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«¿Por qué pierdo la memoria cuando más la necesito?» cries Ismael, the autodiegetic narrator of the novel Los ejércitos (2006) by Colombian author Evelio Rosero. As the character desperately searches for his missing wife in the streets of a village decimated by various armed groups, his memory deteriorates. Our analysis will begin with Ismael’s cry of despair and will lead us to reflect on the vital issue of memory, for Colombia, for the story and for the character, all of whom are threatened by the amnesia caused by the violence of an armed conflict that has lasted for over 60 years.

La reconstrucción del pasado reciente del conflicto armado y los procesos de verdad, justicia y reparación con garantías de no repetición, como pilares fundamentales de la justicia transicional en defensa de los derechos de las víctimas, han exacerbado los ejercicios de construcción de memoria en el país. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo describir la producción intelectual sobre los usos y abusos de la memoria, a partir de un ejercicio de revisión documental en bases de datos de producción científica, considerando sus prácticas en términos de intervención, las temáticas abordadas y las metodologías que se han utilizado para el análisis de la construcción de memoria en el marco del conflicto armado colombiano y la reparación de las víctimas en el periodo de 2008 y 2017. Los resultados indican que existe una vasta producción documental sobre la construcción de la memoria histórica en términos de reparación, formas de resistencia y procesos judiciales. The construction of the recent armed conflict and the truth process, justice and reparation of guareantees of not repeated, as a fundamental anchor of the transitional justice defending the humanrights of the victims, it has beeen exarcebate the costruction of memory in our country. The recent article has as an obtective to describe the intelectual production about the uses and abuses of the memory, according to an exercise of documental revisión and the data base of cientific production, considering the practicum in terms of intervention, the thematics well talked about in this documentary and the methodology used for the analysis of the memory construction in the frame of the conflicto armed in Colombia and the victims affair during 2008 and 2017. The results indicates that there is a documental production about the comnstruction of the history memory in terms of reparation, ways of resistence ans judicial processs.

The neorealist approach to institutional change has the merits of emphasising the importance of the Dominant Social Bloc (DSB) in institutions, and of integrating economics, society, and politics in the formation and breakdown of the DSB. Since this approach was not designed for Colombia, it is necessary to integrate certain characteristics, such as economic dependence, armed conflict, and drug trafficking. This paper presents the first theoretical adaptation of the neorealist approach for a Latin American country. This extended theoretical framework evinces the role of crime and violence in providing political stability to an accumulation regime that satisfies the demands of a narrow DSB.

This article makes the link between the armed conflict and the unschooling of children in central Mali, precisely in the Mopti Education Academy. Thousands of children in the said area are currently unable to benefit from normal schooling. This situation results in the successive movement of school staff, students and their parents to a secure area. Crime and juvenile delinquency end up affecting these children following situations of unschooling. Hence the need to think about the problem. The case of the Mopti teaching academy is the subject of a study which brings together the Youwarou circle, Ténékoun, Sevaré, Djénné and the city of Mopti. The situation is recurring and constitutes a serious concern for school authorities. Ultimately, students experience school disengagement as a result of insecurity.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2023 8(3), 1037-1045 | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction - II. Protection of war refugees from Ukraine - III. Targeted sanctions against citizens of the Russian federation and of Belarus - IV. Human rights of the general population of the EU Member States - V. Concluding remarks. | (Abstract) The conflict in Ukraine, triggered by the Russia’s act of aggression in March 2014 and, in full scale, in February 2022, has had a profound impact on the human rights situation not only in Ukraine itself but also in the Member States of the European Union. This impact manifests itself in three main areas. The first area concerns the protection of war refugees from Ukraine. The second area pertains to the sanctions imposed on the citizens of the Russian Federation and of Belarus. The third area relates to the effects of the conflict on human rights of the general population of the EU Member States, stemming either from the economic or social hardship brought about by the conflict, or from restrictive measures adopted by the EU Member States in response to the conflict. In addition to introducing each of these areas in more detail, the Insight recalls that not paying adequate attention to all of them simultaneously might result in violations of human rights and in the radicalisation of certain segments of society that might feel (rightly or not) ignored and left behind.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2023 8(2), 803-808 | European Forum Highlight of 28 November 2023 | (Abstract) This paper seeks to address the question of the future of the Ukrainian territories that have recently been or are currently being occupied by Russia primarily through the prism of relevant rules of international humanitarian law. After briefly recalling the conditions for the beginning of a belligerent occupation, the focus will be on the modalities for its termination, which will be examined and discussed with reference to the case of Ukraine.

