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Begin New Search Political Geography Colombia Content Type Special Report

1. Balancing Natural Resources and Human and Social Capital: Pathways to Economic Diversification in Mongolia

Author:
Thorvaldur Gylfason and Jean-Pascal N. Nganou
Publication Date:
09-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
Economic diversification has gained significant attention as a crucial factor for sustainable development worldwide. This paper addresses the risks associated with extreme specialisation and explores the potential benefits of economic diversification for Mongolia. By comparing Mongolia with its designated aspirational and structural peers, the paper aims to shed light on strategies that can foster economic and societal diversification in the country. Although Mongolia possesses favourable levels of human capital compared with its peers, its unusually high ratio of natural capital to human capital highlights the necessity of reducing reliance on natural resources and promoting human capital-intensive economic activities. The paper examines the implications of declining demand for Mongolia's key minerals, primarily coal, resulting from climate change concerns and evolving investor preferences towards sustainability, China's coal consumption reduction goals, and the enduring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this analysis, the paper offers insights into pathways for Mongolia to diversify its economy and enhance the well-being of its people by striking a balance between natural resources and human and social capital.
Topic:
Natural Resources, Governance, Democracy, Economic Growth, Human Capital, Diversification, Macroeconomics, Social Capital, Transition, and ASEAN
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Malaysia, Canada, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Armenia, Australia, Qatar, Chile, Peru, United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, and Guyana

2. The Shell and the Seed: Lessons from the Negotiation with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia

Author:
Marta Ruiz
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:
The achievement of total peace is not a new goal for Colombia. For the better part of the last 30 years, most government administrations have attempted to negotiate or subdue all existing armed groups either simultaneously or sequentially. However, the results so far have been partial and insufficient to address the structural causes and persistent factors behind a 60-year internal armed conflict. The product of a collaboration between ICTJ and the researcher, journalist, and former commissioner of the Colombian Truth Commission, Marta Ruiz, this study presents new points of view and reflections on the negotiations with the paramilitary forces in the first years of 2000. These reflections can be useful not only to inform public debate but also as input for decisionmakers and those who design strategies for negotiation and the pursuit of total peace underway today in Colombia. The first part explains the genesis of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and describes their transition from drug traffickers to political and military actors. It presents evidence that since the 1980s the Colombian state has attempted to negotiate with drug traffickers using different narratives about their nature. The second part describes what happened at the Santafé Ralito negotiation table, the discussion’s agenda, and how the political context affected the process. It also shows how political timing, in particular President Uribe's reelection, affected the process’s outcome. The big question it asks, one with no single answer, is why, if negotiations were being held with drug traffickers, there was no real talk of dismantling drug trafficking. The third part assesses the consequences of the process, both in terms of justice and reintegration. It attempts to explain how the demobilized armed groups were reactivated in the territories.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Armed Forces, Negotiation, and Peace
Political Geography:
Colombia and South America

3. Advancing Victims’ Rights and Rebuilding Just Communities: Local Strategies for Achieving Reparation as a Part of Sustainable Development

Author:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:
This comparative study examines strategies used by local actors to facilitate the operationalization of reparations for victims of widespread human rights violations, while highlighting the synergies between these efforts and sustainable development. The study is based on the fieldwork of ICTJ and its partners in four contexts—Colombia, The Gambia, Tunisia, and Uganda. These countries represent a range of different situations, where the progress made, challenges faced, and overall political and institutional contexts vary significantly. Nonetheless, comparison of the approaches used across the cases offers valuable insights for those working in these and other contexts. In The Gambia, the truth commission and legislation for reparations have created expectations among victims, but a program has yet to be implemented. In Uganda, the legal and policy framework for reparations exists, but there is no enabling legislation or mechanism to provide them as a result of stalled political will. In Tunisia, the truth commission recommended reparations, but the political and economic situation make operationalization unlikely. In Colombia, challenges faced by reparations have informed the design of restorative sanctions that include reparative projects but are yet to be implemented. The major insights gained from this comparative study relate to the specific ways in which reparations can contribute to individual and community well-being and development; innovative and effective approaches to ensuring victims and communities receive reparations and support, including through collective action, engagement with government, and grassroots initiatives; the integration of victims’ needs and priorities into development policies and models; and the reparative elements of complementary accountability and reform measures that are participatory, address corruption and marginalization, and contribute to gender justice and equality. The report offers practical guidance and policy recommendations for advancing reparations as an integral element of broader societal efforts to facilitate inclusion, justice, peace, and development.
Topic:
Human Rights, Sustainable Development Goals, Accountability, Reparations, and Truth and Reconciliation
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, Colombia, South America, Tunisia, and Gambia

