International Civil Society Organisations reject the repeated attacks and accusations against the Truth Commission

Civil Society Organisations reject the repeated attacks and accusations against the Commission for the Clarification of Truth (Truth Commission-CEV) and invite you to surround and protect its work.

15 July 2020

For the international civil society organisations signatories to this Public Statement, the Comisión para el esclarecimiento de la Verdad (Truth Commission) Commissioners are being subjected to stigmatization, and particularly its president, Father Francisco de Roux SJ. By members of the government party and a former Defence Minister who from their position of opposition to the Peace Agreement, are insisting on disqualifying the careful and responsible work that the Truth Commission, a temporary and extrajudicial mechanism, a component of the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-repetition (Transitional Justice), has been doing.

Since its establishment in 2017, the Truth Commission has carried out independent and rigorous work to reveal the deep and painful truth resulting from the lengthy armed conflict suffered by Colombia.

From a victim’s perspective the Truth Commission is opening avenues, constructing methodologies, creating enabling spaces, generating dialogues, receiving reports and testimonies from across the country, to clarify the truth; and thereby contributing to the end of the armed conflict in Colombia.

We are convinced that only Truth can “guarantee non-continuity and non-repetition of the armed conflict in Colombia.” The Peace Commissioners have demonstrated their commitment to this purpose, and from diversity and difference have taken on their work honorably and with dedication. Their integrity is, and will continue to be, the guarantee that will preserve truth, and support peace in Colombia

We encourage the Commission to continue to carry on with its work and look forward, with hope, to its results. We encourage all Colombian citizens, regardless of their ideological position, to join in the efforts to prevent this process being mistreated, ideologised or politicised as a result of the interests of a few who reject the transforming power of truth.

The truth is a public good