Escudo de Colombia y texto de la Unidad para las Víctimas

Non-repetition Guarantees

What are they?


The Guarantees of Non-Repetition are considered both one of the ways of reparation for the victims and one of the general principles of international responsibility of the States. Such guarantees, unlike the restitution measures, compensation, rehabilitation and satisfaction, are addressed to the society with the purpose of not repeating the violation of victims’ rights, as well as eliminating and overcoming the structural causes of the mass violation of victims’ human rights and / or international humanitarian law within society. The guarantees of non-repetition include two dimensions: a preventive and a restorative one.

The preventive dimension arises from the international obligation of States to prevent violations of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and is particularly important in transitional processes where the risk persists and it is not enough to repair the damage already inflicted but to prevent futures. For example, demining and prevention of recruitment.

The restorative dimension refers to actions that correspond to mitigate the damages inflicted on the victims in violation of their human rights and infractions of international humanitarian law, having an impact on institutional, political, economic and social actions that benefit society in general. For example, the socialization of judicial truth, social pedagogy in human rights, elimination of cultural patterns, among others.

The effective implementation of guarantees of non-repetition ensure the achievement of peace and the strengthening of democracy, taking into account that the guarantees of non-repetition must respond to the contexts, characteristics and territorial needs. Likewise, the Victims Unit has based its development and application on the development of a reconciliation approach that seeks to restore trust, democracy, the rights of victims, and the territory between the State, the communities and the antagonists.

What do we do?


The Unit for Victims, by law, must create strategies for guarantees of non-repetition, therefore, in 2013, the group of guarantees of non-repetition was created ascribed to the Reparation Department, which under the mandate of the orders of article 149 of Law 1448 of 2011, develops the following lines of work:

  • To impart and develop – within the Unit – the guidelines for the design, formulation, management and socialization of the Guarantees of Non-repetition, in its preventive and restorative dimension. In this line, different routes and procedures of the Unit regarding integral reparation are addressed, some of them are: collective reparation in the accompaniment to the formulation of guarantees of non-repetition in the reparation plans collective subjects, socialization of the truth justice contained in the judgments of justice and peace, participation in inter-institutional strategies for the construction of peace. Like: G8 “Together We build Peace “, as well as alliances for peace and development, hand in hand with the cooperation office of the entity, and in the strategy of social pedagogy for the development of tasks associated with the approach of private enterprise to the approach of reconciliation and peace culture.

  • Encourage and sensitize territorial entities about the inclusion of actions for reconciliation, through the Index of Conditions for National Reconciliation tool. In this line, the implementation of the Index of Conditions for National Reconciliation tool is being developed, which measures the existence of conditions for the construction of municipal reconciliation processes. This territorial tool seeks to achieve the quantification of four dimensions that make up the concept of reconciliation in Colombia: trust, democracy, rights of victims and territory, considered fundamental for reconciliation. The measurement is achieved through the collection of information from the 67 indicators that are part of this instrument. In 2014, the results of three pilots were presented: Bogotá, Medellín and San Carlos. For 2015, the application is developed in 48 municipalities in the departments of: Antioquia, Atlántico, Bolívar, Eje Cafetero, Cesar, Chocó, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Meta, Putumayo, Magdalena Medio and Sucre. It is expected to disseminate the results, within the framework of the arrival of new territorial authorities, in order to include in their territorial development plans actions and financing for the improvement of the dimensions with the lowest score in their municipalities.

  • Formulate in articulation with the territorial entities collective guarantees directed to the society, that tends to deconstruct the cultural patterns that strengthened the reproduction of victimizing facts. This line aims at carrying out actions of a societal nature that tend to identify the causes and consequences that allowed the reproduction of human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law, from social, economic, political and cultural aspects, from memory construction initiatives, strategies of pedagogy and communication where all the citizenship participates. To date, the Unit for Victims joined the strategy of guarantees of non-repetition and culture of peace led by the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, which will develop three components: i) community communication with artistic actions aimed at children, adolescents and young people; ii). Communication at a city scale through massive pieces that position the strategy within the city’s inhabitants; iii) citizen consultation, in which a survey will be conducted on the conditions for the construction of guarantees of non-repetition in the city.

  • Lead in articulation with the Colombian Agency for Reintegration the mainstreaming of the reconciliation approach within the processes of reintegration and reparation. The Colombian Agency for Reintegration -ACR- and the Unit for Comprehensive Care and Reparation for Victims – UARIV- identified the importance of leading a process of articulation based on a reconciliation approach, which positions the DDR processes – disarmament, demobilization and reintegration – as a guarantee of non-repetition. Thus, in the meeting of reintegration processes reintegration and reparation scenarios are propitiated to develop actions conducive to reconciliation from the restoration of relationships of dialogue and trust between the communities, antagonists and the State. In this sense, the entities defined three axes of articulation, to fulfill their objectives during the year 2015: Political, technical and operational. In the political axis, the articulations developed under national or territorial initiatives in which the approach is positioned are prioritized. Reconciliation strategies such as G8 “Together We Build Peace.” In technical terms, the need is sought to develop common inputs and criteria that will guide the implementation strategies of joint actions in the territory. In which a Protocol is developed that specifies the articulation scenarios at a national level, the procurement of inputs that nurture the construction of joint guidelines. In the operational axis, it seeks the development of pilots and projects that mainstream the reconciliation approach in the routes of reparation, reintegration and exit of postulates of the 975 law, and the new transitional justice scenarios that may take place.

  • Key elements to be taken into account:


  • Measures aimed at victims and society in general
  • Include institutional reforms and transformations
  • They tend to eliminate the causes of human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law
  • Their effective implementation ensures the achievement of peace, or the restoration of democracy
  • Territorial approach, which respond to the needs and particular characteristics of the territories
  • Approach of reconciliation In its four dimensions: 1) restoration of trust between the State, communities and antagonists, 2) democracy, 3) rights of victims, and 4) territory.
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