Memoirs of the 3rd Anniversary

  

These Memoirs were developed by the Humanitarian Studies Institute

allies. Compiled and edited by David Alejandro Schoeller-Díaz. Maps

and data provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination

of Humanitarian Affairs UNOCHA – Colombia.

The HSI was established in 2008, with the objective of creating links

between Universities, NGOs and UN System Agencies, given the

demonstrated potential for research and training that exists among

local actors in order to improve quality of Humanitarian Action.

These Memoirs can be downloaded from the HSI Website at:

www.colombiassh.org/reh/memoirs3anniv

The Humanitarian Studies Institute (HSI) 2012.

Cover page photo: La Calle sonríe by Fabián Garzón Bustos

Interior photo: Atrás del matorral by Mario Barrero

1st Humanitarian Photography Contest.

Photo stream available in: http://bit.ly/McGA1W

Suggested citation:

Humanitarian Studies Institute (HSI) (2012). 1st Regional Conference.

Challenges of the Conflict in Colombia. 3 and 4 November 2011.

Bogotá: HSI.

Feedbacks and comments are welcome, and should be sent to:

iehinternacional@gmail.com

The Humanitarian Studies Institute would like to express its

gratitude for the financial support of the Canada Fund for Local

Initiatives (CFLI) 

On the part of the Office for the Coordination of

Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), I would like to congratulate
the Humanitarian Studies Institute upon the celebration
of its 3rd Anniversary. HSI has been an important initiative working
towards the integration of humanitarian actors with academics
across Colombia in the areas of training, advocacy and research.
These Memoirs compile the results of a meeting of experts from
regions throughout Colombia, including NGO workers, public
officials from the Ombudsman’s Office, Agency personnel and
researchers, who came together to share their experiences in the
field. These types of meetings are invaluable for the humanitarian
community in Colombia, where the humanitarian situation
frequently tends to be out of public view, and opportunities
to share experiences widely are few. We sincerely hope that
these types of efforts will continue on the part of HSI and the
participants in the event in order to help save lives and reduce
the suffering of millions of Colombians who face the difficulties of
the country’s internal armed conflict and the effects of frequent
natural disasters.

           With best wishes for continuing success,

María José Torres
Head of Office
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Colombia, Technical Secretariat of the Humanitarian Studies
Institute

So… what’s next?

Many efforts are underway to address, confront and transform
the conflict in Colombia. From the highly publicized institutional
ones to those that occur almost invisibly in neighborhoods, villages
and communities aimed at improving coexistence between
neighbors. Others, from diverse civil society sectors, seek to position
their concerns and perspectives in the public arena in order to
mobilize community groups and affect policy. Unfortunately, many
efforts of this type are unknown or invisible simply because they
don’t occur in the epicenter of national decision-making, don’t fit in
the agendas of those who may finance them, or aren’t documented
and shared with the community, in our case, the humanitarian one.

In this context, these Memoirs, consolidated by HSI with much
effort, are one more contribution to advance the aspirations of
the Colombian people for a transformation of the armed conflict.
But how do these Memoirs contribute? And from here, what
might happen? I just want to note three issues that motivated this
gathering of speakers, stories and analysis. The discussion on these
issues may spur a reflection on our institutional practices, and thus
shine light on our future work.

In the first place, these Memoirs stand as evidence. This term is in
such vogue in our context that its meaning is often eroded. With this
text, regional representatives, national and international analysts,
participants, researchers, compilers, and all the collaborators of this
event and its results have become witnesses of what happened and
also of what was affirmed and understood. It’s worth remembering
that these Memoirs emerged in a historical moment after eight years
during which the existence an armed conflict was denied. Though
we can’t say this is the only written material on these subjects in
the aftermath of such era of denial, we can affirm that it stands out
as the product of wide participation of civil society and communitybased
organizations. For HSI, the result is not only a reliable
resource, but also one worthy of systematization and distribution.
Being witnesses of this event better equips us to be more attentive
observers of what happens in the country, especially, as said before,

those things that receive limited attention in the epicenter and don’t
appear as often in the newspapers or newscasts, yet are daily bread
in the country’s periphery. An exercise like this sets a precedent for
more participatory and inclusive discussions.

In second place, the experience of the “Challenges of the Conflict
in Colombia” Conference reveals a shift driven by many sectors of
Colombian society. I’m speaking about the sense of unity reflected in
this two-day exercise, as well as many more compiling the analysis.
It’s important to note that this concept of unity does not equate
to homogeneity, but instead to a diversity of perspectives and
alternatives to approach the conflict in Colombia. Being a member of
an organization focused on children and with strong community ties,
I’ve recognized that participation is nonnegotiable and decisive to
change the culture, structures and practices of a society in crisis. For
HSI and its partners, it’s very important to recognize the institutions,
experts and interns of the humanitarian field. Nevertheless, such
recognition is more valuable if their work is strongly linked to the
base of the community, which on a day-to-day basis experiences the
limitations and vulnerabilities, risks more than others, suffers and
cries. Transposing this diversity of perspectives into the Memoirs
(for the most observant of the text) is a paramount commitment,
because a black-and-white portrayal of the world is intolerable for
those who learn to be inclusive and recognize the value of diverse
perspectives.

