The Church of Sweden’s
position on peace and human
rights in Colombia
position paper adopted by the commission for international mission and diaconia on 31 may 2012
Summary
This position paper aims to show how the Church of Sweden works to contribute to the creation of conditions in Colombia that enable the establishment of a lasting and sustainable peace.
The advocacy work that the Church of Sweden performs in Sweden and Colombia and at EU,
inter-American and global levels with its partners, is a key part of these efforts. This position
paper outlines the Church of Sweden’s analysis of the situation in Colombia on which it bases
its advocacy work, as well as the issues that form the focus of the advocacy work
The advocacy work conducted by the Church of Sweden is based on the belief that as part of
the worldwide church, the Church of Sweden has been called upon to work globally and locally
for a just and healed world by conveying the theology of reconciliation. It is also based on the
analysis that we as a church have special potential to work towards and take part in discussions
on peace and reconciliation – with credibility. The work of the Church of Sweden in Colombia
is based on its work with the Lutheran Church in Colombia, that invited the Lutheran World
Federation to work there.
The overall position is that:
The Church of Sweden undertakes to work towards a lasting and sustainable peace in
Colombia with our partners and within the networks and forums in which we have a
presence and are active.
This overall position is illustrated by seven strategic positions that deal with the following areas:
• Lasting peace in Colombia requires a solution based on negotiation, with broad-based
participation from a wide range of actors in society and to which civil society organisations can make important contributions.
• The rights of victims to truth, justice and reparation must be recognised.
• Impunity in Colombia must be put to an end.
• Perpetrators of human rights violations, including state actors, such as members of the
security forces, must be brought to justice and held accountable for those crimes.
• Human rights defenders must be provided with necessary and effective protection of
their life and physical integrity to enable them to continue their work without risk.
• Internally displaced and other victims of the conflict who have been deprived of their
land shall have this restituted or receive acceptable compensation.
• The rights of indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian groups to development in
accordance with their own needs and interests must be respected.
• The national system for humanitarian assistance must be made effective and must be
characterised by transparency and participation.
The Church of Sweden stands up for those who experience marginalisation and discrimination and who are denied their human rights. It supports agents of positive change. Its aim is
to contribute to transforming violent conflicts and building a culture of peace. To achieve
this, long-term commitments to strengthening local communities and creating awareness and
knowledge of human rights are required.
The Church of Sweden should use the forums to which it has access in order to draw attention
to the gross human rights violations that take place in Colombia, and to offer partners, grass-
position paper 2
roots organisations and those who have personally experienced such violations access to these forums. The Church
of Sweden should also draw attention to the permanent humanitarian crisis that is taking place in the country as a
result of the armed conflict.
position paper 3
1. Introduction
The Church of Sweden started working in Colombia in
2001 on humanitarian projects for internally displaced
persons (IDPs). These projects were implemented by
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) along with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO).
Church of Sweden supports the programme through its
own funds, plus funds from the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and EuropeAid, and is one of the partner organisations of the
European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO).
IELCO later asked the LWF to open a country programme in Colombia due to the humanitarian crisis
resulting from the armed conflict. In 2005 the LWF
went on an assessment mission to the country, after
which it resolved to establish a Colombia programme.
The LWF’s country office opened in Bogotá in 2007.
In its strategic plan, the LWF defines advocacy as an important method for achieving its goals and results. The
Church of Sweden’s strategic plan for its international
work states that, along with all churches in the worldwide church, the Church of Sweden is called upon to
participate in the ministry of reconciliation. Colombia is
mentioned in particular as one of the countries in which
severe conflicts in society must be dealt with from both
a rights and a reconciliation approach.2 Advocacy is an
important method for working towards and demanding respect for human rights. The Church of Sweden
wants to contribute to the establishment of a lasting and
sustainable peace in Colombia, in which human rights
are respected, based on the Church’s prophetic mission
of pointing out injustices and giving a voice to people
living in vulnerable situations. The Church of Sweden
has carried out advocacy work for several years towards
achieving these long-term goals; this has included its
work within the Swedish platform for Colombia.3
The LWF is the Church of Sweden’s largest implementing partner in Colombia. In its country strategy for
Colombia, the LWF states that it wishes to empower vulnerable groups and expand their capacity to deal with and
reduce the vulnerability they experience that is caused by
the internal armed conflict and natural disasters.1
The LWF’s country programme in Colombia is founded
on a rights-based approach and can be summarised by
three overarching themes: human rights, sustainable
livelihoods and humanitarian action. The programme
aims to strengthen civil society through support to local
organisations (human rights organisations, farmer organisations and organisations for indigenous peoples and
Afro-Colombians). The country office also implements
humanitarian projects itself. The programme’s geographical focus is Arauca, Chocó and Cundinamarca.
