Great. Well, thank you all for coming today on behalf of President Nancy Lindborg of the US Institute of Peace. I want to welcome you to our event Truly a remarkable event that will highlight the work and sacrifice of many who have been on the front lines of peace and human rights in Colombia During its long process to build a more democratic and peaceful future So the US Institute of Peace was founded 35 years ago The inspiration came from a number of congress persons that had served in war and were determined that The United States have an institute that was more focused on peace building But also to have a monument to peace that the US government supported USIP is an independent nonpartisan National institute charged with the vital mission to prevent mitigate and resolve violent conflicts throughout the world The building itself is interesting and I wanted to just touch for a second because we often bring people in without mentioning What our building actually symbolizes so if you notice on the way in you'll see a series of offices And then common spaces So the architect for the building was a guy named Moshe Softee a Canadian Canadian Israeli architect who's done a lot of very prominent buildings in the world, but his idea was That from the individual spaces of the offices You're connected visually to other offices, but also to the common spaces. So the idea was transparency openness and brightness the kinds of things that will lead us to peace but also The notion that our individual efforts need to be connected to others that we work with And to the the common peace building community. So that's part of what this building is actually symbolizing It's also placed in a in an area of our of our city where we have also the Franklin Delano Roosevelt monument We have Albert Einstein Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln. So we have a bit of a peace trail that surrounds this building as well And then of course above the building we have the wings of a dove as the ultimate symbol for peace So we achieve our mission here by linking training and analysis Research and policy And by supporting those that work around the world on conflict mitigation and peace building on the front lines For over 15 years. We've worked in Colombia Helping the country to prepare for a peaceful and political solution to the conflict Both the work of our team and the institute is all about a top down and a bottom up approach to peace So we have teams in the field that try to help To look at community level issues of conflict resolution And then reflect those community level things back up into the national dialogue for peace Specifically in Colombia our team has provided formal and informal technical assistance to negotiators Special envoys and the international community on how to ensure the implementation of agreements actively supports vulnerable populations Since 2012 we've also convened the Colombia peace forum To ensure that policymakers and opinion leaders have a sound understanding of the conflict The challenges that arise in both peacemaking and peace building And especially prioritizing the voices of those historically excluded including women ethnic minorities and victims We've been deeply involved in strengthening civil society Including human rights NGOs religious institutions youth and women's groups And afro columbian and other ethnic communities through capacity building and technical assistance And we've supported inclusive security reforms backing processes to strengthen justice and security and build trust in rural areas through dialogue Most recently usip has become involved with venezuela We're actively seeking ways to help close the social fissures that are impeding a political solution And supporting efforts at a negotiated solution So today we're honored to be in the presence of some of the real champions of human rights and consider you among our most valued partners For the past eight years And act church of sweden have presented an award to celebrate and support people who defend and stand up for human rights in Colombia And to recognize their contribution to democracy and peace The national prize for the defense of human rights in columbia seeks to commend and support their work as a legitimate act of courage So i'd like to ask For 2019 the human rights defender of the year award went to clemencia caravali rodayaga Clemencia was the president and co-founder of the association for afro descendant women of northern calca And has done work defending the ancestral territory of afro columbian communities and the rights of women The award for collective experience of the year as a community process went to anya paes martinez Anya Anya is a a rural for the lawyer for the rural farmers association of the simitarra river valley For her work defending the rights of rural farming communities and developing alternative social development models for farmers The award for collective experience as an NGO went to marco romero silva Marco was director of the consultancy for human rights and displacement and his work was on monitoring human rights in columbia Providing alerts on new new crimes and developing solutions to address the humanitarian crisis and support victims Thanks And the lifetime achievement award went to ricardo esquivia bayistas Riccardo was a peace builder and human rights defender who's developed tools for engaging in Improbable dialogue. I like that that phrase improbable dialogue Spent his life as a conflict mediator and facilitator of building peace processes One article I read about riccardo said his work in picheline is titled a tiny village in columbia slowly comes back to life Riccardo your work has made a difference in the lives of thousands as have all of you. Thank you So before turning it over to the panel, I'd like to also thank our co-sponsors the washington office on latin america and the washington working group education fund specifically the partnership and coordination with himena sanchez garzoli and lisa how guard We've partnered with you over the many years to highlight the work of columbian leaders and it's an honor to be with both of you today So I'd like to now turn over the program to himena sanchez garzoli director of the andes in the washington office of latin america Who's been actively supporting the work of human rights defenders in columbia for many years? Thanks Thank you so much Welcome everybody. This is a real special treat that you're going to be able to hear from these amazing People that are here with me today One of the hardest things i've ever done working on columbia is be a judge for this prize Which is really not easy Because there are a lot of exceptional columbians But I think that this is just incredible So i'm supposed to talk a little bit about the context in columbia and I'm coming at it from having spent the last seven months in arauca twice catatumbo two weeks ago Choco and narinio especially along the border So my view is obviously from some of the hardest hits Hit areas of columbia What I can say is that 20 years ago the situation in columbia was awful. You had massacres with chainsaws almost every day You had mass kidnappings You couldn't travel anywhere in the country without being really scared Or even anywhere period because you could even get hijacked on the plane And so I think columbia has come a tremendous long way In the past 20 years And the highlight of that was in 2016 when you finally had One of the longest running guerrilla groups Lay down their arms and agreed to a set of terms to try and transform the society From a society that utilize violence as it as its way to Deal with conflicts to have it become more dialogue more inclusive And also it was a huge turning point because In one of the first times ever in all of the history of peace accords You had a peace accord that throughout the accord Basically supported the rights of women On the same level as men Integrated gender issues and then afro columbian and indigenous issues. So this was a major Breakthrough and I think it raised a tremendous amount of expectations as Hoped and you know as expected all those expectations. You're not going to turn things around You know four days four days later. It's going to take a while However, I've been a bit disillusioned myself going to all these places and seeing certain things that I think Could actually be better the first one being that While there was a process with the FARC and you had these huge number of guerrillas And you go to some of these areas like I did I went to one in at alka and it was literally look like a kindergarten There were so many kids Running around due to the baby boom So the guerrillas were taking care of their kids and that's what they were doing instead of what I used to see them do before You had a situation with The second guerrilla group the eln where there was sort of a bilateral ceasefire and in those areas things had calmed down Well, that situation has gotten worse It's gotten worse Because the eln guerrillas have up their attacks When I was in sarabena there were five Five terrorist attacks while I was there within that week And so that was just in one little area that gets no attention in columbia The one that got a lot of attention was the bombing in in bogota of the police academy So one wonders how can it be that you're going so well towards peace and then now you're seeing this Another area which is a huge Obstacle is obviously the ongoing threats and killings and intimidation of social leaders now This was going on for a while And if you compare it to the times when columbia was at fully at war it's different But it's also very problematic because part of the post conflict was to open the doors for democracy In columbia and you saw that and those people who started filling in that space all of a sudden Became targets partly because of the reconfiguration of different groups But more than anything because there are many aspects of the peace accord that haven't been implemented in an integral way That could prevent a lot of this insecurity and violence from taking place so We see that we see that columbia is grabbing with Tremendous humanitarian crisis coming from the country next door Yes, it's the country that's most welcoming And that's really beautiful to see throughout columbia I saw it in many different areas how columbians have reached out how the government has been very open and helpful to venezuelans but It is completely beyond the capacity of any government to be able to integrate that number of venezuelans and in a sense Having peace in columbia is absolutely necessary if you want to address venezuela and vice versa And so we see that that's a major strain on the society Well, you have all these venezuelans come in you still have the board and seven million displaced uh columbians And that's a situation that shouldn't be forgotten because if it is forgotten that cycle of items is going to continue So there are many things that can be done here the biggest one being that The united states as a whole not just its government and congress But also civil society Is very listened to in columbia you can say that's for good or for bad That's you know your opinion, but in general it's listened to and we should use that voice We should use that voice basically to increase attention to these situations We can criticize our friends and tell them things that they're not doing so well That doesn't mean that they're not still our allies on other things But we need to say the truth and the truth is that there are many things that need to be done And the primary one is to fully implement the peace accord as it was signed in 2016 Not just parts of it and not changing it We see already that um our congress has very much supported this whole process The last aid package is actually pretty good. It's all a very bipartisan support for usa id USAID is is is is implementing most of the land and victims law Land titling supporting directly afro columbian and indigenous communities Implementing a lot of its work through some of the best and most important actors like coes and the pastoral social and others we see very good things