Land restitution in the municipality of Cáceres, Colombia. Perceptions of victims and public officials

Abstract

The victims of land dispossession live a tragedy that extends over time as long as the legal and material restitution is not carried out. International legal instruments have been adopted that seek the recognition of the rights of these victims, but in practice they present real challenges depending on the circumstances of each case. The research aims to describe the land restitution process from the perceptions of victims and officials of entities such as the Land Restitution Unit (URT) in the municipality of Cáceres (Colombia). Using the logical framework of the interpretative-hermeneutic paradigm, a qualitative descriptive study was conducted employing the discourse analysis method. The study involved 25 participants, who were given semi-structured interviews associated with the topics of armed conflict and forced displacement, as well as experiences of restitution and return. Codifications and categorizations were made to design semantic networks with the support of the ATLAS.ti tool. The results allow for the recognition of differentiated perceptions among the groups of participants, fulfilled expectations in the administrative stage, and opportunities for improvement in the judicial stage and the return process