The Political Lives of the ‘Disappeared’ in the Transition from Conflict to Peace in Colombia
In Colombia’s transition between conflict and peace the ‘disappeared’ have emerged as a potent symbol of the history of impunity and exclusion and their exhumation a sign of progress towards peace and reconciliation. As elsewhere in Latin America the families of the disappeared have been at the core...
| Published in: | Politics, religion & ideology |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
2018
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| In: |
Politics, religion & ideology
Year: 2018, Volume: 19, Issue: 4, Pages: 452-470 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In Colombia’s transition between conflict and peace the ‘disappeared’ have emerged as a potent symbol of the history of impunity and exclusion and their exhumation a sign of progress towards peace and reconciliation. As elsewhere in Latin America the families of the disappeared have been at the core of a ‘human rights forensics’ seeking to exhume the disappeared as victims of political violence and to hold perpetrators accountable. However, in Colombia the state’s attitude towards human rights is ambiguous. It has introduced transitional justice laws building upon strong Colombian constitutional traditions to project a strong human rights commitment. In doing so it has manipulated Colombians’ faith in ‘magical legalism’, the belief in the transformative capacity of law as an alternative to the chronic failure of democratic politics. However, the state has turned human rights accountability into an enormous legal bureaucratic registration exercise. They have de-politicized the ‘disappeared’ through a ‘humanitarian forensics’ which collectivizes all victims as ‘suffering’ victims of the 50 year conflict and places them in long human rights queues for reparations. Impunity also persists in the transition between conflict and peace because of the corporate state strategy of relying on partnerships with business and armed actors to extend its territorial sovereignty. The franchising of sovereignty as a strategy to extend governance only perpetuates the conditions for further disappearance and displacement. |
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| ISSN: | 2156-7697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Politics, religion & ideology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2018.1538671 |