The Colombian Truth Commission was established in 2019 to respond to the rights of over 8 million people who the State acknowledges to be victims of the armed conflict. Thousands of these victims fled the country and are now living in Europe.

The Truth Commission has an unprecedented mandate of engaging with the diaspora and create options for participating in the design and interpretation of their research. Victims organisations and European support networks today join efforts in 15 hubs in 10 different countries, and 70 people have been trained to interview victims and collect their testimony.

EPLO member organisation the International Catalan Institute of Peace (ICIP) has been tasked by the Truth Commission to act as its technical secretariat in Europe and to facilitate different forms of victims’ participation. This experience is likely to inspire innovative forms of diaspora participation in future peace processes elsewhere.

In this virtual Brown Bag Lunch discussion, ICIP’s Director Kristian Herbolzheimer and the coordinator of the working group on psychosocial healing Helga Flamtermesky (who is also the lead convenor of Diaspora Woman) will share the developments and learning from this innovative peacebuilding approach.

Please contact Lorenzo Conti if you would like to participate.