like the Lidera la vida campaign where communication system have been brought together with NGOs to try to figure out how the perception of how social leaders are seen and their society changes So those are all things we need to Continue to do What we should definitely not do is go back to supporting any effort of aerial fumigation because that was a big thing that led to the actual peace and Going backwards on that aside from the health environmental and other issues it raises Would send a message that really goes against All of the credibility that has been built by the state in a lot of these areas is trying to do state building With that said, I'm sure my colleagues have a tremendous And amazing ideas of what can be done Clemens are the eternal optimists I always find the best way forward And so with that I want to pass the floor on to them And I hope that you listen to them carefully you continue to work with them But more than anything you help them implement their agenda and see how the u.s. And this whole can support Thank you. Hameena and keith I'm lisa howard from the latin america working group and like Hameena I find it one of the most daunting tasks each year to be a juror for the national prize in defense of human rights in columbia because There are so many brave and creative And fascinating and hard-working and risk-taking In the best possible way columbians all over the country who are working so hard for peace and for human rights And i'm so glad to be here today With many of my friends now i'm going to switch over to uh to spanish for the the questions Ricardo Receiviste el premio de reconocimiento de toda una vida por tu larga trayectoria en construir la paz con paciencia con imaginación y con fe Especialmente en tu querido montes de maria In este momento difícil Años después del firma de del acuerdo de paz que se necesita para avanzar en construir la paz en montes de maria y en colombia En general que se necesita de la sociedad el gobierno los dos desmovilizados la comunidad internacional Gracias lisa buenas tardes quisiera tener la respuesta que está pidiendo lisa Pero no la tengo pero a mí se me hizo un reconocimiento por llevar un montón de años metido en esto Y pienso que en de esos años los últimos 20 años fueron claves en el trabajo que se hizo y el aporte Que esta comunidad este pueblo de estados unidos hizo a colombia y dentro de eso Hay unos tres nombres que yo quisiera como mencionar Uno de ellos una persona que se puso al frente y siempre luchó por esto que es bárbara que la tenemos aquí al frente Cristina y un nombre que es clave que fue quien inicio y quien metió Quien llevó al instituto de paz ha estado a colombia para trabajar que era gini bobir Si yo recuerdo mucho y yo creo que todo este proceso de paz en colombia le debe mucho a gini porque ella Dedicó su vida y inclusive Sacrificó por parte de colombia Para responder esta esta pregunta yo quisiera apoyarme en tres metáforas Ya que como soy un poquito del siglo pasado no no manejo Todo esto del internet y todo eso entonces no todos usamos figuras tres metáforas Una primera metáfora es un cuento Una segunda metáfora es un versículo bíblico y una tercera metáfora es un dicho entonces Dicen que una una ocasión hubo un desierto un incendio fuerte En la selva estaba incendiando la selva y los animales se organizaron para sanar para salvar para apagar el fuego Entonces todo lo que animal hacia su esfuerzo y había un elefante Grandote con una trompa grande así que iba al lago cogía mucha agua Y votaba ya en el incendio Pero también había un colibrí Un chup chup a flor un colibrí que pico que iba y cogió una gotica de agua y la chavaca Y el elefante se quedó mirándolo y le dijo animal estúpido tú qué haces me torbas ponte a un lado Y dicen que colibrí le dijo mire señor elefante haga usted su trabajo que yo hago el mío En colombia tenemos un incendio un incendio fuerte Y nos hemos organizado animales y no animales no hemos organizado para tratar de apagar ese ese incendio Y en y en ese en ese trabajo Es como ese incendio todo esa ese esfuerzo es como si fuera una montaña Y estamos haciendo todo el esfuerzo por subirnos en esa montaña Pero hay otra una metáfora que dice que El la dificultad no es la montaña porque la montaña la podemos subir el problema es la piedra que tenemos en el zapato que no nos deja avanzar Entonces los colombianos Normalmente todos estamos avanzando hacia allá por ejemplo tenemos ocho millones y medio de personas que están reconocidas como como víctimas Todos y todas estamos tratando de subir la montaña llegar allá para pagar ese incendio que nos está afectando Pero tenemos una piedra en el zapato que no nos permite y es la incapacidad que tenemos de unirnos Es toda la guerra crea mucha desconfianza porque la guerra es el arte del engaño y ese engaño nos ha tenido en desconfianza Y nos hace difícil que dialoguemos Entonces hay diálogos que son con gente improbable Pero hay otros diálogos que son de iguales en desencuento Entonces dice la biblia hay un versículo en improverbio que dice que es más fácil Tomar una montaña una ciudad fortificada que curar en la herida de un hermano Afectado Entonces esos ocho millones y medio de víctimas todo esa gente de víctimas que haya colombias una sociedad que tiene rota Tiene roto sus Sus puntos de acercamiento Tiene roto el alma mucha gente y eso es una piega Profunda que nos impide avanzar hacia allá Entonces para mí cuál sería una de las respuestas que uno podría hacer para esto es importante abrir diálogos que permitan Que esos Esos iguales en desencuentro Se reencuentren Para que pueda surgir el diálogo y para ese se reencuentro tenemos que Aceptar y entender la dignidad humana en cada uno para que cuando reconozcamos como humano a esa persona Se ha válido el diálogo y no sea solamente discusión y charla sino un diálogo de iguales en encuentro Para mí es importante lisa y los demás Que se trabaje mucho En reconstruir esa confianza Porque lo demás se nos queda una una confianza clave y que recordemos que esa para recuperar esa confianza por un lado tenemos que Tener unos compromisos éticos en el trabajo Un compromisio ético es con la no violencia Tenemos que comprometernos en no entrenarnos más para la guerra ni ser victimarios Y el otro con el medio ambiente Entender que si no tenemos una tierra sana un ambiente sano de nada sirve Todo ese montón de derechos y todas las cuestiones que hagamos y que eso nos permita como dicen los africanos Entender que yo soy porque somos Si solamente a través de eso es posible que construyamos entonces necesitamos que se nos ayude En toda la forma posible para que podamos reconstruir la confianza De la gente y que esa confianza genere fe Y esa fe tiene que ser tan fuerte y tan profunda que seamos capaces de ver crecer el el árbol en la semilla Si para que de esa manera No nos echemos para atrás nos quitemos la piedra Tejemos de atacarnos unos a otros y podamos avanzar en construir una paz duradera en colombia Gracias Ricardo siempre habla con los los metáforos y los imágenes me encanta escucharte Quería Seguir básicamente con con la pregunta pero Tú has trabajado siempre con iglesias además que con otros instancias de sociedad civil ¿Cuál es el papel especial de las iglesias en este momento las iglesias dentro de colombia y también afuera? Gracias Yo pienso con un papel que debemos asumir las personas que trabajamos desde una perspectiva de fe Es ayudar a que la esperanza no naufrague Sí ayudar a que la esperanza se mantenga y una ventaja que hay De trabajar desde la fe es que uno nunca se siente abandonado nunca se siente solo Siempre cree que hay una compañía no importa el nombre que le demos a esa compañía Dios a la Como queramos darle, sí, pero ese es la divinidad es Dios el que nos está acompañando Y ese papel es clave además desde la perspectiva de fe desde las iglesias se trabaja mucho La dignificación de la vida Y recordemos que los derechos humanos No son no son tanto derechos son más humanos No y no es un invento de los europeos ni del occidente Después de la guerra sino es simplemente algo que se ha venido construyendo precisamente desde esa perspectiva de fe Jesús dijo yo he venido para que tengan vida y tengan vida digna digna abundancia eso son los derechos humanos Entonces nosotros como iglesia necesitamos recuperar y recordar eso Pero hacerlo en la práctica de tal manera que las personas vean que realmente Sí creemos y que sí estamos viviendo ese mensaje que Recordamos y que lo llevemos en la práctica que la gente nos vea que nos acompañemos que entendamos que el papel de la iglesia Es precisamente cumplir con eso acercarse Y a través de un ejemplo bíbil bíblico Testimonial mostrar que sí es posible para que como digo no nos frage la esperanza Gracias ricardo Ahora vamos a um hablar con clemencia Clemencia felicitaciones for recibir el premio de defensora del año Los líderes y liderazas sociales en En colombia protejan cada día sus territorios y los derechos de la comunidad Y es y lo y realmente ya están implementando en el terreno el proceso de paz Pero ustedes uh sufren tantos ataques y amenazas y tantos obstáculos ahora en su en su trabajo y y tu realmente conoces eso en carne propia Ha vivido Situaciones muy muy duras Entonces por qué después de la firma del acuerdo de paz Estamos realmente mirando tantos problemas Y tantos amenazas para los líderes sociales Bueno muy buenas tardes mucha gracias a todos y todas por escucharnos por sacar este momento de su tiempo para conocer más acerca de la realidad que vivimos en colombia Pero seguramente para contribuir A ese respaldo que como líderes y liderazas defensoras de derechos humanos Requerimos de la comunidad internacional para seguir en nuestra labor por la defensa de la vida y por la defensa de la paz Efectivamente la situación sigue siendo crítica a pesar de la firma del acuerdo de paz Porque es que nosotros consideramos que la la paz no es sólo la firma de un papel y ya La paz es estar en un ambiente libre de miedo es estar en un ambiente libre de necesidad La paz es poder ser Sí es poder ser mujer es poder ser comunidad es poder hacer Y para poder hacer necesitamos un territorio Y lamentablemente en nuestros territorios esto aún no es posible Y no es posible porque hace falta la presencia integral del estado No sólo limit referida a la fuerza pública armada que en nuestro caso De nosotras las mujeres en ocasiones genera mayores mayores vulneraciones a nuestros derechos Sino que se necesita la presencia integral del estado superando Desarrollando acciones que superen precisamente todas esas brechas Que han llevado a más de 50 años de conflicto en nuestro país Pero también persiste en esas situaciones difíciles Porque persisten fuertes intereses sobre nuestros territorios sobre sus recursos Y alrededor de estos recursos Violación en violencia estructural es muy complejas A al lado del modelo económico Fundamentado en el extractivismo y la acumulación De igual manera Consideramos Que eso se debe al incumplimiento del acuerdo de paz Han habido avances que sin duda alguna a nosotras valoramos Pero también lamentablemente podemos ver Que de manera clara y decidida el acuerdo de paz no está en la agenda de nuestro gobierno De este gobierno Iván Duque Si uno revisa herramientas de política pública como el plan de desarrollo Pues allí uno ve que efectivamente no hay una voluntad política Para avanzar en el cumplimiento de esos acuerdos patados Lo que complejiza el desarrollo o la existencia de mejores condiciones en nuestros territorios Para que sea posible la vida, la esperanza y la paz Asimismo consideramos que Que esa situación se debe a que Existimos hombres y mujeres, líderes y liderazas defensoras De nuestros derechos comprometidos con eso Comprometidos con la defensa de nuestros derechos humanos y en nicoterritoriales Y por eso se nos persigue, se nos desplaza, se nos asesina Y se nos amenaza yo Creo que muchos de ustedes saben El pasado 4 de mayo lamentablemente junto con otros 15 compañeros y compañeras Fue vítima de un atentado después de tener nueve amenazas Donde afortunadamente y gracias a dios No nos no nos mataron, pero realmente son situaciones muy fuertes Las que tenemos