The Right to Peace and the Right to Stay: Insights From Approaches to Peace and Migration in Colombia

Abstract

Executive Summary

This paper examines the right to peace and the right to stay in the context of Colombia. Colombia’s status as a nation that experienced extraordinary levels of violence, human rights violations, internal and external displacement, and conflict between state, guerilla, paramilitary, and cartels over at least five decades, makes it a critical site for understanding and responding to migration and forced displacement. The article describes the 2016 peace agreement and outlines the work of its Truth Commission in moving toward an adoption of the right to peace and the connection between these rights and the right to remain in one’s home country. The Truth Commission was devoted to:

• Examining, explaining, and identifying collective responsibilities for the armed conflict, atrocities, and marginalization;

• Offering redress to millions of victims;

• Restoring human rights, promoting peaceful coexistence, and contributing to the non-recurrence of the armed conflict.

The paper highlights the strategies and core findings of Colombia’s Truth Commission at a time when Colombia does not constitute a success story, but is in the process of trying to build an inclusive, rights-respecting, peaceful, and cohesive society, which is the fundamental work of the “right to stay” and not to have to emigrate.

The article also documents the transition of Colombia from a relatively modest migrant host country through much of its history, to a country which since 2016 has become home to three million immigrants, most of them from Venezuela. It explores the paradox of Colombia’s embrace of immigration from Venezuela while the administration slowed implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement. This agreement itself has strong connections to migrants and persons in exile, as is clear from the work of the Colombian Truth Commission (CTC). The paper argues for addressing the root causes of armed conflict and embracing the CTC’s finding that the right to stay is linked to the right to peace.