On 30 November 2016, the Colombian Congress ratified a peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Army of the People (FARC-EP), a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group.
It was hoped that the agreement would mark the beginning of the end of the complex internal conflict which has engulfed Colombia since 1958 and involves multiple far-left and far-right illegal armed groups, criminal groups, and government forces. However, seven years later peace remains elusive; the violence continues.
Undelivered promises
At first, things seemed to be improving; from 2016 to 2017, violence related to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) appeared to decrease. However, from 2018 to 2022, and especially since 2019, the numbers have been on the upswing once again.
During this time period, the government administration led by President Iván Duque Márquez consistently slowed down the implementation of the peace accords. According to various sources and CSW’s own database, the number of violent incidents related to FoRB over the last seven years could exceed 400.
Illegal armed and criminal groups continue to have significant influence or control in parts of the country. Attacks that specifically target religious leaders have continued, including 42 murders, 35 incidents of threats and harassment, and more than 60 cases of forced displacement between 2018 and 2022. Additionally, there were 52 closures of or attacks on religious buildings, as well as reports of the forced recruitment of children of religious leaders into illegal armed groups as a means of coercing their parents, among other incidents.
When President Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego – who was vocal in his support for the peace agreement – came to power in August 2022, a reduction in violence was expected. However, a disconnect between security and peace policies, extreme leniency towards illegal armed groups including the FARC-EP and the National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN), and a lack of suitable policies to incentivise violent individuals to surrender their weapons have meant the reduction that was hoped for did not take place.
In addition to these factors, elements such as the expansion of illegal armed groups’ economic interests to other businesses such as illegal mining, and the collapse in monetary value of coca leaf and paste, on which many of these illegal armed groups rely for money, in turn incentivised a 93% increase in extortion and kidnappings for ransom in the first half of 2023.
In October 2022, President Petro Urrego passed a ‘Total Peace Law’. This allowed for simultaneous negotiations between the government and 26 illegal armed groups, including all FARC-EP break-away factions. The adoption of the law was based on the assumption that negotiating with only one group would create power vacuums exploited by other violent actors to strengthen themselves and expand into new territories.
During the first three months of Petro’s government, Colombian armed forces reduced their actions against illegal armed groups by 70%, while clashes between the groups increased by 79%. This reduced the number of deaths among army members but also strengthened illegal structures, contributing to an increase in massacres from 48 between January and June 2022, to 52 during the same period in 2023.
Violence in a vacuum
The government has prioritized 170 municipalities (36% of the national territory) for the development of Territorially Focused Development Programs (PDET). These aim to stabilise and transform the regions most affected by violence, poverty, illicit economies, and institutional weakness. Unfortunately, the security situation continues to deteriorate.
In this context, the number of those working in illegal economies has increased. Religious leaders working to reduce forced recruitment into illegal armed groups and offer alternatives to criminal activities have continued to face violent attacks.
In Cauca Department, for example, where dissident FARC-EP factions and the ELN operate, heavily armed masked men attacked a vehicle carrying the Roman Catholic deacon1 of the San Lorenzo Parish in Caldono on 2 July 2023. Thirty-six gunshots were fired at the vehicle, many of which hit Deacon Fredy Muñoz and his companion Deiver Bototo, leaving both with serious injuries.
Another incident perpetrated by the ELN took place in the same municipality on 3 August, when members of the illegal armed group used explosives and firearms to attack a gathering of the Protestant-evangelical El Edén Church in an indigenous reserve in Pueblo Nuevo during a spiritual fast. A woman and an 11-year-old girl were injured.
Invisible victims
Despite the clear and specific targeting of religious or belief communities by illegal armed groups, the final report of the Truth Commission of Colombia, presented on 28 June 2022, did not include any reference to violations against individuals based on religion or belief.
Organisations such as the Interchurch Dialogue for Peace in Colombia (DIPAZ), the Mennonite Christian Association for Justice, Peace, and Nonviolent Action (Justapaz), the Peace Commission of the Evangelical Council of Colombia (Cedecol) and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church all presented reports to the Truth Clarification Commission (CEV) with documented cases detailing the impact of violence on Christians in Colombia. The CEV also met with victims from the religious sector from across the country, however, none of this was present in the Truth Commission’s report.
Limited advances
There have been some positive developments. As a result of the work of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP),2 former FARC-EP guerillas apologised for the October 1991 murder of Father José Antonio Beltrán in the hamlet of Cucuchonal, Landázuri, Santander Department. This was part of a trust-building program led by the JEP, the public sector, academia, and civil society, and it is hoped it is the first of many similar apologies for crimes committed during the decades long internal conflict
Another order by the JEP recognised the desecration of sacred sites and attacks on indigenous communities by illegal armed groups as crimes for which perpetrators must be held to account, and mandated that the authorities must provide mechanisms to address their trauma.
Ultimately, in spite of these limited advances in some areas, and as Colombia nears the midpoint of the 15-year period envisioned for the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement, the government must urgently strive for guarantees to ensure real protections of the right to FoRB and for a lasting peace that meets the needs of truth, justice and reparation for all victims.
By CSW’s Colombia Desk
- In the Roman Catholic Church, a deacon is an ordained minister who is either in training to become a priest or has chosen to become a permanent deacon and will serve as an order ranking below that of a priest. ↩︎
- The JEP is the justice component of the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition, which is part of the Peace Agreement. It has been in effect in Colombia since March 2017, and covers crimes committed during the armed conflict up until 1 December 2016. ↩︎