The article provides theoretical analysis of the problem of the peculiarities of life prospects of forced migrants during the armed conflict in Ukraine. Critical situations, natural disasters, and armed conflicts usually have a negative impact on the psyche of those who are involved in these events. The impact of traumatic events extends not only to direct victims but also to a wide range of individuals. The consequences of traumatization affect their families, surroundings, rescuers, and other workers. The authors present their views on life planning, based on three components. Life perspective is opened for those who have already created a system of life relations and support that become more valuable. Achieving life goals helps to reach life limits and, in a certain sense, guarantees the future. The main components of life planning are awareness of goals, determination of ways to achieve them, and understanding the significance of their implementation. Life perspective is a dynamic phenomenon that depends on the constant changes and adjustments in a person’s plans and goals. A person’s life position and value system are formed as a result of this process and determine the individual’s future. Planning a life perspective involves setting goals, defining ways to achieve them, and understanding the significance of realizing life plans. It is a constant process that depends on changes and adjustments in plans and goals, as well as on the realization of one’s values and the formation of a life plan. Today, there is information about 4 million people in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons. Of these, over 2 million are people who were displaced due to the imposition of martial law. And of those, 1.9 million were forcibly displaced for the first time. The article mentions six main problems faced by forced migrants. It is stated that problems with adaptation to new conditions limit access to basic social services such as healthcare and education. It is emphasized that it is important to carry out social programs and projects aimed at improving the socio-economic situation of forced migrants. It is noted that an important component of social support is providing information about available services and resources that can help in adapting to a new environment. At the same time, it is stated that it is necessary to provide the opportunity for learning the language and culture of the country they have resettled in. It is necessary to consider the gender aspect and provide equal opportunities for men and women in the process of adaptation and obtaining social and psychological support. It is also noted that attention should be paid to the problems that arise in children of forced migrants. Children may need additional psychological support and education. It’s important to raise awareness among the public about the problems faced by forced migrants. This can be done through media, social networks, cultural events and so on. Coping behavior – a set of conscious conflict resolution strategies to deal with internal tension and discomfort – is an important form of the adaptation process and personality response to stressful situations, in addition to psychological protection. At the same time, there is a “balanced temporal orientation”, which is an idealized cognitive structure that allows a person to flexibly switch between the past, present, and future depending on the demands of the situation, resource assessments, or personal and social evaluations.

The evolution of the migration and refugee crisis in Ukraine and in several European countries, due to the full-scale armed conflict which started on February 24th, 2022 is a relevant topic nowadays. This recent large scale migration event reflected in a severe humanitarian crisis and in high scale migratory flows inside Ukraine and towards Europe. With the aim to see the magnitude of the migration phenomena and their consequences, the internal migration in Ukraine and towards three Eastern European countries: Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria have been investigated during the first several months after the Russian invasion. All these countries welcomed the largest wave of refugees in their recent history and tried to adapt their policies for a successful integration of the Ukrainian refugees into their labour market and societies. The use of a methodology of quantitative and qualitative analysis, based on several official data sources, as well as the analysis of interviews with Ukrainian refugees during the field work in Bulgaria, confirm these findings, stating however that there are still problems for a better integration mainly due to economic and bureaucratic reasons. Some proposals have been discussed how to improve this situation.

In the context of the Colombian armed conflict, women have been the most affected, being the grief process the most deficient due to the lack of psychosocial support. The objective of this study was to describe resilience and coping strategies in a sample of women victims of the armed conflict and their relationship with the stages of grief experienced. The methodology used was a quantitative, descriptive, non-experimental, expost-facto approach. Twenty women victims of the armed conflict who were in different stages of grief due to the loss of their loved ones as a result of the armed conflict participated in the study. The Resilience Scale SV-RES for youth and adults" by Saavedra and Villalta (2008), the Coping Strategies Inventory (CSI) adapted by Cano, Rodríguez, and García (2006), and the Grief Phases Scale (EFD-66) by Miaja and Moral (2013) were used. Results: Deficiencies in the use of coping strategies were identified in the study sample, with a higher frequency of use of non-functional strategies. Women who were in more advanced stages of grief showed the use of more functional coping strategies. No correlation between stages of grief and time since loss was identified. Conclusions: The results suggest that the process of coping and grief elaboration in the sample of women victims of the armed conflict is not related to the time elapsed since their loss, but rather to the use of personological resources.

Objective/context: The article aims to analyze child recruitment as a form of human trafficking. Beyond the theoretical perspectives that focus on security or rights, it addresses the topic as a form of unfree labor. By means of a case study focused on child recruitment by right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia, the paper analyzes how children entered and exited illegal armed groups, the functions they performed, and the exploitation they endured. The research argues that child recruitment operates as a large-scale labor-market uptake in the wartime social order, where the “employers” are paramilitary groups, and the labor force, in part, consists of children and adolescents. Methodology: This case study relies on different sources of information: a database on child recruitment provided by the special Justice and Peace Unit of the Colombian Attorney General’s Office (989 cases between 1981 and 2005), sentences of Peace and Justice, testimonials given by victims in judicial processes, and semi-structured interviews with different actors. Conclusions: The paper shows that child recruitment as a form of trafficking is functional to wartime social order in contexts of poverty and inequality. There is demand and supply; thus, both girls and boys, who worked as soldiers, are not only victims but also agents that make decisions in challenging conditions. Therefore, if the socioeconomic options for these children, even after their demobilization from the armed group, are still a choice between bad and worse, joining a violent (no longer “armed” but “criminal”) group will remain a feasible alternative. Originality: The article contributes to the academic literature on a recent topic, such as the overlapping between child recruitment and human trafficking in armed conflict and post-conflict situations. It also contributes to the literature on “unfree labor,” as the study focuses on an actor (illegal armed groups) that has not been analyzed until now. Finally, the research demonstrates the limits of understanding human trafficking (and child recruitment as a form of trafficking) as a problem of security or rights entitlement. It highlights the analytical and political advantages of categories such as “unfree labor” to provide effective solutions for the prevention and reintegration of child soldiers.

