A/HRC/31/3/Add.2
7.
Between June and December 2015, the parties announced agreements to create an
integrated truth, justice, reparation and non-recurrence system, composed of an independent
and non-judicial commission on the clarification of truth, coexistence and non-repetition; a
special unit for locating persons disappeared in the armed conflict; and a special jurisdiction
for peace. The parties also agreed upon measures on comprehensive reparation and nonrecurrence of violations and emphasized the human rights obligations of the State.
8.
The scope of the integrated system offers a unique opportunity to address victims’
rights. OHCHR-Colombia advises the State on overcoming the considerable
implementation challenges, including with respect to budgetary issues, financial support
mechanisms, operational management and coordination and deployment processes that
promote victims’ rights.1 Transparent processes for selecting members and an effective
administrative system are essential for the system’s credibility and legitimacy. Coordination
and cooperation mechanisms, including those to ensure constructive relationships with
institutions dealing with victims and the judiciary, require definition. A clear system of
incentives and guarantees to maximize participation by State actors, FARC-EP and third
parties is necessary. The situation observed by OHCHR-Colombia highlights the urgent
need for an independent protection mechanism for military and police members wishing to
contribute to truth and justice.
9.
The High Commissioner recognizes the value of the report — a contribution to the
understanding of the armed conflict in Colombia — published in February 2015 by the
Historical Commission on the Conflict and its Victims at the request of the negotiating
parties in Havana. Future historical clarification processes should further include the
perspectives of women, indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians.
10.
OHCHR-Colombia provides advisory assistance to facilitate the reflection of varied
and ethnically distinct local realities in any truth clarification and recognition of
responsibilities undertaken through a future truth commission. The mandate of the proposed
commission includes the promotion of social reconciliation; it should also provide a
common understanding of the magnitude and causes of violations committed in a context
marked by polarization, violence and exclusion. The commission could be invaluable for
confronting the denial that has characterized patterns of human rights violations.
11.
The agreement on persons reported disappeared or missing provides for immediate
measures such as the provision by the parties of information to accelerate location
processes. OHCHR-Colombia is advising the Government on the creation of the special
location unit envisioned in the agreements, with the participation of victims’ and human
rights organizations and the support of specialized institutions. In December 2015 in
Villavicencio, the Attorney General’s Office returned the remains of 29 previously
unidentified persons, buried in four cemeteries in Meta and Guaviare, to their families.
12.
OHCHR-Colombia provides the Government with advice on overcoming the
challenges posed by the multiple and dissimilar registries of disappeared persons, which
hamper the measurement of the phenomenon’s magnitude. The registry of the Attorney
General’s Office includes 70,000 disappeared persons; the National Registry of the
Disappeared includes 19,855 men and 2,511 women; and that of the Comprehensive Victim
Support and Reparation Unit (UARIV) includes 45,515 persons. The National Registry of
the Disappeared recorded 5,482 disappearances between January and November 2015, of
1
4
Given its mandate, the resources necessary for the future truth commission in Colombia are likely to
exceed those that were invested, for example, in South Africa, whose commission had a staff of 400
and an annual budget of US$18 million in its first years; in Peru, whose commission, with a less
ambitious mandate, had a staff of 500 and a biannual budget of over US$13 million; or in Guatemala,
where the commission had a staff of 200 and a total outlay of US$10 million over two years.
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