Beyond Human Victimhood: Recognizing Collective Victims and Environmental Harm in Colombia’s Transitional Justice

• In Event: Victimhood in Transitional Justice (ECACTJ Working Group)

Abstract

Colombia’s criminal justice framework has historically focused on individual victimhood, yet collective victims—communities, social organizations, and ethnic groups—have played a key role in advancing legal and political recognition of collective harm in Colombia’s Transitional Justice system. This presentation examines how these groups have not only sought justice for human rights violations but also worked to recognize the environment as a victim of the armed conflict.
Colombia’s war inflicted severe environmental destruction, including deforestation, soil degradation, water contamination, and biodiversity loss. While often overlooked, these ecological damages disproportionately affect Indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and rural peasant communities, whose livelihoods depend on natural resources. In response, these collective victims have demanded truth, accountability, and reparations—not just for themselves, but for nature itself.
This presentation explores how Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and other transitional justice mechanisms are evolving to incorporate environmental harm as a form of collective victimization and the recognition of the environment as a particular victim. Through landmark cases, constitutional rulings, and grassroots advocacy, we will analyze the legal and ethical implications of granting the environment victim status and the challenges of enforcing ecological reparations.
Furthermore, we will discuss alternative approaches to reparative justice, including restoration projects, Indigenous-led conservation, and ecocentric legal frameworks. These models move beyond human-centered justice to embrace an integrated vision of ecological and social healing, ensuring that post-conflict reconstruction does not ignore environmental justice.
By shifting the paradigm toward nature-inclusive transitional justice, this presentation argues that recognizing the environment as a victim is not just a moral necessity, but a fundamental step toward sustainable peace in Colombia.

Author

• Ricardo Medina Rico, University of Toronto