Bogota, 5 May 2025. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) concluded the first hearings for voluntary statements in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and of the Serranía del Perijá municipalities sub-case, which is part of macro-case 09. It is the first JEP case to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the FARC-EP and members of the security forces during the armed conflict against Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities in Colombia.
In a context of extreme violence, Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities were victims of serious international crimes imputable to all actors in the internal armed conflict. They suffered a disproportionate share of the consequences that put many of them at risk of physical and cultural extermination.
At the hearings, 11 former commanders of the Caribbean Bloc of the FARC-EP appeared before the Truth Recognition Chamber of the JEP to give their accounts of the facts to 101 victims, including Indigenous peoples Wiwa, Arhuaco, Kogui, Kankuamo, Ette Ennaka, and Wayúu authorities and the Afro-Colombian Black People of the Caribbean. In addition to participating in events held to create harmony and for spiritual healing which were led by traditional authorities, victims and authorities were able to intervene and demand information on the crimes that had affected them and the primary perpetrators. They also described how they suffered from a disproportionate share of the consequences and how their existence as peoples and ethnic communities had been affected. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) represents the Wiwa people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the case before the JEP.
The testimonies gathered by the JEP during these hearings, as well as the information sent to the JEP in reports from victims and ethnic and human rights organisations, should allow the court to identify: the main crimes perpetrated by the former FARC-EP against the Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples who inhabit the ethnic territories prioritized in the case; the policies and criminal patterns that framed the way they acted; and the persons most responsible. The JEP must make similar progress with the crimes attributable to members of the security forces that were committed against Afro-descendant and Indigenous peoples, with the support from paramilitary groups.
Among the most serious crimes investigated by the JEP are homicide, forced disappearance, forced displacement, sexual violence, the use of anti-personnel mines, and the desecration of sacred spaces. In the decision that opened the case, the JEP determined that in the territories of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Perijá mountain range there are 89,994 victims of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The voluntary witness statements made by former FARC-EP commanders will be examined by the JEP, along with the information collected in a new hearing that begins on 5 May 2025. Ethnic authorities and victims will also present their observations at these hearings with a view to advancing the process of comparing information and establishing the facts and identifying those with the highest degree of responsibility. Thereafter, the JEP must issue an order of Determination of Facts and Conduct, in which it will establish the liability of the former FARC-EP for the crimes committed against Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities.
The JEP will have to follow the same process with members of the security forces who committed serious crimes against the Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities that inhabit these territories. Many of the acts were carried out with the involvement of paramilitary groups. The final result should be the establishment of the truth about what happened to the ethnic groups during the armed conflict, and restorative sanctions or imprisonment for the armed perpetrators with the highest levels of responsibility.
FIDH assists ethnic peoples in their fight for justice, truth, reparation, and non-recurrence. The FIDH reaffirms its commitment to the dignity, memory, and restoration of peoples and their territories, and hopes that the sanctions imposed by the JEP will be commensurate with the disproportionate damages and harm caused to Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities.
The magnanimity and support of the victims has been a fundamental pillar of the restorative transitional justice model created by the JEP. The victims hope that the judicial decisions will effectively restore their rights and put an end to the impunity that for so many years has hidden the crimes committed against them and benefited the perpetrators.