USAID Justice for a Sustainable Peace Activity Quarterly Report Submitted to: Nathan Strand, Contracting Officer; and Amalia Eraso, Task Order Contracting Officer Representative U.S. Agency for International Development Carrera 45 No 24 – 27 Post 2, Bogotá Submitted by: Chemonics International Inc. May 2021 This document was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was prepared by Chemonics International Inc. for the Justice for a Sustainable Peace Activity; contract number AID- OAA-I-13-00032, Task Order No. AID- 514-TO-17-00009. 1 USAID Justice for a Sustainable Peace Activity QUARTERLY REPORT January – March 2021 AWARD No.: AID- OAA-I-13-00032, Task Order No. AID-514-TO-17-00009 DISCLAIMER The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. 2 CONTENT ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 6 1. NATIONAL CONTEXT ....................................................................................... 8 1.1 Political and Policy Context ................................................................................................. 8 2. PROGRAM ACTIVITIES .................................................................................... 10 2.1. Technical Activities and Results Achieved ............................................................ 10 Objective1: Increased Access to Justice ...................................................................... 10 Sub-Objective 1.1: Increased Capacity of Justice Sector Institutions .............................. 11 Sub-Objective 1.2: Increased coordination between justice actors regionally and locally .............................................................................................................................................. 15 Sub-Objective 1.3: Strengthened Justice Houses ................................................................. 20 Sub-Objective 1.4: Effective rural justice services established .......................................... 21 Objective 2: Increased Citizen Support for the Rule of Law ............................. 24 Sub-Objective 2.1: Citizen Education Strategy ..................................................................... 24 Sub-Objective 2.2: Political Advocacy Strategy ..................................................................... 26 Sub-Objective 2.3: Legal Advocacy Strategy ......................................................................... 31 Objective 3: Strengthened judicial responses for victims of the armed conflict ......................................................................................................................................... 33 Sub-Objective 3.1: Increased effectiveness and transparency in land restitution ......... 33 Sub-Objective 3.2: Impunity for conflict related GBV addressed ..................................... 35 Sub-Objective 3.3 Impunity for serious conflict-related crimes addressed ................... 43 Sub-Objective 3.4 Rapid response interventions effectively implemented..................... 43 2.2. Challenges Encountered, Proposed Solutions, and Lessons Learned .. 49 2.3 Program Coordination ................................................................................................ 51 3. OPERATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION ....................................................... 51 ANNEX A. TABLE OF INDICATORS ANNEX B. ADVANCE OF THE ACTION PLANS FOR 2021 ANNEX C. ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JUSTICIA RURAL ANNEX D. PUBLICATIONS IN LOCAL MEDIA ANNEX E. EVENTS STRENGTHENING GBV AND GENDER ISSUES ANNEX F. GRANTS AND SUBCONTRACTS ANNEX G. SUCCESS STORY 3 ACRONYMS AAR Regional Anchor Stakeholders (Actores Ancla Regionales) ACONC Association of Community Councils of Northern Cauca (Asociación de Consejos Comunitarios del Norte del Cauca) ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution ANT National Land Agency (Agencia Nacional de Tierras) ART Territorial Renewal Agency (Agencia de Renovación del Territorio) CCJ Colombian Commission of Jurists (Comisión Colombiana de Juristas) CEV Truth Commission (Comisión para el Esclarecimiento de la Verdad, la Convivencia y la No repetición) CNGRJ National Gender Commission of the Judicial Branch (Comisión Nacional de Género de la Rama Judicial) CSJ Superior Council of the Judiciary (Consejo Superior de la Judicatura) CSO Civil Society Organization DAE Higher Studies Directorate (Dirección de Altos Estudios) DDP Departmental Development Plans DJC Departmental Justice Committee DNP National Planning Department (Departamento Nacional de Planeación) EJRLB Rodrigo Lara Bonilla Judicial School (Escuela Judicial Rodrigo Lara