After four years of negotiations, the Colombian government and the largest rebel group in the country have reached a deal to end more than 50 years of civil conflict, paving the way for an end to the longest running war in the Americas. The asymmetrical Colombian Conflict lasted 52 years, claimed over 220,000 lives and displaced more than five million people.

The peace agreement outlines a timetable for the rebels, known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to abandon their arms. It also sets out a pathway through which former fighters will enter civilian life, and in some cases, run for office. Thousands of rebel fighters were raised since childhood to carry out armed struggle and re-integration into civilian life remains an uncertain process. While the deal has been met with praise from many international leaders, critics of the agreement have said that the government’s deal with the FARC would allow perpetrators of atrocities, among the rebels and on the government side, to be dealt minimal punishment.

Can Colombia become a symbol of hope in a world wracked with conflict? We will be joined by a panel of journalists and experts to discuss this historic peace agreement and what it means for the people of Colombia.

Speakers:

Ed Vulliamy is a writer for The Guardian and The Observer. In 2013, he won the award for literary reporting named after the Polish writer Ryszard Kapuściński for his book Amexica: War Along the Borderline, a vivid dissection of the violent US-Mexico ‘war on drugs’.

Charlotte Gill has been involved in the Colombian Caravana since 2010 and has been a director since 2012. The Colombian Caravana UK Lawyers Group is a charity which works to promote and protect human rights and access to justice in Colombia through working in collaboration with Colombian human rights lawyers and recently organised its fifth biennial international delegation of lawyers to the county. Charlotte has an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and wrote her dissertation on the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. Additionally, Charlotte currently works on campaigns and advocacy at ARTICLE 19, a human rights organisation dedicated to the defence of freedom of expression globally.

HE MR Néstor Osorio Londoño is a Colombian diplomat. He became Colombia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom in February 2014. He was the 27th Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations.

On Wednesday 4 December the Frontline Club welcomed Jineth Bedoya Lima, a journalist with Colombian national newspaper El Tiempo and recipient of the 2012 International Women of Courage Award, to discuss her prolific journalistic career and work in combatting violence against women. The discussion, chaired by The Guardian’s Ed Vulliamy, largely focused on the “habitual, extensive, and systematic violation” of women in Colombia, the record levels of impunity for crimes of sexual violence, and Colombia’s peace process.

Whilst on assignment for the daily newspaper El Espectador in her native Colombia, Jineth Bedoya Lima was abducted, tortured and raped by members of the AUC, a right-wing paramilitary group. She was kidnapped again in 2003 by left-wing FARC guerrillas whilst investigating a FARC-held town forced into cocaine production. Vulliamy introduced Bedoya Lima with the statement that “in terms of courage and endurance and experience, there’s nobody…who knows what Jineth knows.”

L-R: Ed Vulliamy, Jineth Bedoya Lima, James Lupton

When questioned by Vulliamy as to how she was able to return to work just 15 days after her first abduction, Bedoya Lima responded (with the help of translator James Lupton):

“I believe as a journalist I fell in love with the profession from the first day that I started it – and they say that love conquers all… But also I had a need to know what had happened… and why.”

Vulliamy raised the issue of the proliferation of conflict-related sexual violence:

“This is not some byproduct of warfare, this is the quintessence of what is happening, it is at the core of what is happening. Great hidden, unspoken crime and horror that appears to an ubiquitous experience.”

Bedoya Lima offered examples specific to Colombia:

“There are dramatic cases in rural areas in Colombia where women have been beaten, where their breasts have been cut off, where they’ve been amputated, where  – and this is especially a practice of the paramilitaries – they’ve been abused and beaten in order to serve as a warning.”

She later added that “the bodies of women are weapons in all wars”.

The question of impunity for crimes of violence against women was explored, with Bedoya Lima highlighting striking statistics:

“In Colombia, the levels of impunity for crimes of sexual violence have reached 98%…Of the 150,000 rapes of women that had been recognised by the paramilitary groups, only 2 have resulted in guilty verdicts. The levels of impunity are just terrifying.”

