 Great. Well, thank you all for coming today on behalf of President Nancy Lindborg of the US Institute of Peace. I want to welcome you to our event Truly a remarkable event that will highlight the work and sacrifice of many who have been on the front lines of peace and human rights in Colombia During its long process to build a more democratic and peaceful future So the US Institute of Peace was founded 35 years ago Uh, the inspiration came from a number of congress persons that had served in war and were determined that The united states have an institute that was more focused on peace building But also to have a monument to peace that the us government supported US IP is an independent non-partisan National institute charged with the vital mission to prevent mitigate and resolve violent conflicts throughout the world Uh, the building itself is interesting and I wanted to just Touch for a second because we often bring people in without mentioning what our building actually symbolizes. So if you Notice on the way in you'll see a series of offices And then common spaces So the architect for the building was a guy named Moshe Safdi a canadian Canadian Israeli architect who's done a lot of very prominent buildings in the world, but his idea was That from the individual spaces of the offices You're connected visually to other offices, but also to the common spaces. So the idea was transparency openness and brightness the kinds of things that will lead us to peace but also The notion that our individual efforts need to be connected to others that we work with And to the the common peace building community. So that's part of what this building is actually symbolizing It's also placed in a in an area of our of our city where we have also the franklin delano Roosevelt monument We have albert einstein martin luther king and abraham lincoln. So we have a bit of a peace trail that surrounds this building as well And then of course above the building we have the wings of a dove as the ultimate symbol for peace So we achieve our mission here by linking training and analysis Research and policy And by supporting those that work around the world on conflict mitigation and peace building on the front lines For over 15 years. We've worked in columbia Helping the country to prepare for a peaceful and political solution to the conflict Both the work of our team and the institute is all about a top down and a bottom up approach to peace So we have teams in the field that try to help To look at community level issues of conflict resolution And then reflect those community level things back up into the national dialogue for peace Specifically in columbia our team has provided formal and informal technical assistance to negotiators Special envoys and the international community on how to ensure the implementation of agreements actively supports vulnerable populations Since 2012 we've also convened the columbia peace forum To ensure that policymakers and opinion leaders have a sound understanding of the conflict The challenges that arise in both peacemaking and peace building And especially prioritizing the voices of those historically excluded including women ethnic minorities and victims We've been deeply involved in strengthening civil society Including human rights NGOs religious institutions youth and women's groups And afro columbian and other ethnic communities through capacity building and technical assistance And we've supported inclusive security reforms backing processes to strengthen justice and security and build trust in rural areas through dialogue Most recently usip has become involved with venezuela We're actively seeking ways to help close the social fissures that are impeding a political solution And supporting efforts at a negotiated solution So today we're honored to be in the presence of some of the real champions of human rights and consider you among our most valued partners For the past eight years diakonia and act church of sweden have presented an award to celebrate and support people who defend and stand up for human rights in columbia And to recognize their contribution to democracy and peace The national prize for the defense of human rights in columbia seeks to commend and support their work as a legitimate act of courage So i'd like to ask For 2019 the human rights defender of the year award went to clemencia caravali rodayaga clemencia was the president and co-founder of the association for afro descendant women of northern calca And has done work defending the ancestral territory of afro columbian communities and the rights of women The award for collective experience of the year as a community process went to anya paes martinez Anya Anya is a rural for the lawyer for the rural farmers association of the simitarra river valley For her work defending the rights of rural farming communities and developing alternative social development models for farmers The award for collective experience as an NGO went to marco romero silva Marco was director of the consultancy for human rights and displacement and his work was on monitoring human rights in columbia Providing alerts on new new crimes and developing solutions to address the humanitarian crisis and support victims thanks And the lifetime achievement award went to ricardo esquivia bayistas Riccardo was a peace builder and human rights defender who's developed tools for engaging in improbable dialogue I like that that phrase improbable dialogue Spent his life as a conflict mediator and facilitator of building peace processes One article i read about uh riccardo said his work in picheline is titled a tiny village in columbia slowly comes back to life Riccardo your work has made a difference in the lives of thousands as have all of you. Thank you So before turning it over to the panel, I'd like to also thank our co-sponsors the washington office on latin america and the washington uh working group education fund specifically the partnership and coordination with himena sanchez Garzoli and lisa how guard We've partnered with you over the many years to highlight the work of columbian leaders and it's an honor to be with both of you today So I'd like to now turn over the program to himena sanchez garzoli director of the andes in the washington office of latin america Who's been actively supporting the work of human rights defenders in columbia for many years? Thanks Thank you so much Welcome everybody. This is a real special treat that you're going to be able to hear from these amazing People that are here with me today one of the hardest things i've ever done working on columbia is be a judge For this prize, which is really not easy Because there are a lot of exceptional columbians But I think that this is just incredible So i'm supposed to talk a little bit about the context in columbia and I'm coming at it from having spent the last seven months in arauca twice Catatumbo two weeks ago Choco and narinho especially along the border So my view is obviously from some of the hardest hits hit areas of columbia What I can say is that 20 years ago the situation in columbia was awful You had massacres with chainsaws almost every day. You had mass kidnappings You couldn't travel anywhere in the country without being really scared Or even anywhere period because you could even get hijacked on a plane And so I think columbia has come a tremendous long way In the past 20 years And the highlight of that was in 2016 when you finally had one of the longest running guerrilla groups Lay down their arms and agree to a set of terms to try and transform the society From a society that utilize violence as a as its way to Deal with conflicts to have it become more dialogue more inclusive And also it was a huge turning point because In one of the first times ever in all of the history of peace accords You had a peace accord that throughout the accord Basically supported the rights of women On the same level as men Integrated gender issues and then afro columbian and indigenous issues. So this was a major Breakthrough and I think it raised a tremendous amount of expectations as Hope then you know as expected all those expectations. You're not going to turn things around, you know, four days four days later It's going to take a while However, I've been a bit disillusioned myself going to all these places and seeing certain things that I think Could actually be better the first one being that While there was a process with the FARC and you had these huge number of guerrillas demobilized and You go to some of these areas like I did I went to one in Arauca and it was literally look like a kindergarten There were so many kids Running around due to the baby boom. So the guerrillas were taking care of their kids And that's what they were doing instead of what I used to see them do before You had a situation with The second guerrilla group the eln where there was sort of a bilateral ceasefire and in those areas Things had calmed down. Well, that situation has gotten worse It's gotten worse Because the eln guerrillas have up their attacks When I was in Sarabena, there were five Five terrorist attacks while I was there within that week And so that was just in one little area that gets no attention in Colombia The one that got a lot of attention was the bombing in in Bogota of the police academy So one wonders how can it be that you're going so well towards peace and then now you're seeing this Another area which is a huge Obstacle is obviously the ongoing threats and killings and intimidation of social leaders Now this was going on for a while And if you compare it to the times when Colombia was at fully at war, it's different But it's also very problematic because part of the post conflict was to open the doors for democracy in Colombia And you saw that and those people who started filling in that space all of a sudden Became targets partly because of the reconfiguration of different groups But more than anything because there are many aspects of the peace accord that haven't been implemented in an integral way That could prevent a lot of