que vivir día a día Las y los defensores de derechos humanos por defender nuestros territorios Y es una situación muy grave que eso esté pasando en Colombia Porque no es posible la democracia en un país Donde la voz de sus líderes Y de las defensores de derechos colectivos No se ha escuchado Y lamentablemente eso es lo que pasa en nuestro país Y en los últimos años Especialmente en el año anterior y este a pesar del acuerdo de paz que para nosotros Sabemos que no es perfectos Pero si que marca una ruta muy importante para caminar en ese sendero Que vemos a ser como colombianos y colombianas We have all the hope in him, I think that as a civil society, as women, we cannot lose the hope of continuing to build that peace, because that is what we know how to do, the ethnic communities, that is what we know how to do, what we are there in the territory, despite the difficult circumstances with which we have to live. And what we see is that, on the contrary, to decrease not only that gap of inequality and injustice, but also increased persecution and murder of leaders and human rights defenders, as is the case in the north of the Cauca, but you already know that not only in the north of the Cauca there are news of slanderers, but also in many other regions of the country where precisely these voices of leaders and leaders are strong, because they chase us. Likewise, there is a very complex situation and to which we, everywhere, there is one thing that surely later I could say it, but I prefer to repeat it so that we are left with the routine and it is the need to intervene in the subject of justice. I think that part of what is still happening is because justice does not work. So, as there are levels of high impunity, those who commit these agressions see all the space to continue doing it. And that is one of the difficulties that we have in Colombia, the subject of impunity. To put the case that happened to me, and excuse me for speaking in the first person, I will not speak better than what I know. From May 4th, in my case, I already had nine threats that I had reported to them every time that they occurred to the tax office and to competent teachers. After May 4th, after the attack, we even met with President Iván Duque. We met with the staff of the tax office. We met with several people responsible for guaranteeing this issue, the investigations, the sanctions, and so far we have absolutely no answer to account for who were behind those events, not only of the material events, but mainly, sorry, of the material authors, not mainly of the intellectual authors. There, some young people were judged, which clearly the process is seen, which is not indicated, that situation is being verified by the authorities themselves, because they have to do it. But we are waiting for clarity, who are behind those events, what are the intellectual authors behind those events. And that, by placing only one case, but in Colombia, we live that same situation daily. Thank you, Clemencia. You were talking a little about the impact on women in particular. Women and defenders, social leaders have certain specific risks. Can you talk a little bit about what they do in your own community in the north of Cauca to try to ensure that women can be protected or protected? Well, we there, I am part of an organizational process, which is part of 220 women, but we work with another important handful of women in the ten municipalities of that region of the north of Cauca. And fortunately, I think that not only human beings, but in a particular way, women are very creative. And I think that is what has touched us, our creativity, to also be able to persist in this sea of difficulties. And one of the things that we do the school, we have a school of women constructors of peace from the knowledge of their rights. And from this school, what we do is generate conditions for women to know our rights, we know the legislation that we have won as ethnic peoples, and we know the rights that we have as women, what contributes to empower us to have a better participation in the different scenarios of construction of peace, but also in the different scenarios where it is necessary to continue in the defense and re-indication of our rights. So that is a very important space, from which also, as women, we surround ourselves, we support ourselves, and we generate some self-protection mechanisms that are very important for us and for our families, which are also our support, our support to carry out this work. But we also develop activities, or we develop strategies, like the construction of self-care protocols that I cannot tell you here because then it stops being, it stops being the secret to take care of us. But yes, we even go to very proper practices of our ancestors that contribute in some way to say it, to despise the enemy. And well, I'm going to confess one, for example, if I dare to tell you one, when we go from one community to another community, like the media of communication, they are not safe, or sometimes in our cases they don't apply because there is no signal, we don't even have cell phones, so we use signals through trees, from the plants, we use signals. So we already know that if I refer to a tree in such a way, it is because I cannot go to that community, because the group is there, or because they have told us today they cannot move, because they have given the order that we cannot move in our own territory, which is unfortunate, but that happens. So that kind of strategies that one sees as so insignificant, but that for us are very important, and that implies a whole collective construction of those agreements, and we call them security agreements. So things like that are the ones that allow us to maintain the work, to maintain those dreams of building, of continuing to contribute to the construction of this Colombian context, because we believe that we are a very rich country, where it was possible for all of us to cooperate, but unfortunately part of what we have in this situation is ambition, and not understanding that my rights end where the rights of the other begin. Gracias, Clemencia. Eso realmente da una idea de tu trabajo tan importante. Ahora vamos a hablar con Annie. La defensa del territorio y espacios colectivos es parte del trabajo que están realizando como líderes sociales. ¿Qué procesos y tácticas se están usando dentro de su propia organización y su propia comunidad para proteger los derechos de la comunidad? Hola. Muy buenas tardes. Primero que todos y todas.  Bien, en esta ocasión, pues en esta gira de incidencia en Estados Unidos. Respondiendo la pregunta, quisiera comenzar con que todo este proceso o estas tácticas parten de un campesinado perseguido durante décadas que llegan a un sitio en la geografía colombiana en donde dice, de aquí ya no tenemos para dónde más ir. Este es nuestro refugio. Y teniendo eso claro de que ya no se quiere seguir huyendo, ya no se quiere seguir siendo oprimido, se empiezan a dar una serie de propuestas prácticas. Primero fueron prácticas y después ya fueron propuestas. Una fue la organización basada en un principio muy sencillo y básico en el ser humano cuando no se tiene nada, cuando se siente que no se es nada y es la solidaridad. De allí ya nosotros pasamos a un momento en el que decimos organización, pero organización desde lo más esencial del ser humano. Bien, y en donde como la característica de los pobladores de este territorio es ser campesinos y campesinas, entonces la construcción va a que esos derechos que se buscan para poder ser felices, para poder tener una vida digna corresponden o tienen que ver con el territorio. Y cuando hablamos del territorio, entonces empezamos a hablar de una lucha por la tierra. Esto se da en todo el país. En el territorio del que vengo yo, que corresponde a el sur de Bolívar, que pega con una parte de Antioquia, dos departamentos, lo que serían acá estados. En este territorio para que ustedes se imaginen cuando se llega ahí es solo selva y llegan campesinos y campesinas sin tierra, sin nada. Y entonces en ese momento, así como en otras partes, se empieza a gestar un movimiento desde el campesinado que no es reconocido por la legislación colombiana. Y ese movimiento va dirigido a que se le reconozca. Sale una ley en 1994 en donde aparece algo que se llama las zonas de reserva campesina. Nosotros tomamos la zona de reserva campesina como nuestra bandera de lucha para la construcción de la paz porque coincide que en estos territorios llegamos sin tierra, pero también llegamos a un escenario en donde ese momento, a ser unas cuatro o cinco décadas, fue ubicado como una región de operación militar. El campesinado no entendía por qué, si lo sacaron de allí porque aquí también. Y sencillamente tenía que ver con qué son territorios en donde hay hoy muy valorada la biodiversidad, hoy muy valorado el agua, pero que en ese momento lo que les interesaba era el petróleo y también les interesa la minería. Entonces, en ese sentido, tomamos lo que es la zona de reserva campesina como la única herramienta que nosotros decimos a veces pareces indientes porque lo que nos ayuda es hablar de la defensa de una economía campesina. El campesino no necesita más que tener una calidad de vida básica de alimentación y condiciones dignas para ser feliz. Eso. Y resulta que eso es lo que nos da la zona de reserva campesina. Luego seguíamos limitados porque allí solamente éramos objeto de presencia militar. Llegan los grupos armados, llega las fuerzas armadas tanto legales como ilegales y entonces se ubica como en muchas partes del país al campesino o se le titula o se le pone un rótulo que se llama que si usted está ubicado en una zona en donde hay guerrilla, usted es guerrillero. En ese sentido, entonces, la organización decide salir y buscar espacios de incidencia, de interlocución con actores, autoridades y también sociedad, la misma sociedad colombiana para que se reconozca al campesino y a la campesina como un igual, como un ser humano como cualquiera que merece tener sus derechos y que está en una lucha. Bien. Y es allí en donde empezamos a trabajar con la incidencia en propuestas como la construcción de paz. Pero vamos a dejar para la siguiente pregunta si es que es posible. Gracias. ¿Cómo ves la implementación del proceso de paz? Me imagino una parte de la respuesta va a enfocar en la cuestión de las tierras en tu parte del país. ¿Cuál es lo más importante que el gobierno debe hacer o la comunidad internacional debe hacer para fortalecerlo? Bueno, les voy a comentar a quienes no conocen. El 2011, la organización campesina del Valle del Río Simitarra, que vengo como delegada a representar, llamó a todo el país a un encuentro nacional de comunidades campesinas afrodescendientes e indígenas por la tierra y la paz a encontrarnos en una ciudad que se llama Barranca Bermeja, del Magdalena Medio. Allí llamamos al gobierno nacional, llamamos a las guerrillas de las FARC, llamamos a las guerrillas del LN y llamamos a todos los actores a que se sentaran porque estábamos hartos de la guerra. Estábamos hartos de que no nos distinguieran en esta guerra. Y estábamos hartos de que esta guerra sea la excusa para que no haya desarrollo sostenible, para que no haya realmente se sede en los conflictos sociales y económicos que hay en nuestros territorios. Ya no queríamos más que nos usaran como una excusa. En ese sentido, pues nos encontramos en el 2011 y con gran sorpresa y alegría hay que decirlo, también esperanza. En el 2012, el gobierno nacional anuncia el inicio de los diálogos con la FARC. Luego de eso, lo que decidimos como organización y en coherencia con lo que hemos venido trabajando, hemos decidido defender y espaldar este acuerdo. Porque lo firmaron el gobierno y la FARC, pero también en ellos es para que hubiese esa firma, pues había una serie de puntos que no eran solamente la terminación del conflicto, sino que efectivamente uno de los primeros y el más importante que consideramos y que es una causa de este conflicto es el punto de la reforma rural integral. Y en ese sentido nosotros hoy estamos ubicados en una zona priorizada tanto en lo que tiene que ver para la reforma rural programas para