CONPEACE De Actores del Conflicto a Arquitectos de Paz CONPEACE From Conflict INFORME Actors DE POLÍTICAS to Architects • MAYO 2019of Peace

EXECUTIVE REPORT • NOVEMBER 2019 Promoviendo la seguridad desde Justice,el Politics, individuo and en Security:las zonas Understandingfronterizas Transitions de across

La reciente investigación realizada por CONPEACE Los grupos violentos no-estatales se reorganizan y que toma comoColombia’s base la información resultado deMargins continúan reclutando, mientras establecen nuevas talleres con la sociedad civil, trabajo en campo esferas de control particularmente en las zonas yOxford/Berlin foros inter-agenciales, Researchindica la presencia Partnership de de frontera. between En estos territorios las comunidades amenazas para la seguridad del individuo en las se encuentran fracturadas, el estado presenta CONPEACEzonas de and frontera. the Dentro Institute de estas forse encuentran Latin Americanuna débil gobernanzaStudies lo (LAI) que se ve reflejado en los altos niveles de pobreza y la desigualdad, los altos niveles de impunidad. Existe una falta de In 2016, the Colombianla incertidumbregovernment en materiaand de seguridadthe y democratiseoportunidadesinstitutions facilitando el atuso dethe la violenciasub-national el control de actores no-estatales sobre las como mecanismo de control y comportamientos de largest remaining poblacionesguerrilla rurales.group El aislamientoof the geográfico delevel, bajoand riesgocommunities de ser judicializados,have alta recompensato address , the FARC-lasEP, comunidadessigned a periféricashistoric continúapeace teniendo displacementen las actividadesthat ilegales.is fuelled by internal treaty.Eventhough implementationinjerencia en la marginalizacióncommenced social y por endedevelopments en and the political crisis in la exclusión para la participación como iguales es CONEPACE ha identificado tres desafíos clave in 2017 and the FARCdeciris nowcomo ciudadanos.officially Adicionalmente,a political el gobiernoneighbouring para la seguridadVenezuela desde el. individuoAt the en lassame zonas time, party, the countrycolombianostill garantizafaces designificant manera deficiente el geographyfronterizasis not a partirthe deonly una consultasource inter-agencial:of marginality : cumplimiento de los derechos humanos y el accesoAfro -Colombians, indigenous Colombians, challenges as illicita servicioseconomies públicos,continue limitando sus esfuerzosto en la 1 Comprender la interacción entre la migración generate large profits,creaciónother de espaciosarmed para la groupsparticipación de loscampesinos y la seguridadand women desde elhave individuoexperienced the continue to be active,ciudadanosand cross y como-border resultadoeffects de oportunidadeseffects para of violence in Colombia in particularly un desarrollo sostenible en las zonas marginadas. 2 Mejorar la coherencia de las políticas y la of the political crisis in compound the serious wayscoordinación. con y entre las agencias del fragility of the peaceEsos desafíosprocess amenazan. A conrecurring ser serias gobierno, la sociedad civil, y la comunidad pattern in the politicalimplicacioneshistory paraof la theseguridadAndean del individuo cuyoThe Oxford/Berlininternacional.Research Partnership brings contexto se ha dificultado debido a los limitados Republic since independenceesfuerzos enin la implementaciónthe early 19 deth los Acuerdostogether de 3 IntegrarOxford las perspectivasUniversity’s y las iniciativasCONPEACE century, and in thePazcurrent y la llegada conflict,masiva de migrantes,is the retornantes,Programme y de lasand comunidadesthe LAI localesof enFreie la creaciónUniversität e disconnect between refugiadosthe central, desde urbanVenezuela.hubs La violenciaof contraBerlin los . Ourimplementacióngoal is to connectde políticas they prácticas.focus on the venezolanos ha aumentado rápidamente y se han the country and itsdocumentadoperipheral, diversidadmarginalised de incidentes xenofóbicoscentre/periphery Estas son avenidasdivide de acciónbetween que todos losthe agentesurban rural areas. As in the apast, lo largoColombia’s del territorio Colombianoperipheral específicamentecentres puedenand adoptarrural paraColombia superar los desafíoswith analysisy of have to copeen withCúcuta they Arauca,most al igualprofound que en y Brasil.transformations promover la estabilidadof en lasinstitutions zonas de frontera duringen Colombia. challenges of transitions: armed actors are transitions. Fundamentally, the aim is to explore

recuperating conpeace.ccw.ox.ac.ukand transforming the security how transitions affect legal and illegal actors 1 landscape, social leaders are systematically alike. The Justice and Peace process with targeted when engaging in efforts to Colombia’s AUC paramilitaries and the more

