Call for short contributions for Bulletin #8: Initiatives from exile for the maintenance of the legacy of the Truth Commission of Colombia
CLACSO Working Group on Migration and South-South Borders
Bulletin: South-South Migration Movements. Borders, Trajectories and Inequalities
Year 3 – Issue #8 Initiatives from exile to maintain the legacy of the Truth Commission in Colombia
The newsletter "South-South Migration Movements: Borders, Trajectories and Inequalities" invites submissions in the form of experience stories, theoretical and critical essays, community and personal narratives, artistic texts and photographic chronicles.
The invitation, beyond being directed to researchers, extends with particular emphasis to people, organizations and associations of refugees and exiles, also to people and groups of civil society that have been and continue to be linked to the process of the Truth Commission of Colombia.
The report by the Colombian Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Repetition (CEV) gives particular importance to exile. Not only does it dedicate one of its eleven volumes to unraveling the history of the conflict from the perspective of those who had to flee the country, but it also defines exile—as no other Truth Commission had done before—as a violation of human rights. The CEV sought to make visible the history of a part of the country that had been forgotten, minimized, and rendered invisible through systematic work carried out from 24 countries by exiles, refugees, collectives, and victims' associations. Currently, as part of the legacy of the Commission, which ended its mandate in 2022, numerous initiatives have been launched that bring together exiled people, civil society and academia in processes of socializing the report, initiatives for compliance with the recommendations contained therein and new processes of searching for the truth that, in some cases, appear connected to the actions still underway of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and the Search Unit for Persons Given as Disappeared (UBPD).
The expectations generated by the CEV's nearly four years of work, the publication of its report, and its recommendations remain strong among a population now grappling with the new opportunities to be heard and to propose improvements to their living conditions abroad, as well as to exert political influence on events within Colombia, and the anxiety of relentless violence. This situation not only makes a safe return impossible but also continues to force tens of thousands of people to flee both within and outside the country, generating countless tensions.
It is against this ambivalent backdrop that this issue of the Bulletin "South-South Migration Movements: Borders, Trajectories, and Inequalities" invites submissions in a wide variety of formats: narratives about personal, community, or associative experiences; texts using artistic languages such as photography or documentary; literary works; and more academic essays. Beyond being directed at researchers, the invitation extends with particular emphasis to individuals, organizations, and associations of refugees and exiles, as well as to individuals and groups within civil society who have been and continue to be involved in the migration process. The publication will accept texts written in the official languages of CLACSO (Portuguese and Spanish), and in the other languages of Latin America and the Caribbean, including the languages of Indigenous peoples.
We are seeking both descriptive and analytical contributions, always from a critical perspective. The aim is to include diverse voices and interpretations of the social and political organizing initiatives emerging from and by Colombian exiles, building on the momentum of the Truth Commission and its final report, and exploring how these initiatives, despite a still hostile context, contribute to creating spaces for the collective construction of meaning about what happened and about a future where non-repetition is possible.
Contributions may be developed around the following guiding principles:
- New organizational processes of exiled populations around the peace process, the work of the CEV and the final report.
- Current demands of exiled populations towards the Colombian government regarding the recommendations of the CEV report.
- Organized actions to raise awareness and visibility of the situation of Colombian exiled and refugee populations
- Actions to socialize the contents of the CEV report
- Political participation/emergence of political actors from exile
- Current spaces for influence from abroad. Strengthening and/or transformations of these spaces with the peace process (e.g., International Forum of Victims; Colombian Victims Network for Peace in Latin America and the Caribbean).
- Critical debates from exile on the CEV report and the implementation of its recommendations
- Initiatives from exile on the steps to come and their relationship with the recommendations of the CEV report
- Actions and projects to link the exiled population with the JEP and/or the UBPD
This issue is coordinated by Carmen Gómez, Cécile Mouly and Vanessa Paredes.
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