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Reincorporating Vulnerable Populations: The Importance of a Differential Approach
Embrace Dialogue interviewed four members of (CONELAEC), in order to understand and shed light on the problems that affect this population.
FARC Ex-Combatants and the Right to Non-violent Social Protest.
For FARC peace signatories, exercising the right to express disagreement and participating in non-violent, democratic protests are essential steps towards reincorporation into political life.
Proposals for a Comprehensive and Sustainable Reincorporation
Growing public and economic insecurity has seen the death of more than 250 ex-combatants (or peace signatories, as former members of this guerrilla refer to themselves), and many more of them forcibly displaced. This is compounded by a lack of progress in the implementation of the National Reincorporation Policy (Conpes 3931), and more generally of the Framework for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement. This, and other reasons, led more than 2000 peace signatories to march from various territories in Colombia to the capital Bogotá, to deliver their proposals to the President. This snapshot analyses in more detail their proposals.
Mass Pilgrimage in Support of Life and Peace
On 21 October 2020, around two thousand FARC ex-combatants from across the country joined a mass demonstration to meet with the national government and demand both the implementation of security measures to safeguard life and the fulfilment of the peace agreement. The starting point of the demonstration, named Peregrinación por la Vida y por la Paz (Pilgrimage for Life and Peace), was the municipality of Mesetas in the department of Meta – the resting place of former FARC combatant Jesús Monroy Ayala, who was killed on 16 October 2020.
The Current State of Reincorporation: the Inspector General’s Office Report
In early September 2020, the Inspector General’s Office presented the Colombian Congress with its second report on the implementation of the Peace Agreement. One of the report’s chapters addresses the socio-economic reincorporation of former members of the FARC-EP. This snapshot reflects on the progress and challenges of reincorporation identified by the Inspector General’s Office, as well as its recommendations.
A Communitised Security Approach as an Instrument of Peace
Despite progress in technical aspects of reintegration, there are serious delays in the full implementation of the peace agreement as our previous snapshot showed. Of particular concern are the lack of security guarantees and the increasing violence in areas historically affected by the conflict. A central theme of the Ethnic Chapter of the agreement is the proposal to address the issue of security from a territorial, more participatory and inclusive perspective that goes beyond the traditional state approach based on the deployment of police and military forces. This snapshot reflects on the need to quickly and effectively implement the Ethnic Chapter, which aims to safeguard the territorial and collective rights of indigenous communities and Afro-Colombian peoples.
The State of Implementation of the Colombian Peace Agreement
On 9 July 2020, Embrace Dialogue and the Kroc Institute held a public dialogue to discuss ‘The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies’ Fourth Report on the state of implementation of the 2016 Final Peace Accord’, examining the period December 2018- November 2019.
Corporeconciliation and the Challenges of Reincorporation
This Snapshot brings together the challenges of political reincorporation related to the FARC party, taking into account the creation of new groups that seek to represent the interest of some former members of the FARC-EP guerrilla group.
FARC’s Peace Signatories – Challenges and Creative Solutions to COVID-19
This snapshot summarises the highlights of our event, “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Reincorporation of the FARC in Colombia”. We heard from FARC ex-combatants from the formerly named Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCRs in Spanish), and Laura Villa, representative for the FARC in the National Reincorporation Council (CNR), who discussed the challenges they faced before and during the pandemic, and how they are providing creative solutions to this global crisis from their territories.
Education as a Strategy for Reincorporation
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.