Monitoring of processes and jurisprudential synthesis regarding land restitution for the reparation of indigenous peoples and communities in Colombia 2011-2020

Abstract

The enumeration of victims in the armed conflict in Colombia demonstrated the colossal undertaking required to repair all the victims of the conflict. In the midst of this dynamic, indigenous peoples and communities have been exposed to events that have made them victims both individually and collectively and, for this reason, they are susceptible to reparations. Within this context, with Law 1448 of 2011, Decree-Law 4633 of 2011 and the concordant legal instruments generated in the peace agreements, relevant differential reparation actions have been promoted, particularly in matters of land restitution, which are always related to victimizing events: forced displacement, confinement, dispossession and abandonment of lands. This article aims to monitor the status of land restitution processes, their trajectory, and main advances in administrative, judicial and post-judgment matters; and carry out a synthesis of the sentences of land restitution judges during the period 2011-2020. The methodology used corresponds to a qualitative documentary study that uses figures and data from official sources as units of analysis, as well as judicial pronouncements, which allow determining the status of land restitution processes and their jurisprudential evolution in the aforementioned period. As a result of the investigation, the magnitude of the victimizing events and their victims are identified through figures; on the other hand, data corresponding to the status of land restitution processes at the administrative and judicial level are presented. Finally, the judicial decisions of land judges from 2011 to 2020 are synthesized, showing their main legal and interpretative foundations, identifying patterns of judicial decisions in the restitution of lands for indigenous peoples and communities in Colombia; noting the difficulties that stand in the way of the full restoration of their rights, namely: lack of institutional coordination, mining and energy interests, second occupants, threats to security and reappearance of new situations of violence and resource appropriation.