this insecurity and violence from taking place so We see that we see that Colombia is grabbing with Tremendous humanitarian crisis coming from the country next door Yes, it's the country that's most welcoming And that's really beautiful to see throughout Colombia. I saw it in many different areas how colombians have reached out how the government Has been very open and helpful to venezuelans, but It is completely beyond the capacity of any government to be able to integrate that number of venezuelans And in a sense having peace in Colombia is absolutely necessary if you want to address venezuela and vice versa And so we see that that's a major strain on the society While you have all these venezuelans come in you still have the more than seven million displaced uh colombians And that's a situation that shouldn't be forgotten because if it is forgotten that cycle of violence is going to continue So there are many things that can be done here the biggest one being that The united states as a whole not just its government and congress But also civil society Is very listened to In colombia you can say that's for good or for bad That's you know your opinion, but in general it's listened to and we should use that voice We should use that voice basically to increase attention to these situations We can criticize our friends and tell them things that they're not doing so well That doesn't mean that they're not still our allies on other things But we need to say the truth and the truth is that there are many things that need to be done And the primary one is to fully implement the peace accord as it was signed in 2016 Not just parts of it and not changing it But we see already that um our congress has very much supported this whole process The last aid package is actually pretty good. It's all a very bipartisan support for usa id USAID is is is is implementing most of the land and victims law Land titling supporting directly african- colombian and indigenous communities Implementing a lot of its work through some of the best and most important actors like kodes and the pastoral social and others We see very good things like the Lidera la vida campaign where communication system have brought together with NGOs to try to figure out how the perception of how social leaders are seen and their society changes So those are all things we need to Continue to do What we should definitely not do is go back to supporting any effort of aerial fumigation because that was a big thing that led to the actual piece and Going backwards on that aside from the health environmental and other issues it raises would send a message that really goes against All of the credibility that has been built by the state in a lot of these areas is trying to do state building With that said i'm sure my colleagues have a tremendous And amazing ideas of what can be done Um columbians are the eternal optimists I always find the best way forward And so with that I want to pass the floor on to them And I hope that you listen to them carefully continue to work with them But more than anything you help them Implement their agenda and see how the us and this whole can support Thank you, himena and keith I'm lisa haugard from the latin america working group and like himena I find it one of the most daunting tasks each year to be a juror for the national prize in defense of human rights in columbia because There are so many brave and creative And fascinating and hardworking and risk-taking In the best possible way I'm glad to be here in columbians all over the country who are working so hard for peace and for human rights And i'm so glad to be here today With many of my friends now i'm going to switch over to uh to spanish for the the questions Ricardo we're going to start with you Ricardo you receive the lifetime achievement award For your long career building peace with patience With imagination and with faith Especially in your beloved montez and maria During these difficult times Several years after the signing of the peace agreement. What is needed to move forward with peace building in montez and maria and in columbia What is needed on the part of society the government Demobilized fighters and the international community Thank you, lisa Good afternoon. I would like to give lisa the answer. She's looking for I don't have it, but I've been recognized for Being involved in this for many years I think out of all of those years the last 20 years were key in terms of the work that was done and the contributions made by the united states in columbia and Among all of that there are three names that I would like to mention One of them is a person who was always fighting for this who was on the front lines barbara christina And a name that is key the person that began And took the united states institute of peace to columbia and that's virginia buvje. I remember her very much And I think we owe a lot to jenny for the peace process in columbia. She dedicated her life And she sacrificed herself for columbia to answer this question I would like to use three metaphors I'm kind of old-fashioned from the last century So I don't really handle all of this stuff with the internet very well But so I have three metaphors for you the first metaphor is a story the second metaphor is a biblical verse and the third metaphor is a saying They say that at one time there was a very large fire in the jungle and the animals organized themselves to Put out the fire so every animal made their effort and there was a very large Elephant with a large trunk so the elephant would go to the lake Collect a lot of water and go back to the fire But there was also a hummingbird It was tiny it would take a drop of water and drop it there And the elephant Was looking at the hummingbird and said hey you stupid animal. What are you doing? You're disturbing me get to the side and they say the hummingbird told the elephant mr. Elephant do your job and I'll do mine In columbia. We have a fire a serious fire We have not organized ourselves animals and non-animals To try to put out this fire So with this fire this whole effort it's as if it's a mountain And we're making a huge effort to climb the mountain But there's a metaphor that says that the difficulty is not the mountain we can get up the mountain It's the pebble in our shoe that won't let us move forward So normally columbians we're moving in that direction. For example We have eight and a half million people Who are recognized as victims And we're all trying to get up the mountain in order to put out the fire that's affecting us But we have a pebble in our shoe that's not Letting us get there. It's our incapacity to unite The gear the war creates lots of distrust And years and years of that have created distrust and make it difficult for us to dialogue So some dialogues are improbable There's a verse in the bible that says that it's easier to Take a fortress Than to heal the wound of a brother or a sister that has been affected So we're talking about 8.5 million victims columbia Basically, it's a society with ruptures a lot of people have their souls ruptured So we're talking about a serious pebble in our shoes that is hindering our progress So what could we do? It's important to open up dialogue Because it will allow people to Find a way forward together and in order to do so we need to Accept and understand human dignity in each one of us Once we recognize the other person as a human being then dialogue will take place From peer to peer and for me It's important to recognize this We need to really work on rebuilding trust Trust is key and we need to remember that in order to rebuild that trust We need to have some sort of commitment We need to for example commit not to Training people for work not to be Victimizers we need to commit to the environment if we don't have a healthy environment Rights are completely useless Like african say We need to understand that I exist because we all exist. I am because we all are we need help We need all sorts of help so we can rebuild trust among people And then trust will lead to faith Faith will make us strong and it has to be deep so that we can see A tree grow from the seed that we've planted That way we want to move backward. We will remove the pebble from our shoe We will help each other and we will be able to move forward building durable peace in colombia Thank you ricardo You always use very Telling metaphors and images. I love I love hearing what you have to say and I would like to Follow up on what you just said you've always worked with the churches As well as with other groups from civil society What is the main role that churches can play at this point in colombia as well as outside Thank you I think that a role to be played by by those that Are part of a group of faith is to help to make sure that hope is not lost but maintained That hope prevails and when you have faith you never feel neglected you never feel alone or lonely There's always company and regardless of who is with us we can call That company or companionship we can call him god God is always going to be with us and that's a key role that we can play and From a faith perspective we can work a lot on a dignified life We need to remember that human rights are not so much rights But more human and this is not an invention by europeans after the war. It's something that was Built from that faith perspective precisely jesus came to this world to tell us I'm here to give you life a dignified life So we need to remember all that and we need to put it in practice So that people can actually see that we believe and that we are Living that message of god and that we can put it in practice Is we need to understand that the role to be played by Any church is precisely that one And to show that it's actually possible So that hope prevails Thank you rickardo I would like now to move on and start a conversation with clemencia. First of all Congratulations for receiving the human rights defender of the year award social leaders in colombia Are protecting their territory on a daily basis as well as