This paper presents the city of Neiva, capital of the department of Huila in Colombia and aims to show the reader the various socio-political changes that the city has faced due to its geographic location, especially in the constant search to improve citizen life in terms of peace, despite its history of political conflict. The objective is to describe a contextual framework of Neiva through a reflective analysis of its history, geographic location and the relevant changes between conflict and peace processes. Colombia has suffered the effects of the internal armed conflict and in each of its cities or territories, there are particularities that mark its identity and allow understanding the present of each city from its history. Neiva is considered a tourist, enterprising, hospitable and warm city, located near Bogotá D.C., capital of Colombia, but at the same time, it is the gateway to the municipalities and departments located in the south of the country, far from the national sovereignty.

Since the end of the twentieth century, the work of forensic professionals in contexts of war has become a topic of particular interest, among other reasons, because of its importance in the clarification of serious human rights violations. The purpose of this article is to characterize the experience of frustration and emotional management strategies used by forensic anthropologists working in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. Using semi-structured interviews with ten forensic anthropologists working in the search for victims of enforced disappearance in Colombia, along with autobiographical analysis, the authors identify the strategies through which forensic professionals manage frustration in a context of armed conflict and political violence. All interviews were held in Bogota in 2019. The forensic anthropologists interviewed were found to be confronted with potential sources of frustration such as complex political scenarios, difficulties of the geographical context to carry out the search processes, long-lasting situations of impunity, and high expectations of the victims’ families to find their loved ones’ remains. The article thus describes the ways in which forensic anthropologists emotionally manage these difficulties in order to maintain their motivation and efforts to continue their work. The authors employ a novel perspective to explore the emotional management of the impacts of work in contexts of political violence and war, revealing the importance of research that allows us to recognize the subject involved before the pain of others.

Forensic anthropology is now considered an instrument that supports the justice system and humanitarian forensic action. It contributes with its specialized knowledge to the different stages and procedures of the judicial investigation, and to humanitarian work. One of its specific contributions is laboratory analysis, where the forensic anthropologist, through his scientific knowledge (e.g., human osteology) supports identification and the determination of the manner and cause of death. However, in Colombia, the work of the forensic anthropologist falls within the framework of the medical-legal autopsy and is even immersed in it, so that its scope and objectives tend to be invisible in the field of inquest into deaths. This article reflects on the relationship between forensic anthropology and forensic-medical-legal autopsy. It begins with an assessment of the current context of the search for and identification of missing persons, then determines how forensic-medical-legal autopsy and anthropological work are linked in the legal context and, finally, presents a discussion on the relationship between theory and practice in forensic anthropological analysis. This article therefore presents the challenges facing the discipline, such as the consolidation of its theoretical-scientific foundation and the updating of standards and/or procedures in which necropsy and forensic anthropology merge. The purpose of the above is to highlight its scope and objectives, the role of the anthropologist in the analysis phase and the importance of his or her findings in a legal context. The article invites other researchers to delve deeper into the issues discussed in this reflection and contributes to the discussion on strengthening the scientific basis of the discipline and its relationship with academia.

The Colombian armed conflict caused specific Afro-descendant communities to sustain multiple and generalized human rights violations. The Inter-American system for the protection of human rights, of which Colombia is a part, recognized the damages caused in ethnic/ancestral territories, in order to guarantee adequate reparations to the victims. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the differential ethnic impact of the armed conflict. To do so, we use an intersectional perspective that includes the way in which anthropological expertise is integrated into the appraisal conducted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “IACHR Court”). The paper is intended to contribute to victim recognition and reparation. Using a qualitative approach, the theoretical framework is based on the case study of the Afro-descendant communities displaced from the Cacarica river basin. The case illustrates how the rights of victims to truth, justice, and reparation appeal to social and forensic anthropology to ensure the recognition of the damages caused and to vindicate the victims’ and their families’ right to memory. In view of the multiplicity of affectations that characterize forced displacement in Colombia, we present a pioneer case in the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (an example par excellence of how to understand the affectation of rights from an ethnic/ancestral and gender perspective): that of the communities of Cacarica, which recognize themselves as tribal. The case study demonstrates that social and forensic anthropology are necessary for the redress of victims’ rights in this context. At the same time, it highlights that identifying Afro-Colombian people as victims in both their individual and collective facets reveals a complex reality, in light of the coexistence in ethnic/ancestral territories resulting from the differential impact of the armed conflict.

Objective/Context: Gender and the role of women have become central concerns when analyzing armed conflict and peace transitions. Colombia has not been the exception. How has gender research and activism evolved at the intersection of armed conflict and peacebuilding in Colombia? Methodology: Based on a detailed review of academic and official literature, complemented by 27 interviews with individuals from academia, the public sector, activism, and civil society, we identify some of the most significant moments, dilemmas, and milestones in this evolution. Conclusions: First, we show how scholarly production and activism related to gender have been deeply marked by the armed conflict, which has made it possible to draw attention to the specific experiences of women in war but hindered the emergence of topics outside the needs and agendas of the context of war. We observed that conversation around gender, conflict, and peace reflects and deepens old discussions on the center and the periphery: conversations on gender seem different and distant at the level of capital cities and other regions. Finally, it was possible to observe the impact of international agendas on intellectual production and activism. The panoramic vision offered by this article seeks to contribute to the state-of-the-art on this topic in Colombia and the visibility of a field under construction in which gender, armed conflict, and peacebuilding intersect. Originality: Unlike other research on gender studies in Colombia, we not only conducted a documentary and bibliographic analysis but also focused our findings related to the experiences and reflections of people, mainly women, who have worked and led this field, as well as on their biographies.

