PrintColombia: Enhance collective efforts to secure truth, justice, and reconciliation
Goal: Enhance collective efforts to secure truth, justice, reparations, social reconstruction, reconciliation, and processes of historical memory, particularly among groups victimized by the war, discrimination, and social and economic exclusion.
USIP is engaging in a series of programs that address the heavy burden that past abuses can bear on moving a nation towards democracy and post-conflict rebuilding and transformation, and away from war. In situations of ongoing violence, where there is no clear transition from war to peace, redress for abuses often present risks for those seeking the truth. USIP has sought to support efforts that seek truth, justice, reparations, and reconciliation for the victims of war, while also acknowledging the need for the reintegration of both the perpetrators and the victims of violence back into society. USIP is supporting the following programs:
A Toolkit for Reconstructing Historical Memory
A USIP-supported workshop held in Cartagena in 2008 on “Memories of War and Gender” with women’s groups in the north Atlantic coast inspired the production of a toolkit to aid conflict-ridden communities in reconstructing and discussing their memories of the violence in a way that could help individuals and communities move forward.
Download the toolkit, Recordar y narrar el conflicto: Caja de herramientas para reconstruir memoria historica
A Historical Case Study of Violence in Colombia
USIP Senior Program Officer Virginia M. Bouvier traveled to Colombia from September 8-12, 2009 to participate in a series of events organized by the Historical Memory Group of the National Commission for Reparations and Reconciliation related to the release of the Group’s first case study of violence in Colombia, Trujillo: Una Tragedia que no Cesa (Trujillo: An Endless Tragedy). | Learn more about this project
Demobilization and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants
With a grant from USIP, the Fundación Antonio Restrepo Barco developed a pilot psycho-social treatment program for 100 ex-combatants. Three professional counselors trained a group of thirty ex-combatants from the Caribbean coastal region of Sucre in strategies to assist in their own social reintegration and trained them to serve as peer counselors to other ex-combatants. After eighty hours of training, these individuals shared their newly acquired knowledge and skills with seventy more ex-combatants. | Learn more about this project
Citizens’ Commission for Reconciliation
USIP has been supporting the efforts of SEMBRANDOPAZ to create and link together eight departmental Citizens' Reconciliation Commissions (CCR) on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Workshops in each of the eight departments and at the sub-regional and regional level were designed to promote citizen participation, advance local reconciliation processes, and facilitate local and regional involvement in national reconciliation efforts. | Learn more about this project
Facilitating Peace and Reconciliation Between Conflict Survivors and Ex-Combatants
With USIP’s support, Survivor Corps has worked with Colombian organizations to develop a program of training, practical experience, and psychosocial support that assists both conflict survivors and ex-combatants in recovering from their respective traumas, reintegrating back into society, and assisting others in their personal recovery and reintegration. | Learn more about this project
Developing a Model for Documenting Missing Persons and Clandestine Cemeteries in Colombia
USIP has been supporting the work of EQUITAS, a small NGO based in Colombia, to develop a model for documenting missing persons and clandestine cemeteries in Colombia. This model, being tested in select clandestine cemeteries in San Onofre (Antioquia) and Casanare (Meta), consists of collecting existing information of missing persons; compiling spatial information on clandestine cemeteries; and reconstructing which individuals may be found at which site. | Learn more about this project