Its focus and working method are in line with the Church
of Sweden’s work, founded on a rights-based and
reconciliation approach and a perspective of sustainable livelihoods.
This position paper sets out the Church of Sweden’s
position in relation to the human rights situation in
Colombia and the serious humanitarian crisis that is also
a result of the ongoing armed conflict in the country.
The paper also states the role that the Church of Sweden
and its partners can play in jointly promoting a lasting
peace with respect for human rights.
Background situation in Colombia
The Church of Sweden and LWF Colombia work
closely together and Church of Sweden personnel have
been seconded to the programme since 2009. The
The internal armed conflict in Colombia that has
continued unabated for almost half a century involves
1 Promoción de derechos humanos, desarrollo sustentable y acciones humanitarias en Colombia, 2010-2015, Estrategia de país, Federación
Luterana Mundial / Departamento para Servicio Mundial Programa Colombia, November 2009.
2 Page 3, 4th paragraph of Svenska kyrkans uppdrag i en global värld: Strategisk plan för Svenska kyrkans internationella verksamhet [The
Church of Sweden’s task in a global world: Strategic plan for the Church of Sweden’s international work], 2008
3 Since the end of the 1990s, Colombiagruppen – the Swedish platform for Colombia – has functioned as an informal network of the following
organisations: Civis, Diakonia, ST – The Swedish Union of Civil Servants, Forum Syd, the Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR), the
Foundation for Human Rights, Adoptionscentrum, Save the Children Sweden, the Swedish Red Cross and the Church of Sweden. The Swedish
Section of Amnesty International and Peace Brigades International are observers.
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armed paramilitary groups4, their successors, guerrilla
movements5 and the Colombian military. All parties
involved in conflicts commit serious and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
The majority of the victims of these violations continue to
be civilians. The internal armed conflict has resulted in an
ongoing humanitarian crisis with estimates of 3.7 to 5.3
million IDPs who have been displaced over the years.6
All armed parties to the conflict continue to use military strategies in indiscriminate attacks on civilians,
with theaim of weakening what they see as the civilian
population’s support for “the enemy”.7 Entire villages
are being labelled as “sympathising” with the enemy.
Some of the groups systematically subjected to violations
are human rights defenders, community leaders, trade
unionists, farmers, indigenous peoples and AfroColombian groups. The conflict is most intense in
areas of strategic importance to the parties to the conflict, such as regions that are attractive in terms of
mining, agro-industrial development or energy extraction,
along with the “land corridors” used for transporting drugs from places where coca is grown
and produced to places where the drugs are transported
over the borders and out of Colombia.
Colombia is a country with highly unequal distribution
of wealth, with economic, social and political injustices lying behind the country’s protracted conflict; the
unequal land distribution is particularly highlighted as
one of the most important root causes of the conflict.
Furthermore, the conflict itself has exacerbated this,
through forcible displacement of small-scale farmers
from their land. This land has subsequently been taken
over by companies or big landowners. After so many
years of incredibly violent armed conflict, the country
now finds itself in a spiral of violence where violence
breeds new violence, and where the government has
neither the will nor the capacity to exercise control over
the territory. In large parts of the country, neither state civilian institutions nor the security forces have a presence.