poder solucionar todo este tema de las vías planes nacionales para ver si llega la electricidad para ver si llega la salud, para ver si llega la educación, cierto? Pero también territorios en donde priorizo para que se haga todo el proceso de sustitución cultivos de uso ilícito. Bien, y hablamos de sustitución porque para nosotros es primordial primordial y ya sabemos qué es lo que pasa con las fumigaciones, cierto? Es primordial, que se reconozca efectivamente que la solución no es fumigar ni bombardear la solución es realmente ir a la raíz de los, a las causas de los problemas, cierto? Y en ese sentido pues hay que decir que nosotros participamos en todos los espacios y tenemos grandes preocupaciones y por eso nos pareció fundamental o nos pareció muy apropiado este momento poder compartir con todos ustedes y precisamente en este país porque Estados Unidos acompañó el proceso de paz y Estados Unidos hoy para nosotros es un actor primordial necesario en la implementación tal y como se acordó porque en esa medida es que garantizamos unos resultados de implementación y no vamos a hablar de cinco, seis años, hablamos de 20, 25 años, no sé cuántas generaciones, pero si hoy nos dejamos desviar con particularidades de gobiernos de turno, corremos el riesgo de que la implementación de lo que nosotros pedimos, lo que nosotros hoy defendemos y en lo que nosotros hoy participamos no tenga un fin o en realidad pues no valga la pena del esfuerzo Gracias Ani Bueno, ahora Marco Marco hiciste un labor histórico durante las negociaciones entre el gobierno y las FARC en contra de aquelas cosas de las víctimas víctimas diversas representando una variedad de sectores y experiencias duras que estas víctimas tenían la oportunidad de influir en el proceso de paz entre el gobierno y la FARC era una lema del gobierno por lo menos durante las negociaciones que las víctimas estaban en el centro del proceso pero como avanza el papel de las víctimas en la implementación de los acuerdos ahora Bien, buena tarde para todas y todos gracias a ustedes por tomar un tiempo para escuchar sobre Colombia en la voz de quienes nos ocupamos de defender derechos humanos gracias al Instituto de Paz por facilitar esta reunión y muchas otras que han permitido que haya una conciencia cada vez más compleja en los Estados Unidos gracias a Lisa Jimena gracias a Diaconía la Iglesia Sueca por habilitar una estrategia de trabajo como esta de los premios que permiten visibilizar trabajos que se hacen en condiciones muchas veces adversas en Colombia un país donde hay mucho que trabajar en materia de derechos humanos pero también hay demasiados riesgos y problemas para lograr resultados que no quiero destacar algunos datos para quienes conocen menos Colombia Colombia es un país de renta media alta por eso está en la OCD pero es un país campeón y iniquidad es el segundo país más desigual de las Américas según el Banco Mundial casi siempre estamos en el segundo o tercer lugar es un país muy rico, tiene gran diversidad cultural 20% de su población es afrodescendiente tiene 104 pueblos indígenas tiene un campesinado que equivale a más del 30% de la población tiene amplias tierras fértiles y es uno de los países que más agua tiene en el mundo además de otras dotaciones de recursos naturales cuando se tiene un país así la pregunta es cuáles son los problemas porque hay una guerra de 50 años cuáles y en qué contribuye el acuerdo de paz y en qué medida podemos de alguna forma colaborar contribuir desde distintos ámbitos a que ese sea el destino de la sociedad colombiana bien, Colombia tiene 50 millones de habitantes tiene un territorio que es casi tres veces el territorio alemania para que se hagan una idea y es un país que tiene cerca de 10 millones de víctimas 10 millones de víctimas en el ultima etapa he tenido también largas guerras civiles en el pasado a lo largo de la historia de Colombia de 200 años de vida independiente se han concedido 100 se han negociado 180 procesos de amnistías e indulto basados en la idea de que el que se alzaba en armas era un delincuente político se hacía la transición a la política y ya, así fue la negociación hasta las negociaciones de los años 90 se hicieron con esa regla que quiere decir eso que las víctimas jamás existieron por lo recientemente estamos hablando de las víctimas de sus derechos y esto se debe en buena medida a la lucha que han hecho las propias víctimas las organizaciones sociales las expresiones de la comunidad internacional que se han interesado en este tema visibilizar la problemática de quienes normalmente en una guerra son la parte más débil de la cadena y creo que, pero estamos hablando de una magnitud de este orden 10 millones de víctimas para un país de habitantes para que tengan el sentido de la proporción y lo lamentable es que en las circunstancias actuales se siguen produciendo víctimas de desplazamiento forzado de asesinatos de líderes sociales de amenazas, de persecuciones y todo tipo de cosas vamos a tratar de centrar la pregunta la mayor parte de estas víctimas proviene de la sociedad rural la sociedad rural concentra las mayores índices de segregación de discriminación y de inequidad según la propia Corte Constitucional hace algunos años dijo el tribunal estamos ante una situación crítica porque hay más de 36 pueblos indígenas en vía de extinción la mitad de los pobladores afrodescendientes vive bajo índices de necesidades básicas insatisfechas y la pobreza que viven los campesinos en las zonas rurales es tres veces la pobreza que tiene un pobre urbano decir que la inequidad es la desigualdad las injusticias se concentran en esa sociedad rural y es en esa sociedad rural donde se ha desarrollado fundamentalmente el conflicto por eso a veces en el mundo urbano la gente dice si que hagan guerra porque no la van a hacer en las ciudades ocasionalmente hay atentados pero la guerra transcurre en los territorios indígenas en los territorios afrodescendientes en los campesinos y muchas veces el despojo de sus territorios el despojo de sus viviendas el despojo de sus tierras el desplazamiento recae sobre estas poblaciones que son obligadas a vivir en condiciones de precariedad y de miseria en las ciudades la gente no llega a las ciudades al orden de las oportunidades de las ciudades sino que llega a las ciudades a competir con las economías informales y aumentar la precariedad social que tenía antes de que ocurrieran estos hechos de desplazamiento quiero darles este panorama para ver lo que está en juego en Colombia el acuerdo de paz de Colombia es un acuerdo defensable es un acuerdo que tiene elementos muy importantes para transformar la sociedad colombiana no es un acuerdo que resuelva todos los problemas es como una cuota inicial para resolver una serie de problemas es esta idea porque me parece importante que nos ayuna a defender la implementación integral de ese acuerdo el mensaje principal Estados Unidos fue testigo de la confección de este acuerdo con el señor Bernd Aronson el no acompañó el proceso de la negociación y el acuerdo tiene perdóname rápidamente dos cosas claves el acuerdo busca resolver algunos de esos problemas busca dar a esa sociedad rural una serie de reformas en el caso de las víctimas por primera vez que haya un sistema de justicia un sistema de justicia para la paz que implica penas alternativas reducción de penas para quienes cometieron los crímenes más graves pero también con un fuerte sistema de condicionalidad los opositores del proceso dicen que ese es un sistema de bajas penas o de penas alternativas es impunidad pero la verdad es que históricamente la impunidad del estado colombiano para los crímenes más graves es del 98% no estamos abandonando un sistema de justicia para entrar a un sistema de justicia parcial sino que por primera vez empieza a ver un sistema de justicia además basado en un principio de universalidad en el que quiere decir que todas las víctimas deben ser reconocidas que todos los responsables deben concurrir aún el sector privado funcionarios civiles, militares guerrillas para militares al esclavicimiento de la verdad y a garantizar el derecho a la justicia, las medidas de no repetición para las víctimas es un acuerdo que toda la comunidad internacional, la academia internacional considera como un acuerdo novedoso innovador, como un acuerdo excepcional como uno de los mejores acuerdos que se ha hecho en el mundo y por eso una pregunta que hay que dejar es por que hay sectores que son tan enemigos de ese acuerdo ahora la puedo mirar más en detalle pero creo que la idea de que las víctimas están en el centro del acuerdo en el sentido de que el acuerdo planteó ese principio de universalidad y de reconocimiento de esos graves crímenes y creó instituciones como la comisión de la verdad, la unidad de búsqueda personas dadas por desaparecidas la justicia especial para la paz que mal que viene empiezan a funcionar afortunadamente no dependen sólo del gobierno porque si dependieran del gobierno la implementación sería mucho menor de lo que se está dando ahora entonces estamos muy lejos de lograr la realización de los derechos de las víctimas las condiciones para avanzar en esa dirección y queremos pedirles que nos ayuden a pasar esa voz de que en este y en otros campos debe haber una implementación integral de la acuerdo excusas gracias marco quiero preguntarte sobre algunas cosas específicas de los derechos de las víctimas el acuerdo de la paz contempló curules especiales para las víctimas visto como un importante mecanismo de participación dando voces y curules en la política nacional para víctimas del conflicto como va este proceso como ves y también si puedes hablar por un minuto sobre la ley de víctimas en qué estado hasta ahora bien el acuerdo de paz contempla varias figuras para las víctimas contempla que deben acceder al fondo de tierras contempla que deben acceder a los programas de reforma rural los desplazados, las personas que retornen que todos los sectores de la sociedad colombiana que han sido optimizados merecen una reparación individual y una colectiva incluyó los empresarios, las iglesias los sindicatos, las organizaciones campesinados, los pueblos indígenas afrodescendientes contempla que en las zonas más deprimidas del país donde el estado nunca ha sido capaz de garantizar derechos haya unos programas de desarrollo con enfoque territorial pero además esos PDT como se les conoce popularmente deben tener un efecto reparador de los daños que ocurrieron en ese territorio y contempla por primera vez en toda la historia de Colombia la posibilidad de que haya 12 con 16 perdón congresistas de esos territorios alejados del país donde hubo más victimización y que esos 12 o esas 12 perdón 16 congresistas sean elegidos por las víctimas en ningún lugar del mundo se ha dado las víctimas del derecho a una representación política especial que ocurrió con esto para poder llevarlo a la práctica se requiere una reforma constitucional se hizo una reforma constitucional se votó con mayorías a nuestro modo de ver legítimas el tribunal constitucional ha dicho en tres oportunidades que la votación fue legítima fue una votación apretada pero en su momento el presidente del congreso consideró que no era legítima simplemente la mayoría no fue suficiente y congeló la realización de este acto legislativo en este momento estamos tutelas ante el tribunal constitucional acciones de cumplimiento ante el Consejo de Estado que se cumpla ese mandato que ya está votado constitucionalmente el presidente ha dicho que no le gusta esa figura que va a presentar otro proyecto que más adelante lo vamos a mirar como en Colombia siempre es una estrategia decir vamos a mejorar lo que hay y en alas de mejorar enredamos la situación nosotros queremos que las crules simplemente ya y que las víctimas tengan esa representación ya si las víctimas tienen esta representación van a tener una voz mucho más contundente en el Congreso de Colombia muchos dirán y por qué darle unas crules a las víctimas hay muchas razones pero una importante es que por lo menos la población refugiada y la población desplazada hace mucho tiempo perdió el derecho a participar en la democracia en sus territorios como diría digamos cualquier premio