Transitional justice: its content and meaning. A brief approach to the Colombian case

Abstract

The notion of Transitional Justice has been shaped in recent years by the desire of societies in crisis to rebuild social trust, to repair a fractured justice system and to cement a regime of government with democratic values. The main value of Transitional Justice is the paradigm between peace and justice: not as the satisfaction of a necessarily criminal justice, but of other forms of it. It also implies a political transformation, consisting of regime change or conflict transition, in such a way that justice and peace are united towards a more peaceful, true and democratic future. The evolution of the concept and recent events show that a combination of actions is often necessary. There are diverse actors involved and dissimilar lines of interpretation that show a growing interest in considering aspects of Transitional Justice in the context of post-conflict situations. The following paper seeks to clarify this concept and deepen the reflection in order to know whether or not there is a transitional process in Colombia according to national and international paradigms of interpretation.