by Michaela Söllinger, IFOR Austria (This article was also published with minor changes in the Austrian magazine Spinnrad, Vol. 4 (2019)) Picture 1: Sunset over Guaviare harbor Picture 2: Fishing pond in main hamlet of San José de León How does reconciliation happen?...
Human Rights, Impunity and Justice
Meet our new accompanier: Enrique
Enrique is a social leader, human rights defender and member of the victims’ network Communities Constructing Peace in the Communities (CONPAZ). In 2017, he was selected the Human Rights Defender of the Year in the national awards for human rights, granted by Diakonía...
Meet our new accompanier: María Eugenia
María Eugenia is from the outskirts of Popayán, in the department of Cauca. She studied ethno-education at the University of Cauca. Her family member was a victim of an extrajudicial execution, which motivated her to get involved in peace-building work. She is a...
Blanquita-Murrí and a Plan for Life
After a four-hour jeep ride through thick forest and passing over waterfalls, the valley of Blanquita-Murrí, Frontino, Antioquia opened up in front of us. Wide forests and grasslands surrounded the main settlement of the high mountain plain, which is the hub for the...
Perspectives on Peace: Fabiola from Santa Rosa de Guayacán
In early August, we were able to travel with our partner Communities Constructing Peace in the Territories (CONPAZ) to Bajo Calima and the San Juan River, in the rural region outside of Buenaventura. There we heard from various indigenous and Afro-Colombian...
Reflections on Returning to the Peace Community
by Tom Power When we arrived in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó for Christmas, former accompanier Emily and I didn’t really know what to expect. Neither of us had been there for some time, but we were excited that the Peace Community was going to have...
“There will never be true peace, until we eliminate hatred within our hearts as a country.”- Peace Community Leader
The following piece and pictures were originally published in Spanish by our Accompanier Dianna E Almanza. When I see the sunrise, I see how mother nature awakens around me, As if time stood still, As if this very precise moment that I am living, were to last for a...
Real Lives Behind the Increasing Numbers of Killings of Human Rights Defenders
During the last months we have been repeatedly alarmed about the dramatically increasing rates of threats and attacks against human rights defenders in Colombia. Since the start of 2018, over 100 Human Rights defenders have been killed. Seemingly, the situation has...