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Program of the website of Violencia y Paz, Colegio de México

Seminar on Violence and Peace: Diagnoses and Proposals for Mexico. With the support of the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) and the Belisario Domínguez Institute (IBD) of the Senate of the Republic, we invite you to participate in this forum for three days of dialogue and reflection, on 7, 8 and 9 August.

On August 7, all activities will take place in the house of Xicoténcatl (Former seat of the Senate of the Republic).

On August 8 and 9, all activities will take place in the auditorium Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada in Donceles # 14. The entrance to the panels in both locations is free and it is not necessary to register in advance.

Program of the 7 of August of 2017.

10:00 Welcome, opening and initial ideas.

Silvia Giorguli, President of The Colegio de Mexico, Luis Raúl González Pérez, President of the National Commission on Human Rights, Miguel Barbosa Huerta, President of the Belisario Domínguez Institute of the Senate, Sara Irene Herrerías, Subprocurador for Human Rights, Crime Prevention and Community Services of the PGR [General Prosecutor of the Republic] and Sergio Aguayo, Coordinator of the Seminar on Violence and Peace of El Colegio de México.

11:00 – Panel 1. Northwest Region

Moderator: Laura Flamand (The Colegio de México)

Lecturers:

Sonora: Manuel Perez Aguirre (The Colegio de México).

Sinaloa: Yani Limberopulos (The Colegio de México).

Chihuahua: César Alarcón (UNAM) and Othón Partido (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – UNAM).

Baja California: Carolina Robledo (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social – CIESAS).

Commentators: Carlos Echarri (El Colegio de México) and Alejandro Vélez Salas ([Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México – ITAM)

15:30 – Panel 2. South Region

Moderator: Arturo Alvarado Mendoza (The Colegio de México).

Lecturers:

Michoacán: Edgar Guerra, (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas – CIDE).

Guerrero: Juan Camilo Pantoja G. (The Colegio de México).

Oaxaca: Rogelio Salgado (CIDE)

Commentators: Mónica Serrano (El Colegio de México) and Ina Zoon (Open Society)

* * * * * * *

Program of August 8, 2017.

11:00 a.m. – Panel 3. Northeast Region

Moderator: Ana Covarrubias (The Colegio de México).

Lecturers:

Coahuila: Mario Pavel Díaz Román (The Colegio de México)

Nuevo León: Zulia Orozco (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California)

Tamaulipas: Pedro Iniesta (The Colegio de México).

Commentators: Eduardo Guerrero (Lantia) and Gabriela Capó (Insyde)

15:30 hrs.- Transverse approaches on violence and crime in Mexico

Moderator: Lorenzo Meyer (The Colegio de México).

Lecturers:

Corruption: Fernando Nieto (The Colegio de México).

Economy: David Ramírez de Garay (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey – ITESM).

Practices and territory: Natalia Mendoza Rockwell (Fordham University).

Commentators: Alejandro Hope and Elena Azaola (CIESAS)

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

(Program continued from left column)

18:00 hrs. – Office of the Special Rapporteur.

Moderator: Sinaia Urrusti Frenk (The Colegio de México).

Rapporteurship: Raúl Zepeda Gil (Seminar on Violence and Peace)

Comments: Froylán Enciso (CIDE) and Luis Astorga (IIS-UNAM)

19:00 hrs Closing.

* * * * * *

Program of the 9 of August of 2017.

9:30 a.m.- Welcome and general presentation of the forum

Miguel Barbosa Huerta, President of the Belisario Domínguez Institute of the Senate. Silvia Giorguli, President of El Colegio de México. Luis Raúl González Pérez, President of the National Human Rights Commission. Javier Velázquez Moctezuma, Director of the Neuroscience Area, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Sergio Aguayo, Coordinator of the Seminar on Violence and Peace of El Colegio de México.

10:00 a.m. – Conference: United Nations Program of Action for a Culture of Peace

Lecturer: David Adams (Culture of Peace News Network)

Commentator: Cristina Ávila-Zesatti (Peace Correspondent)

Presenter: José Luis Díaz Gómez (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – UNAM).

