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Innovations in the Colombian Peace Process

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Innovations in the Colombian Peace Process Report June 2016 Innovations in the Colombian peace process By Kristian Herbolzheimer Executive summary The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia insurgents are about to reach a comprehensive peace agreement after almost four years of peace negotiations in Havana. This agreement is a major milestone in the process of settling one of the world’s most protracted and violent conflicts. At a time of unprecedented humanitarian crisis, Colombia is becoming a global reference for identifying political solutions to apparently intractable conflicts. In their third major attempt in five decades to reach a negotiated solution to the conflict, the parties to the conflict have taken stock of both their own past failures and lessons learned from other peace processes. In doing so they have developed innovative frameworks and approaches, e.g. a clear procedural distinction between peace negotiations and the peace process; positioning the rights of the victims at the centre of the talks; addressing the structural problem of rural development; creating a Gender Subcommission; and planning for implementation long before the agreement is signed. This report describes these innovations and other developments leading up to the widely predicted peace agreement that might be relevant to peace processes elsewhere. Background to the conflict and peace The roots to the armed conflict between the government process and the FARC go back to armed peasant movements of the Over the past five decades Colombia has suffered one of early 1960s that were initially linked to the Liberal Party. the world’s most protracted and violent conflicts, with more Following U.S.-backed military pressure from the state, in than 200,000 deaths, thousands of forced disappearances 1964 the small and scattered groups joined forces, in and kidnappings, and almost 7 million people displaced. alliance with the Communist Party of Colombia, and started a military confrontation. Peace negotiations in the 1990s led to the demobilisation of some 5,000 combatants from five guerrilla organisations. In 1984 the government and the FARC reached a ceasefire In 2006 some 30,000 alleged members of the right-wing agreement that allowed the creation of a new leftist United Self-defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) militia political organisation, as a first step in the guerrilla agreed to cease their activities. organisation’s demobilisation. However, in the years that followed more than 3,000 members of this political organi- The list of politically motivated armed actors is currently sation – the Patriotic Union – were killed by paramilitary headed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia organisations linked to the AUC, often in collusion with (FARC), with some 15,000 combatants, and the National state security forces. The ceasefire broke down in 1987 and Liberation Army, a smaller organisation initially linked to the talks collapsed in 1990. liberation theology, which has recently also agreed to enter formal negotiations with the government. At the same In 1999 the government and the FARC engaged in a second time, major criminal gangs (bacrim) largely recruited from major series of peace negotiations. The government former paramilitaries have become the main internal secu- agreed to demilitarise a territory the size of Switzerland in rity threat in Colombia. the Caguán region, south-west of Bogotá, where the peace NOREF Report – June 2016 talks were to take place. However, the level of trust was Structure of and developments in the low, the parties became bogged down in discussions around procedure, and they were consequently unable to peace negotiations address any of the long list of substantive issues. In 2001 The government and the FARC have described the peace the talks collapsed and in 2002 a new president, Alvaro process as encompassing three phases: preparation, Uribe, was voted into power in Colombia on the promise to conflict termination and conflict transformation. In prelimi- wipe out the guerrillas through the use of military force. nary confidential talks (2011-12) the parties discussed the Eight years of high-intensity war followed during which the agenda and methodology for the proposed talks, which government increased its military capacities and created a resulted in the August 2012 Global Agreement for the force of some 500,000 well-trained and well-equipped Termination of the Armed Conflict (Global Agreement). police and military personnel. Formal talks began two months later. The inaugural session was held in Oslo, after which the venue moved to Havana. The Global Agreement highlighted that the Factors triggering the current peace purpose of the peace talks between the government and negotiations the FARC in Havana was to “terminate the armed conflict”, Uribe’s military offensive (2000-08) triggered a third and stated that the third phase of the peace process would attempt at peace negotiations. While the government was take place in Colombia after the signing of the peace unable to defeat the rebels, it did severely reduce their agreement and would involve society at large. offensive capabilities and limited their sphere of action to geographically far-flung areas. The FARC was proud of its The negotiations were framed around five substantive ability to resist the formidable government offensive, but issues – rural development, political participation, illicit realised that it would never achieve its ultimate goal of a crops, victims and conflict termination – and a procedural military victory over the state. In parallel, neighbouring issue dealing with the implementation of the eventual countries saw leftist politicians come to lead their respec- peace agreement. tive governments through the ballot instead of the bullet: Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Hugo The parties further agreed on a high-intensity work Chávez in Venezuela; and, more symbolically, also saw schedule. Their meetings in Havana were to last for former guerrilla combatants become leaders such as José sessions of 11 days, which would be followed by short “Pepe” Mugica in Uruguay and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil. periods for internal consultations and preparations for the The third major factor that influenced the FARC was the next round of talks. After each round the parties would death from natural causes of its historical leader, Manuel issue a joint statement describing the developments that Marulanda, and the emergence of a new leadership with had taken place. Each side could appoint up to ten del- the vision and internal leverage to take on the challenge of egates (five of whom would be plenipotentiaries), assisted a paradigm shift in the movement’s thinking. by a larger team of up to 20 more people. Four circumstances also influenced the government’s The FARC delegation was composed entirely of combat- decision to go back to the negotiating table. Despite the ants, led by its second-in-command, Iván Márquez. The positive developments on the battlefield and, above all, the delegation was hosted in a residential area owned by the government’s success in turning the vast majority of public Cuban government close to the hotel where the talks took opinion against the FARC, a complete military victory proved place. As the talks progressed the FARC would rotate some to be elusive. Moreover, the successful targeting of high- of its commanders taking part in order to ensure broad ranking guerrilla leaders could become counterproductive, ownership and the leadership’s commitment, and also to because it risked leaving the FARC without the political provide feedback to FARC rank-and-file combatants about capacity to engage in constructive peace negotiations. At the developments in Havana. the same time the government had adopted a reform and modernisation agenda that included normalising the tense Government delegates were carefully chosen to ensure the relations with neighbouring Venezuela and Ecuador, commitment of two key stakeholders: the private and addressing long-delayed structural reforms regarding rural security sectors. One retired general from the armed forces development and political participation, and addressing the and one from the police, together with one prominent problem of illegal drugs production. Finally, there was the business leader accompanied the chief negotiator, Humberto moral pressure to prevent further loss of lives and the de la Calle, and the peace commissioner, Sergio Jaramillo. suffering of thousands of victims of human rights violations by both sides to the conflict, including the state. The parties adopted a common rule in negotiations by which “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, to allow them Once the decision to negotiate was taken, prominent the flexibility to adjust to changing circumstances throughout figures in both the government and the FARC asserted the negotiations. The most contentious provision was that their leadership roles and took significant political risks on peace talks would take place without a ceasefire. The multiple occasions to overcome stumbling blocks along the government unequivocally insisted on this to demonstrate its road to a negotiated peace. 2 NOREF Report – June 2016 strength and determination both to the FARC and to public FARC include at least five major innovations in the field of opinion and the security sector (Herbolzheimer, 2016). conflict transformation. The first three issues were agreed on relatively smoothly, with each taking some six months of negotiations. The 1. The establishment of a solid framework agreement on victims and justice was the most complex. It that distinguishes between conflict termi- took the parties 15 months to agree – under considerable nation and transformation pressure from public opinion in Colombia – to reject This conceptual distinction reduces the expectations of impunity for the crimes committed by both sides. Once this what a negotiating table can deliver and acknowledges the highly contentious item had been resolved the parties need for parallel, more democratic peace initiatives. Before agreed to fast track the remaining two issues by working in starting their third attempt at formal talks, both parties parallel subcommissions.
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