Colombia’s authorities have over the past 13 years restituted only 10% of the land that were stolen during the armed conflict.
According to NGO Forjando Futuros, which monitors land restitution, the government has restituted 669 thousand hectares of land since 2011, when Congress passed the Victims and Land Restitution Law.
This is a little more than the 6.5 million hectares of land that was dispossessed during the armed conflict, according to the Truth Commission.
This implies that a significant number of victims would have to wait until the 22nd century to have their stolen land returned or replaced.
“We can’t continue like this,” said the director of Forjando Futuros, Nora Saldarriaga, at the presentation of her NGO’s latest report.
The farmers can’t wait 109 years for restitution to become a reality.
Forjando Futuros director Nora Saldarriaga
President Gustavo Petro vowed to prioritize the implementation of the peace deal between the government and the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC, which includes the restitution of land.
However, land restitution in the first 17 months of the Petro administration was only half of what it was in the last 17 of former President Ivan Duque, an outspoken opponent of the peace process, according to Forjando Futuros.
Comparing the last 17 months of the Duque government with the first 17 months of the Petro government, the situation is alarming. Under Petro, 71,000 hectares have been restituted, compared to 161,000 hectares restituted during the similar period in the previous administration.
Forjando Futuros
In order to speed up the process, the NGO urged the government to prioritize the restitution of land of which the legal ownership isn’t challenged by alleged land thieves.
In more than 76,000 cases, the government can return dispossessed land plots without any opposition, said Forjando Futuros in its report.
In order to implement restitution through administrative channels, what is required is political will. If this is done, 3.6 million hectares could be restituted with greater efficiency and speed, which would represent a significant advance in justice for the victims of the armed conflict.
Forjando Futuros
According to the Truth Commission, more than 537,000 families lost their lands because of violence and land theft between 1995 and 2013.