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recent process with the FARC provide The Urgency to Study the State of important internal variation for a productive Colombia’s Transition: comparison. The paramilitaries were a very different non-state armed group from the a discussion between Dr Annette Idler, Director of Studies of CCW and Director of FARC. The transitional justice framework varied CONPEACE, Vicente Fernando Echandía, between both processes, and they had different Deputy Head of the Colombian Mission to opportunities for the participation of victims groups. While the groups and processes differ, the UK, and moderated by Sérgio Costa, the context remains characterised by varying Professor of Sociology at the Institute for Latin American Studies of the Freie degrees of state presence, where victims Universität Berlin. groups continue to face (new) violent actors, and justice is a tenuous good. The title of the keynote panel discussion, the The first workshop held in this collaboration state of Colombia’s transition, was an invitation intended to survey the research conducted in for critical reflection. Analysis of Colombia’s each location and how these connect to provide transition was situated in multiple dimensions, complementary synergies for our understanding incorporating regional relations and the of transitions in general and Colombian contemporary trends engulfing several transitions in particular. The event consisted of American states, in addition to developments a keynote discussion to explore contemporary occurring in the aftermath of FARC context conditions of the Colombian situation, demobilisation. Into the former category of and a deliberative research workshop to lay out questions belongs how the Colombian state’s the current state of work on issues pertaining contentions compare to evolutions occurring in to the Colombian conflict. In the concluding neighbouring polities. The has seen session, participants elaborated on a tentative numerous crises unfold recently – from regime common research agenda which will guide the crises occurring in Venezuela and , to next cooperation activities. social upheavals in Chile, and power shifts in Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador. Into the latter category of questions belong analyses of the The importance of transitions for our transformations of spaces previously occupied understanding of armed actors: by the FARC guerrilla. This transformation of Transitions are liminal spaces that accentuate the local spaces implies questions over the state’s conflictual relations and patterns that give rise to authority, the state of affairs of daily life for the above-cited contentions in the first place. In Colombians, and how processes of multi-actor internal conflicts, such as Colombia’s, marginalisation have occurred in violence- transitions reshuffle non-state armed actors affected regions of the country. rather than make them disappear altogether; rearrange actors, both at the national and sub- national institutional level (not least, violent actors); and emphasize the institutional agency of actors such as courts as they interpret the law in its application.

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In light of the threats to democracy surfacing in Citizen security also helps to problematise neighbouring countries, one contention was social space in a novel way, for example, that in Colombia the most critical threat to showing that daily affairs in borderlands democratic rule in parts of the country is, and transgress borderlines, with licit and illicit has been, the lack of the state’s monopoly of economic ties criss-crossing the frontier space violence. The current government’s approach with Venezuela, making the border for the most outlined in the national consolidation plan part an imaginary line. (Programas de Desarrollo con Enfoque Territorial) was to focus on Zonas Futuro that have been most affected by violence and the “For Colombian governments, regional illegal economy (above all the cocaine relations were never as important as economy). Such sequencing of efforts was key relations with the United States. While in the successful Democratic Security Policy the US government’s Plan Colombia and is also key to fully contain the nefarious created a tight bond between Colombia dynamics of local politics in Colombia, which and the US in the effort to counter the have blurred the distinction between private international effects of the drug and public exercise of state power, and as a economy, it also sowed some unease consequence obscured the lines between amongst neighbours who see US legality and illegality. Based on institutional and involvement in the region critically. This infrastructural requirements provided by the tension surfaced particularly state, the private sector can play the key role it acrimoniously with the Bolivarian has in the development of regional clusters for a countries, above all Venezuela.” * successful post-FARC era.

Another key assertion was that a holistic * The keynote panel discussion of the workshop was held under understanding of local dynamics was needed in Chatham House Rules. The citations in the text boxes cannot be attributed individually to any of the participants or guests. addition to the institutional and infrastructural requirements. The centuries old divide between national and regional development in Colombia The discussion over borderland space at the most pertinently necessitates a security policy border with Venezuela led to a debate over the perspective that expands human security with a conduct of Colombia’s international and regional citizen security approach. Citizen security relations. One argument was that for Colombian incorporates findings from democratic theory governments, historically, regional relations and does not exclude contentions over civic were not as important as relations with the engagements nor struggles over identities and United States. This has created certain trade- recognition from security analyses. In the offs. The US government’s Plan Colombia Colombian context, such a perspective enriches consolidated a close alliance between Colombia the security policy debate with experiences of and the US in the effort to counter the processes of marginalisation and the international effects of the drug economy; it significance of deconstructing these for post- also sowed some unease amongst neighbours accord conviviality. who see US involvement in the region critical.

