Unresolved Transitions: Paths to Interculturality in the Integral System Toward Peace in Colombia

Transiciones inconclusas: los caminos de la interculturalidad en el Sistema Integral para la Paz en Colombia

This article addresses the advances in Colombian transitional justice, sanctioned by the Final Peace Agreement in 2016. A central argument is that ethnic organizations have been central actors to the design and implementation of the Special Peace Jurisdiction (Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz —JEP—), the Committee for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Repetition (Comisión para el Esclarecimiento de la Verdad, la Convivencia y no Repetición —CEV—) and, at a lesser extent, the Missing Persons Search Unit (Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas dadas por Desaparecidas —UBPD—). Furthermore, we discuss frictions, constraints, and conflicts that have emerged in the wake of the recognition of ethnic diversity in these transitional mechanisms. In a critical and reflexive way, we analyze discourse and practices tied to liberal multiculturalism and explore alternatives through the lens of ethnic movements. No matter how complex the path toward interculturality is, it allows to reach a transforming approach and guarantee non-continuity of structural violences related to institutions reluctant to think themselves from critical interculturality.