Access to education for ex-guerrillas and their families, who are in the process of reincorporation, is key for the promotion of social justice and equality in Colombia. This snapshot explores the progress and challenges of education in some of the areas of reincorporation where former members of the FARC guerrilla have decided to rebuild their lives with their families.
Join Rodeemos el Diálogo, the Transitional Justice Network of the University of Essex, the Centre on Conflict, Rights and Justice of SOAS, and MEMPAZ in an online dialogue to discuss some of the lessons drawn from reparations processes in Colombia and beyond.
The contributions of ethnic populations to peacebuilding and social and economic development in Colombia was acknowledged in point 6.2, known as the Ethnic Chapter of the 2016 Peace Agreement signed between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP. This acknowledgment signalled the historic conditions of exclusion, slavery, physical and cultural extermination, and land dispossession that ethic populations have suffered.
One of the main pillars in the Commission’s work is knowledge management, which focuses on the clarification, investigation, and gathering of information in order to develop a diverse understanding of the dynamics of the Colombian armed conflict. The purpose of this effort is to construct a collective narrative that takes into account such dynamics, acknowledging all sectors of society, most importantly the victims.
One of the main pillars in the Commission’s work is knowledge management, which focuses on the clarification, investigation, and gathering of information in order to develop a diverse understanding of the dynamics of the Colombian armed conflict. The purpose of this effort is to construct a collective narrative that takes into account such dynamics, acknowledging all sectors of society, most importantly the victims.
In this dialogue, Laura Villa, member of the National Council of Reincorporation (CNR) will share the challenges that the FARC ex-combatants face amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we will hear the strategies developed in the former Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCR) to prevent and mitigate its impact.
Embrace Dialogue Pasto (Rodeemos el Diálogo Pasto – ReD Pasto) began in 2018. ReD Pasto decided to work with a regional peace focus to contribute to the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement between the FARC and the Colombian government.
This snapshot explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the process of reincorporation. On 6 March 2020, Colombia reported its first case of COVID-19 coronavirus within what has since been declared a global pandemic. The crisis has exacerbated existing inequalities and needs, and the preventative measures applied, including curfews, lockdowns and self-isolation, have been felt across all corners of the country. The second reincorporation snapshot discussed the economic and security challenges that need to be tackled in 2020. The current crisis emphasises the need for urgent attention towards these same issues but also shows new opportunities and examples of co-responsibility and solidarity by FARC ex-combatants.
in February 2017 a group of students from the Universidad del Valle, Cali’s public university, decided to start an Embrace Dialogue (Rodeemos el Diálogo-ReD) chapter in their city. Ever since, they have worked especially on pedagogical projects, that seek to educate empowered, critical-thinking citizens, who can contribute to peacebuilding in Colombia.
The Unión Patriótica (UP) political party was born out of the ceasefire, peace, and truce agreements signed between the government and FARC-EP in 1984. The UP emerged as a political movement with legal guarantees for the insurgency to participate in political scenarios through elected offices. Support for the party grew, especially in remote regions of the country, leading to the election of 19 departmental deputies, 286 local council members, and several representatives in Congress. Following this success, paramilitary groups, state agents, and some political factions carried out an offensive against UP leaders and militants amounting to political genocide of the party. In 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor-General of Colombia declared some of the crimes against members of the UP as crimes against humanity.
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