Bonilla) FGN Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación) FONSECON National Fund for Security and Citizen Coexistence (Fondo Nacional de Seguridad y Convivencia Ciudadana) FIP Fundación Ideas para la Paz FY Fiscal Year GBV Gender-Based Violence HRDSL Human rights defenders and social leaders ICBF Colombian Family Welfare Institute (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar) INMLCF National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses) JAC Community Action Board (Junta de Acción Comunal) JEI Special Indigenous Jurisdiction (Jurisdicción Especial Indígena) JPA Special Afro-Colombian Justice (Justicia Propia Afrocolombiana) JSP Justice for a Sustainable Peace LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender LJC Local Justice Committee LJS Local Justice System LRU Land Restitution Unit MDP Municipal Development Plans MEL Monitoring, evaluation and learning MJD Ministry of Justice and Law (Ministerio de Justicia y del Derecho) MJS Mobile Justice Sessions PARES Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (Fundación Paz y Reconciliación) PDET Development Program with a Territorial Approach (Programa de Desarrollo con Enfoque Territorial) 4 PNCJCC National Justice Houses and Citizen Coexistence Program (Programa Nacional de Casas de Justicia y Convivencia Ciudadana) PGN Inspector General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la Nación) PPP Public-Private Partnership RJ Restorative Justice RJC Regional Justice Committee SGR General Royalty System (Sistema General de Regalías) SNARIV Sistema Nacional de Atención y Reparación Integral a las Víctimas ToRs Terms of Reference UARIV Victim’s Unit (Unidad para la Atención y Reparación Integral a Víctimas) UBPD Search Unit for Presumably Disappeared People (Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas Dadas por Desaparecidas) UNHCHR United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights UNP National Protection Unit (Unidad Nacional de Protección) USAID United States Agency for International Development 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document is the quarterly report for the Justice for a Sustainable Peace (JSP) Activity covering the second quarter of FY2021, from January-March 2021. During this period, the JSP team implemented work plan activities related to the contract modification which extended the Activity period of performance to September 30, 2021. The main objective of the extension is to finalize activities which were impacted by the COVID-19 mobility restrictions put into place during 2020. The additional time will promote local ownership and sustainability of the program’s interventions, with the final goal of contributing to a sustainable peace. During this period, the Activity achieved important results as described in the progress indicators fact sheet on page 8 below.1 JSP continued supporting 17 Mobile Justice Sessions (MJS) furthering progress toward Objective 1, to increase access to effective and responsive justice and promote its sustainability. The MJS included 2,157 participants, corresponding to Activity Indicator 3.18% of the MJS focused on victims’ assistance. The sessions were carried out in-person following protocols guaranteeing biosafety measures. Compared to Q1 of FY2021, there was a reduction of 15% in the number of MJS (from 20 to17 sessions), due to deterioration of security conditions, as well as mobility restrictions due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in some JSP regions. JSP also advanced results for conflicts resolved via alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms and in accordance with Indicator 4, 34.7% of the resolved conflicts were issues among neighbors, followed by 32.5% about family matters. The region with the most resolved conflicts was Cauca with 63.2% reached, followed by Córdoba and Chocó with 14.8% and 7.7%, respectively. These regionally based activities were carried out with JSP support in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and Law (MJD by its Spanish acronym) to implement the ARD Toolbox through Regional Anchor Actors (AAR by its Spanish acronym) to apply these mechanisms with greater ease, cost-savings, sustainability, and relevance. Process During the quarter, a series of meeting with United Nations Multi-Donor Fund were held in order to transfer JSP lessons learned on fostering access to justice at the local and rural level, as well as about the importance of supporting the Local Justice Systems (LJSs). The UN Multi-Donor Fund will implement MJD’s Modelo de Justicia Local y Rural (MJLR), prioritizing 22 municipalities were JSP had implemented activities under the basis of consolidating and progressing on the work progress made