11:30 hrs – Table 1.- Culture of Peace and Environment

Lecturer: Fernando Díaz-Barriga (Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí)

Commentators: Prisco Manuel Gutiérrez (Commission of Indigenous Peoples of the National Association of Mayors) Natalia Mendoza Rockwell (Fordham University).

Moderator: Juan Carlos Sánchez Olmos (Environmental and scientific adviser, Senate of the Republic)

13:30 hrs- Table 2: Freedom of Expression, Human Rights and the Right to Information

Lecturers: Sara Mendiola (Civic Proposal) and Ana Cristina Ruelas (Art.19)

Commentators: Patricia Colchero Aragonés (Secretaría de Gobernación – SEGOB) and Ricardo Sánchez Pérez del Pozo (PGR)

Moderator: Angélica de la Peña (Human Rights Commission of the Senate of the Republic)

16:00 hrs. – Table 3: Intervention for mental health of victims of violence

Lecturer: Diana Hernández and Elena Estrada (Doctor Without Borders-Mexico)

Commentators: Luciana Ramos Lira (National Institute of Psychiatry) and Miriam Camacho Valladares (Universidad Iberoamericana)

Moderator: Carlos Galindo (Instituto Belisario Domínguez)

17:30 hrs. – Conference: Peace is scientifically possible

Lecturer: Jesús Martín Ramírez (Complutense University of Madrid)

Commentator: Javier Velázquez-Moctezuma (Metropolitan Autonomous University)

Presenter: Roberto E. Mercadillo (CONACYT-Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana)

18:30 pm

Rapporteur General: Roberto E. Mercadillo (CONACYT-Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana)

Commentators: Raúl Zepeda (Instituto Belisario Domínguez) and Froylán Enciso (CIDE).

Moderator: Sinaia Urrusti-Frenk (The Colegio de México)

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Program received at CPNN

Forum on the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence organized by the Peace Commission of Santos – COMPAZ

With the support of the Restorative Justice Program of Santos, the Secretary of Education of Santos, the Secretariat of Institutional Relations and Citizenship, Santos City Hall, ABrasOFFA and OAB [Brazilian Bar Association].

On August 16 all activities will be held at the Municipal Theater of Santos
Av .: Senador Pinheiro Machado, No. 48.

On August 17 and 18, all activities will be held at the Paulista University of Santos (Unip) Av .: Rangel Pestana, s / nº Auditorium, Block 07, 1st floor.

Program directors:

Liliane Claro de Rezende / Restorative Justice Program / Seduc-PMS
Selma M. S. R. de Lara / Restorative Justice Program / Seduc-PMS
Helena Lourenço / ABrasOFFA – Unip
Diego Duarte / Seges- PMS

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Program of 16 August 2017.

Evening session (7:00 pm to 9:00 pm)

Theme: A trajectory of success for peace.

Speaker: Dr. David Adams

Summary: Presentation of the important trajectory and successful outcome by the director of the International Year for the Culture of Peace – Unesco (2000).

* * * * * * * * *

Program of 17 August 2017.

Morning session (9am to noon)

Theme: The importance of the Culture of Peace: the Force of Example in Education.

Speaker: José Antonio Oliveira de Rezende

Summary: Peace, to be lived, has to be built, day by day, in small acts, from which germinate the great transformations. Peace is to be realized, not only idealized. Peace is done, not given.

(Continued in right column)

(Click here for the original program in Portuguese)

Latin America, has it taken the lead in the struggle for a culture of peace?

(Continued from left column)

Afternoon session (2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

Theme: Contributions to a multicultural reflection on human rights.

Speaker: Raphael da Rocha Rodrigues Ferreira

Summary: Presentation of Human Rights not only in its expression of universal rights, but also as a multicultural right. Discussion on multiculturalism as a perspective that presents Human Rights as a common resource of humanity, open to the contributions of all civilizations.

Evening session: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Theme: Culture of Peace and Human Rights as Public Policy of the New Millennium.

