Glossary and abbreviations
|
Term |
Definition |
|---|---|
|
ACLED |
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data |
|
ACSN |
Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra Nevada (Conquering Self-Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada) |
|
AFP |
Acuerdo Final para la terminación del conflicto y la construcción de una Paz estable y duradera (2016 Final Agreement for Ending Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace) |
|
AGC |
Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia). AGC is also known as Clan del Golfo, Urabeños, Clan Úsuga; criminal armed group having historic links to paramilitary groups |
|
Alerta Temprana |
Early Warning. A communication used by the Office of the Ombudsperson to alert the national government on imminent risks to certain profiles or geographical areas. |
|
APM |
Anti-personnel mines |
|
AUC |
Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia); far-right paramilitary and drug trafficking organisation that later demobilised and some groups fragmented and were later recycled into other armed groups such as the AGC |
|
AUN |
Autodefensas Unidas de Nariño (Self-Defence Forces of Nariño) |
|
BACRIM |
A label created by the Colombian government for criminal bands or gangs that include recycled former paramilitary groups but that lack any apparent political agenda; also bandas criminales |
|
banda |
Organised criminal group, sometimes used interchangeably with combo; depending on the context, can mean a small gang or a higher-level grouping in the gang hierarchy |
|
Bandas criminales |
See also BACRIM |
|
CAI |
Centros de Atención Inmediata (Immediate Reaction Centres); local police units |
|
campesino |
Small-scale farmer or peasant |
|
CDF-EB |
Comandos de la Frontera-Ejército-Bolivariano; sub-group of FARC aligned with the Coordinadora Nacional del Ejército Bolivariano; most commonly known as Comandos de La Frontera (Border Command) (formerly La Mafia) |
|
CED |
Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance |
|
CEDAW |
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women |
|
CERD |
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination |
|
CERREM |
Comité de Evaluación del Riesgo y Recomendación de Medidas (Risk Evaluation and Recommendation Committee) |
|
CESCR |
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights |
|
CEV |
Commisión para el Esclarecimiento de la Verdad, la Convivencia y la No Repetición (Truth Commission) |
|
CGP |
Coordinadora Guerrillera del Pacífico (Guerrilla Coordinator Front for the Pacific); a FARC dissident group |
|
CGR |
Contraloría General de la República (Office of the Comptroller General) |
|
CIA |
US Central Intelligence Agency |
|
CTREP |
Circunscripciones Transitorias Especiales de Paz (Special Transitory Peace Seats Electoral Districts) |
|
CMW |
Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families |
|
CNEB |
Coordinadora Nacional del Ejército Bolivariano (National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army). A FARC dissident group that split from Segunda Marquetalia. |
|
CNGS |
La Comisión Nacional de Garantías de Seguridad (National Commission on Security Guarantees) |
|
CNTI |
La Comisión Nacional de Territorios Indígenas (National Commission on Indigenous Territories) |
|
COCE |
Comando Central; Central Command of the ELN |
|
combo |
A term used to mean a gang |
|
Comunas |
A common name used to refer to neighbourhoods in Medellín |
|
Comunes |
Name of the political party formed by the FARC-EP after their demobilisation and transition into politics in 2017. The party was originally called FARC, Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (Revolutionary Alternative Common Force), but the name was changed to Comunes in 2021 to rebrand itself and avoid usage of the FARC acronym associated with the armed group |
|
COP |
Colombian pesos |
|
CPRD |
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities |
|
CRC |
Convention on the Rights of the Child |
|
CTI |
Cuerpo Técnico de Investigación (Judicial Police Corps for Investigations; separate from the police, although with judicial police powers) |
|
DINAL |
Dirección Nacional (National Directorate); ELN |
|
DRC |
Danish Refugee Council |
|
ELN |
Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army) |
|
EMBF |
Estado Mayor de Bloques y Frentes (General Staff of Blocks and Fronts), a FARC dissident group that started out as EMC, led by alias ‘Calarcá’. |
|
EMC |
Estado Mayor Central (Central General Staff, a FARC dissident group, led by alias ‘Iván Mordisco’. |
|
EPL |
Ejército Popular de Liberación (Popular Liberation Army), a formerly Maoist/leftist armed group that demobilised in 1991 which became the criminal group called Los Pelusos. Referred to as EPL in this report. |
|
ERW |
Explosive Remnants of War |
|
ESMAD |
Escuadrones Móviles Antidisturbios (Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron); Riot police within the Colombian National Police |
|
Falsos positivos |
False positives; killings carried out by state security forces who falsely reported civilians as guerrillas; mostly occurring in 2002-2006 |
|
FARC dissidents |
Also called FARC-EP dissidents, post-FARC groups, Ex-FARC mafia; formed by former FARC members who did not sign on to the 2016 peace accord between FARC-EP and the government or later broke away |
|
FARC-EP |
Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army); left-wing Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group that fought against the state of Colombia for 52 years until the 2016 Peace Agreement |
|
FCS |
Frente Comuneros del Sur; an ELN dissident group |
|
FGN |
Fiscalía General de la Nación (Office of the Attorney General) |
|
First Front |
FARC dissident structure also called Joint Eastern Command, Bloque Oriental; it now includes factions that were under the command of Gentil Duarte; led by Iván Mordisco; referred to in this report as First Front (commonly called EMC). |
|
FLIP |
Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (Freedom of the Press Foundation) |
|
GAO |
Grupo Armado Organizado (Organised Armed Group), defined as an armed actor in the civil conflict under Colombian law |
