Transitional justice in Colombia: competing discourses in a peace agreement context

This research paper analysed the transitional justice discourses of the government, its political opposition, the FARC, and the civil society participants in the peace negotiation, and its particular understandings of peace and conflict in the context of the peace negotiation with FARC in Colombia. Based on the study of the competing discourses and how are they reflected in the mechanism to admin transitional justice – Special Jurisdiction of Peace – I argue that the mechanism definition has been part of a bargain between elites looking for the status quo preservation. Thus, the Special Jurisdiction of Peace privileges the governments' discourses, especially of the government in power, while excluding some of the demands from civil society representatives and FARC.