An audience member enquired as to whether recent attempts to publicise Colombia as a tourist destination – and the optimistic terms in which the country is currently being discussed – were beneficial to Colombia’s future, or if they were in fact distracting the focus away from the scale of systematic violence. Bedoya Lima responded:

“I want to hear people speak well of my country. I love Colombia…But we can’t allow that to happen behind a smokescreen that tries to cover up…the bad things that are happening… Medellin has just been named the ‘Innovation City of the World’…and that’s true for the people who have got the money to enjoy it…but just 15 minutes away from the beautiful, innovative centre of Medellin there are 10 year old children…who are packing a pistol!”

Another audience member asked whether it was realistic to hope for the active involvement of the International Criminal Court (ICC) given the level of impunity for crimes of sexual violence in Colombia. Bedoya Lima:

“In Colombia, there is only one case of sexual violence that has been recognised as a crime against humanity – and that’s my case. But even in that case, there has been no will shown by the government, or by the state to punish the perpetrators…. So it is our hope, as survivors of sexual violence, that with the pressures and the actions of the ICC, that something might be done about sexual violence in Colombia.”

A member of the audience asked Bedoya Lima whether her trip to Europe had been successful in drumming up international support for an end to conflict-related crimes of sexual violence in Colombia. She responded:

“For me, this has been a very positive trip… I do think that we are going to be able to exert a certain amount of influence over the negotiations in Havana (the site of recent peace talks between the Colombian government and FARC rebels), and also on the Colombian government and the state, in order for them to act against sexual violence.”

Bedoya Lima closed the discussion with mention of her recent victory in drawing up an agreement with the Colombian Football Federation, in partnership with the UN, forcing footballers to publicly denounce crimes of violence against women, in order to raise awareness amongst Colombia’s male population.

The ABColumbia report, entitled Colombia: Women, Conflict-related Sexual Violence and the Peace Process, is available for download here.

A video of the event is available to watch below:

https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/insight-with-jineth-bedoya

Despite the constant threat, she continues to work tirelessly to investigate armed conflict, drug trafficking, organised crime and issues around women and violence. Currently working for the national newspaper El Tiempo, in 2012 she was one of 10 women awarded the International Women of Courage Award and in October this year she was named as one of the 100 most influential journalists covering armed violence and conflict around the world, by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).

We are honoured to welcome Jineth Bedoya Lima to the Frontline Club, she will be talking to Ed Vulliamy, a writer for The Guardian and Observer, about her prolific career as a journalist in Colombia, the work she does on conflict-related sexual violence and the ongoing peace process.

A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews.

Monday 14 January

Five men charged with the gang rape and murder last month of a 23-year-old medical student on a bus in New Delhi are due back in court on Monday, following a 10 January hearing. The horrific case has provoked unprecedented protests in India, where rape victims are frequently blamed for attacks.

Meanwhile, a law lifting restrictions stopping all but a few favoured Cubans from leaving the island takes effect. For many Cubans, the termination of the so-called exit visa, which was announced last October, is one of the most significant relaxations to be announced by President Raul Castro. Commentators speculate that Castro hopes that the measure will lead to the injection of much-needed capital to the Communist state from Cubans travelling abroad.

Finally, outgoing US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will kick off a four-nation European visit with a stop in Portugal. The week-long tour will see Panetta meet counterparts in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Tuesday 15 January

US Vice President Joe Biden has said he will present his highly-anticipated proposals on gun law reform in the wake of the Newtown massacre by Tuesday.

Four highly-anticipated rulings from the European Court of Human Rights will be handed down on Tuesday in cases relating to the rights of Christians in the UK. The cases concern a registrar who refused to conduct same-sex civil partnerships, a relationship counsellor who was dismissed after expressing concerns over his ability to provide advice to same-sex couples, and a British Airways employee who was not permitted to wear a visible crucifix necklace, and a nurse who was also barred from wearing a crucifix necklace.

