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The Missing Peace THE MISSING PEACE: GENDER CONSIDERATIONS IN COLOMBIA'S REINTEGRATION EFFORTS THE MISSING PEACE: Gender Considerations in Colombia's Reintegration Efforts Alexandra Amling March 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.18289/OEF.2019.036 ©Copyright One Earth Future 2019. All rights reserved Cover Photo: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 2 I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 7 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 10 II. PEACE AND SECURITY IN COLOMBIA ................................................................................... 12 Conflict Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration in Colombia ........................................................ 18 The Role of Gender in Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration ....................................... 19 III. THE EXPERIENCES OF REINTEGRATION IN COLOMBIA ................................................ 25 The men ..................................................................................................................................................... 32 The women ................................................................................................................................................ 43 Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 52 IV. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 53 APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................................... 60 Study Participants ................................................................................................................................... 60 DDR Challenges in Colombia .................................................................................................................. 62 DDR Programs and Services in Colombia ............................................................................................ 65 A Visit to the ZVTN, La Paz ..................................................................................................................... 67 Internally Displaced Persons ................................................................................................................. 69 Tables ......................................................................................................................................................... 70 Figures ....................................................................................................................................................... 70 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................... 71 ENDNOTES .......................................................................................................................................... 72 1 | The Missing Peace: Gender Considerations in Colombia's ReintegrationThe Missing Peace: Efforts Gender Considerations in Colombia's Reintegration Efforts | 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research project would not have been possible without the ex-combatants and the FARC guerillas who were willing to sit down and spent hours sharing their experiences and challenges in the spring of 2017. It is to them the research team owes its biggest debt of gratitude. It takes great patience to interpret and communicate during focus groups, and special thanks go to Haizea Arratibel, Gabriela Gutiérrez, Marta Salazar, and Diana Morales. We would also like to thank all those who helped conceptualize the research project and those who supported the logistical challenges of preparing this trip and identifying ex-combatants, as well as sharing their insights and providing valuable feedback. They were a true inspiration and motivating factor for this research: Ainhoa Martínez, Haizea Arratibel, María Antonia Pérez, María Eugenia Vásquez Perdomo, Naydú Ospino, José García, Victor Negrete, Edgar Ardila, José Manuel Ernesto Salamanca, Dylan Herrera, José Francisco Restrepo, Eduardo Badilla Valdivia, Sasha Egorova Wedekind, Marie O’Reilly, and Oliver Kaplan. What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it. —Gabriel García Márquez Campo y ciudad juntos porque vamos de la mano. Todos somos colombianos. —Jhon Esteban Perez (FARC rapper) Transcending violence is forged by the capacity to generate, mobilize, and build the moral imagination . Stated simply, the moral imagination requires the capacity to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that includes our enemies. —John Paul Lederach Memory rescues from the past the traces of identity that it needs with respect to the present; therein lies its potential for change.” —María Eugenia Vásquez Perdomo (M-19 and author) 2 | The Missing Peace: Gender Considerations in Colombia's Reintegration Efforts EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Globally, over 60 disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) processes have taken place in more than 40 countries since 1979, and in some cases, countries have seen multiple iterations of DDR.1, 2 From the 1990s onward, DDR processes, especially with international assistance, have grown rapidly. Though there has been a recognizable increase in the implementation of DDR processes (since the mid- 1990s) in conflict settings, the existence of DDR programs is not necessarily an indicator for reaching or sustaining peace, as numerous examples (including Colombia) indicate.3 In fact, a 2008 article on the demobilization of the AUC in Colombia asked the very poignant question “Can Colombia demobilize its way to peace and stability?,”4 illustrating the benefits as much as the shortcomings of DDR processes. And while the formal recognition of reintegration as a key component of DDR has been slow to catch on, the inclusion of a gender perspective has been selective at best. With the passing of UN Security Council resolution 1325 in 2000, more emphasis has been placed on ensuring DDR processes—in conjunction with post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding—are gender-sensitive. In particular, the resolution called for greater awareness of women’s inclusion and participation in disarmament and demobilization because decisions in this respect affect female combatants and non-combatants alike. And global evidence suggests that the inclusion of a gender perspective is vital to reaching and sustaining peace, and a peace that enables both civilians and ex-combatants to enjoy their rights to fully participate and contribute politically, socially, culturally, and economically.5 This understanding of how gender plays out in conflict and post-conflict settings eventually translated into the creation of comprehensive manuals for DDR such as the UN’s Operational Guide for DDR processes.6 In Colombia, however, women have been virtually absent in peace processes. Despite their substantial contribution to and participation in different armed groups, Colombia’s female combatants and women have been neglected in peace negotiations and DDR processes until recently. During the peace negotiations from 2012–2016 in Havana between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government of Colombia, a Subcommittee on Gender was established in 2014. FARC guerrilla fighters line up at the Front 34 Alberto Martinez encampment in Vegaez municipality, Antioquia department, Colombia on January 1, 2017. Colombia's Congress passed a law granting an amnesty to the Marxist FARC rebels as part of the country's peace deal, a development the government hailed as 'historic.' Photo: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images The Missing Peace: Gender Considerations in Colombia's Reintegration Efforts | 3 It was a direct outcome of several consultations between the negotiating parties and representatives of women’s rights groups and civil society organizations, as well as groups of victims. Their activism and advocacy ensured that gender would be mainstreamed across the peace agreement and would include relevant language and stipulations on women’s rights. The participation of female ex-combatants from different countries played an equally important role, as their experiences and suggestions were streamlined in recommendations put forward to the negotiation delegations.7 Part of this success is based on the gradual growth of women’s active participation in the public policy domain in Colombia, especially when provisions on women became anchored in the 1991 Constitution.8 Over the years, Colombia has translated international norms and values on women’s rights into a comprehensive list of laws, policies, and national strategies. These documents underscore Colombia’s commitment to normative frameworks that link gender equality to peace and security. In a practical sense, women’s activism in peace and security
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