»Ein Landtitel ist nicht genug«

1. INTRODUCTION

The violent struggle to control territory for economic, military and political reasons, coupled with high levels of rural poverty and the high concentration of land ownership among relatively few owners, has been one of the root causes of Colombia’s 50-year-old internal

armed conflict. There has been an insatiable appetite amongst numerous actors in Colombia to gain and maintain control over land deemed critical to their varying interests. These actors include the security forces and paramilitaries (either acting alone or in collusion with

each other), guerrilla groups, some political and business elites in the regions, drug traffickers and other criminal enterprises.

This has had a devastating impact on the millions of Colombians who traditionally rely on land for their survival, especially Indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant farmer communities. It has led to the forced displacement of almost 6 million people– nearly 13%

of Colombia’s population and one of the highest displacement levels in the world – and the illegal acquisition of around 8 million hectares of land, some 14% of Colombia’s territory.

Most of those forcibly displaced in the course of the conflict had an association with the land from which they were forced to flee, in that they owned it or had customary rights over it, worked on it individually or communally, or had tenure or possession over it.

Large-scale infrastructure developments and the agro-industrial, agro-fuel and extractive industries, both domestic and international, have frequently benefited from forced displacement and land grabs, through the removal of communities from strategic areas

earmarked for exploitation. This displacement has been primarily carried out by paramilitaries often operating in collusion with state security forces. Guerrilla forces have also threatened and killed civilians in the context of exploiting particular economic resources, often driving

people from their lands as a consequence.

Displaced communities face a multitude of challenges, not least the loss of their homes and the land on which they lived and worked. Forced displacement and the illegal acquisition of land have involved a plethora of human rights abuses and violations of international

humanitarian law, which have often been designed to sow terror to encourage individuals and even whole communities to flee. Such abuses include killings, rape and other forms of torture, enforced disappearances, death threats and abductions.

The need to control territory, and the imposition of economic interests, has at times required

the compliance of local populations. This is why those who have tried to make visible these abuses or who seek justice for such crimes, such as trade unionists, human rights defenders, land activists and community leaders, have been targeted for attack.

The failure to bring to justice those suspected of criminal responsibility for forced displacement and the illegal acquisition of land, as well as for related human rights abuses and violations, has contributed to prolonging the conflict, since past and future perpetrators

can remain confident that they will not be held to account for their actions. Impunity for human rights abuses and violations committed in the context of the Colombian armed conflict, regardless of the perpetrator, remains exceedingly high.

Over the years, some Colombian governments have, with varying degrees of commitment, sought to address, at least partly, the vexed issue of land ownership and rural inequality. Yet their attempts to create and promote land reform programmes, including efforts to formalize

land ownership, have all failed. Past attempts to promote limited land reform were frequently implemented in the wake of social protest. However, increased social mobilization was in turn met with waves of repression involving the killings of social activists, mostly by paramilitaries,

the security forces, and powerful landowning sectors.10 This violence partly explains why such land reform efforts failed and why levels of land concentration have remained so high.

While a full analysis of the reasons for the failure of land reform in Colombia is beyond the scope of this study, it is clear that the armed conflict has played a direct role in forcibly displacing and dispossessing millions of Colombians, thereby exacerbating the problems associated with land ownership and rural inequality. The issue of land ownership has been particularly complex and difficult to resolve because of the informality of land tenure in Colombia. Fewer than half of peasant farmers have legal titles to their lands, and most land

is sold and bought informally. This has been exacerbated by a lack of complete or accurate land registers.

Women in particular have historically lacked ownership of land, despite actively participating in the rural economy together with men, and they continue to face numerous challenges in their efforts to enjoy equal access to land. This report also argues for a gender perspective in

land restitution to ensure that women and female-headed households have equal enjoyment of land and access to the land restitution process.

The Victims and Land Restitution Law (Law 1448), an initiative promoted by President Juan Manuel Santos, and which came into force in January 2012, is the latest effort to settle issues around the formalization of land ownership, land restitution and, more generally, of reparation for the victims of the conflict.

The success of the land restitution process will, however, largely depend on whether the Colombian authorities, through Law 1448, are able to guarantee the right of victims of the armed conflict to an effective remedy, a right which lies at the core of international human rights law, and which includes adequate, effective and prompt reparation, including land restitution, for harm suffered.

Land claimants will only be able to enjoy their right to an effective remedy if the authorities can stem the threats against and killings of land claimants and those human rights defenders and land activists accompanying them; ensure that those who return to their lands can

sustain themselves economically, with security guarantees and the right to political participation; and effectively address impunity for those suspected of criminal responsibility in forced displacement and associated human rights violations and abuses.

This report is published at a critical time in Colombia’s history – when the government and the country’s main guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) are engaged in talks designed to put a definitive end to the country’s 50-year-old armed conflict. There is a general consensus that these latest negotiations, which have been ongoing since 2012, offer the best chance in over a decade to end the hostilities. The issue of land is one of the central components of the negotiations, and the success or failure of the talks could ultimately rest on the ability of the Colombian state to effectively return land to those victims of the conflict who were forced to abandon or were dispossessed of their lands and homes.

This report therefore examines what progress the authorities have made in implementing the land restitution elements of Law 1448 to ensure that the right of land claimants to an effective remedy is guaranteed. It seeks to place the current land restitution process in the context of previous attempts by Colombian governments to resolve the problems associated with the unequal distribution of land and rural poverty. The report also provides a summary of the national and international legal human rights framework that should be underpinning the

efforts of the Colombian state to return illegally acquired land to its rightful occupants and examines in detail the many obstacles that land claimants are still facing in their struggle to return home in a sustainable manner.

The report ends with a comprehensive series of recommendations calling on the Colombian authorities to put in place effective measures to ensure that land claimants and others involved in the land restitution process are effectively protected; that victims can return home in a way that is economically sustainable; that the rights of women claimants and of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities are upheld; and that the right of victims of the conflict to guarantees of non-repetition are secured by ensuring that those suspected of criminal responsibility for human rights abuses and violations, including forced displacement, are held to account.

Den vollständigen Bericht finden Sie hier.