Colombian Transitional Justice: The media discourse of the Peace Agreement and perceptions regarding its institutions

  • Angélica Caicedo-Moreno University of the Basque Country, Spain
  • Pablo Castro-Abril University of the Basque Country, Spain
  • Wilson López-López Pontifical Xaverian University, Colombia
  • Lorena Gil Montes University of the Basque Country, Spain
Keywords: transitional justice, media analysis, collective violence, peacebuilding

Abstract

Colombia had the longest internal armed conflict in Latin America, and its government reached a peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas in 2016. This article explores the transitional justice social representations during the signing of the peace agreement (study 1) and their implementation, during 2019-2020 (study 2). The first study analyzes the news related to the institutions created from the peace agreement during 2016. The second study explores different psychosocial variables associated with its two most controversial institutions, the Truth Commission (TC) and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) during 2019-2020, after the beginning of its work. The findings revealed that news articles from two principal Colombian newspapers illustrate two anchoring categories of transitional justice with an emphasis on victims, while the political position of the newspaper suggests possible disagreements on what peace entails. Surveys showed that political position and victimization are crucial for the approval and support of the TC and the JEP, as well as correlated with the level of media consumption regarding these institutions.

Received: 17 September 2021
Accepted: 15 November 2021

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Published
2021-12-28
How to Cite
Caicedo-Moreno, Angélica, Pablo Castro-Abril, Wilson López-López, and Lorena Gil Montes. 2021. “Colombian Transitional Justice: The Media Discourse of the Peace Agreement and Perceptions Regarding Its Institutions”. Deusto Journal of Human Rights, no. 8 (December), 51-82. https://doi.org/10.18543/djhr.2284.