Nobel de economía en la sociedad moderna se basan en que tú tengas libertad económica y libertad política pero si eres desplazado no tienes ni libertad económica en tu territorio ni libertad política y esto debe ser reparado no solo hay daños por por asesinatos hay daños por pérdida de derechos políticos por pérdida de derechos étnicos por pérdida de derechos territoriales y en el fondo las crules son una mínima reparación pero hemos visto una resistencia muy profunda de la clase política en Colombia no quieren tener esas 16 voces de las víctimas diciendo sus verdades en el Parlamento allí también es importante pasar mensajes que el gobierno, el Congreso los Estados Unidos digan pensar en esta decisión hay otros temas también pendientes de implementación no se ha implementado la reforma rural se habló de una reforma política también tampoco se ha implementado esta reforma política integralmente hay muchos temas pendientes pero este es uno y creemos que es simbólicamente políticamente muy importante que las víctimas tengan esa posibilidad de expresar su interés a ese nivel gracias Marco bueno ahora tengo una pregunta para todos cualquier de ustedes que quieren contestar aquí estamos bueno, al otro lado de la calle está el departamento del Estado el Congreso de los Estados Unidos está muy cerca aquí mismo hay mucha gente de la sociedad civil y también funcionar el gobierno cuál es el mensaje que ustedes quieren brindar al gobierno y sociedad de los Estados Unidos sobre qué se puede hacer ahora mismo para proteger los los líderes sociales y proteger y rodear el proceso de paz y hacer que realmente se implementan quien quiere contestar primero y es de cremencia no ha sido órdenes por ordena y yo atiendo bueno, yo creo que una de las cosas que se debe hacer es ese apoyo político de hecho nosotros creemos que lo que se ha podido avanzar en la implementación del acuerdo de paz se debe gracias a la comunidad internacional que ha mantenido de alguna manera esa postura de que es necesario avanzar en la política porque seguro si por el gobierno fuese ya estaría todo hecho trisas como en algún momento se dijo y nosotros creemos que esa insistencia esa voz política sigue siendo muy importante y más en estos momentos para el tema de la protección de los líderes y defensoras de derechos humanos es necesario que se implementen la legislación ganada para que sea posible los derechos de nuestras regiones en el caso de las comunidades negras y en el caso de las comunidades indígenas por ejemplo tenemos la ley 70 tenemos autos emitidos por las cortes constitucionales donde dan todas las herramientas para proteger nuestras vidas para garantizar el derecho a esos territorios y para superar muchas situaciones inconstitucionales que contribuirían a que nosotros podamos ser y estar y a que tengamos menos dificultades en el tema de nuestra seguridad y protección y en ese sentido entonces es importante la presión al gobierno para que simplemente es la legislación que es una cosa que hemos ganado desde hace años pero que no se nos escucha ni se ve que se apoyen nuestras iniciativas de construcción de paz es importante que la comunidad internacional se ponga nuestros zapatos bueno es un decir no que se ponga nuestros zapatos que conozca de lo que estamos haciendo organizaciones de jóvenes de mujeres organizaciones étnicas en todo el país porque queremos realmente seguirle apostando de la construcción de la paz a pesar de todos los obstáculos políticos especialmente políticos y económicos que tenemos pero seguimos insistiendo allí porque creemos que es la labor que hay que hacer y necesitamos respaldo a esas iniciativas por ejemplo sé que muchas regiones del país hay comunidades que se resisten a la coca porque el tema de la coca de los cultivos de uso ilícito es importante que son un combustible que alimentan esta guerra pero lamentablemente también somos conscientes de que no hay una voluntad política en una dirección correcta de acabarlos y entonces las causas que se deben atacar para acabarlos no se atacan y por eso es de las organizaciones desde las comunidades étnicas estamos diciendo mire hay alternativas prácticos que nosotros les hemos ofrecido para que sean apoyados para que sean replicados y sin embargo no se nos parabola yo conozco de varias comunidades pero una en particular donde está la comunidad alrededor con situaciones de cultivo de uso ilícito y la comunidad está hoy dice aquí no se siembra una mata de coca sin embargo no tienen apoyo para sus otras actividades productivas que desarrollan ahí y lo que seguramente se viene es la fumigación a esa coca que está alrededor de esas experiencias concretas y específicas que además se ha mostrado que funcionan no sólo de construcción de paz sino de conservación ambiental de muchas experiencias y expresiones de vida sino que se ota por estrategias como la fumigación que no sólo va a acabar seguramente los cultivos de coca aunque lo dudamos porque esto ya pasó y nos dimos cuenta que fue una experiencia fallida sino que también acaba con experiencias como esas donde la gente está sosteniendo sus iniciativas de cultivos lícitos como una estrategia de erradicación y de sustitución si, si, si agregar un aspecto allí voy a decir algo que alguna vez dijo un gobernador del departamento de Nariño en el Congreso de los Estados Unidos detrás de las economías de la coca pues obviamente hay grandes problemas porque hay mafias del narcotráfico que se lucran de esto hay agentes de Estado que aprovechan para hacer la corrupción hay grupos armados que financian guerras hay muchos intereses there are some villages that are there because of that economic social misery due to the lack of a state of law in the territories and due to the absence of economic solutions what does the peace agreement say that there should be a 3 million million hectares for those who have productive vocation that should be formalized because more than half of the peasants deserve a formal title of property in Colombia and 800 litigias with indigenous peoples because they have not signed the agreements so what does the agreement say that people can access the formalization plan to special credits to special subsidies to the property of the land to 10 programs of rural education rural health rural public health well, districts of Riego the agreement says 10 programs if we don't implement none of those 10 programs we will not distribute a select area of land by virtue of the agreement if it does not advance in these issues we will not be able to have success in front of the point 4 that has to do with the issue of the economy of U.S. Ulysses it is imminent in Colombia they will start within a month more or less a massive fumigation program we have said well, if the peace agreement raised a much more probable more successful solution that is to give alternatives to rural people to take out the rural people of these economies why don't we advance in that direction we don't understand how the current government intends to go through a strategy that has already failed several times and then we want to say clearly to the U.S. help us simply the point 1 if Colombia makes an integral rural reform important we will give them opportunities already with opportunities people insist on illegals but that is a key point let's say to take into account and we are practically above already I would insist that the greatest political force in any country is its organized population and I say that a help would be from here civil society and the U.S. support the efforts that are being done in the territories and in the cities of the structure and organization of that civil society because if that civil society is organized they will be able to do all the other things that we are saying is key and to organize to advance you need to learn to cooperate and to cooperate again I say you need to have confidence so it is important that the support that is given the political efforts go for the state political efforts and for the war all this is key fundamental but also a strong part in how we strengthen the base in such a way that it is a movement not only of base but a movement teluric movement that touches from below so it is possible that all this so that this can be reproduced if it can have roots in the community while that is not done the agreements including such a magnificent agreement like the Colombian that it was so good that they gave it the President's Nobel Prize However, it is needed that agreement communities take it learn it with H-intermediate assimilate it and convert it into food that can strengthen all that community I think it is key to think about how we can help that civil society organize its structure recover the confidence learn to collaborate we can join to transform and change the whole situation that the country lives Last question and then we have questions from you Where do you see the hope at this moment? Annie, do you have a question? Well, I think all of us who live where we live we always have a little piece of answer So I would like to make a reflection 15 years ago it was impossible to think that someone from where we come could have a visa to the United States and I will not tell you my experience but more than 15 years ago in Colombia less than 20% he was interested or wanted that there would be a peace process with the guerrillas more than 15 years ago that's what I thought maybe if in the case of the plebiscite in 2002 it would have been 90% saying that nothing to do with those people right? with us when the plebiscite was given in Colombia those percentages rose I cried but we were 6 million something that we did not believe today more or less when it came to power Duque we had the anti-corruption consultation do you remember? and it turns out that we had 11 million something here the professional statistic expert surely he will correct me but it was 11 around 11 million we did not reach 12 so that it would have worked but an absolute incredulity in a peace process to be thinking that the problem in Colombia was not the FARC but the problem in Colombia is the corruption that's something admirable in the Colombian, Campesino indigenous but especially in the cities we realized that there was a problem with the FARC for us that is hope and another element that I also wanted to mention and it is the fact that there are also decisions that we take from the communities at that time we were afraid to leave because where I live the people who left the town were attached to guerrilla and the people who entered the city my best friend saw he could not see he could not bury his mother because his mother went to visit him and when he returned to the 15 days they killed him well in front of that the communities we had to think what to do and in that sense some decisions were made people of carnival have to leave to you carnival to you state to you authority to you armed to tell who I am and what I want and for that we started to think that those experiences are part of a construction of something that we all dream in any part of the world and in that sense today we have open spaces in these wonderful scenarios dreams but also we have open spaces in our municipalities in our in our states we would call here in our departments where it is more difficult for them do not listen to us because we do not have the brand well and if they want to put us because it is more difficult because we already have tools to defend us and in that sense we have heard a lot the word hope and I go back to a person who bet and bet on peace and we do not let I think I'm short and that is to say we have deep hope in the civil society we have deep hope that if indeed we all walk on the same path it is possible to achieve it and it is very motivating to see for example in the last demonstrations the case of November 21 how the people massively expressed their discomfort not only because of the high index of corruption that is seen in the country but even because of the assassination of leaders and leaders human rights defenders of regions like the one where I come then that already begins to show that we are winning with science as a civil society and that type of actions