Colombian Victims Meet With FARC in Havana

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Sun Aug 17, 2014 at 08:00:00 AM EST
Tags: FARC, Colombia (all tags)

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Saturday, for the first time, some victims of the decades of violence in Colombia met directly with FARC members at the Peace Talks in Havana.

The victims told the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Havana that they were listened to by the negotiators with a great deal of respect.

I was glad to see the victims of the right-wing paramilitary groups were also included. Some in Colombia (mostly FARC victims it seems) didn't think it was appropriate but:

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay praised the move, calling it unprecedented and a potential model for other countries dealing with issues of justice, peace and reconciliation.

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More people were victimized by the Government and the right-wing paramilitary groups than by FARC, and of the 12 victims selected for today, the split was 5 FARC victims and 7 Government/paramilitary victims.

While many within the Colombian media have called for a greater number of FARC victims to appear within the group, according to NGO Redepaz’s Director Luis Emil Sanabria, the number in the first group of victims is more than representative of a proportion of the country’s 6 million victims the FARC is responsible for.

“We know that in Colombia the majority of victims are from the actions of the paramilitaries, followed by guerrilla organizations and the state. In that sense, to us it seems that within this delegation five people represents the scale of victims of the FARC,” said Sanabria.

According to the U.N. estimates"

[P]aramilitaries have been responsible for more than 80 per cent of conflict-related killings and the majority of other grave human rights abuses.

Over the next several weeks, 60 victims will meet with FARC and negotiators in Havana. FARC was also pleased with the meeting.