Colombian rebel group FARC proposed on Sunday to create a conflict victim compensation fund consisting of 3% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which translates to $11.3 billion.
The FARC’s proposals related to victims
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The fund should guarantee the direct participation of representatives of victims’ organizations, according to FARC spokeswoman Tanja Nijmeijer, a Dutch citizen who joined the guerrillas more than 10 years ago.
PROFILE: Tanja Nijmeijer
The goal with the compensation is to “re-establish the situation of individual and collective victims as it was before the victimizing events took place, and compensate the impact on their lives, ‘according to international standards’.”
The fund should additionally focus on social, territorial and gender justice, said the FARC.
The FARC said victims should not only be compensated economically, but also politically, socially, culturally, symbolically and psycho-socially.
The rebels and the government have entered the 28th round of talks and are currently discussing reparations of victims.
The peace talks between the FARC and the Colombian government have been ongoing since November 2012. So far, both parties have come to agreements on the topics of agrarian land reform, political participation, and illicit drugs and crops.
In the event an agreement is found on victims and the logistics of the demobilization and reintegration of FARC fighters, a formal peace accord will be signed to end 50 years of political violence between the state and the Marxist rebels.
PROFILE: FARC