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This tension surfaced particularly acrimoniously Deliberating a New Research with the Bolivarian countries, above all Paradigm through Colombia’s Venezuela. In the discussion surfaced a point of contention: the importance of Colombia-US Transitions relations does not forego the possibility for Colombia to improve relations with regional The collaborative workshop began with a look governments to address regional issues. After at transition periods between war and peace as all, diplomacy consists at its core of keeping channels of communication open; and not liminal spaces. CONPEACE has produced work closing them as a form of punishment. Not least, on how the current peace process with the FARC affects the behavioural patterns of non- the migration crisis that has its source in state armed actors, and as a consequence local Venezuela necessitates co-ordination across communities. Boesten and Idler argue that there borders. Related, the political crisis in Venezuela itself demands open channels of communication is variation in how local civilian populations to mitigate its negative effects and eventually perceive the behaviour of different violent non- state actors that operate in the same generic develop, in partnership, a strategy for context. That perception is contingent on the resolution. Appreciating the importance of coherence of the internal organisational regional coordination implies recognising the centrality of Cuba to advance Colombian structure of the armed actor and the space interests in those regional affairs. Because Cuba allowed for local communities to express grievances (2020, forthcoming). Elsewhere, is itself in a tight spot given the renewed US Idler and Boesten (2018) have found that the policy of isolating the socialist state, it is open to generalised uncertainty and lack of previously facilitate communication between Colombia and Venezuela. It can also play a constructive role in available rules of behaviour during transitions facilitating talks with the strongest remaining undermine communities’ levels of social fabric and inter-personal trust. guerrilla in Colombia, the ELN. Conciliatory relations with Cuba therefore have external and Jan Boesten argued, with reference to the past domestic benefits. transitional justice process with the AUC paramilitaries, that transitions provide a view into institutional transformations that occur at “Colombia should re/approach regional the micro-institutional and macro-institutional governments to tackle regional problems. level. They coequally have impacts for the Diplomacy consists in its core of keeping institutional balance in a separation of powers channels of communication open; and not system and the security landscape of non-state closing them as a form of punishment […]. armed actors that operate at the local level. In For Colombians, relations with Cuba are other words, the local and the national view key. It holds the key to better relations matter when analysing transitions. with Venezuela and facilitating a peace process with the ELN.”

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Additionally, transitional justice processes, between CONPEACE and the LAI of the Freie under ideal case scenarios, aim to give voice to Universität therefore aims to explore four victims of violence—about past crimes and the different types of variation arising from a construction of a new future. They open up the structured comparison between Justice and blackbox of processes of marginalisation and at Peace and La Habana: the same time are key for deconstructing marginality in the future. Running through these micro and macro institutional margins of transition processes, as well as the (de- •Differing trajectories of behavioural patterns )construction of marginality, are highly abstract of non-state armed groups normative claims that weigh the trade-off • Differing effects on local communities between justice and peace. •Interdependence between internal organisational structure and trajectory of Sérgio Costa asserted that there is a peace processes disconnect between the geographic and social •Differing effects on post-accord trajectories component of marginality in analyses of the Colombian conflict. Marginality may result from both, social exclusion and geographic isolation. Social factors of exclusion and culturally constructed paradigms may reinforce marginality, which in the first instance may One of the discussion panels was focused on result from the absence of state resources or the centre-periphery divide that is a generic the distance from developed hubs. Sometimes, characteristic of Colombian institutional politics, though, marginality is entirely independent and the other one on processes of from geographical distance to urban hubs, marginalisation that may coincide with the when it exists, for example, in the slums of the centre-periphery divide but cannot be reduced capital Bogotá: they, too, are beset by violence to geographical. Idler suggested that the and armed groups. In order to fully comprehend framework of analysis must further venture to a the dynamics of marginality with violence in citizen-security perspective, which encom- Colombia, Costa suggested exploring ‘non- passes a people-centred approach rooted in cases’: where would we expect to see democratic theory, and thereby also includes marginality but not find it? political aspects of daily life such as participation in processes that affect the The Oxford/Berlin Research Partnership consti- security landscape. The first panel thus focused tutes an ideal framework for the collaborative on institutional caveats of transitions, from project, because researchers at both locations transitional justice process (Manuel Góngora- are engaging in cutting-edge research on the Mera, Freie Universität Berlin), through land Colombian peace process that are already disputes (Sergio Coronodo, Freie Universität highlighting some aspects of the outlined Berlin), and the occurrence of violence in institutional development. Also this partnership Colombia (Katerina Tkacova, University of