their community rights and a they're really Implementing the peace process But you also suffer From many attacks and obstacles in your work You really know this firsthand You've actually experienced very Difficult situations After the signing of the peace accord. Why are we seeing so many problems? So many threats To social leaders Good afternoon. Thank you For being here today For taking the time Actually to get to know a little bit more about the situation in colombia and also to support human rights Leaders and defenders because we need your support. We need support from The international community to continue to defend life and peace Yes, indeed the situation continues to be critical in spite of the signing of the peace accords We think that peace is not only the signing of a piece of paper and that's it Peace is basically being in an environment free of fear Free of needs Peace is to be able To be a woman to be a community to be able to do and in order to do we need land Unfortunately our land in our land in our territory. This is not possible and it's not possible because we need comprehensive presence by the state And here we're not talking only about armed public forces In the case of women precisely that actually leads to more Attacks to our rights. We need actually presence by the state With actions that will Breach all those gaps that have led to more than 50 years of conflict in colombia There are very difficult difficult situations persist because there's also a very different interest over our territory The resources that you can find there There is structural violence. There is very complex Together with an economic model that is based on extractives and accumulation We also believe that It's due to the Failure implementing the agreement we've seen some progress, but unfortunately we also see that Clearly and decisively the peace accord is not part of the political agenda of our government of Ivan duke's administration if you review any Public policy tools such as the development plan You can see that there is no political will there to move forward in the implementation of the peace accords and that really makes The situation very complex It's much harder to achieve progress to make sure that there's peace and hope We also think that the situation that we're experiencing is due because There are female and male leaders And human rights defenders that are committed to this committed to Defending our human rights and our land and minority rights and that's we are actually persecuted. We are displaced We are assassinated we're killed And we are threatened On the 4th of may 2019 together with other 15 colleagues I suffered An attack I received nine threats first Luckily and thank thank god. We were not killed But We are facing very serious situations on a daily basis Human rights defenders are suffering Just because they're trying to defend their territory The situation in colombia like I say is quite serious It's not possible to have democracy in a country where the voice of their leaders And human rights defenders is not listened to And that's unfortunately what is happening in colombia over the last years especially During the last year and this year Even though we have a peace accord we understand it's not perfect But it really provides us with the roadmap That we can follow as colombians We have all the hope in the world in terms of the peace accord as part of civil society as a woman We cannot lose hope in we will continue to build peace because that's what we know how to do That's what we those of Those of us are there know how to do in spite of the circumstances that we we have to face And what we're seeing is that Not only In just those gaps of injustice and inequality are not being breached We've seen actually an increase in terms of persecutions of human rights defenders and social leaders like we've seen in northern cauca We hear discouraging news not only from northern cauca, but from also other parts of the country Like I said human rights leaders Human rights defenders and social leaders are being persecuted all over the country I Will repeat something just to make sure that you will you will remember this We need to continue to do advocacy work regarding justice I think part of what we Continues to happen is because justice is not working. There are very high levels of impunity in colombia those that commit aggressions Or crimes Feel completely free to continue to do so and that's one of the problems in colombia impunity Let me provide you with a specific example. It's something that happened to me an apologies for talking so much about myself but I just want to exemplify what happened by the fourth of may. I had already suffered nine Threats I had already reported to the competent authorities After the fourth of may after the attack We even met with the president Himself ibn duke. We met with people from the prosecutor's office We met with different authorities that were responsible for Making sure that there was an investigation and people were punished to date we haven't had a single response about who Is to be blamed for those attacks not only about the material Authors of the crimes, but mainly About the intellectual the masterminds basically Some young people were prosecuted But it's clear that the process is not right The situation is being verified by the competent authorities themselves Basically what we're doing is just waiting to see who was behind those attacks Who were the masterminds behind the attacks that we suffered? And this is just to provide you with an example In colombia we see basically the same situation on a daily basis Thank you clemencia you were talking about The impact on women on Female human rights defenders and social leaders that face very specific type of risks Could you talk a little bit about what you do? With your community in northern cauca just to make sure that women are protected Well, I am part of Process with 220 women But we also work with other women in the 10 municipalities of that region northern cauca fortunately Women are very creative And we had to resort to our Creativity basically in order to be able to survive One of the things that we do is schooling we have a school basically for Women there are peace builders We teach them about the rights and we also basically In educate them not only about rights, but about Everything that we've won as Specific minority and everything we need to know to empower ourselves and be able to Engage in the different peace building scenarios And the different arenas where we need to continue to fight For our rights as women we support each other and we also develop some Protection mechanisms to protect ourselves protect our families the They are very important obviously to us And they support us in our work. We also Develops different types of strategies. For example, we develop certain self-care protocols And I can't really tell you exactly what they are because otherwise it's not a secret And we need them to be a secret in order to protect ourselves We also resort to ancestral practices to try to Throw off the enemy Let me provide you with an example when we go from one community to another since for example Certain communication means are not safe other times. There's no signal. There's no coverage. We don't have cell phones We use signs For example on trees with plants That way we know for example If I go if I talk about specific tree in specific way, it means that I cannot visit that community because it's not safe Sometimes there is an order that we cannot really move within our our own territory But we need to be aware of all these these strategies might sound very minor insignificant, but they're actually very important for us and It has to do with collective Certain collective agreements that we have in place. We call them security agreements and this type of work actually allows us to continue working on our dreams to continue contributing to the colombian society because we believe that we are a very rich country and we could all fit in this country unfortunately part of part of the reason why we're in this situation is because of ambition and Because of the lack of understanding in terms of the fact that my rights end when the rights of the other person begin Thank you. Thank you very much for telling us about your very exciting work Now we're going to talk with ania The defense of the territory and collective spaces is part of the work that you are carrying out as social leaders What type of processes or tactics are you using from your community itself? from your organization in order to Strengthen those community rights good afternoon greetings to you all and thanks to the aconia and The suities act church also to Thanks to viola and to the latin-american working group For organizing organizing this event so that we can share all this information with you and we can convey our message We are now touring around the u.s. Doing some advocacy work and now to answer your question I would like to begin by saying the following All these Tactics basically Were developed because farmers rural farmers were being persecuted They basically arrived at a place and at that point they said we have nowhere else to go This is our shelter. This is our place to stay and Once we decided we didn't continue we didn't want to continue to flee Then we started coming up with certain practical proposals Well, first we started implementing certain practices and then they became proposals One of them organizations based on something very basic when a human being feels that They are lacking absolutely everything and that's basically solidarity. So we decided we needed to organize ourselves Based on the most basic essence of human beings The people that lived in this area were campesinos. They were rural farmers So We decided we wanted to defend our rights in order to have a dignified Or decent life and those rights have to do with our territory with our land Once we start talking about land we start fighting for it and this type of fight is happening happening all