The Philippines Supreme Court is due to hear arguments in challenges brought against a controversial new law regulating online activity, which came into effect last October but was subsequently suspended. Critics of The Cybercrime Prevention Act 0f 2012 argue that the law is unconstitutional and threatens freedom of expression. A further hearing is due 22 January.

Finally, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will chair an open debate at the UN Security Council in New York on a comprehensive approach to counter-terrorism’. The debate is expected to be one of the highlights of Pakistan’s presidency of the SC this month.

Wednesday 16 January

On Wednesday, a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency is due to hold talks in Tehran over Iran’s nuclear programme. The IAEA has long wanted to visit the Parchin facility, however this is not seen as likely this time around. The US has threatened to take action at the UN Security Council unless Iran shows ‘substantive cooperation’ with the IAEA by March.

Top US diplomat for Asia Kurt Campbell will arrive in Tokyo for talks with Japanese counterparts, following a visit on Tuesday to South Korea. The visit comes amid heightened regional tension, particularly between old foes Japan and China. He is joined on this trip by his counterparts from the Department of Defense and the National Security Council, an indication of the seriousness with which the Obama administration is treating the situation.

The IMF’s Executive Board, finally, is due to meet to review its loans to Greece and the country’s progress towards tackling its enormous economic challenges.

Thursday 17 January

Sticking with the IMF, on Thursday Managing Director Christine Lagarde will address media from the DC headquarters of the Fund, discussing her views on economic policy priorities for the year ahead. The latest self-made crisis facing the US economy, namely the brinkmanship over whether to raise the debt ceiling, is likely to feature in her remarks.

In Brussels, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton will host the latest round of EU-mediated talks between Serbia and Kosovo. Although Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic will be in attendance, the agenda for talks does not include the status of Kosovo, which Belgrade refuses to recognise.

Finally, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will be addressing an event organised by The Spectator. He may well be asked about the current conflict in Syria.

Friday 18 January

New Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will be in Washington on Friday to meet Hillary Clinton for the first time since Shinzo Abe and the LDP swept to power in December elections. The worrying escalation of tensions between Japan and China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu island chain is likely to be top of the agenda – it will be interesting to see whether Clinton sticks with the US policy of referring to the islands publicly as the Senkakus, thereby further irking Beijing.

As it happens, China will be releasing its GDP data for the final quarter of 2012 on Friday. Economists will be watching the data closely, since there is little growth elsewhere.

Saturday 19 January

The festivities surrounding Barack Obama’s second inauguration will kick off Saturday with a National Day of Service, where Americans are encouraged to engage in community service projects, a tradition started by the President in 2009. Defenders of Second Amendment rights are organising a ‘Gun Appreciation Day’ to coincide with the perceived onslaught on their right to bear arms. Their slogan is ‘Hands off our Guns’.

Sunday 20 January

A cease fire announced by leftist Colombian rebels on 19 November will expire today, unless it is extended. The extent to which progress is being made in talks between the FARC and Colombian government is unclear, but President Juan Manuel Santos has said a deal must be made by November.

Ahead of the national poll in September, elections will take place in the German state of Lower Saxony on Sunday. Half-Scottish Governor David McAllister, who represents Angela Merkel’s CDU, is seeking re-election in a vote being seen as a litmus test ahead of the September vote.

Finally, Barack Obama will be sworn-in as President by Chief Justice John Robert in a private ceremony ahead of the public inauguration ceremonies taking place Monday.

Images courtesy of spirit of america / Shutterstock.com

By Nicole Hunt

The two men charged with the April 2010 murder of South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terre’Blanche go on trial in Ventersdorp on Monday. Chris Mahlangu and an unnamed teenager are accused of killing the leader of the Afrikaner Weerstasbeweging (AWB) party over a wage dispute.

EU Foreign Ministers meet in Luxembourg, with Syria expected to be on the agenda after a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria was vetoed by Russia and China last week and Syrian opposition members officially formed a National Council.

Liberians go to the polls on Tuesday to elect their president for the next six years. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who became Africa’s first female leader when she was elected in 2005, is hoping to win a second term.

A verdict is expected in the corruption trial for Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in Kiev, who is accused of ‘misspending’ some $280m during her time as Prime Minister.

