Essay Example on FARC: Revolution, Inequality & Violations of Human Rights

Introduction

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) was started in 1964 to increase equality. It was originally formed by the farmers and landowners who were unhappy with the increasing inequality in the country. In the late 1990s, the group was among the most equipped and most organized guerrilla forces in Latin America. During the time of the conflicts with the government, the group was accused of many deaths and disappearances of people. Human rights were violated and the law was broken. FARC committed many crimes to humanity in Columbia.

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Human Rights Abuses

During the war between the government and FARC, the government forces committed crimes against humanity. One of them is that they harassed and tortured the human activists, trade unionists and journalists who were involved in condemning the wrong activities by the government. The groups were targeted due to their efforts to engage the government on accountability issues and attacking it for the killings done by the military personnel. The human rights activists were kidnapped and others killed in the struggle and their civil liberties were restricted. The other one is the denial of the rights to own property and the slow process in which the land is reinstated. After many people were displaced internally, the government did not resettle them with speed and many of them remained in camps. Gender-based violence was also common and many women and girls were abused sexually, emotionally and physically by the military and the militias. The other one is the "false positives" which refers to the killing for civilians by the army officers to create a view that they were killing the militias (Gordon, 2017). The crimes against humanity were numerous and were by both the government and FARC members.

Arguments by Proponents to Justify the Crimes

Several proponents supported the crimes listed above and they had reasons for their views. For example, the military believed that FACR was part of the general society and their families were in the general public. By killing innocent civilians and claiming they were in the act of fighting them, the military believed it created fear and the urge to surrender among the militias. The other proponents were the government, who believed that by restricting the civil rights of the activists and journalists, they could commit a crime against civilians to win the war against FARC. The government believed there was no need of following the law and human rights so long as it was about killing the FARC members. They also wanted to control information and cover-up for their mistakes. The delayed resettlement of the displaced people was justified on the ground that the government needed time to evaluate the genuine owners of the lands.

Views of the Opponents

The opposing groups were for the view that the measures taken by the two sides were unethical and counterproductive. One of the reasons for this view is that by killing innocent civilians, the government was going against the human rights provisions and it was denying people their right to live. It was better if they employed more intelligence tactics to identify the real militia and kill them than lure people and take them to remote areas, only to kill them for display. There are also many diplomatic ways that the government could have won the war and this included peace deals like the one signed in 2017, ending the struggle between the two sides. The other view was that by harming civilians, it is possible to make them bitter about the government and increase their urge t join the militia to revenge and fight for the rights of the future generations.

Influence of the Political Institutions

The political institutions in the country-influenced the policies that the country took during the conflicts. Political integration of the armed guerrilla fighters is an effective strategy that is applied in many parts of the world. Most of the armed military forces are formed to fight for the rights of the people in political matters. For example, in Columbia, the main goal of the guerrilla fighters was to have political and socio-economic equality and to stop anti-communist repressions. The right-wing and left-wing political ideologies were part of the main causes of the conflicts. The views of the different political institutions led to the violence and this is common in many parts of the world (Barnes, 2017). The different political camps pushed for different policies that could help them achieve their goals.

End of the Human Rights Violations

The peace deal signed in 2007 led to an end of the many years of conflicts between the government and the guerrilla forces. The peace deal had many political, social and economic impacts and it encouraged many FARC members to surrender (Hylton & Tauss, 2016). The violations of human rights decreased significantly because the two militias were disarmed, some of their leaders were killed and many others surrendered. The integration of the fighters back into the society was initiated and many of the fighters were accepted back. However, the violations did not end because some smaller militia groups were formed by those who did not surrender. In conclusion, the success and failures of the Columbian government to observe human rights during the conflicts and the violations by the guerrilla fighters left many people dead, injured and misplaced. Political influences should be regulated to reduce the chances of causing a similar war.

References

Barnes, N. (2017). Criminal politics: An integrated approach to the study of organized crime, politics, and violence. Perspectives on Politics, 15(4), 967-987. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/criminal-politics-an-integrated-approach-to-the-study-of-organized-crime-politics-and-violence/B6E8E52E87FCC47B3F053BA7AF65971E

Gordon, E. (2017). Crimes of the powerful in conflict-affected environments: False positives, transitional justice and the prospects for peace in Colombia. State Crime Journal, 6(1), 132-155. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/statecrime.6.1.0132

Hylton, F., & Tauss, A. (2016). Peace in Colombia: A New Growth Strategy: Colombia's peace deal is a remarkable achievement, but its economic implications are troubling. NACLA Report on the Americas, 48(3), 253-259. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10714839.2016.1228174?journalCode=rnac20