Episode 9 - Gina Cabarcas Macia On Records And Transitional Justice In Colombia

In this episode of Part 3, Julia Viebach speaks with Gina Cabarcas Maciá, co-founder and director of the Political and Criminal Justice Lab in Bogota, about the vital role of records in Colombia's transitional justice process. With over 50 years of armed conflict and multiple transitional justice mechanisms operating since 2006, Colombia has developed a complex approach to documenting human rights violations—from judicial records and physical artifacts to testimonies from perpetrators, victims, and communities.

The conversation explores how different types of records—including judicial files, testimonies, and digitalized archives—contribute to establishing truth, documenting gendered violence, and locating disappeared persons. Gina discusses the Colombian Truth Commission's groundbreaking decision to digitalize all testimonies and the challenges of coordinating between multiple mechanisms. She also highlights the ongoing challenge of securing collective accountability from state actors and the critical role civil society organizations play in preserving intelligence archives and documenting what has been silenced.

About: Gina Cabarcas Maciá is a lawyer and historian who serves as co-founder and director of the Political and Criminal Justice Lab in Bogota. She coordinates support projects for Colombia's Special Jurisdiction for Peace and leads the systematization and analysis of information across multiple transitional justice initiatives. Her work bridges criminal investigation with historical documentation, combining expertise in human rights violations documentation with decolonial approaches to transitional justice.

More information: Political and Criminal Justice Lab, Colombia's Truth Commission, Unit for the Search of Disappeared Persons, Special Jurisdiction for Peace

The 3-part series "Can the record be trusted?" explores the prospects and challenges of human rights documentation and archives in the digital age, with speakers from an international expert workshop that took place at Queen's University Belfast in November 2024.