Finally, these Memoirs are meant to propel humanitarian
work by enriching our agenda. In many social research projects,
systematization exercises have fallen in the trap of further advancing
the positioning of institutional postures and/or publishing
achievements, rather than generating deep reflections, taking
advantage of lessons, and throwing them in a race to be learned
and incorporated into the practices of private and public life.
The analysis of actors, factors and vulnerabilities-capabilities,
as well as the accumulation of conclusions throughout the text,
is perhaps the most illustrative part. It’s useless to write only to

make history, only to leave a track, or show that one tried one’s
best. We write because a commitment is made for change and
transformation. When Colombians write their Memoirs, such as this
one, we are reading of ourselves in the present, but inevitably, as
we turn the pages, images emerge of how the future could turn,
whether we act or not. These Memoirs assert loudly that the conflict
in Colombia is and will remain what Colombians and their individual
and collective efforts want it to be. If we want something else, let
us learn from the past and present. For HSI, it’s clear that research
activities are a guide for progress and development, as long as their
findings are incorporated into everyday life in institutional practices,
and the work of social structures. Isn’t this a goal to pursue? Isn’t it
an agenda for our work and projection?
So... this is what follows, and on behalf of the Humanitarian
Studies Institute, we hope to have the intent, resources and
commitment of its members to: continue to create experiences like
this, contribute to a better understanding of humanitarian practice
in our context, and tirelessly explore possible ways to continue to
improve, change, transform what we have, into something better
for the country.

Eng. Giovanny Cruz G
National Coordinator of Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs
World Vision Colombia
President of the HSI Board of Directors

The Humanitarian Studies Institute (HSI) represents a joint
effort of United Nations agencies, NGOs and universities to
close the gap between the humanitarian community and
academia. To accomplish this goal, HSI works via three pillars:
advocacy, capacity building and research. As part of its advocacy
strategy, HSI promotes thematic events to examine humanitarian
crises, advance joint analysis of the humanitarian impact of
conflict-related issues and natural disasters, and disseminate the
framework for humanitarian action.
HSI expresses its sincere gratitude to the constructive
contributions of persons from academic institutions, civil society
organizations, NGOs and international organizations that joined
us from across Colombia. This includes organizations as varied
as Universidad del Sinú, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana de
Montería, Oxfam, Corporación Nuevo Arcoíris, Comisión de Vida,
Justicia y Paz de la Arquidiócesis de Cali, Cocomasia, Diócesis
de Soacha, SAT functionaries of Defensoría del Pueblo, Fedes,
Programa de Desarrollo y Paz del César, and Fundación Montes
de María, among many others.

Introduction

The First Regional Conference: Challenges of the Conflict in
Colombia was envisioned as an integrated discussion and joint
analysis on the conflict and humanitarian crises in Colombia, with
an emphasis on their territorial dimensions. Capitalizing on HSI’s
the three-year trajectory joining institutional efforts and bridging
gaps in knowledge, the Institute’s Board of Directors decided to
establish a national forum for open and critical discussion of these
issues. This forum invited representatives of the government,
civil society, academia, and humanitarian community to generate
a more inclusive, participatory and representative cross-sectoral
analysis.

The conference sought to capitalize on the shared knowledge
of key actors from different regions of Colombia, in order to bridge
the divide between institutions and sectors that are engaged in
the humanitarian field. The humanitarian field is especially suited
to benefit from enhanced dialogue and cooperation. Failure to do
so results in stagnation and critical gaps in knowledge, wasteful
overlaps and unattended needs, all of which can cost lives during
emergencies. Moreover, neglect of regions at the central level,
especially those that have been most hard-hit by violence and
crises, obscures the on-the-ground realities of an ongoing armed
conflict, and overlooks valuable knowledge, capacities and skills
needed to mitigate its humanitarian impact.

The two-day conference began with a day of three panel
discussions with nationally recognized experts. The first panel
concerned challenges of the war economy, and included
representatives of Acción al Día Colombia, Corporación Nuevo
Arcoiris, the Ombudsman’s Office, and Universidad del Sinú
in Córdoba. Panellists explored issues such as: the role of drug
trafficking and mining in fuelling armed groups and violent
conflict; the rapid emergence and consolidation of paramilitaries
throughout the Atlantic coast from the mid-1990s to the mid-
2000s; and the perverse effects of the development model in
exacerbating social and violent conflict in the department of
Córdoba.

The second panel addressed challenges of land restitution in the
context of an ongoing-armed conflict. Panellists represented the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Mission of
the Organization of American States to Support the Peace Process
in Colombia (MAPP-OAS), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and
the Comisión de la Sociedad Civil Vallecaucana para el Seguimiento
a la implementación de la Ley de Atención de Victimas 1448 de
2011. The discussion offered a critical examination of humanitarian
concerns and possible obstacles facing the implementation of the
land restitution process. Identified obstacles included: insecurity
and distrust of government institutions; informal land ownership;
limited civil society participation in drafting and implementing
the law; and the long-term task of boosting sustainable human
development in the rural sector.

  In the last panel, representatives of the United Nations Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), World Vision,
UNHCR and Oxfam reflected on the challenges for humanitarian
action. OCHA expressed concerns regarding confinement and
ongoing displacement, execution of land restitution amidst an
armed conflict, the need for CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
to protect environmental resources and vulnerable communities,
and the use of APM/UXO. Moving beyond strict operational
concerns, World Vision stressed the importance of life with
dignity, engaging civil society in emergency recovery, and the
commitment of the humanitarian community to its values and
principles to serve. Lastly, UNHCR and Oxfam presented their
work in protecting the Awá indigenous community in Nariño,
and positioning sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) as an
issue deserving independent consideration within humanitarian
projects, respectively.