The current president, Juan Manuel Santos, was elected
president in 2010. Since then, he has adopted legislation
(in 2011) that aims to compensate victims of the conflict
and restitute land to them. This legislation has given rise
to major hopes, but it remains to be seen whether it will
be implemented. The FARC has been weakened militarily in recent years and has also lost several of its most
senior leaders, but the organisation has regrouped and in
2011, the number of attacks by the FARC has allegedly
increased for the third year in a row.8 The prospects of
negotiated peace are very difficult to predict. They are
strongly influenced by the current political debate and
events in the armed conflict. During 2011 and continuing
into 2012, Congress has consided several laws presented
as “Marco legal para la paz” – i.e. a legal framework for
peace. Legislation that recognises the right of victims to
recover the land they have lost is crucial, provided that it
is implemented in the right way. But parts of the legislation presented within the scope of the “legal framework
for peace” give cause for concern, as they could contribute to maintaining impunity and also include military
jurisdiction. In both national and international cases
heard in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights,9
the Colombian army has been convicted of severe and
systematic violations of human rights amounting to
crimes against humanity. Furthermore, several of these
sentences have established that these crimes have been
committed in collaboration with paramilitary groups.
4 Between 2003 and 2006, a demobilisation process took place between the government and paramilitary groups in which more than 30,000
people were demobilised.
5 The two largest guerrilla groups are the FARC and the ELN. The FARC, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia [the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia], founded in 1964 on Leninist-Marxist ideology, considers itself to be an anti-imperialistic peasant army. The ELN, Ejército de
Liberación Nacional [the National Liberation Army], was founded in 1964 on Marxist ideology.
6 The Colombian government has reported that 3.7 million people became IDPs in Colombia from 1997 until May 2011 inclusive. CODHES,
a recognised NGO that has worked with the rights of IDPs since 1985, registered 5.3 million IDPs from 1985 until June 2011 inclusive.
According to CODHES, the number of IDPs rose during 2011.
7 The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia (La Fiscalía General de la Nación) is investigating more than 27,000 cases of enforced
disappearance that have occurred within the scope of the conflict.
8 Arco Iris states that during 2011, the FARC carried out 2,148 attacks; see page 18, Informe anual de Arco Iris, Política y violencia;
Las cuentas no son tan alegres, 2011.
9 The Inter-American Court was established in 1978 and is part of the American continent’s regional system of protection for human rights. The
Court is part of the OAS (Organization for American States) system and receives its mandate from the OAS charter and the American Convention
on Human Rights. The Inter-American Court is responsible for legal monitoring of the agreements entered into through ratification of various
inter-American conventions.
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Groups already in vulnerable situations, severely
affected by the conflict, were further affected by extremely heavy periods of rain in 2010 and 2011. In 2011
Colombia had double the amount of rainfall compared
to an average year, and the rainy seasons were the
wettest in 40 years. The second rainy period that
started in September 2011 hit Colombia’s Pacific and
Caribbean coasts hard. According to the national
state system for disaster management – “Sistema
nacional para la prevención y atención de desastres” –
100,000 people lost their homes between September
and November.
People who actively take a stand against violence and
fight for their own and other people’s human rights take
enormous risks of being subjected to violence themselves, but despite this there is a strong and extremely
vigorous civil society in Colombia. There are many
large, well-renowned national organisations for
human rights that have criticised violations of human
rights and presented cases to different human rights
bodies within the UN and to the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights. Those who perhaps run the greatest
risk are human rights defenders at a local level. Despite
the risks, there are also many grassroots organisations
that bring together indigenous peoples, small-scale
farmers, women, young people and students, trade
unionists or those who represent the victims of violence.
It is crucial to continue to support these organisations
and civil society as a whole in their demands for respect
for human rights and reparation for those whose
human rights have been violated. This is exactly the
kind of work that the LWF conducts in Colombia and
that the Church of Sweden supports.
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2. The Church of Sweden’s position
Overall position
The Church of Sweden is committed to contribute to the work that is being done to create conditions for a lasting
and sustainable peace in Colombia with our partners and within the networks and forums in which we have a
presence and are active.
Strategic positions
• Lasting peace in Colombia can only be achieved
through a peace process that allows for broad
participation from a wide range of actors in society.
Civil society has an important role to play, with its
many organisations that represent large groups in
society that have personally experienced human
rights violations.
• The victims’ rights must be recognised and they
must be granted integral reparation within the
framework of a future peace process.
