8/31/2023 0 Comments Groups fighting it![]() The conclusion is inconsistent with the government’s denial, at a more political level, of an armed conflict in the country, and its repeated claims that the FARC and its dissident groups are criminal gangs, though in line with its strategy to deploy the military to troubled areas. In contrast, the government has taken the position, since 2017, that all FARC dissident groups are parties to a conflict with its forces and subject to rules of engagement under IHL. It has not publicly concluded that any other FARC dissident groups, including the “Second Marquetalia,” are parties to a conflict. The ICRC considers that fighters from the FARC’s former Eastern Bloc, which did not accept the peace deal and operate mainly through the 1st, 7th and 40th “fronts,” are parties to a conflict with government forces. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights considers that these groups do not fulfill the intensity and organization requirements to be parties to a conflict with government forces. Various assessments have been made regarding FARC dissident groups. Some groups, like the so-called 28th and 18th “fronts,” probably have fewer than 100 members others appear to have more than 300.Īssessing FARC Dissident Groups under IHL Yet, the groups vary significantly in size. Many of them engage in fighting with government forces, and are responsible for abuses, including killing civilians, forced displacement, and threatening violence to control daily life in numerous parts of the country.Īccording to government estimates, the various FARC dissident groups total 2,500 – 2,600 fighters in arms, with another 1,800 – 2,000 “part-time” members who live in urban areas and provide support, a high-level government official told one of us. The groups often operate in the same territory FARC units controlled before the demobilization process, at times using the units’ names. He and other former FARC commanders created a group called the “Second Marquetalia,” named after an area held in the 1960s by groups that eventually formed the FARC.Ĭurrently, 25 FARC dissident groups operate throughout the country, according to a survey by Conflict Responses, a Colombian think tank. Most well-known, in August 2019, Luciano Marín Arango, known as “Iván Márquez,” the FARC’s former second-in-command and top peace negotiator, announced he was taking up arms again. Members of these groups include former FARC fighters who never demobilized, others who participated in the demobilization process but returned to arms, and new recruits. There is less agreement on how to characterize “FARC dissident groups” and whether hostilities between the groups and the government can be said to rise to the level of an armed conflict. The EPL is a holdout from a guerrilla group with the same name that partly demobilized in the 1990s. ![]() The AGC emerged in large part from a flawed paramilitary demobilization in the 2000s. Additionally, in the view of the government and International Committee of the Red Cross, the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) and the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) appear to be parties to armed conflicts, though the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights disagrees. There is wide agreement that the fighting between the government and the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), created in the 1960s, amounts to a non-international armed conflict. Several armed conflicts continue in Colombia. It should also inform discussions of whether and against whom a military strategy may be appropriate. Whether the groups meet the international legal standards to be parties to an armed conflict will determine whether the government is using the appropriate rules of engagement against them, including in controversial operations in which alleged child soldiers have been killed. However, this debate has largely ignored the critical question of how to characterize the situation in the country. ![]() The Colombian government has recently been criticized for the military nature of its security strategy. After presenting the current “post-conflict” scenario, it discusses the government’s characterization of FARC dissident groups, and the challenges in making such an assessment. This piece analyses these FARC dissident groups through the lens of international humanitarian law. Myriad armed groups, often called “FARC dissident groups,” emerged. Nonetheless, some FARC fighters rejected the peace process or rearmed. Over 10,000 FARC members demobilized and handed in weapons in a process verified by a United Nations mission in the country. ![]() Three years ago last month, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas formally completed demobilization, marking the end of their 53-year conflict with the Colombian government. Graffiti in the city of Tumaco, Colombia, where FARC dissident groups operate, says "peace." © Human Rights Watch, 2018
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