Camilo Umaña Hernández, Colombia’s former Deputy Minister of Justice and Brown University professor, spoke Feb. 4 about his experiences working with restorative justice and peacebuilding in Colombia. The talk was organized and facilitated by Professor Anthony Tirado Chase of the Diplomacy & World Affairs (DWA) department, in association with the John Parke Young Initiative on the Global Political Economy.
According to Professor Madeline Baer, who heads the Young Initiative at Occidental College, the purpose of the initiative’s speaker series is to challenge and encourage students to envision alternatives to the status quo of the global political economy.
“We invite speakers who are experts in their field, particularly if they are doing something that aligns with our mission,” Baer said. “We want students to be conscious of the perspectives of countries in the Global South and to hear speakers who are able to challenge the narrative we’re used to hearing in the west.”
Chase said he initially got in contact with Umaña through Thalia González, a former professor at Occidental. According to Chase, Umaña struck him as an interesting option for a speaker due to his work on the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
“My focus has traditionally been on the Arab world and on some of the failures of transitional justice in the region,” Chase said. “Colombia is an interesting point of comparison because it is a region that, like the Middle East, has been plagued by violence. But in 2016, they had this really ambitious attempt at lasting peace and restorative justice. I think there is a lot to learn from that […] in regard to the Arab world, but also back here in the United States.”
According to Umaña, his work as Deputy Minister of Justice in Colombia has been characterized by a gradual shift away from the traditionally punitive aspects of the justice system toward a system focused on addressing past injustices.
“In my context, where you have these very harsh conflicts, you realize that you need several different ways to deal with them,” Umaña said. “Retributive justice is concerned solely with punishing the past, but restorative justice is concerned about the future and bringing opportunities for people to collectively address social issues.”
Umaña said that although he saw successes during his time as deputy minister, his approach to justice also faced opposition in the context of the 2016 peace negotiations. This opposition came from conservative politicians who opposed any negotiations with the guerrillas, as well as from victims of the long-running conflict, according to Umaña.
“Sometimes restorative justice and human rights are not popular,” Umaña said. “It is problematic to expect someone who has suffered immense violence to naturally be in favor of restorative justice for those who have harmed them.”
Umaña said he is one of the thousands of people who have lost family members due to the decades-long conflict in Colombia. When Umaña was 12 years old, his father was assassinated by a right-wing paramilitary organization for criticizing them in his work. According to Umaña, this loss has not discouraged him from continuing his father’s legacy.
“To me, there is no difference between my professional, emotional and ethical commitment to my work,” Umaña said. “I’ve lived in the only way I’ve been taught to live. My family legacy is built on the struggle for human rights. Doing nothing, I would feel like I’m not a good person.”
Chase said that although there has been an intense push toward peace in Colombia, both at the grassroots and government level, there is still ongoing violence in the country between disparate groups.
“On one hand, it’s difficult to not be pessimistic. On the other hand, there is such a desire for peace on behalf of the victims of the violence that has struck so many parts of Colombian society,” Chase said. “I really do feel that there is such a desire to transform society on a grassroots level that at some point, peace will gain the upper hand.”
Umaña said that when reflecting on his family’s role in the long struggle for peace, he also feels some optimism about the progress of the last few years.
“Both my grandfather and my father were involved with peace negotiations between the government and the guerillas. Today both of them are dead. But if I could have a dialogue with them, I would be able to tell them that I too was involved with peace negotiations, and that in my time, something happened,” Umaña said. “That may not be much, but it’s something.”
Contact Adam Pildal at pildal@oxy.edu
*A correction was made at 8 p.m. Feb. 17 to change “Hernández” to “Umaña” throughout the article. Additionally, in paragraph four, Talia Gonzalez was corrected to Thalia González.