over the country I come from specific region in colombia, which is a southern bolivar, which is Basically on the border with antiochia Antiochia is another department, which is the equivalent of state in the united states In when we got to this area, there was basically just rainforest Rural farmers arrived at this area without anything whatsoever basically no land nothing And at that point a movement Was starting to develop that was not recognized by the colombian constitution This movement basically wanted to be recognized A law was passed in 1994 It mentioned the campesinos reserve areas and these areas were basically What we used in order to continue with our fight to build peace we arrived at this land without Having anything Without having any land that area Four decades ago was an area where there were a lot of military operations Campesinos didn't understand why they had to flee from their land They had arrived at another area where there was also a lot of military activity right now. There is a Lot of biodiversity and water, but that but there's also oil and a lot of mining resources So we took the Campesino reserve area And we started talking about defending The this farming economy. We basically need some basic conditions in order to be happy We need food And that's What we get from this campesino reserve area However, we were still limited There was military presence. There were armed groups Both illegal and legal armed forces arrived Campesinos basically were labeled the following way if we were located in an area that there was Presence of the gorilla, then you were a member of the gorilla. So our organization decided to Go and look for advocacy spaces for Spaces where we could dialogue with Authorities with other stakeholders of the Colombian society For campesinos to be recognized as human beings as any human being with their rights And that's how we started to work on advocacy and we started, you know building Or developing proposals to build peace What's your opinion regarding the peace process and The implementation of the peace accord. I'm sure you will focus part of your answer on The aspects I have to do with land But in your opinion, what's the most important thing that government needs to do and the community also need to do in order to strengthen the peace process Well, just for those that are not aware of it in 2011 my organization The organization that I'm representing here Medical throughout the whole country to Unite forces with afro descendants and indigenous communities We were asking people to meet in a specific city in Colombia We also called on the Colombian government We called on the farc on the eln And on all stakeholders basically to sit down because we were fed up with war We were fed up of being neglected and we were fed up With excuses not to have sustainable development not to have a cease of Conflict economic and social conflict that we see in our territory We did not want to be used anymore as an excuse and in that sense in 2011 we met with the other stakeholders We were feeling happy we're feeling hopeful in 2012 the national government announced the Beginning of the dialogue with the farc we've decided to Defend and support this agreement it was signed by the government and the farc But in order to Sign the agreement certain issues had to be included in the agreement. It was not only The put in an end to the conflict. There were all the things that were very important for example A comprehensive agrarian reform in that sense We are actually located in a priority area hot spot It has to do with the agrarian reform. We need programs to be able to solve The situation there we need national plans to get electricity access to health care education and so on and so forth In addition to this It was also a priority area for cops crops replacement and we're talking about a Replacement of crops or substitution because it's actually a priority. We know what happens with fumigations We need to make sure that the solution is not aerial fumigation The solution is to address the root causes of the problem and in this sense we need to Say that we Participated in many different areas and we are highly concerned We thought it was very important To share with all of you all this information especially in this country the united states supported the peace process The united states today for us is actually one of the main stakeholders that is absolutely necessary to support the implementation of the agreement as it was agreed because That's how we will be able to guarantee certain results results and we're not talking about Five or six years. We're talking about 20 years or more, but if we now stray from What was agreed because of certain political interests we will run the risk We will run the risk of implementing something that will actually Not be worth it because it's not what we negotiated Thank you very much. Amen. I would like now to offer the floor to or ask a question to marco marco You actually did a great job during the negotiations between the government and the FARC That's what Ensuring that the voices of victims diverse victims representing a variety of Sectors and experiences that these victims had the opportunity to influence upon The peace process between the government and the FARC It was a slogan at least on the part of the government during the negotiations that victims were at the center of the process How is the role of victims moving forward in terms of implementing the agreements now? Good afternoon to everyone. Thank you for taking time to hear about columbia On behalf of those of us that Work defending human rights. Thank you for the institute of peace for facilitating this meeting and many others That have allowed for awareness to be raised in the united states regarding columbia. Thank you to lisa and himena and to the swedish church to allow for these awards that Allow for us to raise awareness regarding work that's done in adverse situations in columbia It's a country where there's a lot of work to be done in terms of human rights and there are still many risks Involved when seeking results I'd like to highlight some data for people who don't know columbia so well number one columbia is a High middle income country. That's why it's in the oecd, but it's also a champion of inequality It's the second most unequal country in the americas according to the world bank We're almost always in second or third place It's a very wealthy country. It has great cultural diversity 20 of the population is afro's descendant. There are 104 indigenous communities Over 30 of the population are rural farmers We have many fertile lands and it's one of the countries with the most water in the world as well as many other natural resources Well, we've got a country like this and now We ask ourselves there's been a 50 year long civil war How can we contribute to the peace agreement? And how can we collaborate and contribute from different sectors? So that peace can be the destiny of the columbian people There are 50 million columbians The size of the country is almost three times that of germany just to give you an idea It's a country with nearly 10 million victims There were also long civil wars in the past And throughout columbian history 200 years of independence There have been 180 processes of amnesty negotiated Because someone uh takes up arms then they're considered a political opponent and then they're granted amnesty Up until the 90s that was the rule that was used and but the victims never existed It's just now recently that we're speaking about victims and their rights And this is largely due to the struggles of victims themselves social organizations And different manifestations of the international community that have touched on this issue to raise awareness about This issue that these people affected by the war are the weakest link in the chain 10 million victims in a country of 50 million just to give you an idea of the proportions And what's unfortunate is that Currently there are new victims of forced displacement, mergers of social leaders threats and the rest But we're going to try to answer this question The majority of victims come from the rural population The rural population has the highest rates of segregation discrimination and inequality According to the constitutional court a few years ago this court said that we are facing a critical situation Because there are 36 indigenous communities in danger of being extinct The afro columbian population lives under poverty high poverty and Poverty in the rural areas is three times higher than urban poverty So these inequities and this inequality and these injustices are concentrated in that rural society And it's in that rural society where the conflict has unfolded Many times in the urban world. They say let them do war because they won't do it in the cities Occasionally there are certain attacks in cities But the war is carried out in indigenous territories afro columbian territories and the territories of rural farmers and many times The taking of their lands and the displacement falls on these populations who are forced to live under precarious conditions people arriving in cities don't arrive Uh With opportunity they come to compete for informal economic opportunities and their economic situations are even more precarious than before they were displaced So I just want to explain this landscape to show you what's at play in columbia the columbian peace agreement is Defensible it has very Important elements for transforming columbian society. It's not an agreement that resolves all of the problems. It's like A down payment on resolving these problems, but I want to leave you with this idea because I think it's important for you to help us defend the Comprehensive implementation of this agreement the united states was a witness to this agreement with mr. Aronson He accompanied the negotiation process And I'm going to quickly mention two key issues The agreement seeks to resolve some of these problems It seeks to give that rural society a series of reforms so that