Who Owns What in Macondo? The Flexibilization of the Rules of Evidence in Land Restitution in Colombia

Abstract

Land restitution programmes, as part of transitional justice systems, make victims face obstacles to prove their material and legal relationship with their dispossessed land. The literature suggests that these obstacles can be overcome by changing the rules of evidence, such as reversing the burden of proof, introducing different legal presumptions and adopting alternative forms of evidence. In Colombia, the Land Restitution Law introduced changes to the rules of evidence for processing land restitution claims. In this article, we claim that this flexibilization of the rules of evidence is essential to guarantee the restitution of property rights to victims, based on a comparison of the evidentiary rules that must be fulfilled by the victims of land dispossession under two transitional justice systems, both of which have been implemented in Colombia in recent years.

Analysis of the Colombian Constitutional Court's Transformative Approach to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

“…Similarly, advocates of feminist and transformative justice emphasize transformative measures that foster women's economic, social and political rights, such as land restitution for women and ethnic minorities (Meertens and Zambrano, 2010; Ruiz González et al, 2021) and fostering women's political organization and participation (Lemaitre, 2016; Lemaitre and Sandvik, 2014; Phelan and True, 2022; Weber, 2018). The aim here is to revert gender inequalities and hierarchies that were already present prior to the conflict.…”

The making of the citizen in Colombia: Transitional assemblages, civic education, and the long quest for peace

“…From this process, Law 975 or Justice and Peace Law (J&P) entered into force in 2005, generating doubts and greater divisions due to generous penal benefits to paramilitaries and deficient redress to victims (Velásquez Ruíz, 2018). Contrastingly, Law 1448 of 2011, or Victims and Land Restitution Law (V&LR), prompted a more comprehensive project of transitional justice aiming to undertake integral reparation to victims through institutional re-design and mechanisms to prove land dispossession (Ruiz González et al, 2021). Whereas J&P granted reduced or alternative sentences once paramilitaries provided full confession of crimes (focus on offenders), V&LR targeted victims’ right to reparations (focus on the injured party).…”

Entre la legalidad y la crimilegalidad: El papel de los notarios en el sistema (I)legal colombiano

“…Un número considerable de estos empresarios conformó una empresa ganadera llamada Guacamayas S. A., la cual fue absorbida por la empresa Inversiones e Inmobiliaria ASA S. A. (Ruiz González et al, 2021).…”