In New York City, alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout’s trial for selling weapons to Colombian rebel group FARC gets underway.

The European Commission presents its 2011 enlargement package in Brussels on Wednesday, which includes a formal favourable opinion on Croatia’s accession and a much-awaited opinion on Serbian accession following the arrest earlier this year of alleged war criminals Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic.

The European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan hold the first of three unlimited US dollar auctions, which were announced last month and are designed to flood the financial market with dollars to support banks through the EU debt crisis. Two more auctions are planned for 9 November and 7 December.

On Thursday, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara pays his first visit to the country’s troubled western region since taking power in May following months of post-election violence and a power struggle with former President Laurent Gbagbo. Violence has continued in the west, where suspected Gbagbo loyalists are thought to be conducting armed raids over the Liberian border.

In France, journalist Tristine Banon publishes her book Le Bal des hypocrites, detailing her accusations of attempted rape against former IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors begin a two day meeting in Paris on Friday, with the EU debt crisis expected to be high on the agenda.

In Dublin, the OECD publishes its latest Economic Survey of Ireland. The last edition was published in 2009, so there should be plenty of new material given the country’s economic woes in the interim.

The Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee begins its annual gathering on Saturday. The meeting is seen as a key part of the power handover that should see Xi Jinping replace Hu Jintao as President next October.

Elections are held in Oman to name the 83 members of the country’s lower house of parliament, the Majlis al Shura, a consultative assembly which was granted legislative and regulatory powers in March as the Arab Spring spread across the region. The upper house is still appointed by the monarchy.

France’s Socialist Party holds the second round of voting in its presidential primaries on Sunday, choosing the person who will go up against Nicolas Sarkozy in the 22 April presidential election. Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been a favourite to win the party’s candidacy before he was charged with sexual assault in May; despite the charges being dropped, he opted not to run.

It’s also Blog Action Day, which encourages bloggers worldwide to post about the same topic in hopes of driving collective action and sparking global discussion. This year’s theme is food, with the date chosen to coincide with World Food Day. Around 5,600 bloggers from 143 countries participated in last year’s event, which focused on water.

What Colombians will remember 2008 for:

• The death of FARC’s iconic founder and leader, Manuel Marulanda, who led the guerrilla group for over 40 years.
• The death of Raul Reyes, Farc’s no.2, who was killed by Colombian armed forces in Ecuador.
• The freeing of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages held in Farc hands, following a daring rescue operation carried out by Colombia’s special forces disguised as foreign aid workers.
• A human rights scandal involving members of the Colombian armed forces, who murdered young innocent civilians and then passed them off as guerrillas killed in combat.
• The collapse of dozens of pyramid investment schemes that caused widespread looting and protests and forced local mayors to impose curfews. Around 4 million Colombians invested in these scams, and many have lost their life savings.
  The issue that will dominate in 2009 in Colombia.
• Will President Uribe, one of Latin America’s most popular leaders, decide to run for a third consecutive re-election in 2010? To do that, Congress will have to approve changes to the constitution that would allow immediate re-election.
  What to watch out for in Latin America in 2009.
• The emergence of Brazil as the leading voice for Latin America and its growing status as a diplomatic heavyweight in the region.
• The effect of low oil prices on Hugo Chavez’s grip on power in Venezuela.
• Drug violence in Mexico getting worse. Colombians – and they’ve got experience of this – say this is just the beginning of Mexico’s violent drug wars.
• A shift in US policy towards Cuba.
• First time President Obama steps foot in Latin America will be at the Summit of the Americas meeting, which gathers 34 regional heads of state, in Trinidad and Tobago in April.

Many signs point to the Farc’s gradual demise. Guerrilla commanders are finding it increasingly difficult to communicate with one another for fear of being detected by state intelligence agencies. Growing numbers of desertions are leaving some Farc fronts across the country exposed and on the brink of collapse. According to the government, in 2001 the Farc attacked and took control of 39 villages, while last year they did not seize any. The Farc’s new chief leader, Alfonso Cano, finds himself increasingly under siege. Perhaps more importantly, the Farc have lost support abroad and can no longer rely, at least in public, on the backing of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who has called on Latin America’s oldest guerrilla movement to lay down their arms.