4. Fiscal Policy in the Regulation of Adult-Use Cannabis in Colombia: Executive Summary

Author:
César Rodríguez-Garavito, Luis Felipe Cruz-Oliveira, and Isabel Pereira-Arana
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Dejusticia
Abstract:
In Colombia today, discussing a legal framework for marijuana is not a hypothetical matter – it’s a real political possibility. In fact, in the 2018-2022 legislative period, three bills were introduced that proposed regulating cannabis for adult use as well as coca-leaf derivatives. This regulatory boom is not exclusive to Colombia; to date, 19 states in the United States and two countries – Uruguay and Canada – have approved a legal framework for adult-use marijuana. This marks a significant change from the hardhanded laws that have shaped the war on drugs from the time of former U.S. President Richard Nixon to the present. In Colombia, cannabis is the most widely used substance that has been declared illicit. According to the National Survey of Psychoactive Substance Use (Encuesta Nacional de Consumo de Sustancias Psicoactivas), published in 2019 by the country’s Ministry of Justice and the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística, DANE), more than 637,000 people used marijuana within the last year (2019, p. 66), which corresponds to 2.7% of the population between 12 and 65 years of age2 . Seventy-two percent (72%) of these people were between 18 and 34 years of age and lived in Bogotá, Cali, the coffee belt or Medellín (Ministerio de Justicia & DANE, 2019, p. 68). According to the National Planning Department (Departamento Nacional de Planeación, DNP), the geographical distribution of marijuana use tends to be concentrated in urban areas that are attractive for selling the cannabis produced in the Northern Cauca subregion (DNP, 2017, p. 105). Although that is not the only region with marijuana crops, the country is currently experiencing a boom in so-called “creepy” marijuana3 (as a result of the extent of this substance and dependence on the income from it), which is produced in the Northern Cauca municipalities of Caloto, Corinto, Miranda, Toribío and Santander de Quilichao. In this context, two sensitive factors arise in debating cannabis regulation in Colombia. One is that the areas that supply the illegal market have significant gaps in terms of socioeconomic well-being and continue to experience conflict dynamics partly associated with the substance’s prohibition. The other is that the regulation of marijuana, as the most widely consumed illicit substance in the country, must address the protection of public health and the health of those who use it. The majority of regulation proposals put little emphasis on the potential revenue coming from the market, or the allocation of those resources. If we agree that marijuana has played a central role in the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia, and that the regions where it is grown today lag significantly in socioeconomic terms, the transition to a legal market would be an opportunity to improve the peasant farmer and indigenous population’s living conditions, while also protecting public health by controlling the quality and potency of the cannabis that is bought and sold. All of these public policy actions require resources. While those who promote business interests in marijuana regulation insist on stressing the economic benefits for the overall economy, along with the amount of resources it would contribute to state coffers, they fail to mention specific measures that the State should delineate so the market can be based on rules that would finance the actions needed to address the regional problems that predate the regulations, or actually gave rise to the illegal trade. With the goal of illuminating this discussion, based on comparative experiences and on the Principles and Guidelines for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy, this document addresses three dimensions of the problem: (i) explaining, based on available evidence and conceptual debates, why regulation is necessary and what role the fiscal framework plays in this policy; and (ii) providing, based on comparative experiences, elements for designing the regulations’ fiscal frameworks. Finally, contemplating these two aspects, we present a proposal for cannabis fiscal principles.
Topic:
Regulation, Fiscal Policy, and Cannabis
Political Geography:
Canada, Colombia, South America, Uruguay, and United States of America

5. Colombia’s Relationship with the PRC

Author:
Evan Ellis
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
From October 6 to 16, the author traveled throughout Colombia to speak with businesspeople, academics, and other professionals about the country’s security panorama, its commercial and other relationships with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and prospects for evolving those relationships under the new government of Gustavo Petro. This white paper, the first of two on those interactions, addresses the country’s important and deepening relationship with the PRC and its companies. In recent years, Colombia’s political and security relationship with the PRC has been limited. This arguably reflects Bogotá’s perception that deepening political and security ties with the PRC might damage its close and important relationship with the United States. Nonetheless, despite perceptions that the PRC is more of a threat than an opportunity in the commercial arena, the presence of Chinese companies and their representatives in the country has expanded remarkably. Under the Petro government, all dimensions of Colombia’s relationship with the PRC, from political and security affairs to economic ones, are poised to expand and shift in ways that may cause unease in Washington.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Bilateral Relations, Hegemony, and Rivalry
Political Geography:
China, Asia, Colombia, and South America

