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Five Years of the Colombian Peace Agreement
In this webinar we will discuss the achievements and challenges of the 2016 Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP
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Three Challenges to Paving Peace Negotiations with the ELN
On 25 th March, the Rodeemos el Diálogo (ReD) team working for a negotiation between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), together with the University of Winchester’s Centre of Religion, Reconciliation and Peace (CRRP), held a public dialogue
Four Proposals for Embracing the Colombian Pacific
Marc 16th / 2021 Over the first two months of 2021, security conditions and the enjoyment of human rights in the Pacific region of Colombia have deteriorated, as a number of organisations and communities have made clear. Our concern is shared by different processes, organisations and communities in the west of the country. The armed […]
The Conditions Exist for Negotiations with the ELN
On the 9th February, the Rodeemos el Diálogo team that is following an eventual negotiation between the Colombian government and the ELN held a public dialogue with Socorro Ramírez, emeritus professor in the Institute for International Relations and Political Studies at the National University of Colombia, and Luis Eduardo Celis, an analyst of the armed conflict, about the perspectives for peace with the National Liberation Army (ELN in Spanish). In view of this dialogue, and given that this year represents the 30th anniversary of the first attempt at negotiating with the ELN, that the critical humanitarian situation in the territories where the ELN is present, and that the pandemic aggravates this situation further still, we consider that a peace process is now more urgent than ever.
The “No” Won, Colombia Lost: Four Years Since the Signing of the Peace Agreement
Four years after the signing of that agreement, the Political Studies and International Relations Institute (IEPRI) of the National University of Colombia, and Rodeemos el Diálogo (ReD) invite you to this dialogue and book launch of ‘The “No” Won, Colombia Lost: Four Years Since the Signing of the Peace Agreement’.
Relatives of Missing Persons are the Key Actors for the Unit of the Search for the Disappeared
In Colombia, there is a long history of searching for the disappeared and records of forced disappearance date back to the 1950s. Several actors have focused on these searches. On the one hand, the Colombian state looks for those missing, through judicial institutions and the police. On the other hand, the families of disappeared persons, who suffer deeply from the absence of their loved ones and the injustice of it, lead their own initiatives for encountering them. In both cases, searches are founded on chasing down leads, and following clues and intuitions. For the state this means implementing a systematic search with logistical and technical support. In the case of relatives, searches are more erratic, marked by deep loneliness, uncertainty and risk, but families also have the ability to imagine new forms of encounters. This snapshot analyses the commitment of transitional institutions to putting family members at the centre of their work.
The ABC of the Unit for the Search of Disappeared Persons (UBPD)
The Unit for the Search of Disappeared Persons (UBPD) is responsible for searching those people who were disappeared in the context of the armed conflict. It is one of the three institutions of the Comprehensive System for Truth, Justice, Reparations, and Non-Repetition (CSTJRN) that arose from the Peace Agreement signed in 2016. The unit was developed in response to requests by relatives of disappeared persons, and civil society organizations that were part of the peace dialogues. In particular, they asked for the establishment of an institution in charge of searching for the disappeared without discrimination on the basis of their origin, age, gender, religion, militancy, or any other factor.
Ethnic Populations in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace
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.
The Impact of Coronavirus on the Work of the Truth Commission
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.