Hopes were raised in Colombia that a weakened Farc and the loss of its high-profile hostages would mean better prospects for peace. There was expectation that the Farc would be forced to come to the negotiating table and begin peace talks, a strategy that the Colombian government is betting on.
But the latest comments from Ivan Marquez, a member of Farc’s ruling body, have dampened any such hopes.

The Farc, it appears, have no intention of conceding defeat, at least while President Uribe remains in power. The armed struggle is very much alive and will continue, says Marquez.
“A political solution to the conflict is only possible with another government,” Marquez recently told a Venezuelan news channel, Telesur.
He also defended taking hostages as a justified means to secure the release of guerrillas held in state jails. Since Ingrid Betancourt was freed, the Farc have continued to take hostages.

This is not the first time that Farc have insisted that peace talks with the Uribe government are impossible. Marquez’s comments may just be bravado but it serves to show that a demoralized Farc, who have suffered a series of heavy setbacks in the recent months, are not about to change their course of action.
Marquez’s statements further strengthen President Uribe’s popularity (he currently enjoys 80% approval ratings). Colombians back a government that is focused on defeating the Farc by military means. Marquez’s views also serve to reinforce what many Colombians believe, that the Farc have no intention of seeking peace. While such attitudes remain, the prospect of peace in Colombia remains, as always, remote.

With the recent release of Igrid Betancourt, we’ll be discussing the future of the FARC at the Frontline Club tonight. Please come watch, listen and join in live on the Frontline Club live broadcast channel. We go live at 7.30pm GMT. The question up for discussion is,

Will the release of Ingrid Betancourt – arguably the world’s most famous hostage, and FARC’s main bargaining chip – along with 14 other hostages – mean the end of FARC and the beginning of serious peace negotiations with the Colombian government? more info link

Taking part will be: Malcolm Deas, from Oxford University), Andy Higginbottom of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign, Hernando Alvarez, a Colombian journalist and BBC Latin American Service and Alice O’Keefe, from the New Statesman.
Please tune in LIVE at 7.30pm GMT
Apologies for stepping in for Anastasia and crossposting on the main Frontline Club blog, but this is the Colombia section of Frontline
UPDATE: Here’s a recording of the debate – it was very good.

Colombia is rejoicing and enjoying a rare respite from its ugly and unrelenting conflict. The next couple of weeks will be filled with celebration across Colombia. The arrival of freed soldiers to their home towns, families being reunited and fathers finally able to embrace their children, some of whom were born while their fathers were in captivity, will dominate the news.

There is a newfound sense of optimism that the Farc guerrillas can be defeated. Across Colombia, there is restored faith in the country’s armed forces who pulled off an extraordinary rescue operation that led to the release of Ingrid Betancourt, 3 Americans and 11 soldiers and policemen.
The victory however is bitter sweet. There are still political hostages being held by the Farc (including 27 policemen and 3 politicians). Some families fear that the guerrillas will carry out reprisals against their family members held in jungle camps and kill the remaining high-profile hostages. Others fear that the liberation of Betancourt (a French-Colombian citizen) and the three Americans means international pressure to secure the release of hostages and media coverage of the plight of those kidnapped will gradually disappear. They are probably right.

Unfortunately for Gustavo Moncayo, his son, Pablo Emilio Moncayo, was not one of the 11 soldiers and policemen rescued. Moncayo is a well-known activist in Colombia and has spent years trying to secure the release of hostages. His son, a policeman, was captured during a guerrilla ambush on a police base more than 10 years ago. A recent proof of life video shows Pablo encouraging his father to keep up his spirits. Despite Moncayo’s efforts, including his long march across Colombia last year and meetings with government officials in Europe, his son has not returned home. Moncayo and many Colombians continue to pray for the safe return of all the remaining hostages.