that society can be included In the case of victims it seeks for the first time for there to be a Special justice system and the idea is to offer reduced sentences to those who committed the most serious violations But those opposed to the process say that this is impunity, but the reality is that historically There has been a 98 impunity rate for the most serious crimes in columbia so It's not that we're abandoning the normal justice system to have a partial justice system It's a system based on Universality that is to mean that all victims should be recognized and all those responsible should make part of it Even the private sector civilian officials military officials paramilitaries in order to Clarify the truth and guarantee a right to justice and non repetition for victims The international community thinks it's an innovative agreement an exceptional agreement one of the best agreements ever Reached in the world and so the question is Why are there sectors who are enemies of this agreement? I'll go into that a little more in a second, but the fact that The victims are at the center of the agreement is true in that these serious crimes are recognized and Institutions such as the truth commission or the search unit for disappeared persons were created unfortunately Fortunately, they don't depend just on the government because if that was the case the implementation would be even less than what we're seeing now so we're very far from being able to We've been able to move in that direction of guaranteeing rights to victims But we believe that there must be comprehensive implementation regarding this issue and the other issues at play Thank you, Marco. I wanted to ask you about some Specific issues regarding victims rights the peace agreement provided for special electoral districts for victims This was seen as an important participatory mechanism to Give victims a voice as well as seats in congress to victims of the conflict. How is this process going along? And if you can briefly touch on the victims law What is the state of this law right now? The peace agreement provides for various things for victims they have a Fund for land that they can access rural reform programs So that all of the sectors of columbian society who have been affected can have collective and individual reparations including businessmen churches unions rural farmers associations indigenous and afro columbians The most depressed places where the state has not been able to guarantee rights It's also the pedet as they're known popularly So that they can have an effect to repair these areas where they were so much damaged on and for the first time in the history of columbia the possibility of having 16 members of congress from those territories those remote territories where There was the highest rate of victimization And that those 16 congress people be elected by victims And no nowhere on earth have victims of Conflicts been given special representation in congress Practically we needed or there was a constitutional reform to implement the agreement The The constitutional court has said that the election was legitimate in support of this But at some point the president of the congress considered that it was not legitimate that a majority was not enough and so this legislation this law was frozen and So we've appeared before other Judicial entities so that we can comply with this but the president of the congress says he doesn't like it He's going to present a different bill that we'll look at and that's a strategy in columbia to always say we're going to improve upon What we have without improving the situation So we want this to be implemented now So that these victims can have this representation now If the victims have this representation, they'll have a stronger voice in the columbian congress Many will ask why are we giving victims these special seats in congress? There are many reasons but one important reason is that well A long time ago the refugee and displaced population lost the right to participate in democracy in their territories As any economic Nobel prize winner will say that economic development is based on Political freedom and these people don't have economic opportunities or political freedom There are harms not just because of murders but because of the loss of rights the loss of territorial rights So this is a minimal reparation that's faced strong opposition from elites in columbia They don't want 16 seats for victims in congress telling their truth It's important for the united states to say that we have to move forward with this decision There are other pending issues in terms of implementation. There has not been rural reform We discussed a political reform that has also not been implemented Comprehensively there are many pending issues. This is one of them And we think that symbolically and politically it is very important for victims to have The possibility of expressing their interest at that level Thank you, martico. I have a question now for all or any of you who would like to answer Across the street, uh, we've got the state department The united states congress is very close by We've got a lot of folks from civil society here today as well as government officials What is the message that you would like to leave with the government and civil society in the united states About what can be done right now to protect social leaders And to protect and accompany the peace process to ensure that it's actually implemented who would like to answer first I think that One of the things that should be done is to have this political support. In fact We think that the accomplishments thus far in terms of implementing the peace agreement are due to the international agreement who have In a certain manner maintained this position that it is necessary to move forward with implementing the peace agreement because Surely if it was only up to the government it would all be, uh, ripped to shreds as was said Uh before and we think that this insistence this political voice remains very important, especially during these times In terms of protecting leaders and human rights defenders It is necessary to implement the legislation that was achieved So that right ethnic and territory rights can be possible in the case of afro columbian And indigenous communities for example, we have lost 70 We have decreased issued by constitutional courts Where they provide all of the tools to protect our lives And to guarantee our right to those territories And to overcome many unconstitutional situations That could contribute to us being allowed to be Also regarding issues related to our security and our protection So I think that it is important to pressure the government so that this legislation Can be implemented, which is something that we have achieved years ago, but we're not seen and we're not heard Another thing that's important for us Is to have our peace building initiative supported its international It's important for the international community to walk a mile in our shoes To get to know what we're doing On the part of organizations, women organizations, ethnic organizations all around the country Because we would like to continue contributing to peace building in spite of all of the Political obstacles as well as economic obstacles that we're facing, but we Continue insisting on that because we think that that is the work that needs to be done And we need support for these initiatives. For example I know that in many regions in the country there are communities that resist coca Because the issue of coca and crops for illicit use We understand that they have been fueling the fire of this war, but we are also aware that there is not political will To correctly end this situation So the causes that need to be attacked to end this are not being attacked So it is ethnic community organizations that are saying, look, there are alternatives. There are practical Steps that we have offered To so that they can be supported and replicated nevertheless No one pays attention to us I know of particular communities Where there are communities surrounded by illicit crops and the community says Here there will be no coca plants cropped. Nevertheless, they don't have any support for their other productive activities that they carry out there And surely what comes next is fumigation of the coca that's surrounding that community and There have been peace building efforts that have been proven to work, but also environmental efforts and other experiences And expressions of life We don't opt for these we opt for strategies like fumigation That's not only going to end with the coca crops and we know this because this has already happened We know it was a failed experience The aerial fumigation also ends These types of projects Where people are sustaining themselves with legal crops As an effort to substitute crops I'd like to add something to that I'm going to say something that a governor of narinio once said at the u.s. Congress Behind the coca economies while they're serious problems because we have drug trafficking mafias There are state agents that take advantage of this For corrupt activities. There are armed groups that finance their wars. There are many interests But there's also a campesino population who are living in misery and social and economic misery because there Is not the rule of social law in those territories What does the peace agreement say that there should be a land fund? 3 million hectares for those who want to have productive activities And we want to formalize these Properties because half of the rural farmers in columbia don't have titles for their land So they can't even go ask for any credit at a bank There are 800 lawsuits with indigenous communities because they have not Titled their lands So they can have access to special credits and land ownership There are programs for rural health rural education The agreement has 10 programs designed, but if we don't implement any of these programs We haven't even distributed one hectare of land according to the agreement if we don't