This article reflects on the Anthropocene against the backdrop of armed conflict. To this end, it analyses two mining projects: one in southwestern Antioquia in Colombia and the other in the Luhwindja Chiefdom in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After examining the post-agreement and post-war political contexts of each country, this paper describes the extraction projects implemented in the territories, as well as the forms of resistance of the local populations. It also depicts the reconstruction of the territory as a place for cognitive production, affective participation, and discursive imagination. The very concept of territory is re-signified, beyond its geographical definition, as a territory of life.

At the international level, the growing interest in education for democratic citizenship indicates a variation in the order and importance of educational purposes, directs our gaze towards the possible future and the creation of fairer and more peaceful societies. This transition has not yet occurred in Mexico and is inserted in a context of armed violence and disintegration of the social fabric that demonstrates the inability of the State to guarantee security and respect for human rights. Although multidimensional factors are combined in the generation of violence, it is nonetheless urgent to assume a commitment from school education and modify training priorities to respond to one of the most pressing problems facing the country. With this objective, the research seeks to contribute from the history didactics to the promotion of coexistence, peace, and democratic participation. In this order, the study includes a consultation with high school students, teacher students and in-service teachers to find out their willingness to change, an account of the difficulties and opportunities to teach controversial topics in the classroom is made, three proposals that can help build the future, as well as a decalogue of rights and duties when teaching armed conflict.

This article analyses the lessons learned by the Spanish Army in the Security Force Assistance (SFA) Operation in Iraq between 2015 and 2020. The research uses primary data from 22 personal interviews conducted with Spanish officers and NCOs, as well as secondary data sourced from a database containing the Spanish Army’s online mission register. The results identify the scenarios and activities performed in SFA operations, as well as the main lessons learned by the Spanish Army in Iraq. The two main lessons are the prevention of internal attacks and the relevance of awareness of cultural dimensions to improve training processes. Conclusions can be extrapolated to other European armies, providing policy recommendations for training local forces in SFA operations.

Colombia es uno de los países más afectados por el flagelo del desplazamiento forzoso, el cual tiene mayor impacto en la vida de mujeres y niños. El objetivo de este estudio es establecer la relación entre la inteligencia emocional y las estrategias de afrontamiento en mujeres desplazadas. Para verificar dicha relación, se utilizaron los instrumentos TMMS-24 y el CRI-A, aplicados a 151 mujeres del municipio La Jagua de Ibirico, con edad promedio de 35.6 (DT = 13.39). Los resultados de las estrategias adecuadas de afrontamiento se asociaron de manera positiva con las dimensiones de claridad y reparación emocional. A su vez, estas dimensiones mostraron correlaciones negativas de forma inesperada con las estrategias desadaptativas. Se halló en general un buen nivel de claridad y reparación y un regular nivel de atención emocional. Aunque un poco más de la mitad de participantes usen estrategias de aproximación, se observó que una proporción importante de participantes usaban la aceptación/resignación. En conclusión, las mujeres desplazadas no muestran una tendencia específica hacia una estrategia de afrontamiento pero sí unos niveles de inteligencia emocional adecuados. Los resultados se comparan con los de investigaciones anteriores, proponiéndose indicaciones para futuras investigaciones.

Taking into account that the transitional justice arose under the same foundations of retribution and utilitarianism of ordinary justice and that the principles of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition were implemented in the two transitional models based on denunciation, surrender and submission for some of the actors of the armed conflict who demobilized individually and collectively, based on a theoretical and case study, it was established that the Transitional Justice is insufficient for the construction of peace, since criminal law is not the way to achieve peaceful coexistence. We found that the main causes of this insufficiency are related to the conditional submission, the distortion of the truth, the lack of some actors in the conflict, the absence of a large part of the victims and the indifference to State crimes, among others; Because of that, we conclude that it is necessary to redirect Transitional Justice towards humanitarianism and recognition of the other, based on the principles of tolerance, unity in diversity, prospective justice, ideological pluralism, pro-victim and pro-homine, in a structural way; in order to overcome violence and move seriously towards peaceful coexistence, as a founding value proclaimed by the Colombian people in the preamble of the political charter.

This article analyses the way in which the metaphorical use of the concept of light in the initial texts issued by Peru’s Communist Party - Shining Path (Partido Comunista del Perú- Sendero Luminoso [PCP-SL]) engendered meanings that united the organization in its initial stage. The analysis is based on a mixed interpretative framework, which brings together contributions from linguistics and communicational pragmatics. These frameworks consist of Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory, Fauconnier and Turner’s conceptual integration theory, and Sperber and Wilson’s cognitive pragmatics. Next, we identify the conceptual metaphors linked to light on this interpretative basis. Finally, we describe the composition of a space of integration in which the meanings and frameworks involved are projected and given meaning. The analysis concludes that the metaphors of light influence the understanding of the figure of José Carlos Mariátegui, considered the ideological figurehead of the PCP-SL in the 1970s. This figure is invested with scientific and religious attributes and is the forerunner of the so-called Presidente Gonzalo (the name given to Abimael Guzmán Reynoso, the leader of the group) during the 1980s. The originality of the work lies in the fact that it deals with the foundational stage of the PCP-SL, which has proved useful as a means to understand the nature of the organization. At the same time, the theoretical perspective adopted is novel with respect to the predominant sociological and political approaches to the study of the Shining Path phenomenon.

