Transitional justice addresses past wrongdoings by exceptional means, in periods of transition to democracy, in contexts where political conditions impede proper criminal trials to punish all the perpetrators of vast human rights violations.
Due to the virtues of memory processes in supporting reconciliation in divided societies, preventing the repetition of gross human rights violations, and contributing to the reparation of victims that suffered massive damages as a consequence of armed conflicts and repressive regimes, recently memory has been recognized by the United Nations Special Rapporteur, Fabian Salvioli, as the fifth pillar of Transitional Justice. According to his report, this way of justice is fully recognized by the standards and rules of current International Law, making positive works of memorialization a tool for strengthening democratic culture and human rights.
Memory processes intersect —among others— subjectivities, emotions, social conditions, power relationships, narratives, and forms of communication. In such a landscape, arts are a space to perform, denounce, repair, and advance in materializing transitional justice and human rights.
That is the case in Colombia, whose transitional justice path —achieved by the Final Peace Agreement signed in 2016 between the Government and the FARC-EP— has become a global reference for negotiated solutions to armed conflicts. One of its most significant innovations is its approach to justice, fully supported by the International Criminal Court and breaking new ground regarding International Criminal Law. For the first time in history, sanctions from a Restorative Justice approach are also considered a punishment good enough to satisfy international standards.
Moreover, the binomial between Memory and Arts is fundamental to transitional justice initiatives in these Restorative Sanctions. For instance, the first projects drawn by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP) —with the participation of victims and perpetrators— include artistic initiatives that will contribute to the reparation of the damages caused by the armed conflict and also play a role in punishing military that committed crimes against humanity in the framework of the armed conflict.
According to testimonies taken personally, victims of these crimes consider art as a means that ‘united what the world separated.’ Arts and memory contributed to their reparation and helped them move from a passive position to a stance with an agency. For them, artistic initiatives have enabled both personal healing and public denunciation; the unfolding of transitional justice in the country adds a new element: Punishing their perpetrators.
In such a panorama, this paper will analyse how the SJP is dialoguing with the binomial Memory-Arts, which is portrayed as an alternative means to pursuing truth, reparation, and preventing future human rights violations in a framework of transitional justice.
