El proyecto de restitución de tierras en Colombia: ¿ilustración de la fuerza civilizadora de la hipocresía?
This article offers a theoretical interpretation of the dispositions on land restitution contained in the famous �Victims� Bill�, which was debated in the Colombian Congress during the year 2008. The bill included specific mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing the restitution of land to victims of the Co...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Published: |
Universidad del Rosario
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaiart?codigo=3369129 |
| Source: | Revista Estudios Socio-Jurídicos, ISSN 0124-0579, Vol. 12, Nº. 2, 2010, pags. 109-194 |
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| Summary: |
This article offers a theoretical interpretation of the dispositions
on land restitution contained in the famous
�Victims� Bill�, which was debated in the Colombian
Congress during the year 2008. The bill included specific
mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing the restitution of
land to victims of the Colombian armed conflict. At
the time, the bill was endorsed by all the main political
actors in the country �notably the government and
the elites that support it, on the one hand, and victims�
and human rights organizations and other opposition
groups, on the other�. The fact that the restitution of
land to victims of the Colombian armed conflict was
being considered as a serious possibility by all political
actors in the country seemed to indicate the existence of a
consensus among actors whose positions are ordinarily
opposed, on an issue that has traditionally led to high
levels of polarization. This consensus is quite puzzling,
because it seems to be at odds with the interests and/or
the conceptions of justice advocated by these political actors,
and because the restitution of land faces enormous difficulties both from a factual and a normative point of view, which indicates that it
may not necessarily be the best alternative for dealing with the issue of land distribution
in Colombia. This article offers an interpretation of said consensus, arguing that
it is only an apparent consensus in which the actors are actually misrepresenting
their interests and conceptions of justice, while at the same time adopting divergent
strategies of implementation aimed at fulfilling their true interests. Nevertheless, the
article concludes that the common adherence by all actors to the principle of restorative
justice might bring about its actual realization, and thus produce an outcome that, in
spite (and perhaps even because) of being unintended, might substantively contribute
to solving the problem of unequal land distribution in Colombia.
Even though the article focuses in some detail on the specificities of the 2008 Bill, it
attempts to make a general argument about the state of the discussion on how to
deal with the issue of land distribution in the country. Consequently, it may still be
relevant today, especially considering that a new Bill on land restitution is currently
being discussed in Congress, which includes the same restitution goals as the Victims�
Bill and many of its procedural and substantive details, and which therefore seems
to reflect a similar consensus to the one analyzed in the article. |
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