Throughout history, the right to education has been a determining and unquestionably necessary factor for the improvement of people; however, as a socio-political process, it has not been free of adversities. In this sense, for more than six decades, Colombia has lived in the context of an internal armed conflict.

Resumen Se analiza la violencia sexual contra las mujeres en zonas de conflicto armado en Colombia, a través de una metodología cuantitativa. Usando los datos recogidos en la encuesta ENVISE (2010-2015), se propone un modelo logístico binario que permita identificar los factores asociados a la probabilidad de ser víctima de violencia sexual. Dentro de los hallazgos principales, se constatan algunos relacionados con la demografía y con el entorno, que incrementan el riesgo de ser víctima de violencia sexual. Los resultados se comparan con los obtenidos en otros estudios que utilizan otros modelos probabilísticos, lo que posibilita la identificación de ciertos factores de riesgo de carácter transversal. Abstract We analyze the sexual violence against the women in armed conflict areas in Colombia’s using quantitative methodology. From the data collect from the ENVISE survey (2010-2015), we proposed a binary logistic model, which was used in order to find factors associated with the likelihood of being a victim of sexual violence. The results obtained show that some demographic and social variables increase the risk of becoming a victim of sexual violence. The results are compared with other results obtained by other researches, which have used probabilistic models, which allowed us to find some transversal risk factors.

In August of 2017, as part of the Peace Accords with the Colombian government, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) presented an extensive list of assets to be destined toward the victims of the armed conflict. It included approximately 3,700 kilometers of roads, most of them located in areas of influence of this guerrilla group. In this article, we investigate the type of actors, collaborations, power relations and technologies that made the construction of roads possible in Puerto Guzmán, an Amazonian municipality with a prolonged FARC presence. We argue that the construction and transformation of these infrastructures over time enables us to understand the state as a co-production involving different dynamics and actors, including some antagonistic to the state order.

With one of the longest-running conflicts in the Western Hemisphere, the Colombian state has been facing an internal armed conflict against the FARC since the 1950s. Four milestones set the framework for the most important background in this conflict. The frst one, with the murder of leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, unleashed acts of severe violence between liberals and conservatives; then, the second milestone was due to the creation of the “national front” that ended the disputes by rotating power between these political parties; however, other minority groups were not taken into account, giving rise to the third milestone, where the FARC guerrillas emerged by claiming a communist model, and the fourth milestone corresponds to heavy military strikes against this guerrilla group that forced the FARC to a negotiate peace accord. Considering the theory of escalation and stagnation of the armed conflict, this article aims at summarizing the background that has led to this conflict, which had its beginnings in political disputes but gradually escalated to become a serious problem that the country has been suffering.

Building peace and promoting peaceful coexistence in communities involves the recognition of serious lethal violent acts (some visible and some rendered invisible), staggering and perplexing acts that can’t even be named. In this text, a series of reflections are presented, derived from a process of psychosocial support of community leaders in Commune 4 (Aranjuez, Medellín-Colombia), on the reconstruction of a sense of community, as a precondition to build peace in community settings. The study aim is to reveal how some dynamics of violence in the city of Medellín, particularly in Commune 4 (Aranjuez), play out logics and repertoires of the violence suffered throughout the Colombian armed conflict. In this light, the focus of this reflection is not on violent phenomena and the obstacles for peace building in the community of the commune neighborhoods, but on how their social and political problems reflect a warlike mindset, shared by some citizens, which reveals one of the greatest evils of Colombian culture: the search for pacification through militaristic and warlike victories.

Education in the rural context is determined by historical, political, social, economic and cultural situations which, despite its enormous importance for the most vulnerable population in Colombia, has long been invisible, marginalized, impoverished and estranged from academic and research discourses. This reflective article is an approach to the stories of rural teachers of the department of Antioquia based on the autobiographical narratives made in 2018 at the Pedagogical Thought Center, seeking to make visible the teaching work carried out in the rural area of the Northeast of Antioquia; where historically problems have emerged as a result of the armed conflict, violence, the abandonment of the State, among other situations; but which, instead of intimidating, have allowed teachers to be the hope of the peasant communities, and in turn, it has meant the transformation of their pedagogical practice from adversity.

Objective/Context: This article analyzes the freedom and equality experiences of women ex-combatants from Colombia Revolutionary Armed Forces —FARC-EP—, the tensions and contradictions associated with their autonomy and their decisions. Methodology: Qualitative study by applying semi-structured interviews and interactive techniques. Conclusions: The article supports feminist theories that have vindicated the principles of freedom and equality as pillars of citizenship and democracy. The results analyzed women’s decision and/or impositions before, during their membership in the armed group, and in the reincorporation process. Their life experiences reveal different responses to domination such as resistance, naturalization of hierarchical orders, and subversion. Originality: The article contributes to the analysis of these concepts from real life experiences and offers possible inroads for these women to advance on their agency, autonomy, and the transgression of domination orders.