move forward on these issues Then we won't be able to have success with regard to point number four which have to do with illicit economies In one month it's going to be a massive humiliation program that's going to start in columbia And I we sit here asking ourselves if the peace agreement put forth a better alternative In order to remove these rural Residents from this illicit economies and why are we moving in this direction? We don't understand why the government is opting for a strategy that has failed many times We want to clearly say to the united states Help us implement point number one If there's rural reform in columbia that's comprehensive and significant We can provide opportunities If there are no opportunities people will insist on illegal options And I think this is something important to keep in mind I would insist on the that the strongest political force in any country is the organized citizenry So how can you from here civil society churches? Support efforts carried out in the territories and in cities to restructure and reorganize civil society because if civil society can organize itself and all these other things we're mentioning can be carried out that's key And in order to organize to move forward we have to learn how to cooperate and in order to cooperate. We need trust So it's important that support and political efforts Go toward stopping the war. That's all key and fundamental But there should also be a strong component to see how we can strengthen the base such that these Movements Aren't just from the base but that have a greater impact So that all of these things that we're discussing can be born and set down roots in the communities While that's not done The agreement and the columbian agreement is such it's so magnificent that it gave the columbian president the nobel peace prize We need communities to learn this agreement to assimilate it And convert it in something that can nourish these communities in civil society. I think it's key to think about that How can we help civil society organize itself structure itself recover trust and learn to cooperate So that we can change this situation going on in the country This is the last question and then we will do a question and answer session with the audience. Where do you see hope right now? Anyone have an answer I think those of us that live Where we live have a bit of an answer I'd like to reflect on something 15 years ago It was impossible to think that someone that comes from where we come from could get a united states visa And i'm not going to tell you my experience But also over 15 years ago in columbia Less than 20 percent of people were interested or wanted a peace process with the gorillas That's what people thought about 15 years ago in 2002 If the referendum had been done then I think 90 percent would have voted no Just end those people and end us and highlight us When the referendum was held In columbia those percentages increased I cried But there were six million of us Something that we did not think possible When duke took office we had a referendum. Well the anti-corruption referendum and we had over 11 million This is the Data expert here next to me. Perhaps he will correct me But there were around 11 million. We couldn't get to the 12 million for it to have passed but going from absolute in credulity vis-a-vis a peace process To go to a point where the problem in columbia is not the fark or the el and the problem in columbia is corruption I think that's something admirable From the columbian society from afro columbian and indigenous Communities, but in the cities in the cities we realized that there was a problem that was not the fark For us that is hopeful And something else that I also wanted to touch on and that is that We take The communities make our own decisions In my community people that went out to town were labeled as Gorillas and the people that entered our region the countryside were labeled paramilitaries my best friend Saw well. He wasn't able to bury his mother Because his mother went to visit him in the countryside and two weeks later. She was murdered So we've had to think about what to do with these sorts of things going on and We made decisions people had to Come out and say who am I and what do I want? And so these experiences are part of building something that everyone around the world wants And it sounds very nice and that's democracy And in that sense today, we have created some spaces And we've come to marvelous spaces such as this that we've dreamt of but also in our own municipalities We've created spaces And what you would call states our departments it's more difficult Because no one has branded us And if they want to it's difficult now because we have tools to defend ourselves We've heard a lot about the word hope and I'm someone who has supported peace and bet on peace And I want to just say let's not kill our hope We have a deep hope Regarding civil society We have the hope that if we all walk down the same path we can achieve it And it's very motivating to see for example With recent protests Like those from november 21st the way that people came out en masse And protested against their disagreement not only just because of the high rate of corruption in the country But also because of the murders of human rights defenders and social leaders From regions such as my region So that is starting to show that we are helping to raise awareness as a civil society and we have to strengthen these type of actions Because that's where the hope for change lies I believe it will probably be very slow, but I do Focus my hope on people. Thank you clemencia I think it's time to open up a question and answer session Thank you for being here today. It's a great honor With a lot of respect. I would like to ask you a question What happens to those children that were kidnapped by the FARC drug traffickers What happens to the girls that were raped over and over again? 3000 abortions in the countryside What are the rights of those poor little girls that are also campesinos? That are also colombian I think at some point it would also be good For the latin-american working group to invite you to talk about this Cristina Spinal colombia human rights committee in washington dc I have a question about the land law How much land has been allocated to the communities? I've noticed that there have been more deaths than actually land adjudication My name is Nuri Sofia Hernandez. I'm a student Of international relations in your washington university first I would like to express my Admirations and respect towards you not only because well because you represent Generations that have been fighting For a peace piece that is well-deserved. So my heart is really full of gratitude. Thank you very much for being here It's very important for everyone to get to know the history Of the country and we need to understand all sides My question is the following students young people common people How can we get involved? What type of tools do we have? How effective have been the social protests in your opinion? Where voices have been raised to express Disagreement with the things that were happening in the country I would like to know how we can continue to contribute and to support all the Work that you're carrying out Just to make sure that it's not destroyed Thank you like Alissa said I was with the internet nations and the colombian church when we Chose the victims that participated in Havana the negotiations We had to look at the different affectations and the different responsibilities There were crimes by the FARC But not by the Military there are crimes by the state, but not the guerrilla and so on and so forth And I thought the negotiations were a very important step in colombia. We have more than 100,000 Disappeared people that's three times the number of Disappeared people in argentina Thousands of massacres thousands of kidnaps kidnapings and millions of displaced people The organization led by maria faranda cabal showed that more than 30 percent of the kidnapings were by the guerrilla But there were also kidnapings by the paramilitary and other different groups Most of the Disappearances are in the hands of state actors most of the massacres by paramilitary groups There's also sexual violence very serious false positives People were being killed in colombia basically Poor people are looked down upon they're killed nothing happened And sometimes the military would actually kill those people just to get to be promoted What what happens to that? Well, we need to understand the situation as a whole There are solutions that take you nowhere if there are no negotiations with the paramilitary or the guerrilla These groups will continue to Be active we need to put an end to the war That's a must if there are no negotiations with other groups criminal Groups and so on and so forth that makes Because of that we have more crime there are hundreds of social leaders and human rights defenders that have been killed many cases of displaced people daily threats So we need to put an end to to the war That's a must when the government When you have a government that is capable is one thing but The government in colombia was not incapable We supported the negotiations because the they were the most effective way to put an end to the war What was agreed upon was that those responsible on the guerrilla side and the government Had to be brought to justice they had to also help to find truth general Montoya also said that false positives were by the Soldiers themselves because they didn't have education They were given civilized orders, but then they would do whatever they wanted. No We need to make sure that people are accountable violence recruitment of children and so on and so forth in a traditional justice system Impunity for example in colombia is 98% in terms of Disappearances 100% The government of colombia has not been able to provide justice throughout all these years The truth commission basically is the following if you collaborate with justice Your sentence will be reduced