The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP)’s Investigation and Prosecution Unit (UIA) has received reports on 2,300 cases of sexual violence against women and girls committed during the armed conflict, which will form the basis for identifying patterns of abuse, those responsible, their contributions to the truth, and their legal situation, with those failing to tell the truth facing investigation by the JEP. Until now, cases of sexual violence have been dealt with by the ordinary justice system, with only 2% of them coming to trial. The Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition Integrated System provides a new mechanism for more than 15,000 cases to come to justice, although armed actors have routinely denied the use of sexual violence during the conflict.¹

David Char Navas, former Senator being tried for accepting paramilitary support for his 2002 congressional campaign, has presented the JEP with a proposed productive project in Atlántico as a contribution to the reparation of victims and support for people affected by the violence, and to guarantee his access to the benefits offered by transitional justice. The new cooperative created by the project would benefit more than 200 families through the support of private enterprise, the acquisition of land, technical assistance, training, employment, and the commercialization of maize and sweet chili.²

The Congressional Peace Commission visited the Territorial Training and Reincorporation Space (ETCR) of Mutatá, Antioquia, on 15 October, where former FARC combatants highlighted the lack of resources as a key concern, particularly with regards access to land for their productive projects.³ President Duque also visited an ETCR for the first time on 12 October, meeting with former FARC combatants in Pondores, La Guajira, where he promised GOC support for those people who are “genuinely in the process of demobilization, disarmament, reinsertion, and non-repetition.”⁴ Six months after his capture for suspected drug trafficking, the FARC political party reiterated their calls for humanitarian actions concerning Jesús Santrich on 9 October. A judge from the Bogotá Civil Circuit has also called for him to be allowed to take up his seat in Congress.⁵

There have been more mass displacements since January than in the whole of 2017, and the director of the Victim’s Unit, Ramón Rodríguez, acknowledged on 11 October that all those affected by the conflict will not be compensated before the Victims’ Law expires in 2021.⁶

The ELN reiterated their calls for a bilateral ceasefire this week, whilst also highlighting the intensification of operations against them since Iván Duque took office on 7 August.⁷ The peace negotiations begun during the Santos administration are being evaluated by the GOC, which has repeatedly called for the release of all hostages and the cessation of illegal activities as a prerequisite for the their resumption.⁸ The two sides agreed and implemented a 101-day ceasefire between October 2017 and January 2018, and the guerrilla group implemented a unilateral ceasefire over the legislative and presidential elections this year, but are implicated in continuing displacements⁹ and kidnappings in Catatumbo¹⁰ and Arauca,¹¹ the recruitment of minors in the Chocó,¹² and the murder of three Continental Gold geologists in Antioquia at the beginning of the month, along with FARC dissidents.¹³