Participants of the roundtable: Dr. Cahuê Talarico, Dr. David Adams, Dr. Evandro Renato Pereira.

Importance of the inclusion of the new paradigm of the “Culture of Peace” as an urgent and necessary public policy, in its various developments, based on Human Rights.

* * * * * * * * *
Program of 18 August 2017.

Morning session: 9am to 12 a.m.

Theme: School of value – significance for life and for the art of educating

Speaker: Maria Helena Marques

Summary: Presentation on the possibility of reflecting on human values ​​and their implications in educational practice, in order to found a more ethical school space conducive to the exercise of citizenship.

Afternoon session: 2 to 5 pm

Topic: What is peace? How can we want something if we do not know what it is?

Speaker: Herbert Santos de Lima

Summary: Discussion of the difficulties of understanding the theme and how to make people aware of what to do.

Evening session: 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Theme: Changing Paradigms: The Path begins with Education.

Participants of the roundtable: Prof.Dr. David Adams, Profa. Dr. Selma M. S. R. de Lara, Profa. Ma. Liliane Claro de Rezende

Summary: At the present time, in the world we live in, we are seeing a series of changes in all fields of society, which also leads us to paradigmatic changes, responsible for a new approach in classifying and interpreting the facts. The path of change is at the same time a challenge and an urgent need in education. Education should set principles for this new path, ethical principles that will guide not only the behavior of professionals, but the principles that will guide man’s relationship with nature, of man with other men, and also the principles that will guide the construction of a more just and more humane nation.

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An article by Jaime Ortega Carrascal in La Vanguardia – translated by CPNN and reprinted for non-commercial purposes.

A survivor of the Bojayá massacre, a FARC guerrilla who is about to leave his weapons or a peasant who stopped cultivating coca are some of the anonymous Colombians who found in the community radios the way to promote the peace thanks to support from the European Union (EU).

The initiative “Community Radios for Peace and Coexistence”, launched in mid-2016, supports 400 of the 627 community radio stations in Colombia to generate a culture of peace in the most remote rural areas, those most affected by the armed conflict.

Photo Resander

“This is very important because community broadcasters disseminate the expressions and feelings of those living in distant territories,” the EU ambassador to Colombia, Ana Paula Zacarias, told EFE.

The EU allocated two million euros (about US $ 2.23 million) to this initiative promoted by the Cooperative Network of Community Media in Santander (Resander) with the support of the Colombian Presidency, the Ministries of Culture and ICT, The Office of the High Commissioner for Peace and the newspaper El Espectador.

“The messages are adapting to the different regions,” added Zacarias, recalling that the “Fiesta Estéreo” station in Barrancas, in the Caribbean department of La Guajira, emits in Castilian and Wuayuunaiki, a language of the Wayú Indians who represent a high percentage of the population of the area and are distributed between Colombia and Venezuela.

In the Wuayuunaiki language curiously there are no words like “peace” and “coexistence”, which is why in these programs they say it in Spanish.

Building peace and providing post-conflict support after the agreement with the FARC guerrillas is the EU’s priority, which also emphasizes issues such as indigenous communities, children, gender equality and environmental protection.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original Spanish version of this article

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

Journalism in Latin America: Is it turning towards a culture of peace?

How can peace be promoted by radio?

(Article continued from left column)

“All the guerrillas of the FARC are committed to the peace process and on our part we do not want to use words as a weapon”, says a guerrilla at the station “La Calidosa”, Policarpa, municipality of the department of Nariño, on the border With Ecuador.

Policarpa houses one of the 26 temporary transitional zones of normalization in which about 7,000 FARC guerrillas will leave their weapons to return to life in society and that is why messages of reconciliation are very important among listeners of ” La Calidosa “.

“We are sure that this project is one of those that is having an impact in the construction, in the transmission of the peace in the territories because the 400 radios can reach an audience of ten million listeners”, indicates Zacarías .

At the same station, Juan, a peasant, tells how “violence has hit very hard” in the area and with his testimony advises listeners to return to traditional crops, such as coffee that for years was replaced by coca, which brought them nothing but misfortunes.

