CASE STUDIES
Restorative Justice
* For image references, please scroll to the bottom of the page.
Author of case study: Marcela Torres Molano
Geopolitical location of space:
Carrera 9 #12C-10
Bogotá, Colombia
Extant? Yes
Start date: January 2019
End date: Before the pandemic started, the deadline for the Truth Commission’s mandate was 2021.
The office of the Truth Commission is a space dedicated to the collection of testimonies of victims, witnesses and perpetrators of violent acts occurred during the Colombian conflict (1964-2016). The mandate of this office is to provide a physical, safe space where individuals can share their stories, deal with traumatic consequences of the conflict and dialogue about the possibilities for individual and collective reconciliation.
As a result of the signing of the Colombian Peace Accord in 2016, the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition was established. This set of extra-judicial mechanisms include The Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition Commission (i.e., the Truth Commission), the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, and the Unit for the Search for People Presumed Disappeared, all vital institutions for a comprehensive and effective transitional justice process. The Commission’s goal is to contribute to the fulfillment of the rights of the victims, the clarification of the truth, the accountability of what has happened, and the recognition of the responsibilities from those who participated in the internal armed conflict.
Yes. Although the holding of encounters between victims and perpetrators is not the principal activity taking place in this space, many encounters between victims, their families, officials from public institutions, and perpetrators have been organised by the Truth Commission. The Commission’s work includes testimony collection, archive consultation, and public hearings, all of which are part of Colombia’s transitional justice strategy.
In 2019 for instance, 30 former combatants from different armed groups* presented the Declaration for Life, Peace and Reconciliation in the Truth Commission of Bogotá (ICTJ, 2019).
*Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN); ELN Replanteamiento; Ejército Popular de Liberación (EPL); Movimiento 19 de Abril (M19); Corriente de Renovación Socialista (CRS); Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (PRT); Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) y las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).
Yes, the process of listening to a testimony opens a space for the recognition and dignity of the victims. Any testimony collected in the space is confidential and exclusively used by the Commission. The information is received and stored under strict safety protocols and it is not shared with any individual or other governmental organisations.
Any victims or witnesses of violent acts occurred during the Colombian conflict.
The building is loaned for use to the Truth Commission, which is a governmental institution. Before being occupied by the Commission, the space was one of the offices of the Comptroller General of Colombia. As such, the Truth Commission office has certain institutional visual elements such as signs and logos, but these are not representative elements and they do not physically modify the space since they are informative in nature.
The Truth Commission office is located in downtown Bogotá, reusing an old building from the Republican* era. The building initially belonged to the Ministry of Justice and was later leased by the office of the Comptroller General of Colombia. The building is a 10-floor structure with a stone façade. On the ground floor there is a double height atrium, where many of the public initiatives and hearings take place. The upper floors have a traditional spatial distribution for office spaces.
* The first buildings designed in Colombia for state use are usually identified with the so-called Republican Architecture period, which lasted from 1880 to 1930.
The building is located in a very commercial and bustling neighbourhood of Bogotá, within walking distance of governmental institutions such as the Central Tax Office (DIAN), the Central Bank (Banco de la República), the Supreme Court, the Colombian Congress and the Presidential House. It is located in a complex urban area, that includes formal and informal commerce, institutional buildings, hotels, and some residential spaces.
This central part of the city is very often the main scenario of protest and demonstration against the national government, which usually includes protesting against the government’s lack of interest in the Peace Agreement. As such, the building has been the target of graffiti, however this is very common for public and private buildings in this part of the city.
is an author, speaker, columnist, and podcaster in the fields of architecture and decorative arts. She is completing her MA in Art History at Concordia University, Montréal, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Marketing from John Molson School of Business. She studied Industrial Psychology in Los Angeles, California. Sicotte is the author of two published books on design (2015, 2018) published by Les Éditions Cardinal.
is a Colombian PhD candidate in the Department of Art History at Concordia University. She has a background in architectural design and community activism and holds a master’s degree in Building and Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, England. Her interests focus on socially-engaged art, social movements, collaborative activism in post-conflict scenarios, collectively-produced art, and art produced in relation to the built environment.
is a PhD candidate in Humanities at Concordia University. His research focuses on spatial agency, social aesthetics, youth narratives, and graphic representations of urban memory. He has published on the relationship between children, play, and public space in Cartagena, Colombia. He has also worked as an editor on literary projects, including Territorio Fértil, which received the María Nelly Murillo Hinestroza award for Afro-Colombian literature.
is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Architectures of Spatial Justice (Tier 2) at the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture at McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Her research interests include low-income housing and participatory design, civil protest and urban design, and campus landscapes and race. Her publications include the co-edited book, Orienting Istanbul (2010) and solo-authored book, Istanbul Open City (2018).
is an artist and a professor of Art History at Concordia University. Her work focuses on women and the history of the built environment, urban landscapes, research-creation, and oral history. She has published on the spatial history of the suffrage movement, public art, gardens, and the politics of urban change. In addition to her research on the spaces of restorative and transitional justice, she is leading an oral history project on the urban memories of diverse Montrealers.
is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at Concordia University, Montreal (Quebec, Canada). He is also the second co-director of Concordia’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. His latest publications explore listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. For instance, see ‘Facilitating voicing and listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. The Colombian scenario.’ In: De Nardi, S., Orange, H., et al. Routledge Handbook of Memoryscapes. Routledge: London. (2019), and his article ‘Not being able to speak is torture: performing listening to painful narratives’. International Journal of Transitional Justice, Special Issue Creative Approaches to Transitional Justice: Contributions of Arts and Culture. (March, 2020)
