Researcher, Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris, Bogotá DC, Colombia
Master in International Law 2012, The Graduate Institute, Geneva,
Switzerland
When I first started to fathom the idea of going abroad to a
country that I had not been to before, it quickly became apparent for various
reasons that the destination of choice would have to be a Latin American
Spanish-speaking country. Moreover, when it emerged that the peace negotiations
between the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)
and the coalition government led by President Juan Manuel Santo were proving to
be constructive, I searched for work opportunities in the public sector in
Colombia. After I had found on the German ministry’s ‘weltwärts’ website a
project located in Bogotá classified as “related the promotion of peace and
democracy”, I applied to the ‘American Field Service Germany’ - a sending
organization for volunteers partaking in the ‘weltwärts’ programme - addressing
this specific project. No project other than the NGO called Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris, which was
founded by former guerrillas in the mid-1990s, would have satisfied my wish to
be as close as possible to the societal, political and economic changes taking
place in Colombia these days. Luckily, AFS concurred and offered me a spot at
Arco Iris’ office.
The interview I had in mid-March with my new boss - called ‘Lucho’ (=Luis) - revealed that my
intentions as to what I would like to take away coincide exactly with his
expectations:
1. Weekly reports
on the peace process in La Habana, Cuba
Once per week, an intern called Simón from the University del Rosario and I write a summary of the
week’s news on the peace negotiations taking place in Cuba as reported on by ministries,
the FARC-EP, in Colombian and international newspapers, at conferences, etc.
2. Conferences,
meetings, fora
I get to attend and network at every conference there is on
topics of interest to Arco Iris, e.g. ceasefire, truth, reconciliation,
judicial pardon, amnesties, treatment of victims, reparations, development and
reintegration programs, etc.
3. Monthly
presentations in Spanish on current affairs
At least once per month, a PhD student called Joseph from the University de los
Andes, Simón and I research a topic to be presented to Lucho. Our most recent presentation is on
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which struck a peace deal with the
Philippine government at the end of March after more than 17 years of
negotiations, bringing to an end an armed confrontation that persisted for more
than 30 years.
4. Two research
papers in Spanish on topics of my choice
During my 1-year assignment, I get to research and write
about two topics that are of interest to the organization. The first research
paper will deal with one aspect of transitional, post-conflict justice in
Colombia.
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