“People came and were infusing what is called the cultivation of illicit uses … we went directly or indirectly, without realizing that we were hurting our families,” he says.

The EU initiative not only opens microphones to the people, but also includes workshops in which 200 community radio journalists have been trained in the elaboration of educational content on peacebuilding, as well as 50 broadcasters receiving technical assistance and donations of recording equipment.

The project is secured until next November, although the EU ambassador is of the opinion that this “does not mean that we can not in the future study other formulas to continue supporting this work of sending messages on peace to the territories” to promote reconciliation between the Colombians.

An example of this is Noel, a singer-songwriter known as “El Negrito del Swing”, a survivor of the Bojayá massacre, the worst committed by the FARC, which on May 2, 2002 caused between 79 and 119 deaths when a bomb launched during a combat against paramilitaries fell in the church of that town of the department of the Chocó where hundreds of people had sought refuge.

“Art will allow us not to forget what happened, it will preserve our memory, and I think that I am contributing (to peace) by not being spiteful and trying to heal,” comments Noel in “Suba al aire” in which he remembers “that we were happy in Bojayá.”

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An article from the Mennonite World Review

Partners of Mennonite Central Committee in Colombia continue to walk with people affected by more than 50 years of violence as new armed conflict emerges even after a peace accord.
Violence among armed groups is escalating as FARC-EP guerrillas demobilize, threatening Mennonite Brethren churches in the Chocó region.

Members of a Colombian Mennonite Brethren Conference visit a rural community in the San Juan region shortly after the community experienced significant flooding. The community is stuck in the middle of violence between the Gaitanista Self Defence Forces of Colombia, a paramilitary group that occupies the area, and a guerrilla group vying for power. — Brendah Ndagire/MCC

The country’s largest rebel group, FARC-EP — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — signed a peace accord with the government last year. But “there is still a long journey toward peace,” said Amy Eanes, an advocacy support specialist for MCC in Colombia.

Some armed groups are becoming more active, hoping to assert dominance and claim territory once occupied by the FARC-EP.

This is especially true in rural areas of the Chocó region, where MCC partners with the Mennonite Brethren Conference, whose members are working and praying for peace.

Living in fear

A member of one of the churches, Maria Camila, whose real name isn’t being used to protect her identity, says another guerrilla group is fighting the Gaitanista Self Defence Forces of Colombia, a paramilitary group that normally occupies the area, and it’s very dangerous there now.

(Article continued in right column)

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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Armed conflict between the two groups broke out in February, months after the peace accord was signed by the FARC-EP. In one part of the town, the guerrilla group threatened to shoot civilians if they didn’t open their doors because the guerrilla fighters believed members of the paramilitary group were hiding there.

“Even though you know that God says that wars will come and in the midst of all these things God will protect you, it was something so terrible — to feel the shootout, to hear the sounds,” she said. “I just said, ‘Lord, have mercy on us and watch over us,’ but we thought this was going to be the end.”

Camila has never felt so unsafe. “We aren’t free to walk around at night. We all live shut in our houses,” she said. “All of us in the community are frightened. That’s why we’re living like this.”

She has little faith the peace accord will make a difference in her community or other rural areas in Colombia.

“In reality, the hope we have is from God,” she said.

Teaching peace

MCC continues to support partners in Colombia that work on peacebuilding initiatives and assist some of the most vulnerable families, particularly those displaced by violence. The conflict has resulted in 7 million internally displaced people.

In April, MCC embarked on a three-year peace-education project with the Mennonite Brethren Regional Council of Chocó to promote an understanding of a culture of peace and how to encourage peacebuilding among youth and young adults.

One of MCC’s partners, the Church Coordination for Psychosocial Action, supports churches and organizations, enabling them to provide trauma awareness and healing, build resilience and contribute to peacebuilding and reconciliation in Colombia.

MCC works with a number of Mennonite churches and organizations in Colombia who have been actors for peace for many years.

“The churches are figuring out what this post-accord period will look like for them, and I think it’s important to walk alongside these partners,” Eanes said.