• The Colombian government must combat impunity, ensuring that its legal system has sufficient
resources to handle cases in order to take action
against violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
• The Colombian government must recognise the
role that state institutions, including the military,
have played in the armed conflict. All victims of the
conflict are entitled to truth, justice and reparation
for the violations they have been subjected to.
• The government must provide effective protection
of the life and physical integrity of all those who
demand and defend their own human rights and
those of others10. The protection offered must be
provided in consultation with – and implemented
together with – the groups and individuals to be
protected. Security mechanisms should be adapted
to meet the needs of particularly vulnerable groups
such as indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians,
human rights defenders in rural areas, and women.
• Those who have been forced to leave their land must
have their land restituted.
• The rights of indigenous people and Afro-Colombians
to land must be respected. The government must
recognise the right of indigenous peoples to decide
on the kind of development that takes place on their
lands and territories in accordance with their own
priorities and cultures. The link between land and
culture is vital to enable these groups to maintain
their livelihood, culture and identity as a people.
It is vital that they are able to regain the land they
have lost in the conflict, and that they are not offered
other, alternative land against their will. The
government must provide resources to promote and
support a small-scale agrarian model that gives
small-scale farmers effective opportunities to keep
their land and ensure their own food security.
• The government must ensure that a functioning
system for humanitarian action is in place11. Such a
system must be characterised by participation and
transparency, building up the capacity and preparedness of local communities to handle emergencies
caused by the armed conflict as well as caused by
natural disasters.
The view of the Church of Sweden
regarding Sweden’s role
Sweden has played an important role in Colombia in
terms of enabling a dialogue that may lead to lasting
peace in the country. Sweden has consistently endeavoured to ensure the participation of civil society in
discussions on peace, and has particularly highlighted
the importance of including women in peace processes
and in the dialogues that are held. Sweden has worked
to encourage respect for human rights and to emphasise
that lasting peace can only be achieved through broad
participation, with large parts of society being involved in a process in which the truth about violations
of human rights is investigated and victims obtain
10 There are national systems to protect human rights defenders, provide witness protection, and provide protection for people such as union
leaders. For decades these protection systems have been criticised by international organisations for human rights and the people to be protected, as they do not take into consideration the needs of those who require protection or involve these people in decisions on how the protection
should be structured.
11 There is a national system for disaster management but it suffers from major problems. In many cases, matters are dealt with incredibly slowly.
Those affected are not involved and when help does reach them, it is often inadequate.
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redress through recognition of, and reparation for, what
has happened.
The Church of Sweden urges the
government of Sweden:
• to continue to take the position that lasting peace,
reconciliation and development can only be achieved through a process of negotiation that involves a
wide range of actors in society, with women being
involved at all levels of the process in line with UN
Resolution 1325.
• to continue its work towards ensuring that human
rights are respected and measures are taken against
the widespread impunity for human rights violations by continuing to utilise the opportunities
provided by a combination of political dialogue and
development cooperation.
• individually and together with other EU Member
States, to apply the EU’s various guidelines regarding human rights. Those guidelines applicable
to human rights defenders12 can help to protect such
defenders in concrete terms and put political pressure
on Colombia to guarantee their protection.
• to continue to build bridges between the government,
other political actors and civil society organisations
to reduce tension and polarisation in public debate,
and to recognise the peaceful work of civil society as
important and legitimate.
• to work actively towards ensuring that Swedish companies with a presence in Colombia recognize their
responsibility for human rights and make impact
assessments of how their business may influence the
armed conflict and the human rights situation.
• to particularly draw attention to the vulnerable
position of indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians so that they are able to benefit fully from their
human rights; this is in line with Sweden’s goal to
work towards respect for human rights and a reduction in political, economic and social alienation.
The role of the Church of Sweden
in relation to its partners
The Church of Sweden is part of the worldwide church.
This gives rise to a number of opportunities and challenges as regards work on peace and human rights.
Through its role in the worldwide church, the Church
of Sweden is called upon to work globally and locally
towards a healed and just world, and it also conveys the
theology of reconciliation.
