Victim–Centred Peacemaking – Colombia's Santos– FARC–EP Peace Process : Colombia’s Santos–FARC-EP Peace Process

This book explores how survivors of political violence in Colombia have asserted themselves and challenged those in power. Drawing on interviews and various academic disciplines, the book proposes a victim-centered approach to transitional justice, valuable for both researchers and practitioners.

Based on unique empirical research into Colombia’s Santos-FARC-EP peace process (2012-2016), this book interrogates how, if at all, survivors and victims may assert agency and contribute to formal peacemaking and transitional justice initiatives. The book argues that victim inclusion meaningfully transformed victim-perpetrator relations and dynamics in Havana, while partially shaping the content of both the Victims’ Agreement and Final Agreement. As such, the delegations created paths for empowerment at the individual and, in part, collective levels. However, victim inclusion also precipitated experiences of victim depoliticization, revictimization, retraumatization and instrumentalization. Drawing on insights from across academic disciplines, the book proposes an instrumentalization / empowerment spectrum to analyse the complex impact of victim-centred approaches to peacemaking/transitional justice, and is valuable for both researchers and practitioners.