In Colombia the latent armed conflict has been characterized by different forms of violence, with particularities of time, contexts, actors and dynamics that make it even more complex and with a prominent characteristic, regarding the violation of dignity and human rights especially against the civilian population. The Catatumbo Region and its inhabitants have closely suffered the effects of more than five decades of violence and it is hoped that after the signing of the peace treaty with the guerrilla group that had the greatest influence in the region, the situation would have changed for the better. This research collects the opinions of a group of students belonging to the Filo de Palo Headquarters, and teachers working in the community. A mixed research is developed in which the survey and the interview are used as data collection instruments. The results show that the informants think that there have been many effects both at individual and community level. They show a certain pessimism towards a better future and conclude that the educational process is one of the sectors that demands greater support from local authorities in order to offer new and better opportunities than those currently experienced by the academic community.

This article is the result of a research project called: The Restitution of Lands as Transformative Repair in the Construction of Peace, which arises as an initiative of the students of the law program of the Francisco de Paula Santander University, members of the Research Seedbed in Human Rights –SEMDHUM-, in order to awaken in the academic community interest in the Land Restitution policy within the framework of transitional justice, with emphasis on compensation for damage and restoration of the rights of victims of the conflict armed, especially the indigenous communities that suffered confinement, abandonment and / or dispossession of their lands. A series of strategies for the appropriation of knowledge and the participation of students in academic processes of competence development in this area were promoted. For this reason, the status of victims of the conflict of the indigenous communities, their survival and the enjoyment of their rights, as well as the jurisprudence, regulations and the need for a differential approach in the public policy of land restitution were auspicious. A forum called Land Restitution as Transformative Reparation in Peace Building was also held, a training on the ethnic approach in the Land Restitution process, understanding the importance of the relationship with the territory within the indigenous communities. his worldview and worldview. Lastly, and as a result of the investigations and training, the members of the seedbed participated in representation of the Francisco de Paula Santander University, in the II Interuniversity Regional Contest "Transitional Restitution of Lands for Peace and Reconciliation", obtaining the award to first place and best speakers.

Internal armed conflicts have generated plural and collective experiences of pain and suffering that challenge institutions. Based on the current consolidation of a public agenda that addresses the assistance to victims of the armed conflict provided in Colombia, and an ethnographic work with the indigenous Awa people of South-Western Colombia, we problematize the epistemes that inform two closely linked statutes that underlie the processes of transitional justice: law and science. The findings of the ethnographic research lay the foundations for an ethical-political reflection that suggests an action research agenda committed to recognizing the plurality of life within the structure of the longest conflict in America, and invites us to deconstruct notions, actions and institutions.

Based on global comparisons, Latin America is the most violent region in the world, with the highest homicide rate and a significant incidence of urban violence, kidnappings, lynchings and other forms of vigilante practices, and violent environmental conflicts. This document offers an overview of the forms, actors, and economic, social, and institutional impacts of violence in Latin America, and identifies particularly vulnerable groups, such as youth, women, and Human Rights defenders. The document serves as a context for this special issue which aims to support the work of students and scholars on the subject. The document concludes with a brief discussion of the likely impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on violence in the region.

The present paper analyzes some studies that address the Colombian armed conflict of recent decades, from the imaginary and representations of students in basic education, under the assumption that this view allows to identify a little explored field of school dynamics of a phenomenon that takes several decades of validity. To do this, initially, some elements of a historical nature about violence in Colombia are exposed, emphasizing in its periods some of its characteristics: deterritorialization, de-temporalizationand desubjectivation; below are some Latin American works that deal with the confluence of ideas of traumatic youth and past, to converge on the objective of this text. In the closing a balance of the incipient existing productivity is made and the importance of harvesting this field of study is indicated given its importance, not only to understand the role of the school in this long journey of the country's history, but to suggest pedagogical alternatives with a view to the construction of social justice.

This paper analises the discursive reconstruction of the Basque armed conflict in the oral narratives of the first post-conflict generation among Oñati's inhabitants, in order to observe how collective memory is being built and transmitted to the younger generations after the end of ETA's attacks. Using a discursive-historical approach and based on both in-depth and collective interviews, it focuses on three main aspects: how these adolescents categorise and evaluate events and actors of the violent past, the level of identification towards the events narrated, and the main canals through which both knowledge and attitudes are being transmitted. It concludes that adolescents perceive the conflict rather in its immaterial forms such as feelings and prejudices, and that they rely mostly on educational and familiar discourses when rebuilding the past. Some of the main voids identified are also signalised in this paper. Este artículo estudia la reconstrucción discursiva del conflicto armado vasco en la narrativa oral de la primera generación posconflicto de Oñati, con el objeto de observar cómo se está construyendo y transmitiendo a las generaciones jóvenes la memoria colectiva después del fin de los ataques de ETA. Utilizando un enfoque discursivo-histórico y con base en entrevistas en profundidad y colectivas, el artículo se centra en tres aspectos principales: cómo los adolescentes categorizan y evalúan hechos y actores del pasado violento, el nivel de identificación con los hechos narrados y los canales principales a través de los cuales se transmiten el conocimiento y las actitudes. La conclusión es que los adolescentes perciben el conflicto más en sus formas inmateriales, como sentimientos y prejuicios, y que se apoyan sobre todo en discursos educativos y familiares a la hora de reconstruir el pasado. También se señalan algunos de los huecos principales que se han identificado. Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1043

