New Commissioner for the Colombian Truth Commission (CEV)

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Rodeemos el Diálogo (Embrace Dialogue) celebrates the appointment of Leyner Palacios as the new commissioner for the Colombian Truth Commission (CEV). His reputation as a social leader and defender of the rights of victims from el Chocó makes him ideal for the role. His profile encompasses all of the requirements established by the Commission for the appointment of a new commissioner. For the Commission, it is fundamental to include an individual with experience in defending human rights, that has been in proximity to social processes as well as the communities of the Pacific, and that has an understanding of the dynamics of the violence present in Colombia. Leyner meets all of these requirements.

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Embrace Dialogue Pasto: Weaving peace in our territory

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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.

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Embrace Dialogue Cali: Three Years of Peacebuilding

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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.

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New Truth Commissioner in Colombia

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April 13 / 2020 Embrace Dialogue endorses the selection of Alejandro Castillejo as the new Truth Commissioner in Colombia. The decision taken by the existing 10 commissioners was part of an inclusive, public and pluralist process to replace the commissioner  who sadly passed away in October 2019, and involved individuals with a wealth of experience. […]

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National Day of Memory and Solidarity with the Victims of the Armed Conflict

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April 09 / 2020 Embrace Dialogue, as an organisation born from civil society to support the negotiated exit from armed conflict and encourage the construction of peace through dialogue, finds it unacceptable that the numbers of victims in Colombia continues to rise. We join with others in commemorating the National Day of Memory and Solidarity […]

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The Narrative Wars: A Conversation with Juan Gabriel Vásquez

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April 07 / 2020 ReD member Gwen Burnyeat interviewed award-winning Colombian novelist Juan Gabriel Vásquez for Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB). In this interview, they discussed the Colombian peace process, the challenges of speaking truth in a “post-truth” era, fiction, and much more. Read the complete interview here. “I try to contribute in a more […]

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Opportunities for peace between the Colombian government and the ELN

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April 02 / 2020 On 29 March 2020, Colombia’s High Commissioner for Peace, Miguel Ceballos, invested Carlos Velandia and Francisco Galán -former commanders of the National Liberation Army (ELN) insurgency- as Peace Facilitators (Gestores de Paz) This was a reversal of an earlier decision taken by the Duque administration in January 2019, which withdrew this […]

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An opportunity for solidarity and self-reflection

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March 22 / 2020 For this time of uncertainty, we in Embrace Dialogue offer our principles of honesty, generosity, respect, solidarity, self-criticism and co-responsibility. We commit to these values in our work promoting dialogue for peace-building, and also in contemplating how we connect with the world around us. These principles suggest insight as to how […]

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The Colombian government must carefully consider the recommendations made by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders

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March 18 / 2020 In the first week of March 2020, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights launched the report made by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, after his 2019 visit to Colombia to investigate the current human rights situation in the country. This report has been subject […]

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UCL Americas co-hosts lecture by eminent Colombian jurist

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March 06 / 2020 The lecture was hosted by UCL Institute of the Americas, in partnership with the LSE Latin American and Caribbean Centre and Embrace Dialogue (Rodeemos el Diálogo). Before becoming the chief prosecutor of the JEP, Mr Álvarez worked for 25 years in the Office of the General Prosecutor of Colombia, investigating cases […]

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