Collective reparations to Afro-Colombian communities within the framework of transitional justice

Abstract

This thesis analyses the law 1447 also called of victims and land restitution that was issued by the Colombian parliament in 2011. This law is aimed to reconcile the Colombian society, and provides the mechanisms to access to truth, justice and reparations to victims of violence of armed conflict in the last decades. The analyses consider the particular context of the country, which needs to address issues of transition while internal conflict and other structural elements that hinder the process persist. It provides a twofolded analysis: a normative-oriented analysis of the development of legislation within the framework of transitional justice. The second is focused on the rights of victims, deepening on the right to Land of Afro- Colombian communities. This work seeks to underline the importance of the differential focus on ethnic groups to ensure victims’ rights, in this case, Afro- Colombians communities that need reparation, first because they have historically been marginalized, second, because of the significance that territory has for this ethnic community. The main premise is that if reconciliation and peace are to be achieved, the law and the implementation of it has to ensure the protection of human rights of minorities in Colombia, not only as victims of the armed conflict but also from the development policies carried out by the national government in collective territories.