Intersectionality and Transformative Reparations: The Case of Colombian Marginal Youths

The town of San Carlos, highly affected by the Colombian conflict, is often presented as an example of a successful domestic reparations process. Yet not all victims agree with this assessment. A significant number of marginalised adolescents feel that their voices and realities are not reflected in the reparations programme provided by the 2011 Victims’ Law. While the programme promises to transform lives, it does little to change the lives of young people at the margins. This article compares and contrasts the legal framework on reparations for underaged victims with insights drawn from ethnographic research with these youths. The situation of these young people signals that transformative reparations are not working as they should. We argue that this failure is due to the mismatch between the conceptualisation of ‘vulnerable child-victims’ in the text of the law and these youths’ nuanced identities. Using intersectionality, we propose an alternative way forward.