DOING JUSTICE FOR PEACE. VICTIMS’ RIGHTS AND MEMORIAL JUSTICE IN THE COLOMBIAN TRANSITIONAL PROCESS

In November 2016, Colombia signed a Final Peace Agreement (FPA) that redefined the international standards for alternative penalties. The FPA became a global reference of agreed settlements to armed conflicts and one of the most victim-centered peace agreements ever negotiated. It foresees Restorative Sanctions, which combine restorative and retributive approaches to justice and result from a dialogical process involving victims and perpetrators. Memory is at the core of the first Restorative Sanctions proposals. This is ground-breaking because, in previous transitional processes, memory was framed as a complement, an alternative, or a means to achieve justice but never as a form of punishment resulting from the judicial procedure. Throughout its five chapters, this interdisciplinary research —which combines legal, social, and political approaches— contributes to understanding how the Restorative Sanctions comply with the international commitments regarding individual criminal responsibility (Chapter 1); which is the domestic framework of the FPA and the Restorative Sanctions (Chapter 2); how should victims participate in designing the sanctions (Chapter 3); how they participated in practice (Chapter 4); why memory won such prominence, and what kind of memory should emerge from the judicial procedures to serve peace and justice (Chapter 5). Based on qualitative techniques (observing, reading, and questioning) and a grounded theory methodology, this thesis addresses the following question: What lessons can be extracted from this case about the relationship between memory and justice? By contrasting the theoretical frameworks with their practical unfolding, the thesis contributes to the debate regarding victims’ rights and the role of memory in transitional justice. It concludes by listing lessons learned and recommendations for future transitional processes. Keywords: Transitional Justice, Memory, Victims’ Rights, International Criminal Law, Restorative Sanctions, Peacebuilding, Memorial Justice, Colombia, Armed Conflict.