The Movimiento de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado (MOVICE, ‘Movement of Victims of State-Sponsored Crimes’) was founded in 2005 in response to continuing armed conflict and ongoing political violence, as well as impunity for crimes committed by state and paramilitary actors in Colombia. The movement seeks to highlight the plight of victims, to give victims a voice, and to affirm the rights of victims to have truth, justice, full reparation and guarantees for the elimination of human rights crimes.

For MOVICE, the respect of these rights and an end to impunity are necessary conditions for the emergence of a lasting peace and a true democracy.

MOVICE is made up of over 300 organisations representing victims of various crimes committed within the context of the conflict, including victims of forced displacement, massacres and political genocide. In addition to a central coordinating body, MOVICE is made up of over 22 regional groups that carry out activities across Colombia.

(Interview with MOVICE conducted by Insight on Conflict Local Correspondent Hasan Dodwell)

 

MOVICE demands the dismantling of all of the structures perpetuating the war, an end to the militarisation of civilian life, and it seeks a negotiated political solution to armed and social conflict in Colombia. It supports the signing of humanitarian agreements that reduce the impact of the armed conflict on the civilian population.

In the context of the current peace negotiations in Havana, Cuba, between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC guerilla group, MOVICE is leading efforts to guarantee the inclusion of international standards on the rights of victims. As part of this work, the movement presented an account of the violence in Colombia from the perspective of victims of state crimes, with a series of 'minimum proposals for justice', brought together in the book Peace Without State Crimes, available in Spanish here. MOVICE is also leading the event “International Meeting of Victims of State Crimes: Peace is Change” which aims to bring together learning from international experiences of peace, to strengthen the voice of the victims in the Colombian peace process, and their calls for justice.

MOVICE's members struggle for these principles in a context with few guarantees for their safety. Over 78 human rights defenders were assassinated in Colombia in 2013, and in the past year MOVICE members have faced over 274 acts of aggression, including arbitrary detentions, assassination attempts and paramilitary kidnappings, for which no one has been brought to justice.