Colombia

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Featured Publications & Tools

Latest from USIP on Colombia

  • May 9, 2013   |   Publication

    Figuring out how to engage the public in a peace process can be rather messy. USIP’s Ginny Bouvier examines the evolution of public engagement in the Colombian case.

  • April 26, 2013   |   Publication

    Civic groups and activists are playing an increasing role in and at the margins of peace negotiations, and their involvement can be pivotal for long-term success in carrying out the results. USIP Senior Program Officer Ginny Bouvier examines the trend and its benefits.

  • April 10, 2013   |   Publication

    USIP’s Virginia “Ginny” Bouvier discusses the connection between land, conflict and peace in Colombia.  

  • March 27, 2013   |   Publication

    As the government of Colombia and the FARC-EP guerrillas prepare to resume another round of peace talks on April 2, reports from observers and public comments by the parties indicate the two sides are optimistic that they'll reach agreement.

USIP Goals in Colombia

The United States Institute of Peace seeks to support a non-violent transformation of the conflict in Colombia. For ten years, in the absence of a national peace process, USIP has been supporting conflict analysis and resolution initiatives that would shape conditions propitious for a political, negotiated solution. Since 2008, much of USIP's Colombia work has focused specifically on generating lessons from past peace processes that might be helpful for future talks.

When on September 4, 2012, President Juan Manuel Santos announced that peace talks would open in October in Oslo and continue in Havana, he gave guidelines about what was to come. His first point was that this time Colombia would learn from the lessons of the past. USIP has worked to shape a context where talking about these lessons would be possible and fruitful. With peace talks now launched in Oslo and continuing in Havana, Cuba, the Institute is supporting both the national negotiations and civil society efforts to ensure that whatever peace is negotiated in the national talks will be sustainable. In particular, the Institute seeks to:

 

Work & Analysis

USIP has been spearheading a collaborative research project with the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, the Colombian Jesuit Research Institute (CINEP), and the Latin American Studies Center at Georgetown University and others to analyze past peace processes and their impact on prospects for a future political solution to the conflict in Colombia. On October 15, 2012, the consortium released a new document, “Lessons for Colombia’s Peace Talks in Oslo and Havana,” published in Spanish as “Lecciones para los diálogos en Oslo y La Habana.”

The latest document builds on the work USIP has been doing to generate lessons from Colombia’s extensive peace efforts over the last quarter century. This work has helped open the possibility of revisiting dialogue and a political solution in Colombia. The documents provide frameworks for generating the discussion and ideas that a national peace process will require. The latest document, “Lessons for Colombia’s Peace Talks in Oslo and Havana” assesses the lessons that have been learned and those still to be assimilated as Colombia embarks on this next stretch of the road toward peace.

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