Fifty years of violence perpetrated by guerrillas, paramilitaries, and official armed forces in Colombia displaced more than six million people. In 2011, as part of a larger transitional justice process, the Colombian government approved a law that would restore land rights for those who lost their homes during the conflicts. However, this restitution process lacked appropriate provisions for rural women beyond granting them a formal property title.

Drawing on decades of research, Elusive Justice demonstrates how these women continue to face numerous adverse circumstances, including geographical isolation, encroaching capitalist enterprises, and a dearth of social and institutional support. Donny Meertens contends that women's advocacy organizations must have a prominent role in overseeing these transitional policies in order to create a more just society. By bringing together the underresearched topic of property repayment and the pursuit of gender justice in peacebuilding, these findings have broad significance elsewhere in the world.

Donny Meertens is an associate researcher at the Institute of Human Rights and Peacebuilding Alfredo Vázquez Carrizosa atPontificia Universidad Javerianaand cofounder of the School of Gender Studies at the National University of Colombia. She is the coauthor ofBandits, Peasants, and Politics: The Case of "La Violencia" in Colombiaand the coeditor ofColombia from the Inside: Perspectives on Drugs, War and Peace.

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction: Land, Gender, and Justice on the Eve of Peace 3
1 Transition: Back to Normal Life? 23
2 Dispossession: A Twofold Gendered History 52
3 Friction: Land Restitution at Work 90
4 Transformation: The Elusive Future 121
Conclusion: Linking Land, Justice, and Gender to the Peace Accord 152
Epilogue: Women Protagonists of the Peace Accord on Gender and Land 159
Notes 163
References 177
Index 195