Transitional Justice and the Prevention of Violence: The Case of Colombia

Transitional justice mechanisms have been understood as part of the way societies deal with the past. Their main role has appeared to be a just resolution of a past of massive human rights violations or massive breaches of international humanitarian law. But at the same time the goal of these mechanisms has been guaranteeing the non-recurrence of these violations, that is, with a look at the future in order not to repeat the past. Given the liberal matrix of transitional justice, TJ mechanisms have not achieved their goal of just peace and the transformation of conflict. On the contrary, they have left the structures of impunity that have allowed violence to continue. In this paper I want to analyze the Colombian case, specially the demobilization of paramilitaries (2005 – 2013) and the peace process with the communist guerrilla of FARC (2012 – 2018). I aim at showing that the continuity of the structures of impunity have prevented the country from achieving a just peace. In this paper, by using the Colombian case, I want to show the close connection between justice, transitional justice mechanisms and the prevention of violence.