peace agreement. "As part of the peace agreement, a follow-up commission was established, in which Norway and Cuba participate together with representatives of the FARC and the Colombian authorities," answers spokesperson Kristin Enstad.

"This commission will play a key role in following up what the parties have agreed to in the peace agreement." Norway also supports the implementation in other areas: “We took, among other things, an initiative for mine clearance together with the United States. Here we contribute NOK 180 million over three years. Three Norwegian political women also participate in the UN mission which monitors the ceasefire between the parties. ”
Enstad makes it clear that it is important to continue to focus on the security situation when implementing the agreement. "In the peace talks, protection measures have been central, both in the next six months when the FARC is assembled in dedicated weapons closure zones, but also in the aftermath, when thousands of former FARC soldiers are to be reintegrated into Colombian society," she says. "Abuses against human rights defenders and social leaders are still a serious problem. This testifies to the fact that there are countervailing forces that do not appear to benefit from the peace process. "

Halvard Hjermundrud believes that paramilitarism poses a great danger to the peace process and stability in Colombia. «Paramilitary groups are believed to be behind most of the attacks on civil society and human rights defenders, as well as the attacks on the population, ”he emphasizes. "It is essential that efforts are made to dissolve paramilitary structures and that the allegations of links between paramilitary structures and powerful political and economic interests are investigated."

Aslak Storaker
Aslak Storaker
Storaker is a regular writer in Ny Tid, and a member of Rødt's international committee.

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