|
GAULA |
Grupos de Acción Unificada por la Libertad Personal (Unified Action Groups for Personal Freedom) |
|
GBV |
Gender-based violence |
|
GDCO |
Grupos de Delincuencia Común Organizada (Criminal Groups), groups dedicated to criminal activities such as thefts, street-level drug trafficking, homicides, and extortion |
|
GDO |
Grupo Delictivo Organizado (Organised Criminal Group), organised criminal groups with transnational reach dedicated to illicit activities such as drug trafficking |
|
Gentil Duarte |
A leader of the EMC dissident faction of the FARC-EP which refused to adhere to the 2016 peace accord (joined after Iván Mordisco, who has always led the group). Killed in May 2022. |
|
gota a gota |
‘drop by drop’ informal, very high-interest loans offered by loan sharks; often managed by armed or criminal groups |
|
GPC |
Global Protection Cluster |
|
HRD |
Human rights defender |
|
IACHR |
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights |
|
ICCPR |
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Second Optional Protocol |
|
ICRC |
International Committee of the Red Cross |
|
IDMC |
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre |
|
IDP |
Internally displaced person |
|
Indepaz |
Instituto de Estudios para el Desarrollo y la Paz (Institute of Studies for Development and Peace Studies) |
|
INMLCF |
Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses (National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences) |
|
JAC |
Juntas de Acción Comunal (Community Action Board. There are local community action groups that go down to parochial level in Colombia) |
|
JEP |
Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (Special Jurisdiction for Peace) |
|
La Oficina de Envigado |
The Office of Envigado, an urban organised crime structure initially founded by Pablo Escobar in Medellín |
|
La Terraza |
Organised crime gang in Medellín, historically part of the Oficina de Envigado |
|
Los Caparrapos |
Also called Los Caparros but referred to as Los Caparrapos in this report; a paramilitary successor spin-off group of the AGC that broke away in 2017 |
|
Los Pelusos |
Also called EPL, a formerly Maoist group turned criminal organisation; referred to as EPL in this report. |
|
Los Puntilleros |
Paramilitary successor group with roots in AUC |
|
Los Rastrojos |
Paramilitary successor group formerly called Rondas Campesinas Populares |
|
Mafia Sinaloa |
Mafia Sinaloa is a former incarnation of the Border Command FARC-dissident group CDF-EB; local Colombian criminal group made up of members of La Constru and FARC |
|
megabandas |
Venezuelan crime syndicates such as the Tren de Aragua gang |
|
mestizo |
A person of mixed Indigenous-Spanish origin |
|
Military target |
A term used by armed groups or the state to demarcate a person deemed to be an opponent (objectivo militar) |
|
NGO |
Non-governmental organisation |
|
NSAG |
Non-State armed groups |
|
OAS |
Organization of American States |
|
OECD |
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
|
OFAC |
US Office of Foreign Assets Control |
|
OFPRA |
Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons) |
|
OHCHR |
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights |
|
ONIC |
Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia |
|
Pares |
Fundación Paz y Reconciliación (Peace and Reconciliation Foundation), a Colombian NGO that studies violence |
|
Paros armados |
Armed strikes or stoppages carried out by illegal armed groups |
|
PDET |
Programas de Desarrollo con Enfoque Territorial (Development Plans with a Territorial Focus) prefer Territorially Focused Development Programmes |
|
PGN |
Procuraduría General de la Nación (Office of the Inspector General) |
|
Plan pistola |
The systematic targeting and assassination of state security forces, often by offering a cash bounty for each killing. This strategy is used by illegal armed groups to terrorise law enforcement, assert territorial control, and retaliate against government offensives |
|
PNC |
Policía Nacional de Colombia (National Police of Colombia) |
|
PNIS |
Programa Nacional Integral de Sustitución de Cultivos Ilícitos (National Comprehensive Programme for the Substitution of Illicit Crops) |
|
RELE |
OAS' Relatoría Especial para la Libertad de Expresión (Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) |
|
RSF |
Reporters Sans Frontières |
|
RUV |
Registro Único de Víctimas (Single Registry of Victims) |
|
sapo |
An informant |
|
SAT |
Sistema de Alertas Tempranas (Early Warning System); government alert system for risks of human rights violations; run by the Office of the Ombudsperson |
|
sicario, sicariato |
‘Hitman’; hired assassin, often linked to criminal or armed groups – who carries out targeted killings for payment as part of organised violence or territorial control claims |
|
Sinaloa Cartel |
Mexican drug cartel |
|
SIVIGE |
Sistema Integrado de Información de Violencias de Género |
|
SIVJRNR |
Sistema Integral de Verdad, Justicia, Reparación y No Repetición (Comprehensive System for Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition) created by the 2016 peace accord with the FARC |
|
SM |
Segunda Marquetalia (Second Marquetalia). A dissident faction of FARC-EP which broke away from the 2016 peace accord in 2019 |
|
TPS |
Temporary Protection Status |
|
UARIV |
Unidad para la Atención y Reparación Integral a las Víctimas del Conflicto Armado (Unit for the Attention and Integral Reparation of Victims) |
|
UBPD |
Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas Dadas por Desaparecidas (Unit for the Search for Persons Deemed Disappeared) |
|
UNCAT |
United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment |
|
UNHCR |
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
|
UNOCHA |
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
|
UNP |
Unidad Nacional de Protección (National Protection Unit) |
|
UNVMC |
United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia |
|
USDOS |
United States Department of State |
|
vacunas |
‘Taxes,’ ‘rents,’ or ‘protection fees’ charged by armed groups through extortion |