Being a church makes it possible to seek dialogue on
issues of peace and reconciliation in a credible way.13
Independently and along with its partners and networks,
the Church of Sweden should use these special opportunities to work towards peace and reconciliation in
Colombia, so that people can obtain truth and reparation
in relation to the violations they have been subjected to.
Along with its partners in Colombia, the Church of
Sweden is taking a stand for those who are subjected to
discrimination and denied their rights, and is working
with them in order to support agents of positive change.
During the Decade to Overcome Violence, an initiative
of the World Council of Churches, the Church adopted a clear stance in favour of conflict-transformation,
of which reconciliation work is a natural component.
Such an approach means long-term commitments to
strengthen local communities and increase awareness and
knowledge of human rights so that a culture of peace can
be created. The work of the LWF in Colombia has exactly
this focus. The Church of Sweden should clarify that its
support for this work in Colombia is part of its work
on conflict transformation that may lead to breaking the
cycle of structural violence that exists in Colombia and
that may contribute to creating lasting peace.
The Church of Sweden’s position in society and presence
in church, interfaith and other networks should be used
at national, regional and global level14 to draw attention
12 Ensuring protection – European Union Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, June 2004
13 The World Council of Churches (WCC) made the following statement regarding the responsibility of churches for healing processes in communities and reconciliation work: “The churches have a pastoral responsibility to help the healing processes in their communities by encouraging
people to share their memories, by working to build a collective history of a conflict and by preaching forgiveness and reconciliation. WCC
studies in recent years have shown how essential this work is to the process leading to reconciliation. This is reflected in the priority the
Central Committee has given to the role of the churches in reconciliation in making it one of the major emphases of the Decade to Overcome
Violence.” The protection of endangered populations in situations of armed violence: Toward an Ecumenical Ethical Approach, item 24, The
Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, meeting in Potsdam, 29 January–6 February 2001.
14 In one of his reports to the General Assembly, the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan highlighted the potential of faith communities
to act in conflicts due to their moral authority and the fact that they emphasise “the common humanity of all parties to a conflict”;
see A/55/985-S/2001/574; Prevention of Armed Conflict, 2001.
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to the violations of human rights that occur in Colombia, and to demand respect for these rights. The Church
of Sweden wishes to offer partners, grassroots organisations and people who have been subjected to violations
access to the above mentioned forum by inviting them to
Sweden, the EU or elsewhere.
By working in alliance with other actors in Colombia,
Sweden and Europe and at global level who share our
analysis of the causes of the conflict in Colombia, we
are able to raise the profile of our partners’ work in
Colombia and clearly carry out advocacy based on our
basic assumptions on respect for human rights as a
means of establishing peace in Colombia.
The joint project recently initiated in Colombia between
the Church of Sweden and the Swedish Fellowship of
Reconciliation (SweFOR) and the joint work carried
out within the Swedish platform for Colombia, makes
opportunities available to more clearly highlight the use
of non-violent methods and strategies as alternatives to
armed conflict and to protect those who are at risk of
human rights violations.
Since the work in Colombia was initiated, the Church of
Sweden has worked on humanitarian projects there. The
permanent humanitarian crisis taking place in Colombia, caused by the conflict and exacerbated by recurring
natural disasters, has become increasingly invisible. The
Church of Sweden should therefore work to strengthen
the capacity of local communities to manage humanitarian crises themselves. Along with partners, we need to
conduct advocacy work to make the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country visible. The Church of
Sweden should strive to integrate humanitarian efforts
with long-term development work.15 The Church of
Sweden should work to ensure that projects implemented in Colombia continue to contain psychosocial
components, and it has a role to play in identifying how
this working method can be clarified for ECHO16 so
that they accept it within the scope of their projects.
15 For a detailed discussion of humanitarian efforts in conflict areas, see the Church of Sweden’s project Local to global protection: http://www.
local2global.info/
16 The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO)
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Validity of the position paper
This position paper should be revised in 2014 when the Church of Sweden begins a new programme period in order
to ensure that it corresponds with the new programme. The background analysis should also be updated at that time
or earlier if deemed necessary due to radical changes in circumstances.
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Coverphoto: Magnus Aronson/IKON
Fleeing the violence in Colombia. For security reasons the names of the children in the photo are not published.
church of sweden’s international work
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