Peace deal

Colombians vote Sunday, October 2, on historic peace deal with FARC

Apretón de manos del Presidente Santos y Rodrigo Londoño, jefe de las Farc, tras la firma del histórico Acuerdo Final de Paz en Cartagena. foto: Juan Pablo Bello - SIG

After more than fifty years of conflict, Colombia is poised to vote on a historic peace deal with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

On Sunday, October 2, Colombians will cast their ballots to determine whether they accept the terms of the agreement negotiated in Havana in August and signed yesterday, September 26, in Cartagena by President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño.

The lengthy agreement covers six points that tackle some of the issues that caused the conflict, such as an agrarian development policy that includes land redistribution and solutions for illegal crops and their sale, addressing drugs from a public health perspective.

The FARC will also have the right to form a political party and have seats guaranteed in the Colombian parliament, but it will also have six months to lay down its arms. The deal also calls for the creation of a “Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition”, consisting of different judicial and extrajudicial mechanisms to solve the crimes that have been committed.

In support of the agreement, more than 40 human rights organizations from South America, including Conectas, released a public statement endorsing the “yes” vote to end the conflict.

• Read the statement in full.
• Read the interview with Nélson Camilo Sánchez, of DeJusticia, on the peace deal.

According to the organizations, the agreement establishes a process for strengthening democracy and identifying the best guarantees to assure the rights of the conflict’s nearly eight million victims.

“At this time, it is best to assess the agreement as a whole in light of the long and complex process of negotiations that gave rise to it,” said the organizations in the statement. Putting an end to the war implies halting the gross and systematic violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law that afflict the Colombian population, and rural communities in particular.”