must be strengthened where the hope of change is surely it will be very slow but I center my hope there in the people Thank you Ani and Clemencia you think it is time to go to repair the questions of you then I do not know if let's take three at a time should we do that that way? and if you could give your name and if you represent an organization Good afternoon Good afternoon Thank you very much for being here Thank you very much for being here It is an honor to have you and I with a lot of respect and admiration I want to ask you a question What are those children and girls who were robbed by the narcissists of the park to their parents who were raped one and another and again 3,000 abortions in the field where are the rights of those poor girls who are also peasants who are also Colombians I think it would be interesting that the Latin American Working Group also invites them as the girls of the white flowers of the foundation Could everyone give their name and organization if they represent an organization Cristina Espinel Colombian Human Rights Committee Washington and I want to ask about the land law how many land has been assigned to the communities because what I have realized is that there have been more dead than land adjudication My name is Nori Sofia Hernandez I am a student of international relations at George Washington University in the first place I think it is very important to express all my admiration because you represent not only communities but generations who have been fighting for a peace that is simply deserved so I have a heart full of gratitude and thank you very much for being here because it is important that we all know that story that they have not told and that we have to see all those sides and I wonder for you the students the young people and in fact the people like the common how can we get involved in this, what tools do we have how effective in their eyes have been these social protests where the voice of disagreement with the processes in the country is being carried out so I would like to know how can we continue contributing to spread this that it is so important that it cannot be let fall cannot be destroyed we have to spread it all thank you I wanted to I was like I thought with the Colombian church with the United Nations the National University I am a professor there in the scouting of victims who participated in Havana and from that experience it is good that we say that there is a criteria and it is that we have to see the different affections and the different full responsibilities the rest is cynicism that is to say there are crimes of the FARC but there are not crimes of the guerrilla that is cynicism and I think the peace agreement gave an important step to break that cynicism in Colombia there are more than 100,000 disappeared and disappeared that is three times the disappearance of Argentina in Colombia there are more than 2,000 massacres thousands of sequestered displaced children the guerrillas were responsible of the sequestered the foundation led by María Fernanda Cabal showed that more than 30% of the sequestered were not of the guerrilla there were also sequestered of the paramilitaries and sequestered of outsourcing that is, of different typologies most of the disappearances are attributed to state people most of the massacres but not exclusively to paramilitaries obviously there is sexual violence very serious very serious false positives you have seen that is, that they killed people because in Colombia they are used to seeing the poor as indigents, if they are said to be disposable and normally anyone kills them and nothing happens and the army collected all those people and killed them for a census it was not that they meant nothing in the context of the war to ask for permission then we need to see together the issue only that there are solutions that lead to the absurd if there is no peace negotiations with the paramilitaries or with the guerrillas these groups continue to act and continue to reproduce permanently the victimization you have to close the war that is an imperative the fact that there are no negotiations with other groups, the submission of criminal gangs and so on they continue to reproduce the crimes they go between 400 and 1000 according to the statistics social leaders murdered after the signing of the peace agreement and many cases of forced displacement in Colombia more threats every day then an imperative is to end the war what happens is that you end the war when there is a state able to solve that problem but the Colombian state has been unable to negotiate peace negotiations with the paramilitaries and the guerrillas we have not supported those negotiations because they are the most effective method to end the war and in Havana what was agreed is that the most responsible both of the guerrillas as of the state even those who have supported that war from the private sector must compete and must compete to clarify the truth must compete as the victims said that general Montoya that was that the false positives were the work of the soldiers because they had no education then they gave them a civil order and they attended with a barbaric procedure to say it that way here you have to assume the responsibilities and the call of the agreement that all the responsibilities were put there violence also with the recruitment of children all what happens is that in the ordinary justice system we will insist the impunity is 80 98 and in the disappearance of 100 the Colombian state has been unable to guarantee justice for all these 50 years with the method of special jurisdiction you have seen or the Commission of Truth the idea is well if you collaborate with justice you will have a reduction of penalties if you collaborate if you will not have high penalties or can be excluded from that justice and this goes to the FARC this goes to the military this goes to business people and those who do not compete with the HEB will have to go to the ordinary justice tomorrow or to the international penalty court to say it clearly that is the scenario as it is planned then it is not that the agreement has said that the crimes of the FARC or nothing in the style has even said I treat the same even though some organizations that say there are some who are shooting from outside the state and others who are shooting from your taxes from the state but beyond that discussion the agreement was based on a principle of human rights to consider some, let's say penalties for saying it like that to all who have participated in the conflict always that they contribute with the truth, justice and reparation that is the philosophy of the agreement and that is why you have to interpret it implement it entirely they were sectors of the political class Néstor Humberto Martínez who insisted on excluding the obligation to compete with the HEB civil servants or private agents which seemed to us to go against the philosophy of the agreement and that principle of universality there were two questions about one about land and another about the role of the youth that we do not have well about the law of land about land it has been legislated on repetitive occasions now in the last times the law of land restitution called a lot of attention I think that refers indeed in figures of what has cost that restitution process we do not have with that attitude we were talking about with Clemencia but if there is a information already confirmed that indeed the fact of being land reprimand or the fact of being community leader in agrarian areas that has represented the largest percentage of social leaders murdered in Colombia the restitution process of land today taking very slow steps very paused even in the territories where indeed the conflict is still very acute has not been able to advance and we also have another element there joining the agreement because we have to say the law of restitution was previous now with the final agreement with a land fund that the teacher Romero gave right now figures of three million and seven million with respect to that we are naked in its advances what I can say in practice is that in the territory where I am a municipality called Cantagallo there was a pilot with the national land agency they prioritized peasant women peasant women in the register of subjects of territorial order people who are possible candidates to be given or to be given land that pilot corresponds to the application of the decree 902 that in itself what I can say also lost its essence in several points but I would like to highlight one lost its essence when it takes away the possibility of property to have its title, to be owner peasant of that land that can be judged in territory where today is not possible something called the reserve forest and that is a norm that has been more than 60 years without being modified according to the social realities and that right now is one of the main or the main obstacles for the effective implementation of the point one maybe one of the youngest a response to the youth in our area we come from Montes de María in the Caribbean Colombian in that area there is that is a dry area and where it has ended with forest that has ended with everything because most people who were there were winners and that area is destroyed we are aware that without land that there is where to live the rights so it has some small developments that are the ones that distribute the water throughout the territory and they are going to be dismantled in the Caribbean but they have cut all the trees they have removed the sand from the bottom of the developments and that makes the water go faster to the sea and not feed the aquifers so with the youth they came back after being displaced but they don't have land or work and they don't have a university so there we have been organizing to remove human base to the war human base to the drug trafficking human base to the criminals we have been organizing the youth in such a way that they can organize to do to take care to protect the development and as they don't have work we are structuring so that the government as well as to dedicate a lot of money to train young people for the war to train young people for peace and if it costs a million to train a young person at least I dedicate half of the 50% to train these young people for peace so we are establishing something that is called the civil service through the awareness that is how young people can at a certain time and they are organizing and structuring and they are ecological watchers so these young people have traveled the rivers they have taken them from point to point and as there is a law in the beach so these young people are working to force the state the owners to reforest and take care of the development and they are working in water so I think that is one of the ways how youth can help to rebuild and materialize and embody hope I would like to give a small contribution to the youth youth are the hope the present and the future of the change that we need to do in our country in that sense I think it is important that they continue to be involved in these actions of construction of peace it is important that they are informed it is very important that they act the great changes that I have been able to see have generally emerged from young people and I think that spirit of that spirit and that ability to contribute to society as young people we cannot lose I am not so young but they say that old is the cedula and I come precisely two days before leaving here I had the opportunity to participate in the city of Popayam in an exercise invited by young Africans and peasants who joined in an exercise called young carp and it was very nice because I could see how young people from different regions of the country have joined not only to express their dreams but to defend peace and there were young people from the META, from there from the north from the Cauca, from the south from many regions and then all that because I think that kind of messages that you have to take not only to the political class that is where we fundamentally need that change but to other young people so that