Dialogue for Peace in Colombia
In January, PF Colombia began a roundtable discussion on creating a peace process using the paradigm of restorative justice. The series of meetings, held in one of the country’s major prisons, brought together members of different groups participating in the ongoing conflict – paramilitary and guerrilla -- as well as researchers in restorative justice from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, representatives of the Medellín city government and members of PF Colombia.
In the first meeting, lasting 4 ½ hours, several themes emerged. These included:
The group plans to continue meeting to more fully explore the themes of restorative justice and construct a way forward.
March 2007
- Restorative justice is a philosophy and not simply another method of responding to the conflict
- There is a need to build a Colombian expression of restorative justice
- It is important to bring everyone together – victims and offenders – to tell their stories and build mutual understanding
- It is important to meet and understand each other as human beings
- There is a difference in restorative justice and the themes of reparation and reconciliation used in transitional justice
The group plans to continue meeting to more fully explore the themes of restorative justice and construct a way forward.
March 2007