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Oxford), while the second panel highlighted the Sergio Coronado’s focus on land disputes research on marginality and participation (Dáire picked up a central issue of the decades-long McGill, University of Oxford), the role of Afro- internal conflict in Colombia. Arguably, until the Colombian women in the post-accord context boom of the international cocaine trade, the (Edna Martínez, Freie Universität Berlin), and conflict with the FARC was a quintessential the borderlands space in processes of conflict over access to land. The illicit economy marginalisation (Annette Idler, University of certainly introduced new dynamics into the Oxford). conflict, but control over rural land, not least important corridors of the cocaine industry, Manuel Góngora-Mera explored how and why remained a central contention. Testament to the nature of transitional justice processes the pertinence of contentions over access to evolved from the Justice and Peace Process land was that rural reform was a central theme with Colombia’s paramilitaries to the FARC in peace negotiations with the FARC. The process; from a decentralised to a centralised transition is therefore also an opportunity to transitional justice process. The decentralised study institutional change on land distribution, nature of the Justice and Peace process which in Colombia has pitted powerful (legal mirrored the AUC’s organisational structures and illegal) interests against marginalised that consisted of locally autonomous bloques peasants and against each other, with various and violence patterns that were geographically armed non-state actors traversing the fault targeted on drug corridors, while the lines. Coronado highlighted that legal reforms as centralised process with the FARC mirrored the well as Constitutional Court jurisprudence have more hierarchical organisational structure and introduced changes at the normative realm that national scope of violence employed by the could form the basis for challenges to the neo- guerrilla. In addition to reflecting organisational liberal framework of property rights introduced patterns of the transitioning armed groups, the in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The FARC process learned from shortcomings of question of his continuing research is how Justice and Peace. The diffuse model of justice normative changes reach down, and how eventually displayed variation in the quality of peasants can utilise legal changes to assert their sentences –a reflection of the centre/periphery agency in interest-laden land disputes. As such, divide in Colombia’s politics, where nefarious the understanding of how institutional changes political networks have often dominated concerning property rights in rural Colombia regional institutions. A more centralised process affect vested interests and marginalised groups is intended to unify the quality of judicial alike is a key contribution not only for peace sentences. Finally, the jurisdiction of the Special building but also peace keeping. Jurisdiction for Peace (by the Spanish acronym JEP) not only encompassed former FARC Katerina Tkacova introduced CONPEACE’s combatants, but was also designed to cover sister project, the Changing Character of agents of the state and third parties. This Conflict Platform, which traces changes in the purpose, too, is better served with a centralised character of conflicts over time. The project’s process.

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methodology combines quantitative and Dáire McGill introduced a central theme in qualitative measures of conflict, pulling CONPEACE’s current research on the Colombian together diverse sources such as photographs, conflict: the interrelation between marginality, military doctrines, as well as visualisations of participation, and violence. Focusing on the conflict incidents and homicides to gain a fuller Orinquía and Amazonía regions of Colombia, picture of the trajectory of a given conflict. which both are relatively under-populated and Colombia constitutes one of the core cases of under-developed with little infrastructure and the Conflict Platform, and Tkacova’s scant institutional presence, McGill explored the presentation highlighted the dynamic nature of most recent municipal elections. While the the protracted conflict. The Conflict Platform results displayed a widespread “appetite for introduced a novel approach to studying armed change” in some of the country’s metropolitan conflict based on a new geographical unit of centres, traditional political networks main- analysis, ‘setting of organised violence’ (SORVI). tained their control over local politics in It permits conceptualisation of protracted and violence-afflicted parts of the country. Results complex conflicts as an umbrella phenomenon from the 2018 presidential election showed containing smaller interlinked conflicts and that abstention in both places was exceptionally reflecting their changes across time and space. high (over 51%) – as in other violence-prone SORVI’s geographical translation of “conflict regions of the country. Moreover, until 1991, shape” into the form of an annually changing neither region was nominally a departamento concave polygon identifies areas directly with capacity for self-governance. With that affected by conflict-related violence which are data, he contended that the diminished reach of compatible with PRIO-GRIDs, and allows the the central government’s authority to these addition of a data layer with information on places, as well as the marginalisation in other socio-economic and geographical indicators. regions in CONPEACE’s focus, such as the Norte Some of the world’s most devastating armed de Santander, was not solely the result of conflicts ranging from the Colombian civil war geography, but a consequence of a socio- to the Syrian conflict have comprised several political process. entangled conflicts and changing contested issues, spill across borders, and feature new Edna Martínez presented her work on spin-off conflicts. Current macro-level studies marginalisation via a study of black women of conflict research, especially with quantitative amongst ex-FARC combatants from approaches, fail to track such complex departamento of Chocó, ranging from 25-55 evolutions. They draw on units of analysis such years old with 5-20 years of experience as as states, actor dyads, UCDP-defined conflicts fighters. As black women count as one of the and conflict zones that slice conflicts into most marginalised groups in Colombia, her work smaller units and treat these intertwined illuminates the contentious notion that, for phenomena as individual conflicts. some, FARC membership was a pathway to

