This June 28, and after almost four years of titanic work, the Truth Commission, born from the Peace Agreements between the Colombian State and the extinct FARC guerrilla, presented its Final Report, in which, in addition to addressing the ins and outs of the armed conflict, also presented its recommendations to all political, economic and social actors in the country. Among them, a transformation of security and defense with a look of peace.
On a new historic day for Colombia, this Tuesday, June 28, the Final Report of the Truth Commission was presented, the body in charge of clarifying and collecting all the underlying stories of the armed conflict in the Andean country.
The mandate of the same, which was created after the signing of the Agreements between the State and the disappeared FARC guerrilla, began in November 2018 and will formally conclude on August 29, 2022, when they have been made public all the chapters -the 10- of the Report and this has been disseminated and socialized throughout the territory, with the aim that all the actors that make up Colombian society -political, social and economic- have access to the entrails of more than six decades of anxiety to, from there, be able to build a new time.
This Tuesday, in the act of presentation of said document in the mythical Jorge Eliécer Gaitán theater, in the center of Bogotá, the president of the Commission, the Jesuit priest Francisco de Roux, along with nine of the 11 commissioners who have led this arduous task, released Chapter 10 of the Report, where in addition to synthesizing the bulk of the findings made by the entity, the recommendations made to the Government to effectively overcome the conflict are also reflected.
“The truth has a meaning, which is not that of revenge, but that of dialogue, agreement, coexistence and reconciliation,” said Gustavo Petro, president-elect, who will take office on August 7 and who this Tuesday, at Unlike the outgoing president, Iván Duque, he was present at the Truth Commission ceremony.
“I will read the recommendations that are made to me, that are made to the Colombian people, to the State and to all of society,” added Petro, who also stressed that his government, together with his vice president, the lawyer and environmental leader Francia Márquez -who was a victim of the conflict-, will make the recommendations “effective”.
Father De Roux also made a call to “heal the physical and symbolic, multicultural and multiethnic body that we form as citizens of this nation.” So, he listed some of the territories most affected by more than six decades of armed violence:
“A body that cannot survive with a heart attack in Chocó, gangrenous arms in Arauca, destroyed legs in Mapiripán, a severed head in El Salado, a damaged vagina in Tierralta, empty eye sockets in Cauca, a stomach burst in Tumaco, crushed vertebrae in Guaviare, displaced shoulders in Urabá, slashed neck in Catatumbo, burned face in Machuca, punctured lungs in the mountains of Antioquia and devastated indigenous soul in Vaupés”concluded the priest, drawing applause from the theater stands and tears from some of those attending the event.
Among the recommendations to overcome this “pain” are, among others, the transformation of security and defense with a focus on peace; the full implementation of the Peace Agreements; the end of drug prohibition and the war strategy against drugs; the call for dialogue with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army and the inclusion of historically marginalized communities, such as the indigenous, Afro, palenquera, raizales or rom.
France 24 highlights five key points of the recommendations of the Truth Commission to the Colombian State.
- Transformation of military doctrine and support for peaceful protest
In terms of security and defense, the Commission proposes making a “reflection” that involves elementary aspects such as the generation of a “new vision” of security as a “public good”; the launch of horizontal dialogues between the State institutions and the communities and the transformation of security and defense from a commission designated for this purpose.
In order to “reduce militarization, place the care of life, the guarantee of human rights and compliance with International Humanitarian Law at the center”, the Commission presents as key the “civil direction of the Armed Forces and the Police”.
Thus, the Commission refers, specifically, to abolish the membership of the National Police Corps in the Ministry of Defense “to advance in the strengthening of its civilian character”assigning it to the Ministry of the Interior, as is the case in most countries.
In addition, the Truth Commission recommends carrying out the derogation from compulsory military service and the reduction of the budget of the security forces “so that they are appropriate to the institutional needs and operations that are established with the new security vision.”
“At the end of the conflict, and thinking about building new narratives, we have to think about how the State can stop being present in remote regions only in a military way and secondly, how the Armed Forces are really guaranteeing security, which is a human rights focus. That’s what’s central and I think that because of the narrative that was built on the internal enemy, the Armed Forces have a hard time accepting that,” says analyst and expert Nargy Vargas in an interview with France 24 in the face of the tensions that can generate these recommendations in some sectors of society.
On the other hand, the Final Report calls for the authorities of the Colombian State to reinforce with “public messages” the “respect and support for legitimate demonstrations of social protest, and rejection of violence as a means of resolving social conflict”, as well as recommending that the Prosecutor’s Office create a mechanism to review and evaluate the “Protocol for verification of arrests, apprehensions, transfers for protection and transfers by police procedure” of people who have participated in social protests.
- Implementation of the Agreements and creation of the Ministry of Peace
Another of the recommendations of the Final Report of the Truth Commission is that the new Government make a firm commitment to the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Peace Agreements signed between the State and the extinct FARC, which also gave rise to the birth of the Commission.
“To the National Government, the territorial authorities and the Congress of the Republic, guarantee full and comprehensive compliance with the Final Peace Agreement, developing a plan to promote the implementation of all points of the Agreement with a territorial, ethnic, gender and women’s rights approach“, reads the document.
For this, from the organism they suggest establish an open dialogue between the institutions, the bodies for monitoring compliance with the Agreements, as well as the territorial and ethnic authorities and the organizations that have participated in the monitoring. From there, the recommendation is “set times” give him “clarity regarding the implementation horizon” Y “strengthen monitoring with public and periodic reports with a territorial, ethnic, gender and women’s rights approach”.
It is also committed to deepening the construction of peace in the territoriesthe acceleration of the implementation of the provisions of the ethnic and gender chapter of the Agreements, whose flaws are currently great; as well as the aset by an increase in funding and guarantees to carry out the new security strategy.
The Report also underlines the slowdown in the implementation of the Agreements in recent years, especially with regard to care for victims and political participation.
Another of the Commission’s recommendations is that the new Government promotes the creation of the Ministry for Peace and Reconciliation, that it commits to “a clear territorial approach, which additionally articulates the policies, programs and projects that are dispersed in different sectors and entities, limiting their scope and impact and hindering the recovery of the social fabric affected by the armed conflict and the reestablishment of trust in the institutional framework, both necessary conditions to enhance the effects of the proposed measures and make territorial peace a sustainable process”.
According to the recommendations, the Ministry of Peace could work together with those of Education, the Interior, and Information and Communication Technologies to guarantee a well-founded public policy for peace.
>>> Read the second part of this report here.
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