Sunday’s “No” vote in Colombia comes as a blow to the peace process, but it does not mean the process has ended. While this event was initially envisioned as a chance to look at a post-conflict transition in Colombia, it will shift focus to answer questions related to the agenda for renewed negotiations, and what a post-accord future would look like in light of the plebiscite results.
To help answer these questions, you are cordially invited to join WOLA at a conference with leading Colombian analysts and experts on the peace process and the future of Colombia.
Panel 1: Assessing Where Colombia’s Peace Process Stands, and Mapping Out Possible Scenarios Moving Forward
Moderator: Adam Isacson, Senior Associate for Defense Oversight
Speakers:
United Nations Representative
León Valencia, Founder and Director, Fundación Paz y Reconciliación
Maria Victoria Llorente, Executive Director, Fundación Ideas para la Paz
Marco Romero, Director, CODHES
Panel 2: Civil Society Perceptions of Colombia’s Peace Process Following the Plebiscite, and Steps Being Taken on the Ground
Moderator: Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, Senior Associate for the Andes
Speakers:
Pilar Rueda, Advisor, Gender Sub-Commission, Peace Negotiations
Danilo Rueda, Co-Director, the Inter-Ecclesial Commission on Justice and Peace
Marino Cordoba and Richard Moreno, Afro-Colombian Peace Council (CONPA)
Asdrubal Plazas, Consejo Mayor Indigena and Delegate to the Ethnic Commission for Peace andDefense of Territorial Rights
9:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Beacon Hotel
1615 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036
In the wake of last Sunday’s plebiscite in Colombia, in which a slim majority of voters rejected the government’s peace accord with rebels, the Colombian peace process received a significant setback. But while the “No” vote is a blow to the peace process it is does not mean that the process has ended. Both sides of the conflict have expressed their intentions to continue advancing towards a politically-negotiated solution to the country’s 52-year internal armed conflict. The bilateral ceasefire that has given the nation a respite from systemic abuses in recent history still holds.
The Washington Office on Latin America will convene two panels of leading human rights defenders, security analysts, and policymakers from the United States and Colombia to discuss the accords and to address questions surfacing from the region, Bogota, and the international community.
The event will take place in English and Spanish, with simultaneous interpretation. We hope you can reserve tomorrow, October 6 on your calendar to join us.
WOLA has been monitoring the peace process since its inception in August 2012; to learn more about these historic talks, visit www.colombiapeace.org.