In this episode of the Just Access Podcast, we speak with Paula Vargas, Associate at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT) in Bogotá, where she leads the organisation’s transitional justice work in Colombia and Latin America.

Paula shares her journey into human rights and access to justice, explaining how a personal encounter with barriers to reproductive healthcare first shaped her understanding that rights are not only legal concepts but lived realities shaped by culture, institutions, and power. She reflects on why access to justice is essential for peacebuilding and how the absence of justice can create space for violence and alternative systems of authority. The conversation explores Paula’s work at the intersection of international law, transitional justice, and peace implementation. Drawing on her experience working within Colombia’s Ministry of Defense after the peace agreement with the FARC, she discusses the challenges of translating ambitious peace commitments into practical institutional change and why meaningful peace requires engagement from within the institutions involved in conflict.

Paula also reflects on the complexities of accountability in societies emerging from conflict, sharing how her experiences challenged her assumptions and reinforced the importance of balancing justice, fairness, and the realities of implementation. She explains why transitional justice requires understanding different perspectives while maintaining a commitment to responsibility and human rights.

What will you learn?

• How personal experiences can inspire a career in human rights and access to justice

• Why access to justice is closely connected to peace and preventing violence

• How international law can influence domestic human rights debates and accountability processes

• What it means to implement a peace agreement from within state institutions

• The everyday realities and challenges of working on transitional justice

• Why accountability and fairness must go hand in hand in post-conflict societies

🧠 Topics Covered

• Human rights and access to justice

• Transitional justice in Colombia

• The Colombian peace agreement with the FARC

• International law and domestic change

• Accountability and responsibility

• Peacebuilding and conflict transformation

• Institutional reform

• Human rights advocacy

👤 About the Guest

Paula Vargas is an Associate at the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT) based in Bogotá, Colombia, where she leads IFIT’s transitional justice work in Colombia and Latin America. She has worked extensively on peace implementation, transitional justice, international law, and human rights, including as part of Colombia’s Ministry of Defense during the implementation of the peace agreement with the FARC.

📚 Resources & Links

• Just Access Podcast – https://just-access.de/podcast

• Learn more about Just Access – https://just-access.de

• Learn more about the Institute for Integrated Transitions – https://ifit-transitions.org

• Support Just Access – https://just-access.de/donate

• Contact the show – [email protected]

⏱ Key Moments

• 01:00 – Paula’s journey into human rights and access to justice

• 03:00 – Why justice is essential for peace

• 04:30 – The role of international law in Colombia’s human rights debates

• 06:30 – Working inside the Ministry of Defense after the peace agreement

• 09:00 – The realities of implementing transitional justice commitments

• 11:00 – Lessons learned from working within conflict-affected institutions

• 13:00 – Balancing accountability, fairness, and the challenges of peacebuilding

Call to Action

Help Just Access continue creating conversations about human rights, justice, and accountability by sharing this episode, leaving a review, and supporting our work:

👉 https://just-access.de/donate

Because everyone can be a human rights defender.

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