we join those experiences in the specific case, for example of the association of Afro-descendant women from the north of the Cauca-Azón organization which I belong to we come supporting the daughters of the associated to this organization and they have formed a group called the Renaissance, you can find it on the internet because one of the things that they do is systematize the experience of building peace that we are doing the older ones for example, last year in July we presented a report to the Commission of Clearance of the Truth about sexual violence the impact of the armed conflict on the issue of violence towards us women we presented it to the Commission of Clearance of the Truth and it is called Voces Valientes and this group of young people played a very important role then those exercises where they are systematizing these experiences not only contribute to visibilize to visibilize them but that they learn and give them elements of their rights Thank you Let's do another last round that they ask Good afternoon and thank you very much and a real pleasure and honor to be able to listen to them I am Carla García Cendejas and I am part of the International Environmental Center of Heaven for its English centuries and we have come with the movement Rios Vivos in Antioquia for several years with all the problem that they live in their struggle against the hydroelectric project and your anger with the whole issue of not only the disaster that happened last year but the exhumations of bodies that did not happen and everything they said and then we accompanied other companions also in Bucaramanga, in Santurban of the Paramo of the water defense and a few days ago they were in a peaceful demonstration the companions of the committee in Bucaramanga and there was this altercation with this person of security where there is an inclusive video but the police do stop the person who is the security of the company and then that comes to my question in some cases we have seen and heard from you the companions continue making declarations before the police continue to go to the tax office making all the paperwork necessary to document and make this registration of what happens to them and knowing that the issue is strong but at the immediate level of the violence that they have felt and that they continue to feel the police, the normal police in Colombia is supporting the trust can be there and then are the major issues or it depends on the place or it is what we imagine as always that the Mexican and one declares and expects the best but the question goes on the issue of justice where are these flaws I know they would be here until tomorrow but the question goes thanks Hello I am Valentina I am a passer-by I wanted to be here second, to tell you we were the ones who cried that day the plebiscite and my questions are basically two the first is who believe that they are the intellectual authors of this murder and persecution of the social leaders and the second is what do you think is the aspect in which this government is failing more in front of the implementation of the agreement which is the worst the worst issue in which they are failing Hello my name is Valeria Cifuentes I am a teacher at American University and first I want to thank you for being here and my question is about the ex-warriors it is not the importance that you see in the reintegration of the ex-warriors and I do not know what is going on in the area I do not know how do you think that it will be the best way to reintegrate the social leaders that are ready to have them good I want to take the last question to say now Lisa said where is the hope a part of the hope is that more than 90% of those who signed the agreement are kept in the agreement to stop the precariousness of the implementation in many areas they have killed almost 190 of those ex-warriors who gave weapons and signed peace and you know that the main indicator of success in the peace process is that they do not kill those who signed the agreement there is a very serious problem and sometimes we feel that the president is worried about the issue in the direction of the national union of protection to a man who openly is the enemy of everything that flies combatants of the FARC and he has the duty to take care of them the FARC has said that he retires all the schemes because the man in his social media accounts has been supremely aggressive in the past with them so there is a problem that has to be solved because if we do not go to Guatemala where many of the ex-warriors of what were the patrols of self-defense Campesina or a member of the public force because there it decreased by 50% the public force ended up feeding criminal gangs in Colombia also the process of the paramilitaries failed in that issue and many ended up in criminal gangs you have to avoid that or in political dissidents as it is also seen in Colombia I say if the FARC and President Santos have given the name of the state to say to deactivate the most structural guerrilla that Colombia had in the last 50 years what you have to do is support that process and not have a minimalist implementation that can end either by despair of the people or by the aggressions to which they are being subjected to dynamic return of violence I think that the vast majority of those who signed the FARC stay there but there is that index of murder and I wanted to say this other aspect quickly so that I think the big question that Acholiza is where the hope is there is a lot I dare say the following we lost the plebiscite of the FARC for 50 thousand votes among other things because they used false arguments for example women in the middle of their fight they are very powerful they achieved that in a peace agreement a gender commission was created imagine a patriarchal society a war society it is very difficult that the LGBT agenda and the rights of women are included women for their fight achieved that and then the enemies of the agreement said that the peace agreement adopted the gender ideology and that this would end the family and we would have sex with all the children and all those things and that was ruled by the whole country and in a way at that time some churches had doubts about the issue and that led us to that at the end of the day the result was that we lost 50 thousand votes there is a lot of good news in Colombia today the churches are closed supporting the peace Mr. Héctor Fabio Nado presides the National Council of Peace Father Francisco Herru that the apostolic announcement that Father Francisco Father Francisco is committed with peace many churches are working for peace today we are bad people of peace so much so that in the president's government there are currents there are some who want to end the agreement there are others who want to implement it and others who there are different lines they even start to criticize the president because they see it very soft in the most radical rooms but look the president proposed a minimalist program with the agreement to put peace in the second floor and that has not had the back of the society the last opinion measure says that the president has 25% of popularity that is, the society today is not with that program the society is today looking for peace and what you have seen a key issue is that the young people in the 70's are looking for what armed groups they study today no today the young people are looking for the social mobilization to defend public education they are participating in social mobilizations and it is also required that they help us to go through that you have to respect those mobilizations you have to condemn the events of violence of people who from mobilizations sometimes have isolated cases that make violence but you also have to criticize the actions of the police that many times are abusive a special body that is called the anti-disturbing smith that has used weapons in lethal situations that have led to the death of manifestants let's go to you to an audience about the right to the social protest next week to see how we achieve that the social protest the political participation is the path that young people take and not a path that at another time young people took that was the illusion that the war would solve the problems thank you very much I wanted to talk about the last question that I think Marco addressed the three thank you thank you very much so we are shorter I wanted to address that last question why? because in the territory where we are in the municipality of Remedios and on the other hand in the municipality of Yondó one is the territory for the re-incorporation there are some points where there are ex-combatants in the process of re-incorporation we have to say that the word re-incorporation is introduced in the language of the process of peace in Colombia with this agreement in previous moments we have talked about demobilization and also in other cases re-incorporation re-incorporation today at this moment we are talking about re-incorporation and in that sense the experiences that we have had I would like to highlight some of them one has to do with a year or less signed agreement some spaces signed between public force ex-combatants and ex-paramilitaries at local levels at municipal levels experiments of act of request of recognition of responsibility and request of forgiveness the recognition of responsibility by the armed and well this helps in what has to do with the issue of special jurisdiction for peace and the request of forgiveness as a human act in which it is clear and that in those spaces it was explained to the victims that forgiveness is something of mine I can be in a place and I do not have the obligation to forgive I can be in front of a victim and I am not obligated to forgive but the exercise or the will of the victim to request forgiveness is something different well that has been done in the municipality of Remedios in the municipality of San Pablo in terms of this issue of the victims on the one hand on the other hand is to mention there is a reality that we live ex-warriors ex-warriors ex-soldiers they are all peasants and Colombian peasants right? so Colombian does not hurt them on the one hand and on the other hand they hurt us because it is our family right? you do not seem strange that in a same family we have a soldier we have a guerrilla we have a paramilitary we have a guerrilla in the Colombian rurality and that is why we believe on the one hand there are confrontations in the cities so in the cities we do not understand that we are very good at judging and we are very good at putting feelings in the victims which are the feelings that I have but one who lives in his own flesh that social complexity can understand on many occasions how it is easier to reach reconciliation from the rurality from where we put the dead what in the executive or legal or political spaces yes, indeed for us the topic of re-incorporation is extremely important because many of these people who are there, we are aware that they have had to go there we have known cases where a family has three children and then the guerrilla chooses one the generators of guerrilla choose one and if they tell you if you do not go, we finish with the whole family so many people who are there it is not because they want to be it is not because they wanted to put the gun it is because circumstances like that because we could mention many others they have forced them to be and in that we cannot lose the sensitivity that unfortunately we are in charge of many prefixes but if we really want peace we have to understand those circumstances and walk there the other issue of who are the intellectual authors well, I think it is a question that we do daily about justice in Colombia we I think that is the instance who should not only respond to the international community but also to the intellectual authors of the massacres the murders, even the threats to leaders, leaders human rights defenders claimants of land anyway, but they should also respond to the Colombian people and especially to us the victims and that is the answer we are still waiting for from there the request that