This article presents the results obtained from the recommended research: Reconstruction of Historical Memory in the municipality of Zulia with a socio-cultural and communication approach; whose purpose was to identify sociocultural elements of communication for the construction of individual and collective memory in the municipality of Zulia with the 9th grade youth of the Francisco de Paula Santander school, which enables the appropriation of the digital live point. The methodological horizon was of a qualitative nature, from a historical-hermeneutic approach, with a phenomenological method in which photographs, video recording, social cartography and observation will be used as techniques for collecting information; The population under study was 15 young people from the municipality of Zulia, victims of the armed conflict. The results reveal the individual memory and highlight the specific symbols of the youth of the municipality of Zulia in the framework of the armed conflict and resignify it in a collective space, where feelings and experiences are communicated, which corresponds to an appropriation of their social reality.

The article tracks the research that has addressed the ideas of young schoolchildren about the armed conflict in Colombia. For this, the state of the art is used as a methodology allowing them to be differentiated into three large groups; first, those that have served as a bridge to understand, in addition to the armed conflict, other processes or concepts, secondly, those that focus on pedagogical transformation from praxis and, thirdly, those that have a broad vision and integrative, exceeding the limits of the school. Finally, the findings and possible contributions to the field from the research field are presented.

There is a noteworthy relationship between disability and armed conflict. The critical situations of violence, besides causing new-fangled disabilities, may intensify the existing ones. Taking into consideration that the term «disability» is a human rights issue as well as the high quantity of victims of the conflict who in fact have any sort of disability, it could have been significant that the Colombian peace agreement with FARC-EP has encompassed a specific disability approach. Therefore, the absence of this perspective may perpetuate its exclusion. Throughout the current negotiation process with ELN, an opportunity is opened to mend this omission.

Objective/context. This article analyzes the international protection afforded to Colombian refugees in neighboring countries, with a particular emphasis on Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador. It examines the political and security interests of these states as regards their legal recognition of these cross-border migratory flows in light of their international obligations under the 1951 Geneva Convention. It then considers how the various protection labels conferred on refugees contribute to the formation of their identities. Finally, it seeks to question and challenge the evolution of UNHCR’s role and responsibilities in protecting these migrants under its 1950 mandate. Methodology. This empirical case study is based on a qualitative review of the literature pertaining to migratory flows induced by the armed conflict, including official reports published by UN agencies as well as international and Colombian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Conclusions. The complex dynamics underlying the interregional political and security interests of Colombia’s neighbors have led them to afford limited or no international protection status to the forced migrants. Originality. The relevance of this study is highlighted by the ongoing failure in identifying a durable solution to the protracted situation of Colombian refugees displaced throughout neighboring countries.

With the implementation of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), former military soldiers who were because of the armed conflict have been able to reduce sentences and obtain freedom. This document analyses the perception of the JEP by these soldiers based on a survey that identified the type of criminal conviction, the economic and family context, and the perception of the post-conflict for each of the participant soldiers. The results demonstrate that the interviewees consider the main harms of their imprisonment are a family breakdown and unfair treatment between the military and other actors. They hope that being included in the JEP will allow them to have job opportunities and get their families back.

Within the framework of the peace process between the Colombian Government and the FARC guerrillas, the Historical Commission of the Armed Conflict and its Victims (CHCV for its acronym in Spanish) proposed twelve readings on the origin, development and effects of the war in Colombia. This report allows us to trace the dispute over the narrative of the conflict, in which a rupturist vision amalgamated with the justification of violence collides with a reformist vision that amalgamates in turn with a critique of the violence in the political system and the past sixty years of Colombian history. Analyzing three historical truisms, namely the National Front as an undemocratic system, the objective causes of violence and revolutionary altruism, the text describes how the revisionism of these truisms tilts the balance in favor of the reformist thesis.

Currently, the field of transitional justice is applied mainly in (post)conflict settings, which is why theorists have begun to argue in favor of the adoption of policies of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition in matters related to forced displacement. This article critically analyzes these arguments and concludes that, when dealing with forced displacement, the existing humanitarian protection framework, inspired by a distributive rationality, must prevail over the corrective rationality that informs transitional justice. Otherwise, this can lead to discriminatory treatment among displaced persons, the absorption of resources that could be used to address the most pressing issues for that population, and the current protection framework may suffer setbacks. The challenge that arises is how to give priority to the humanitarian framework at a time when corrective measures, in the form of transitional justice, seem to have become the rule.

This article addresses the terrorist acts perpetrated by illegal armed actors during 1990-2000, as well as the policies related to national security. The role of a society in the relationship with terrorism is stressed as a coercive method used to gain control over government and groups of people. Terrorism and power relations based on violence and fear are used as a means of coercion to create states of anxiety. This study approaches three thematic axes. First, the general aspects of the concept of terrorism and the incidents in the Colombian system are studied. Then, public policies are analyzed, focusing on security in Colombia, opening the way to the third axis in which an analysis is carried out to determine their effectiveness and whether they are an asset to justice. This study seeks to determine the efficiency of public policies in matters of security related to transitional justice regarding the conflict with the FARC in the Colombian state. To conclude, brief conclusions are provided.

