Diseño institucional y Justicia Transicional: un análisis de la política de restitución de tierras en Colombia
| Autor | Nelson Camilo Sánchez, Karolina Naranjo Velasco |
| Cargo | Assistant Professor of Law, General Faculty, University of Virginia School of Law, and a Director at the UKRI Gender, Justice and Security Hub. / Ph.D Student, School of Data Science at the University of Virginia. |
| Páginas | 225-258 |
NELSON CAMILO-SÁNCHEZ*
KAROLINA NARANJO-VELASCO**
Institutional Design and Transitional
Justice: An Analysis of Colombia’s
Land Restitution Policy***-****
Diseño institucional y Justicia
Transicional: un análisis de la política
de restitución de tierras en Colombia
ABSTRACT
This paper examines over 12 years of the implementation of Colombia’s land
restitution policy to provide insight into the ongoing debate over effective
institutions for managing property disputes in contexts of violence and inequi-
table access to land. The authors compiled statistical information on processed
claims, conducted interviews and focus group discussions, and analyzed over
860 decisions retrieved from the government agency website to provide a
comprehensive analysis of the reasons why the Colombian Land Restitution
Bureau has rejected over 65% of all the claims it has received. The study
makes significant contributions to the literature on transitional justice (TJ)
and land governance in three key aspects: by providing empirical evidence,
connecting the literature on transitional bureaucracies with empirical findings,
* Assistant Professor of Law, General Faculty, University of Virginia School of Law,
and a Director at the UKRI Gender, Justice and Security Hub. Email: csanchez@law.virginia.edu
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6927-3889
** Ph.D Student, School of Data Science at the University of Virginia. Email: kn3cs@
virginia.edu. ORCID ID: 0009-0006-4886-0714
*** The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation for the guidance provided
by Associate Professor Jonathan Kropko, Ph.D., from the UVA Data Science School. They would
also like to acknowledge the valuable feedback received from Professors Eric Wiebelhaus-
Graham, Mohamed Sesay, and Randle DeFalco on earlier versions of this paper. Additionally,
the authors extend their gratitude to Aaron Acosta, Felipe Barraza, Mario Trivino, and Sabrina
Surgil for their exceptional research assistance. The research conducted for this paper was made
possible by the generous financial support of the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)
through the UKRI Gender, Justice, and Security Hub. Any errors that remain in this paper are the
sole responsibility of the authors.
**** Received on April 8th, 2023, approved on June 27th, 2023.
To quote the article: Sánchez, N. C. & Naranjo-Velasco, K. Institutional Design and Tran-
sitional Justice: An Analysis of Colombia’s Land Restitution Policy. In Revista Derecho del
Estado, Universidad Externado de Colombia. No. 57, septiembre-diciembre, 2023, 225-258.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18601/01229893.N57.09
Revista Derecho del Estado n.º 56, mayo - agosto de 2023, pp. 225-258
226 Nelson Camilo Sánchez - Karolina Naranjo-Velasco
Revista Derecho del Estado n.º 57, september-december 2023, pp. 225-258
and contributing to a better understanding of the design and functioning of
TJ structures related to land. The authors argue that while innovative nor-
mative frameworks and high-level political initiatives are necessary for the
successful implementation of TJ mechanisms, additional factors needed to be
considered to explain the success or failure of such mechanisms. The paper
draws upon academic literature, analyzes the main features of the Colombian
restitution model, and concludes by providing insights into the limitations of
institutional reform in transitional contexts.
KEY WORDS
Land restitution, transitional justice, property disputes, institutional reform,
Colombia.
