Is it Already Too Late for Colombia's Land Restitution Process? The Impact of International Investment Law on Transitional Justice Initiatives

Abstract

Approximately five million people Colombians were forcefully displaced by the state’s civil war. The state’s 2011 Victims’ Law is intended to provide property restitution to some of the individuals displaced as a result of human rights and humanitarian law violations. During the conflict, however, land titles and property rights were transferred to corporations, including foreign corporations protected by international investment law. The impact of the restitution process outlined in the Victims’ Law on the rights of foreign corporations raises concerns that international investment law may inhibit the full realisation of the Victims’ Law’s restitution process. This article uses the Colombian context to explore broader issues of the impact investment law’s protection of foreign corporations can have on transitional justice initiatives aimed at remedying and redressing serious and systematic human rights and humanitarian law violations.

Keywords: transitional justice, international investment law, Colombia, property rights, forced displacement, investment law, human rights, humanitarian law, business and human rights