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empowerment. Specifically, the structured Research Avenues organisation of the FARC provided key services in education, protected specific private spheres such as the space for consenting intimacy The workshop finished with an exploration of and motherhood, and enabled leadership potential research questions that bundle opportunities. For them, transition presents the expertise of both locations together and itself as a paradox, where the embeddedness in complementarily provide added scholarly value. structures of war (membership in an armed The questions, listed below, take the centre- group) was accompanied with certainty periphery divide as a reference point, concerning material and personal safety, problematising the local, and then moving up in freedom of movement, and sexual empower- institutional level and abstraction. ment, while peace and demobilisation brings uncertainty in precisely those areas. These findings point to the paradoxes in war to peace transitions, and to the necessity of incorporating Starting points for potential research intersectional feminist analyses into research questions: on, transition, marginalisation, or security.

Annette Idler completed the session on 1. What is the limit of the local? What is the marginalisation with a presentation based on tension it produces in Colombia’s politics? her recently published book Borderland Battles: 2. How are institutional changes felt at the Violence, Crime and Governance at the Edges of local and national level? Colombia’s War (OUP, 2019). Her work 3. How do strategic changes of armed groups challenges state centric analyses of civil wars by affect local interaction amongst civilians? conceptualising borderlands as spaces of 4. How do we understand justice at the local “unbundling territoriality” (Ruggie 1993) where level versus justice at the centre? power relations prevail across borderlines. 5. State consolidation: what are the normative Therefore, anyone aiming to understand the changes and what impact to they have on processes of marginalisation emanating from the ground? these borderlands must contend with the spaces as a quasi “wild west” where drugs flow across internationally defined lines, armed The research presentations showcased a groups retreat and reorganise, and identities are number of methodological tools as well as constructed through transnational ideas and not conceptual perspectives constitutive of the nationally confined information flows. In the work at either institution that can be end, shifting from the territorial state as a unit productively applied to the study of Colombian of analysis to non-spatial differentiation, Idler transitions. contends, helps to better understand how the periphery influences the centre.

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What are we adding? This general focus on processes opens the scholarly gaze to contentious normative issues 1. Focus on actors, spaces, processes, such as the fuero militar (the military institutions jurisdiction) to socio-economic struggles over 2. Relational perspectives: private property rights to land. The margins/marginalisation/difference critical perspective on marginality allows between centre and margins problematising constitutive process of 3. Linking bottom-up and macro perspective victimhood and their deconstruction in victims’ quests for agency. Finally, the institutional perspective also grants a critical perspective on the actions of the state in the production of In the end stands the confirmation that marginality. To deepen these synergies, the transitional justice processes in Colombia, and Oxford/Berlin Research Partnership between accompanying transitions, serve well as an CONPEACE and the LAI plans a second overarching canopy bringing research interest workshop in Berlin that specifically focuses on as well as methodological expertise together. the normative implications of sociological transition processes.

References Boesten, Jan and Annette Idler. Forthcoming. “Mutual Recognition in the Context of Contested Statehood – Evidence from Tumaco, Colombia.” With Annette Idler. In “(Non-)Recognition of Armed Non-State Actors: Risks and Opportunities for Conflict Transformation” Anna Geis. Ed. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Idler, Annette, and Jan Boesten. 2018. “Bringing Citizens Back In: Uncertainty in Colombia’s Changing Security Landscape.” Paper Presented at the International Studies Association Annual Meeting San Francisco, March 2018. Idler, Annette. 2019. Borderland Battles. Violence, Crime, and Governance at the Edges of Colombia’s War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ruggie, John Gerard. 1993. “Territoriality and beyond: Problematizing Modernity in International Relations.” International Organization 47 (1): 139–74. conpeace.ccw.ox.ac.uk / lai.fu-berlin.de 9