It seems that stereotypes exist for a reason and the Hollywood image of Colombian drug dealers was made real in this remote region of Nariño department, in the far south west of the country. My team was working on a six-part series on terrorism and insurgency for the Al Jazeera Network. We were travelling on a small boat along rivers in the dense jungles of southern Colombia. The two cocaine traffickers needed a lift and in these parts, riverine hitch-hikers are granted transit.

Toucan tossed two black plastic bin liners containing 25 kilograms of cocaine paste onto the boat. The acrid odour of petrol – used during the first stage of the production of cocaine – burnt my nostrils. He chuckled when I told him that one gram of cocaine hydrochloride in London costs around £50.

The hillsides were a carpet of coca bushes. We were in guerrilla territory, land under the control of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia known by their Spanish acronym, FARC. In these parts, the FARC governs and the Colombian authorities have no enduring presence. We had just met regional commanders and were making the perilous journey back to the small town of El Charco. From there we hired a plane that flew us to Cali.

Following the death of two members of the General Secretariat in early March, the Colombian press began declaring the end of FARC’s almost half century of rebellion.
The influential Semana magazine announced on its front page: El fin de las FARC. Rual Reyes was possibly the second most influential member of the group after its reclusive founder, Manuel Marulanda.

Reyes was killed during an attack by the Colombian military on his camp in neighbouring Ecuador, an attack that almost triggered a regional conflict between the leftist regimes of Venezuela and Ecuador and the US-backed government of President Uribe in Bogota. 

Another member of the General Secretariat, Ivan Rios, was murdered by asubordinate, who chopped off his hand and took it to the authorities in order to claim a $5 million bounty.

These deaths and other military gains reflect a change in the dynamic of Colombia’s civil war since George Bush listed FARC alongside al-Qa’eda as common enemies in his global ‘war on terror’. This shift in US strategy has allowed President Uribe to override human rights concerns and bring paramilitary armies, who were formed by rich landowners to combat the FARC, into the political process.

In return for their demobilisation, most paramilitaries have been granted amnesty and offered job training. The scheme was so generous that many claimed to be former paramilitary killers simply to gain new skills. Before 9/11, US aid for Colombia was specifically targeted against the production of cocaine. One US diplomat told me in 1999: “There will be no US government assistance for fighting the guerrillas. It raises too many human rights concerns, which has plagued US policy in Latin America.” Now the FARC is a declared enemy of the United States and the government receives nearly $500 million a year from Washington.

The FARC commander that I met amid the coca fields of Nariño’s forests was known as ‘Joto-Joto’ (or J-J in English). He was stocky and wore a leather cowboy hat. “Tell the showman we’ll deal with him at 8”, he muttered into a radio.

As is common for a FARC commander, Joto-Joto had a young female guerrillera serving as an aide-de-camp. The base had a DVD player and a collection of Hollywood movies. Boats with beer and whisky moved with ease from government to FARC-controlled areas.

The trip established for me that the FARC survives as a well-armed movement due to its role in the production of cocaine. In Nariño, I witnessed coca production on an industrial scale. Laboratories had docking bays where boats were loaded up under the gaze of FARC commanders.

The FARC are by no means the only group benefitting from the cocaine business. Production of the drug constitutes up to 10 percent of the nation’s GDP. The country’s political caste is notoriously on the take as well. There is another reason to believe that this war is far from over. The violence in Colombia has continued for decades due to the political division that shears Colombia in two.

The well-off, Europeanised, urban elite live in another world to the Indian or black communities of the unchartered jungles that span much of this country. When trade union or human rights leaders try to create a more equitable nation, they are murdered by shadowy paramilitaries. 

Murderous groups within the ruling elite have repeatedly sabotaged peace talks that would force the wealthy to redistribute their privileges and riches. Discussions between FARC and the government were progressing smoothly in October 2006. Then a mysterious car bomb detonated outside a military college in Bogota, injuring dozens. The Colombian government blamed FARC and suspended the talks.

The war exists for a reason and its causes have not been solved just because the United States has taken sides and listed FARC as a ‘foreign terrorist organisation’.