The ICIP, in collaboration with the Nido Catalunya in support of the Colombian Truth Commission, has organized in Lleida, with the support of the City Council, a couple of workshops to promote the recognition of the victims of the Colombian conflict exiled in Catalonia.
These workshops are a pilot test that will soon be extended to Barcelona and are expected to adapt in other municipalities in Catalonia and Europe.
The workshops took place at the Balàfia Civic Center on April 24 and May 16. The first of the workshops focused on the comprehensive system of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition for Colombian people living in Catalonia. The second focused on recognition to make visible the impacts of the Colombian armed conflict and the migration process of exiled people and contribute to the dignification of the victims.
The workshops aim to provide a general context and sufficient tools to understand and recognize the comprehensive system and spaces for participation for victims abroad.
“They seek to generate and strengthen spaces for participation, dialogue and listening among the exiled population and the Colombian diaspora, social organizations and local governments that contribute to actions of recognition to the victims of the Colombian armed conflict”, explains Ana Isabel Osorio, a technician in the area of “Memory, coexistence and reconciliation” of the ICIP.
The activity was facilitated by Maria del Rosario Vásquez and Bibiana Lopera of the Nido Catalunya, supporting the Colombian Truth Commission.
More workshops in June
A third workshop is planned for June in Lleida.
Following this participatory process, the aim is to have an institutional declaration approved by the City Council of the capital of Segrià to make visible the impacts of the Colombian armed conflict and the migration process of exiled people and contribute to the dignification of victims who had to flee Colombia because of the armed conflict.
Another of these workshops is also planned to be organized in Barcelona in June. These activities aim to strengthen the dialogue between local actors (Colombian population, social organizations and academia and local governments) and contribute to the dissemination of the final report that the Colombian Truth Commission will publish at the end of this year.
The process of recognizing the victims is part of the work carried out by the ICIP as the Technical Secretariat of the Colombian Truth Commission in Europe.
The activities have the support of The Catalan Agency for Cooperation to the Development (Agència Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament – ACCD).