Graffiti in Bogotá, Colombia. Flickr. Some rights reserved.
The Colombian conflict is one of the world's longest-running armed confrontations. For this reason, news in recent months of concrete progress towards ending this conflict between the Colombian government and the FARC Marxist guerrillas through a peace process, has been greeted by much anticipation and congratulations from a large part of the international community. Within these positive developments was an announcement made at the end of 2015 by both parties for a special prosecution model that will be applied to those who committed serious crimes during the war.
President Barack Obama himself said that once the agreement comes into effect, "Colombia will be a model of how to achieve peace with justice." The Delegation of the European Union gave a similar endorsement, highlighting the fact that the agreement puts victims at the centre of the peace process. Weeks later, the international community as a whole gave its decisive support to the agreement. The United Nations Security Council accepted a proposal made by the parties to create a mission to verify compliance with the agreement, whether or not the process formally concludes in a final agreement.