as an international community that as a country that somehow the Colombian government listens to them joins us in a political exercise of demand of impunity rampant that is in the country No, I wanted to talk a little bit about a testimony an experience with reincorporated recently they started to return to reincorporate to reincorporate there in the region of Montes de María there were 136 massacres and many of those massacres were produced by the FARC and there were people who had fear and fear that those people reincorporated to the area they said this will return to nothing and the people from the FARC also had fear of returning so what we did was we had 15 leaders of the 15 municipalities and we talked with the of the FARC in Pondores which is towards the border with Venezuela and we rented a bus and we took those 25 leaders of the leadership to dialogue with the commanders of the FARC who had been in the territory and who had participated in all this and it was very interesting that some of the leaders who had killed the father the mother children etc. they had recruited them there were many disappeared and there was a lot of confrontation so the first night we had the meeting it was like the beginning of a boxing battle people looked at each other they started talking and as they were talking they were letting go and the community too we had all that day for the night as a overview of what was done but the next day the people were disarmed and they started talking so they told them we are going to respond to this we are going to explain this they explained it to them etc. until a time when one of the leaders said we see that the FARC are there and we are here let's get closer and if we are in the same region then let's give a hug and those two communities gave each other a hug and they understood that they had to share the same land that they had to accept that these people because many of them were family of those who arrived one of them who was the one who found his sister was a part of that group and she was like 25 years old they didn't see each other so I say that the important thing is how we open up space so that the people meet meet they touch each other they accept their humanity and they are willing to understand that we have to at least not reconcile but at least meet again at least they have to forgive but if they give themselves the opportunity to share and start living together that this is at a time determined what allows to go little by little giving reconciliation points it's a small example because in the area they had to return 500 reincorporated and they have been returning but it's one of the ways how one can help to integrate how one can go back to their land Thank you Ricardo Well, let's finish to give a thank you to the USIP for participating in the event and for all the work about Colombia and the Wall for everything they do every day and Diaconia and Church Sweden the most important prize but it also makes the visit of those defenders here but above all I want to thank Clemencia, Ani, Marco and Ricardo for all the incredible work they do every day and let's give them a round of applause


So if you have W-2 type of income, for example, then you're paying Social Security and Medicare, but you're doing that through the withholdings between the employer, employee situation. So they're withholding Social Security and Medicare, at least you're part of it. If you're self-employed, then you might have a Schedule C type of business, in which case you would be subject to self-employment tax because it's an active business. If you have investments in like stocks and bonds or something like that, then or interest that you're generating from investments, then you would think that that is more of a passive investment and you would not have the gains and losses on the dividends you would think or the interest. You're not going to generally calculate self-employment tax on those and you're not generally going to be taxed on self-employment tax on gains and losses that are non-business property, like selling stocks, for example. So lost income payments. If you are self-employed and reduce or stop your business activities, any payments you receive from insurance or other sources for the lost business income is included in earnings from self-employment tax because it's still kind of business related, you would think. If you are not working, when you receive the payment, it still relates to your business and included in earning subject to self-employment tax. So you might say, hey, I closed my business or whatever, but then I still got income that's basically tied to the business. So you would think it would be still kind of like business income subject then to self-employment tax. Okay, so figuring earnings subject to self-employment tax methods for figuring net earnings. So there are three ways to figure net earnings from self-employment. One, the regular method. Two, the non-farm optional method. Three, the form optional method. You must use the regular method to the extent you do not use one or both of the optional methods. So why use an optional method, you might ask. So you may want to use the optional methods discussed later when you have a loss or a small net profit and any one of the following applies. You want to receive credit for social security benefit coverage. You incurred child or dependent care expenses for which you could claim a credit. An optional method may increase your earned income, which could increase your credit. So this is a kind of a weird situation because you have those situations where usually income is bad for taxes, but the earned income credit is trying to incentivize people to earn income. So earned income can actually be good there, which leads to these kind of weird situations to try to increase the earned income, which could be beneficial for tax. So you are entitled to the earned income credit. An optional method may increase your earned income, normally bad but possibly good sometimes for the earned income credit, which could increase your credit. You are entitled to the additional child tax credit. An additional method may increase your earned income, which could increase your credit. So effects of using an optional method. So using an optional method could increase your SE tax, self-employment tax. Paying more SE self-employment tax could result in your getting higher benefits when you retire. Most people probably wouldn't generally want to do that because you're paying in and you're going to get the benefit in the future. So usually people are going to say, hey, look, I would like to pay as little self-employment tax as I can at this point in time because I want to get the benefit now as opposed to getting some benefit in the benefit program. But you might be in some situations where you're saying, hey, I need to increase my payments into self-employment so that I could increase the amount of benefit that I'm going to be getting when I get into retirement age from social security. So using the optional methods may also decrease your AGI due to the deduction for one half of SE tax on form 1040 or form 1040 SR. So we're paying both the employer and employee portion of the tax in essence, the equivalent of with the self-employment tax equivalent to the payroll taxes. Half of that is actually deductible above the line as an adjustment to income, which could lower the AGI. It'll lower your adjusted gross income if you increase that number, which may affect your eligibility for credits, deductions, or other items that are subject to AGI limits. In other words, that number, the AGI, is what is used when you have phase outs for certain credits and deductions. So if you have a higher self-employment tax, you're going to have a higher deduction that's an above the line deduction, which could lower your AGI, which may make it easier to qualify for other deductions or credits in some cases. So figure your AGI with and without using the optional methods to see if the optional methods will benefit you. So if you use either or both optional methods, you must figure and pay the SE self-employment tax due under these methods, even if you would have had a smaller tax or no tax using the regular method. The optional methods may be used only to figure your SE self- employment tax to figure your income tax includes your actual earnings in gross income, regardless of which method used to determine self-employment tax. All right. So the regular method to figure net earnings using the regular method, multiply your self-employment earnings by 92.35. So this is where it deviates a little bit from basically the idea that you're just going to take the self-employment earnings, the bottom line of the schedule C and multiply it by, in essence, the employer and employee of the payroll taxes being the self-employment tax, they're going to reduce your earnings a little bit because we're going to multiply the earnings times 0.9235. So which is good, although a little bit confusing. So for your net earnings figured using the regular method, C line 4A of your schedule SE form 1040, net earnings figured using the regular method are also called actual net earnings. All right. Non-profit optional method. So use the non-profit optional method only for earnings that do not come from farming. So this is non-farm optional method, excuse me. So you may use this method if you meet all of the following. Number one, you are self-employed on a regular basis. The means that your actual net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more in at least two of the three tax years before the one for which you use this method. For this purpose, the prior year net earnings can be from either farm or non-farm earnings or both. Two, you have used this method less than five years. This is a five year lifetime limit. The years do not have to be one after another. Three, your net non-farm profits were a less than $6,540 and B less than 72.189% of your gross non-farm income. I used the farm optional method only for earnings from a farming business. So again, that's more of a special kind of situation or special industry and you could see publication 225 for information about that method. Joint return. Even if you file a joint return, you cannot file a joint schedule SE. So this is that weird one we saw in a prior presentation where now you have a situation where you have two people that are of course married, which you would think would result in one individual for taxes, which in essence, it kind of does when you're talking about federal income taxes because you're going to file married filing joint. But for social security taxes, you've got the situation that the benefits are applied to each social security number and therefore you have to break out between the two individuals, which you could do possibly by being a partnership and then you'd have to file a partnership return or in some instances, you may be able to file either two schedule C's or make an election so that you can basically, but you will in either case still have two schedule SE calculations so they can apply the proper amounts to each individual social security number. So this is true whether one spouse or both spouses have earnings subject to self-employment tax. If both of you have earnings subject to self-employment tax, each of you must complete a separate schedule SE, attach both schedules to the joint return more than one business. If you have more than one trade or business, you must combine the net profit from each business to figure your SE tax. A loss from one business will reduce your profit from another business. File one schedule SE showing the earnings from self-employment, but file a separate schedule C or F for each business. So you have multiple businesses, possibly two schedule C's, for example, then the schedule C's are separate and you have two separate schedules, but they might be owned by the one person with the same social security number and therefore the schedule SE, you might have one schedule SE that's combining the incomes from the two businesses that are for the same social security number with regards to the self-employment tax.