6. Artists killed in Latin America for exercising their freedom of artistic expression

Author:
Cecilia Noce and Diana Arévalo
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL)
Abstract:
This is an executive summary of the original report produced in Spanish that focuses only on violence against artists, like targeted killings related to the exercise of their right to freedom of expression and artistic creativity in Latin America. In 2021, CADAL recorded 378 attacks on freedom of artistic expression, of which 23 were murders. Artists and cultural workers who participated in protests in Colombia and Cuba were harassed, detained, and repressed. Musicians and cultural leaders were also involved in the violence between organized crime groups in countries such as Mexico and Brazil.
Topic:
Arts, Culture, Freedom of Expression, Protests, Targeted Killing, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Latin America, and Mexico

7. Civil Society-Led Truth-Seeking Initiatives: Expanding Opportunities for Acknowledgment and Redress

Author:
Eduardo González Cueva, Jill Williams, and Félix Reátegui Carrillo
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:
This study reviews civil society-led truth-seeking initiatives in different regions of the world drawing on their experiences, methodologies, and contributions. It identifies lessons learned and best practices and presents practical options for activists considering similar endeavors. The report is inspired by and builds on the work of transitional justice practitioners, including at ICTJ, who deploy wide-ranging modalities to advance truth seeking, including oral history, artwork, theatrical productions, reenactments, museum exhibits, memorials, films, and documentation projects. The right to the truth is a fundamental component of redress for victims of massive human rights violations. Institutional silence, suppression of complaints, and refusal to acknowledge such violations further perpetuates them by protecting and enabling those responsible. In many contexts, government-supported truth commissions are not possible. Moreover, total reliance on state-sanctioned formats can result in one-size-fits-all approaches to truth seeking, devoid of creativity or potential. In the absence of political will, civil society actors have responded to demands for truth by devising and carrying out truth-seeking efforts independently, using a wide array of tools and methods. Civil society-led truth-seeking initiatives provide a practical channel by which communities can respond to demands for redress when the state fails to deliver on its obligations to protect victims’ rights. While truth-seeking initiatives can take many forms, they generally share three main objectives: (1) establish the facts about human rights violations that remain disputed or denied and validate different interpretations and analyses of those facts; (2) protect, acknowledge, and empower victims and survivors; and (3) inform public policy, promote institutional reform, and contribute to social and political transformation. Through an examination of case studies from the United States, Colombia, Scotland, and West Papua, the report highlights common considerations and procedural questions that civil society groups should consider when designing and implementing a truth-seeking mechanism. These considerations can help inspire and guide civil society actors as they lead truth-seeking efforts in the United States and around the world.
Topic:
Reform, Transitional Justice, Youth, Criminal Justice, Memory, Engagement, Reparations, Gender, Atrocity Prevention, and Truth and Reconciliation
Political Geography:
Europe, Asia, Colombia, South America, North America, and United States of America

8. Ties without Strings? Rebuilding Relations between Colombia and Venezuela

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Bogotá and Caracas are back on cordial terms after a period of rancour. Their interests may not always align precisely in the years ahead. But with deft diplomacy, and help from neighbours, the two countries can nonetheless keep repairing their links to mutual benefit.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Regional Cooperation, Bilateral Relations, and Strategic Interests
Political Geography:
Colombia, South America, and Venezuela

9. Trapped in Conflict: Reforming Military Strategy to Save Lives in Colombia

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Colombia’s new president, Gustavo Petro, says he will work to bring “total peace” to the countryside, including areas roiled by violent competition among criminal and other armed groups. This task will require significant changes to military approaches devised for fighting the insurgencies of the past.
Topic:
Crime, Governance, Leadership, Conflict, Peace, and Gangs
Political Geography:
Colombia and South America

10. Hard Times in a Safe Haven: Protecting Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
In recent years, Venezuelans have streamed into Colombia looking for work and respite from their country’s socio-economic meltdown. But dangers also await them, including the clutches of organised crime. Bogotá’s change of government is a chance to reset policy to keep the migrants safer.
Topic:
Humanitarian Aid, Migration, Socioeconomics, and Migrants
Political Geography:
Colombia, South America, and Venezuela