and if you do not help then you will have higher sentences And this applies to the FARC to the military to businessmen And those that Do not agree to collaborate will have to go be brought to justice That's a scenario as it is. It's not that the agreement is excluding any crimes committed by the FARC It said it's equal treatment even though some organizations did not agree some people were Beyond the discussion basically the agreement was based on a humanitarian principle It was giving lighter sentences to those that would help Basically find truth and bring justice and reparation. That's a philosophy of of the agreement That's why it has to be interpreted that way Former prosecutor umberto martinez decided to Exclude civil servants to be brought to the hep and we thought basically That was against the philosophy of the agreement and the universality principle There were some questions about land Among other things regarding the land law The land issue has been a legal priority And lately it's been the land Restitution law that we've been focusing on and I think your question was about this In terms of figures and the process has been very costly, but we don't really have any specific figures I was talking to clemencia about this But we do have Information that has been confirmed if If you are a community leader In a rural area you're claiming your rights over Some land You might be killed lots of social leaders have been killed the restitution process is moving very slowly Especially in those territories where the conflict is still very much active There hasn't been much progress in that regard and there's another element that needs to be taken into account the Land restitution law was a part of the agreement and now The after the agreement was signed We heard that there were Three to seven million hectares that were going to be restituted But there hasn't been any progress in that sense what I can say is that for example where I live in a municipality called canta rayo There was a pilot program with the national agency of land to prioritize female farmers basically These female foreigners were potential candidates to receive land The pilot program has to do with the application of decree 902 But here I would like to say something I think it lost its essence basically And I would like to highlight one thing it lost its essence when Basically a person cannot be an owner a camposino cannot be an owner of certain land If it's in a territory That is today called forestry reserve areas This law hasn't been modified in the last 60 years to try to reflect More current social situations That's one of the main obstacles right now for the implementation of point number one of the agreement So I would like now to answer the question about the youth by one of the youngest speakers here I'm from montezimaria From the caribbean area of colombia And it's a dry area A lot of deforestation has taken place Most people were rangers cattle rangers So the area has been destroyed And we are fully aware That without land one person cannot exercise their rights their little rivers That basically distribute water throughout the territory and they end in the caribbean But all the trees have been cut off And the rivers have been wrenched and that way water moves much faster towards the ocean Some young people were displaced and then they came back. They don't have any land They don't have a job. They don't have a university there So we started organizing them So That They would not be recruited by drug traffickers or to be part in the in the take part in the world So we started organizing The young people so that they could be environmentalists and protect Little rivers big rivers since they are unemployed We have been helping them so that they can organize themselves The government is spending a lot of money to train people to Be part take part in war. So we want the government to also spend money to train people to Take part in peace We decided therefore to establish something called civil service So that if a young person does not want to join the military they can join this other type of program these young people have basically Walked along the river Trying to protect the river. There's a law that says that landowners have to replant 30 hectares by the river if they own land So we're trying to make sure that all these areas are replanted. The river is protected and that's something very typical for the for young people to get involved with Protection of the environment I would like to add something to the question about young people I would like to insist on something the youth represent present and future hope regarding the change that we need in my country And we need to make sure that young people continue to get involved They need to continue to get informed and take action The big changes that I've actually witnessed myself most of the times have come from young people and I think That their spirit the capacity to contribute to society Cannot be lost young people have That spirit and I feel very young in that sense. I'm only old in my ID, but I feel very young inside I had an opportunity to participate in an exercise in a city known as popayan An exercise where there were afro descendants indigenous and campesinos It was all young people and it was really beautiful I could see how young people from different regions in the world have come together To express not only their dreams, but also to defend peace We had young people from the meta from northern kauka from The south of the country from many different regions and all that was Extremely helpful. I think this is the type of message that we need to convey to our politicians And where we need to see The main change but also to convey this message to other young people so that they join forces We have an association of young afro descendant women in northern kauka my organization We've been supporting the daughters of the women in this organization And they've actually created another group that is known as the renacientes the reborn You can look them up on the internet One of the things that they do is to systematize those experience peace building Experiences last year for example in july we presented a report before the truth commission about sexual violence the impact rather of Conflict in terms of sexual violence against us women We presented this report before the truth commission. It's known the report was titled Brave voices And these young women played a very important role these exercises that they carried out where they're systematizing their experiences contribute to bring visibility to what has happened and then they learned from it and they Obtained tools so that they become more aware of their lives of their rights We're going to do a last round of questions before closing Good afternoon. Thank you very much It's really a pleasure and an honor to be able to listen to to you. I'm karla semia semestas. I'm part of the international environmental center cl by its english acronym with Being supporting The movement known as rios vivos for many years They are experiencing many issues in their fight against the Dam in ituango There was a disaster that took place last year. There also been exhumations of Bodies in that area and everything that they told us about basically that could happen has happened We also supported other colleagues in bucara manga In another organization to protect a certain area and its water resources There was a peaceful demonstration in bucara manga and there was a little bit of an altercation with Security forces involved. There's a video the police actually arrested the person involved in that And hence my question here sometimes we've seen that Colleagues continue to do statements With the police they continue to go to the prosecutor's office to document and register what is happening to them Knowing that sometimes Bringing justice is a real challenge In terms of the violence that you've experienced and continue to experience Regular police in colombia. Are they supporting you? Is there trust in that sense? Or does it depend on the place? Or is it like always basically i'm i'm mexican and We always hope for the best, but that's not always the case. That's my question. What's the situation with Justice system? Where are the biggest failures? I know it's a big topic and we could be here discussing until tomorrow But that's my question I'm valentina. I'm an intern in the AI IHCR I would like to say that many of us cried the day of the referendum I have two questions Who do you think are the masterminds of this wave of killings and persecutions of social leaders? And my second question Where do you think this administration of ibn duke is failing the most? What is the biggest failure? Their biggest failure their biggest problem and The interpreter would like to correct herself. She's an intern at the IAHRC inter-american human rights commission My name is barilla se fuentes. I'm studying a master's degree in american university First, thank you for being here with us today My question has to do with About my question is about the gorillas What what do you think about the integration of the gorillas? I believe there are 20 Areas that have been identified How do you think they're going to reintegrate into a society that might be ready or not to Welcome them. I would like to start with the last question Lisa was asking where where's our hope now? Well part of our hope is in the fact that more than 90 of those that signed to the agreement They still want to be part of the agreement in spite of the situation Around 120 ex-combatants have been killed those that put down their arms and signed to the peace One of the Conditions is for those that signed to the agreement not to be killed and therefore this is a very serious issue Sometimes we think that the president is concerned other times. We think he doesn't care. He just appointed person that is openly Against everything that has to do with the far combatants and now he's been appointed as the person in charge the authority in charge of protecting