RESUMEN
Este artículo analiza la implementación de la política de restitución de tierras
de Colombia durante más de 12 años, con el objetivo de proporcionar infor-
mación sobre el debate acerca del desempeño y la eficacia de las instituciones
para abordar los problemas de propiedad en contextos de conflicto armado y
acceso desigual a la tierra. Los autores recopilaron información estadística sobre
las reclamaciones tramitadas, realizaron entrevistas y discusiones en grupos
focales y analizaron más de 860 decisiones extraídas de la página web de la
agencia gubernamental para comprender por qué la Agencia para la Restitución
de Tierras de Colombia ha rechazado más del 65 % de todas las reclamaciones
recibidas. El artículo busca contribuir a la literatura sobre justicia transicional
(JT) y gobernanza de la tierra de tres maneras: proporciona pruebas empíricas,
facilita la conexión entre los hallazgos empíricos y la literatura sobre burocra-
cias transicionales, y mejora la comprensión del diseño y funcionamiento de
las burocracias JT relacionadas con la tierra. Los autores sostienen que, si bien
los marcos normativos innovadores y los impulsos políticos al más alto nivel
son necesarios para una implementación de los mecanismos de justicia transi-
cional de manera exitosa, es necesario ofrecer una explicación más detallada
del éxito o fracaso de dichos mecanismos. El artículo se centra en la literatura
académica, examina las principales características del modelo de restitución
colombiano, y concluye con una serie de reflexiones sobre los límites de la
reforma institucional en contextos de transición.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Restitución de tierras, Justicia Transicional, Disputas sobre la propiedad,
reformas institucionales, Colombia.
227
Institutional Design and Transitional Justice: An Analysis
Revista Derecho del Estado n.º 57, september-december 2023, pp. 225-258
SUMMARY
Introduction. 1. Assessing Land Reform Institutions in Transitional Contexts.
1.1. The Push for International Standards and Good Practices. 1.2. The Lim-
its of Institutional Reform in Transitional Contexts. 1.3. Bureaucracies and
Transition. 2. The Colombian Restitution System. 2.1. The Design. 2.2. The
URT’s Humanitarian and Traditional Bureaucracies. 2.3. The Implementation
Gap. 3. Research and Discussion. 3.1. Political Influence. 3.2. A Pro-Status
Quo Institutional Culture. 3.2.1. The Withdrawls. 3.2.2. Reasoned Rejections.
3.2.3. The Lack of Judicial Challenge of Rejections. Conclusion. References.
INTRODUCTION
The restitution of land dispossessed during armed conflict and massive re-
pression has proven to be a worldwide challenge.1 The implementation of
large-scale property restitution programs, particularly those involving rural
communities, continues to generate more frustration than satisfaction.2 Consid-
ering the complexity of resolving property disputes in contexts characterized
by pervasive violence and inequitable access to land, there is intense debate
deliberation institutions suitable for the purpose.3
This paper examines twelve years of implementing Colombia’s land res-
titution policy to contribute to this discussion. In 2011, Colombia created
a mixed transitional mechanism divided into administrative and judicial
stages, with the former being a prerequisite for the latter. The system has
shown relative efficiency in managing received claims, possibly suggesting
the adequacy of its institutional design. However the majority of cases were
dismissed during the early administrative stage without undergoing judicial
review. Since the government does not disclose its individual decisions, the
reasons for such rejections remain unknown.4 As a result, victims and activists
1 Perhaps the most studied example is South Africa. After three decades of post-apartheid
land reform, the country is currently contemplating new mechanisms for managing outstanding
land claims. It is important to note that this is not the first reform of the system. Since 1994,
various land committees, restitution courts, commissioners, masters, and other types of admin-
istrators have been appointed to address the slow progress of the policy. Despite these efforts,
the majority of South Africans still believe that the country needs to find an effective formula
to achieve equity in land ownership. See, Kirsten & Sihlobo, 2021; Walker et al., 2010; DRDLR,
2019; Cohen, 2021.
2 Ballard, M. J. “Post-Conflict Property Restitution: Flawed Legal and Theoretical
Foundations”. In Berkeley Journal of International Law, 28, 2010; Fay, D., & James, D. (Eds.).
The rights and wrongs of land restitution: restoring what was ours, 2009.
3 Unruh, J., Abdul-Jalil, M.A. “Housing, Land and Property Rights in Transitional Jus-
tice”. In International Journal of Transitional Justice, 15, March 1, 2021
4 Counter, M. “In Good Faith: Land Grabbing, Legal Dispossession, and Land Restitu-
tion in Colombia”. In Journal of Latin American Geography, 18(1), 2019, 172
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