Source: International Crisis Group (ICG)President Juan Manuel Santos has taken welcome steps toward reform in his first ten weeks but now must put in place and execute a truly comprehensive and integrated conflict resolution strategy for Colombia to secure sustainable peace.
Colombia: President Santos's Conflict Resolution Opportunity , the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the shortcomings of the previous government's endeavours to defeat insurgent groups and achieve and consolidate security. It recommends that the new chief executive, who was elected in a landslide, complement military and citizen-security policy by pushing ahead on vital institutional and structural reforms that address problems of illegality, impunity and inequality.
"President Alvaro Uribe's overwhelmingly military approach, what he called his 'democratic security policy', did produce important gains, but the insurgencies, while weakened, are not defeated, and Colombia remains plagued by new illegal armed groups, so-called NIAGs, and other criminal actors", says Silke Pfeiffer, Crisis Group's Acting Latin America Program Director. "By concentrating mainly on fighting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), it neglected other sources of violence and, most importantly, failed to address underlying causes of the conflict".
Uribe left his successor an improved but unresolved armed conflict situation. Santos needs to insist that the security forces, which have been tainted by scandals, comply with existing human rights and international humanitarian law policy, including by fully cooperating with civilian justice institutions investigating extrajudicial executions. Military action should be complemented by a comprehensive rural and urban citizen-security policy. Counter-drug policy is in need of change, partly to deny financing to illegal armed groups, and it is essential to restore diplomatic relations and cooperation with Venezuela and Ecuador to achieve effective cross-border security. Ultimately, security can be consolidated only by systematically extending state services and the rule of law to the areas formerly controlled by insurgent groups.
Reforms should also target corruption and enforce victims' rights to justice, truth, comprehensive reparation and protection. Passing the Land and Victims Laws he has introduced through Congress and then ensuring they are implemented against what will undoubtedly be strong opposition from entrenched interests will test Santos's commitment and the strength of his coalition.
"Juan Manuel Santos now should use his enormous political capital to break with the past and hold all sides accountable for gross violations of human rights", says Mark Schneider, Crisis Group's Senior Vice President and Special Adviser on Latin America. "Operating from a position of political and military strength, he should use that asset to advance an integrated conflict resolution strategy that denies the FARC any opportunity for revival but also opens the door to negotiating an end to the armed insurgency in a way that does not add to the country's history of impunity".