them basically Through social media. This person has been extremely aggressive against the ex-combatants. That's an issue that has to be solved for example, because otherwise we will basically have the same situation as in Guatemala many of the ex-combatants campesinos public forces These public forces were reduced by 50% and they ended up being part of criminal gangs The paramilitary in Colombia also ended up being part of criminal groups We either have that or we have other political consequences So if the FARC has taken that step if Santos take that step to Mobilize the largest guerrilla over the last 50 years. What we need to do is to actually support that process And not to just implement very minimal parts of the agreement Because of despair by the by society or other Problems I think most of those that signed to the peace want to continue to implement the agreement But like I said, there have been a lot of killings and murders and then another question posed by Lisa Where's hope? Well, there's a lot of hope. We lost the peace referendum by 50,000 votes among other things because Lies were used as arguments. For example women women's organizations in Colombia are very powerful And in such a peace agreement, they managed to create a gender committee imagine a society that is A Very much sexist They managed women to include for example lgbti issues into the agreement And then certain groups were saying that that was going to put an end to Family as we understand it that all the children were going to become gay and so on and so forth That was spread throughout the country and at some point even charges started Hesitating about the agreement. So we lost the day of the referendum by 50,000 votes now churches are Fully supporting peace the national Professor Francisco Ruiz is the chair of the peace committee and so on and so forth. It's precisely religious leaders That are committed to the peace process in columbia. Many churches are actually working really hard to In duke's administration, there are different trends some want to put an end to the agreement other ones to just implement part of it. There are different lines of action and The president is being criticized because he seems quite weak He's been criticized by the most radical wings of his political party The president had a very minimalist Project in mind and that was not supported by societies president duke Only has 25 of the popular vote. Basically society does not support his Program people want peace and young people for example in the 70s We're Seeking for other things right now. They're seeking for for example public education They're mobilizing and organizing themselves for other things and those demonstrations need to be respected Violent aggressions have to be condemned We need to criticize for example actions also by the police that have been very abusive especially by the anti-demonstration police groups that have led to deaths Basically demonstrators demonstrators being dead Social protest has to be the path taken by Young people in the country And not like it happened in the past when young people thought that war was going to solve all their problems I Wanted to answer One of the questions because I think marco answered the other three questions I wanted to answer the last question that was posed In my municipality in the municipality of remedias and in the municipality of yondo, there is something known as Territorial space for reconciliation Basically, we have ex combatants that are undergoing a reintegration process and this word reintegration became part of the peace process in colombia through the Peace accords in the past It was the word demobilization And reinsertion was another word that was being used Now we're talking about reintegration um in that sense I would like to highlight some of our experiences and one has to do with the following A year after the peace accords were signed Certain spaces were created It was for public forces ex combatants and ex paramilitary to interact with each other at a local level municipal level It was basically An experiment So that people could recognize or accept their responsibility and Give forgiveness responsibility by the armed groups And this was very helpful regarding the special jurisdiction for peace And their core quest for forgiveness as a human act where it is clear And within these spaces there were many explanations made to victims that is something mine forgiveness is something mine I can be somewhere and I don't have the obligation to forgive I can stand in front of a victimizer and I don't have the obligation to forgive But the willingness to ask forgiveness is something different This was done in the municipality of remedios also in san pablo sud in bolivar In terms of this issue regarding victims on the one hand on the other hand It's worth mentioning Because there's a reality that we experience former combatants from the guerrillas or the paramilitaries or former soldiers They're all children of rural farmers in columbia So this hurts the columbian people And this also hurts us because this is our family. These are our relatives Does it not seem bizarre to you that within one family we have a soldier and a guerrilla or a paramilitary fighter and a guerrilla fighter in Rural areas in columbia. That's the reality. That's why we think that We lost the referendum because most of the voters are in the cities and we don't have that going on in the cities We're very good at judging and we're very good at projecting our feelings onto victims but to be able to understand How to reach reconciliation in rural areas The areas where it's our children dying It's very different than doing that in legal or political spaces for us The issue of re-incorporation is extremely important Because many of the people that are there we are aware that they're not there willingly I've learned of cases where there's a family with three children. The war chooses one The fighters choose one And they say if you don't come with us, we'll kill your whole family So there are many people there not because they want to be there They didn't want to take up arms. It's because of circumstances like that We could mention many other examples and so they are in a way forced to be there and we cannot Lose our sensitivity regarding these people. Unfortunately, we have many prejudices But if we really want peace we have to understand these circumstances also In terms of who are the masterminds We asked the justice system in columbia that same question every day So I think they are the ones that should respond to the international community about who are the masterminds behind these massacres and murders and threats as well against human rights defenders social leaders Leaders trying to reclaim their land They should also answer the columbian people and victims and that's the answer that we're still waiting for So I would ask That as the international community that as a country that you Make the columbian government listen to you that you join our political exercise to Demand and end to the rampant impunity in the country The last word is for riccardo I just wanted to Talk about an experience that I had with Uh folks trying to reincorporate into society This was in montes de maria. There were 136 massacres in montes de maria and many of them were carried out by the farc so People were very scared of former farc combatants reincorporating into that area. They thought they're going to destroy everything And former farc fighters were also scared to go back So what we did was invite 25 leaders from those 15 municipalities and we spoke with Former farc combatants in gondores near the venezuelan border. We went on a bus with those 25 social leaders to go and have a dialogue with Farc combatants and commanders who had been in that area and participated In these massacres Because some of these leaders had had their mother or father or children killed or they had been recruited or disappeared So there was a lot of animosity or uncomfortable energy It was almost like a boxing match the first night People would look at one another People would start to speak Slowly the farc ex-combatants and then the community members started to loosen up But then the following day people were it was as if they were disarmed and they began to speak We'll explain this to you. We'll explain that to you and we reached a point where one of the leaders whose brother had been killed Said we see that the farc are over there and we're over here. Let's get together And if we're going to be in the same region, let's give each other a hug and these two communities hugged one another And understood that they had to share the same land that they had to accept these other people because Many of them were relatives of those who arrived Someone who spoke the most realized that their sister was on the other side and they hadn't seen each other in 25 years So I think what's important is how we open spaces So that people can convene And touch each other and accept their humanity So that they can be willing to understand that maybe you don't have to reconcile But you have to be able to see each other eye to eye Or face to face rather you don't have to forgive But you have to share and start to live together That's how we can slowly start building reconciliation. That's one small example Because there were 500 former farc combatants that were to come back and they're slowly starting to come back But that's one way to help So that they can reintegrate And return to their land Thank you Ricardo We're going to wrap up And so I'd like to thank usip for hosting this event and all of their work on colombia As well as viola for everything that they do every day as well as to Diaconia and act church of sweden who not only Give this prize. That's very important But they also make possible The visit of the human rights defenders who are accompanying me today. So Before we end I'd like to thank Clemencia, Agne, Marco and Ricardo For all of the incredible work that they do every day. So let's give them a round of applause