Nine months into new efforts by Colombia’s administration to achieve “total peace” with remaining armed groups following decades of civil war, that process should make room for the nation’s thousands of grassroots and community organizations to strengthen peace...
Manuel Müller
Celebrating 26 Years of Resistance: The Peace Community’s Struggle to Protect Water and Land
On March 22, 2023, while the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó was preparing to go to the river under intense heat, a member of Community reflected: "Without water, we are nothing." He continued: "We need to plant more naceros (plants that help prevent...
Strengthening Mechanisms of Protection in Buenaventura
In February, we visited our accompanied communities in Colombia's Pacific region to start a collective process to analyze and identify vulnerabilities, capacities and strategies of resistance and defense in order to strengthen mechanisms of protection and...
2022 Year in Review
Despite escalating conflict in 2022, leading to the murders of 189 human rights defenders (registering 18 more than the year before), we can look back on a challenging but successful year for FOR Peace Presence. Do you want to know more about our work over the past...
Total Peace: A Chance to Increase Human Security in Colombia?
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), there are currently six different armed conflicts in Colombia. In addition, criminal groups are active in many regions throughout the country. Decades of war have resulted in 8.8 million victims. In the...
FORPP Team Member Maru Wins the 2022 Women Building Peace Award!
We are thrilled to share with you the big news that our compa and team member María Eugenia, or Maru as known by friends and communities, is the recipient of the United States Institute of Peace's (USIP) 2022 Women Building Peace Award! Besides being part of the FORPP...
FORPP Team Member Maru Selected as Finalist of the 2022 Women Building Peace Award
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) announced the six finalists for the 2022 Women Building Peace Award. The Women Building Peace Award is given each year to a woman peacebuilder who has made a major contribution to preventing conflict, combatting violence and...
Colombia’s Truth Commission delivers Final Report
Colombia’s Truth Commission has presented its final report on the country’s long-running civil conflict, announcing that at least 450,664 people were killed over nearly six decades of fighting. The commission was set up as part of the 2016 peace deal between the...