A three-part collage showing people commemorating victims, people lighting tealights and a candle. © GIZ Kolumbien

Promoting reparations and peace in Colombia

Support for reparations and a culture of peace in Colombia (PazRestaurativa)

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  • Client

    German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

  • Country
  • Political sponsors

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  • Runtime

    2025 to 2028

  • Involved

    Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), Search Unit for Missing Persons (UBPD), Unit for the Implementation of the Final Peace Agreement (UIAFP), National Planning Department (DNP), Unit for the Comprehensive Attention and Reparation of Victims (UARIV), Agency Reincorporation and Standardization (ARN), Public Prosecutor’s Office, National Institute of Forensic Medicine (INML), Agency for the Reconstruction of Regions Particularly Affected by the Conflict (ART), Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Education, National Centre for Historical Memory (CNMH), Meta, Caquetá, Norte de Santander and Valle del Cauca department assemblies as well as regional, local and national social organisations and educational institutions

  • Products and expertise

    Security, reconstruction, peace

A woman wearing a t-shirt with a text on the back commemorating victims.
GIZ Kolumbien

Context

The Colombian Government and the guerilla organisation Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP) concluded a peace agreement in 2016. The population and the almost 10 million registered victims now have high expectations that the agreement will be better implemented. However, scepticism and disappointment have also been growing.

The Search Unit for Missing Persons has so far been able to identify only very few of the approximately 110,000 people who disappeared during the violent conflict in the country, and then ensure their dignified return to their relatives. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace has also analysed numerous reports from victims and perpetrators but has not yet handed down any verdicts. Increasing scepticism is being reinforced by the lack of a culture of peace and also by a rise in armed violence.

A memorial with cement-cast boots of guerilla fighters.© GIZ Kolumbien

Objective

State and civil society actors in Colombia are improving the implementation of compensation, reparations and non-recurrence under the peace agreement – nationally as well as in the regions of Caquetá, Meta, Norte de Santander and Valle del Cauca.

Approach

The project has three fields of activity:

  1. Developing and implementing measures, such as remembrance activities, that support reparations between victims, perpetrators and other parties involved. This includes training, advising and supporting state and civil society representatives.
  2. Advising stakeholders on the search for missing persons to become more effective and efficient.
  3. Promoting a culture of peace in four regions by implementing government and civil society initiatives that work to prevent violence and crime, especially against young people and women. For example, local film and music festivals are being supported.

Last update: February 2025

Additional information