The role of the human rights’ ombudsman as parrhesiastes: challenges for peace construction in the Colombian end-of-armed conflict process

Abstract

In this article, the role of the human rights’ ombudsman is analyzed in his/her characterization as parrhesiastes, following Foucault’s theory and according to the critical conditions generated by the denouncement of severe violations to human rights which take place amidst Colombian democracy. This issue acquires relevance and appropriateness when examining the internal armed conflict, where it is evident the State’s inadequacy to protect those who, as the aforementioned advocate, expose the truth regarding sensitive issues and disclose the violence surrounding them and that is even caused by agents of the own institutional establishment.

This way, the general objective of this research is to analyze the labor of human rights’ advocates from Foucault’s perspective of the parrhesiastes, and in accordance to the dynamics of the Colombian internal armed conflict. In turn, three specific objectives stem from it: a) to present the concept of parrhesiastes following the epistemic construction formulated by Foucault; b) to identify the function of the human rights ombudsman within the framework of the internal armed conflict; c) to study some relevant cases in which the relation to the parrhesian role of the human rights’ ombudsman is evident. The methodology applied is a qualitative one, with an interlineal hermeneutic approach applied to case studies. According to the results and reflections, it was evidenced that the postulates of the Social Rule of Law, among them social and material justice, are sacrificed in the face of the cruel reality of a civil society slaughtered by the impossible to realize condition of a consistent, effective, and sovereign State.