Colombia holds a dark record among Latin American countries: more than 400 human rights defenders were killed since 2016, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This violence reveals the many challenges the country faces, since an ambitious peace agreement was signed by the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) in 2016, ending a decades-long armed conflict.
The peace process since then has been permanently under attack. Other armed groups filled the void left behind by a demobilised FARC, among them newly (re-) formed guerilla groups or paramilitary drug gangs. As was to be expected reconciliation in such a conflict-ridden country must go a long way; there are some core factors which are a cause and consequence of the many conflicts in the country. If these are not resolved, it will be hard to achieve true pacification. In particular, of focus is the unequal access to, and distribution of, land.
LAND RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
As Human Rights Watch reports, most of the killings of human rights defenders occur in remote and rural areas, where the state has limited reach and armed groups control illegal economies particularly around coca cultivation.
Most farmers and communities in rural Colombia have few possibilities to defend their land as many lack formally legitimate tenure rights. Furthermore, in the case of Indigenous groups, their customary rights – the unwritten set of rules allowing them to use land according to their customs - are often ignored. This can lead to forced eviction and displacement of farmers and Indigenous communities.
Insecure land rights are a global problem but have particularly severe consequences in post-conflict settings, as in Colombia. Many conflicts here arise around land issues and threaten the already fragile security situation. Without these issues resolved, food security, social justice, and sustainable development cannot be achieved on a broader level.
Land rights give people the right to use the land and to control how their land is used. They also aim to protect people from illegal expropriation of their land. However, according to the World Bank, the majority of people in the world have no legally registered rights to their land; only 30% hold land titles. In Colombia, up to 60% of the rural population do not possess formal land titles.
This clearly discourages investments in land and undermines economic development. But many investments already made or undertaken now are conducted in an irresponsible manner, and these are not limited to the illegal drug economy. Large-scale economic activities pose a threat to the rights of rural workers and Indigenous communities, although there are internationally recognised principles on agriculture and food security, such as the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems and the FAO´s Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT). The VGGT refer to states’ existing obligations under international law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. Colombia has endorsed the VGGT in 2012 and therefore is obliged to follow its human rights approach. However, reports on human rights violations especially among the rural population continue to be disturbing.
LAND RIGHTS PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT AND SLOW DOWN CLIMATE CHANGE
Widespread unsustainable resource extraction or agriculture and forestry in Colombia not only affects human rights issues. It also harms the rich biodiversity of the country. The Convention on Biological Diversity designates Colombia as “megadiverse”. Ten percent of the planet´s biodiversity is located there. About 52 % of the country - more than 60 million hectares - is covered by tropical forests. But these are at risk, as Colombia is one of the countries with the highest deforestation rates worldwide. According to Global Forest Watch, Colombia lost 320,000 hectares of natural forest in 2020 alone.
To a large extent, deforestation arises out of unclear and insufficiently documented land tenure. Land pollution and land degradation are the consequences. As tree cover loss leads to carbon dioxide emissions, this also affects the biggest challenge the world is facing: climate change.
International development goals and treaties like the Paris Agreement on climate change clearly refer to this in many ways, and therefore also draw emphasis to land. Land is also recognised as playing a pivotal role in achieving several of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), such as SDG 1.4 (fair access to land) and SDG 15 (life on land). But Colombia still has a far way to go in tackling these issues.
A ROCKY ROAD TO PEACE
The country´s economic performance over the last decade has been quite remarkable. The pandemic however jeopardised the achieved success and slowed down progress. In any case, there has always been an imbalance in regional developments all along the way of Colombia´s road to peace, and many people continue to live in poverty. In rural areas, extreme poverty is three times higher than in urban areas. People there lack access to the most basic services. Especially marginalised and vulnerable people, among them Indigenous groups and small farmers, have not benefitted from any development, while COVID-19 now hits them extra hard.
To improve the living and working conditions of the rural population, the 2016 peace agreement foresaw a land reform, with the aim of granting land to landless farmers and providing landholders with legal documentation on land tenure. Implementing this reform is crucial to pacifying the country. However, the planning, management and use of land needs to be further improved. No cadastral record exists for 28 % of Colombia's territory. Where information is available, it is usually outdated. There is no publicly accessible information system. Inconsistent technical standards for cadastral surveying lead to incorrectly recorded land areas and values as well as low property tax revenues.
This poses a serious problem as the number of land restitution applications in Colombia is high, and court decisions on these claims lag far behind – an important factor in keeping conflicts over land simmering. The roots of the high number and variety of land conflicts do not solely go back to the colonial era, but also to the recent armed conflict with its widespread forced migratory movements of people. Another sad record Colombia holds: it belongs to the countries with the highest number of internally displaced people in the world, with more than 8 million people registered as such.
LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND
The people who have yet not benefitted enough from the progress the country made since the peace agreement are many local communities who live on the land without proper land tenure rights, among them many Indigenous groups. These groups are believed to contribute more to the conservation of their natural livelihoods than anyone else, and they could effectively counteract deforestation if they had secure land rights. Many of those defending their rights are threatened or, as we have seen above, their leaders even killed. Collective land rights (“resguardos”) are often not respected adequately, although the Colombian constitution guarantees the rights and self-determination of the country's ethnic groups. Colombia has also committed itself to the protection of Indigenous groups by ratifying Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation.
The Colombian constitution furthermore values gender equality which is reflected in various laws (e.g., Law 731 of 2002 on improving the quality of life of rural women). However, it is much harder for women to gain access to land, many of them had been displaced during the conflict. Only a very small percentage of rural women can own land. Even fewer have the necessary documents to prove their rights as landowners. Moreover, many women are often unaware of their rights.
THE WAY AHEAD
Colombia wants to tackle all this with its National Development Plan 2018-2022 (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, PND) and aims to cover 60% of the land in a multipurpose cadastre by 2022 and 100% by 2025. Law 1955 of 2019 and Decree 148 of 2020 provide the legal framework. The National Development Plan has set an ambitious goal. Its implementation will face many challenges, but the efforts currently undertaken seem promising.
Securing land tenure and land use would provide landowners with a long-term perspective. If local communities were granted comprehensive land rights and if they could rely on their enforcement, this would contribute to the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity, increase a sustainable management of agricultural and forestry land, and reduce deforestation.
Transparent land governance would also tackle corruption and attract investments which can boost development if they are in line with principles as the VGGT and the CFS RAI. The inclusion and participation of local populations, including farmers, indigenous groups and women, in the elaboration of the multipurpose cadastre is hereby key. All of this should play a critical role throughout Colombia´s efforts to improve its human rights record.
Jan Schulz is a social anthropologist and works as a consultant in the development aid sector, focusing on land rights and conflict sensitivity. He has been active in various NGO-campaigns for peace and disarmament, as well as on human rights violations and environmental crimes.