The Peace Agreement or Final Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP brought the armed conflict with the guerrilla organisation to an end. The agreement is seen as a model due to several of its features: among others, its gender and ethnic perspective, and its methodology of negotiation in the midst of conflict. This introductory article seeks to present the background to the peace process and the main lines of the agreement reached. It also makes a preliminary assessment of compliance with the accords (as of April 2019) and the prospects of success. A general context is thereby provided to the papers included in this issue of Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, which is dedicated to the peace process in Colombia, and to understanding the framework within which its contents should be interpreted.

This paper analyses how the Nasa indigenous community of Toribío (Cauca, Colombia) has configured mental reconciliation models in spite of the violent feedback they received during the armed conflict in Colombia. For this analysis, the theoretical perspective of cognitive institutionalism is used. Empirical evidence was collected mainly through semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The results suggest that strategies of peaceful resistance, such as the creation of Permanent Assembly Sites, the Community Life Plan and the Indigenous Guard, have contributed to producing successful solutions in the search for reconciliation and peace in indigenous territories.

This study contributes to the literature on the effects of extractive capitalism on sedentary subsistence herding and the loss of traditional knowledge, in this case about a wild edible, the oak manna gezhemgen. I present local narratives explaining the relationships between oak forests, climatic conditions and the agricultural cycle in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. Gezhemgen is a sign of a good harvest and signifies the power of fertility (being also called "the power of Hızır", a deity). Pastoralist practices are affected by intrastate war and the appropriation of governance rights to grazing. There is a relationship between accessibility of pastures and the vertical transmission of knowledge on the flora of the highlands to young generations. Narratives were gathered during ethnographic fieldwork between 2011-2017 in the Pülümür, Ovacık, Nazımiye and Kalan districts of Dersim. The food gathering behaviors of local populations are also influenced by urbanization, military violence and expropriation of use rights on common grazing grounds. The article reveals multiple effects of the transitions from customary systems of sedentary pastoralism to commercialized modes of agricultural production.

This article outlines an analysis of the imaginary of tropical American nature as built from the colonial gaze, as a starting point for understanding the control and appropriation of nature. This has legitimised, since the dawn of Modernity and up to present-day Latin America (and specifically Colombia and its territories), a discourse based on dispossession and racial violence, in the interests of the further growth of the global capitalist system.

The following writing is under the frame of the project of investigation: political „Subjectivity and educational memories: between the political violence and the school‟in the frame of the Interinstitutional Doctorate in Education DIE Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, emphasis in History of the Education, Pedagogy and Compared Education, line of investigation: Political Formation and Social Memory and despliega the different works that national and international have developed in the last decades on the relation that is emerged between the memories that the teachers enunciate ontheirhistories of life and the crossing of these with situations of the armed conflict and the political violence in diverse contexts of life and development of his work educational. In sum, one presents the production of investigations, books, thesis and research reports that realize of the relation teachers' memories, history of life, armed conflict, political violence and school.

The women’s participation in the Colombian armed conflict as combatants is a social phenomenon frequently unknown; furthermore, the political motives that are in the center of the militancy, for too many of them, seem to be invisibles because of a hegemonic idea according to which they are extremely cruel and violent women, or they are passive victims of a conflict that has been completely imposed on them. This text wants to explore the political motivations of women’s militancy in insurgent armed groups and, in general, of their participation in the armed struggle in the country. For this reason, a special attention is provided to the ex-combatant women’s voices, stories, reflections and analysis, women with whom we have talked and that we have had the opportunity to read, and who purpose original perspectives about the relationship between the war, the armed struggle, the conflicts transformation and the peace.

The current research aims to describe the level of perceived pain, family functionality, social support and quality of life in 41 victims of armed conflict in the condition of physical disability in Colombia. This is a Quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study. Five instruments were applied: a sociodemographic data sheet, the VAS, the APGAR-Family, the MOS, and the WHOQOL-BREF. In relation to the perception of pain, 39% considered it as severe. 63,4% of the sample has high family functionality, 75,6% show a perception of adequate social support and 68,3% report a decline of their quality of life. It is concluded that, in spite of the satisfactory results in some variables, situations related to the armed conflict affect the quality of life of the individuals as well as the possibilities of improvement in their living conditions

This essay analyzes testimonies by women survivors of the armed conflict in the Colombian Northern Coastal region, Montes de María. It discusses symbolic repertories of memory that members of the Mampuján women association have developed against forced displacement and the process of return, as well as the role that women have been playing as survivors of the Colombian armed conflict. Interviews were conducted with two women of African descent in the community of Mampuján, between June and July 2016. Testimonials focused on the history of the community of violence and forced displacement, through oral stories and tapestries as symbolic repertoires of memory. Finally, several of the memory repertoires worked by the Collective of Mujeres Tejiendo Sueños y Sabores de Mampuján are exposed as a methodological contribution to the critical and rigorous understanding of traumatic past in building collective memory for peace and reconciliation.