Colombia could soon be approaching the end of the protracted armed conflict with the FARC but more involvement of civil society in the peace process is needed and lessons from other negotiation processes should be considered. Our Colombia Programme Director, Kristian Herbolzheimer, joins the conversation in London on Wednesday 13 March 2013.

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Source: London School of Economics

In October 2012, the Colombian government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country´s largest insurgent organisation, started peace negotiations. The talks were formally launched in Oslo, Norway, and have since unfolded in La Havana, Cuba. Five central points are on the agenda: rural development; ending the armed conflict; illicit drug-trafficking; victims of the conflict; and citizen participation in the peace process. While Cuba and Norway are providing support as facilitators, Chile and Venezuela are playing the role of ´international guarantors´. 
 
Recently, the two parties announced their first point of agreement, which has raised the confidence in the process. It is now crucial that the momentum is not lost and that Colombians and others who wish to contribute to the building of a peaceful, democratic, just and prosperous Colombia vigorously accompany and support the peace process: ¡Rodeémos el Diálogo! (Let us surround the dialogue). 
 
The event: “The Colombian Peace Talks: Lessons from other Negotiation Processes” that will take place at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on 13 March, is the fruit of a joint ´networking-for-peace´ effort. The group Rodeémos el Diálogo (ReD), the LSE Colombian Society, and the Colombian Chevening Scholars (2012-2013) are convening a unique discussion space that will contribute to a better understanding of the peace talks as well as call for the negotiators’ attention to previous experiences that elsewhere in the world have succeeded in bringing to an end armed conflicts. This event is being sponsored by the London School of Economics Annual Fund, the Chevening Scholarship Program and the global consultancy Control Risks. 
 
The speaker line-up is as impressive as it can get. Colombian human rights figurehead Hernando Valencia Villa will meet Enrique Santos Calderón, renowned Colombian journalist and member of the Colombian Government Exploratory Negotiation Delegation with the FARC, and Claudia López, a driving force behind unveiling the relationships between illegal paramilitary groups and members of Colombia´s political elites. 
 
Additional perspectives will be provided by Colombia experts Kristian Herbolzheimer (Conciliation Resources) and Markus Schultze-Kraft (Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex). LSE´s very own David Keen will chair a session with Paul Jackson (Birmingham University), who will speak about Nepal´s experience, Geoffrey Cory (Centre for Peace and Reconciliation), who will draw lessons from Northern Ireland, and Jenny Pearce (Bradford University), who will reflect on the Central American cases. 
 
This is just the beginning of ReD, a non-partisan and independent initiative of a group of young Colombian and British professionals and academics, who have come together to explore ways of supporting a peace process they recognise as being of the greatest importance for Colombia. 
 
Lasting and sustainable peace in Colombia will require significant contributions from Colombian and international civil society and academia in the months and years ahead. Let´s ReD, let´s continue networking for peace in Colombia. 
 

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