Unpacking discourses of victim recognition. The Case of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia.

• In Event: Human Trafficking and Vulnerable Populations

Abstract

Recognition, while central to discourses within the fields of TJ and victimology, remains an elusive and under-researched concept. It is often described as a fundamental need for victims of harm to be recognised as victims and obtain the acknowledgement of their suffering as a result of a wrongful act committed against them. But these practices are rarely unpacked and discussed in more detail.
Discourses on recognition and its importance for victims also stand prominently within the Colombian Comprehensive System for Justice, Truth, Reparations and Non-Repetition defined in the framework of the 2016 Final Peace Agreement, particularly within one of its pillars, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP). An independent judicial body, the SJP incarnates the innovative nature of the Colombian transitional justice model by integrating retributive and restorative components. We propose to analyse the different discourses of recognition which exist at the SJP and examine how they shape its objectives, procedures, and institutional structure. We focus on how recognition is conceived in relation to imperatives/principles guiding the work of the SJP, such as overcoming impunity, contributing to reducing societal denial and the restoration of social ties, its victim-centred approach as well as the requirement of gender and ethnic and diversity inclusion. We conclude with some critical reflections on how these understandings of recognition are attached to particular agendas, power struggles and politics of recognition.

Authors

• Mina Rauschenbach, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

• Stephan Parmentier, KU Leuven