The impact of the conflict on children and teenagers – Inter-university CAPAZ chair at Unibagué
The Central Auditorium at Universidad de Ibagué hosted the fourteenth session of the international inter-university chair “Continuing the Road to Peace: The Legacy of Colombia’s Truth Commission” on November 11. On this occasion, students, teachers and professionals from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition (CEV), presented key points regarding the impact of the conflict on children and adolescents, the exercise of memory, and the construction of a polyphonic truth.
Miguel Franco from the Peace and Reconciliation Memory Centre, commented on how children’s voices appear now, stressing that an important fact about the report is that those who were children at the time and are now adults reliving the conflict, because “many of us have gone through different places and our childhood has been impacted by various links of the armed conflict, including forced displacement”.
Ana María Jimenez, docente de la Universidad Santo Tomás, en la misma línea, comenta su análisis sobre cómo fortalecer las pedagogías para la paz, haciendo hincapié en el capitulo de niños y niñas “no matarás”, que da las luces para eso; enfatizando que “en su reconocimiento político como ciudadanos y ciudadanas, los niños y niñas tienen una voz y se deben construir una verdad a partir de lo que ellos quieran para ver. Esa es una nueva historia”.
Professor at Universidad Santo Tomás, Ana María Jimenez, talked about her analysis on how to strengthen pedagogies for peace, emphasising the chapter on children No matarás, highlighting that “in their political recognition as citizens, children have a voice and they must build a truth based on what they want to see. That is, a new story”.
Finally, the day concludes by stressing the importance of the Chair, since week after week the legacy of the Truth Commission has been analysed from different academic, social and political perspectives. The community is also invited to the next events and to consult the different sources of information that support the peace process in Colombia
The next session
The fifteenth session of the CAPAZ-led international inter-university chair, entitled “Implementation and follow-up to the recommendations of the CEV”, will take place at the Caribe campus of Universidad de los Andes, on Friday, November 18, at 10:00 a.m., and will be broadcast live on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/Bv_7X0g-HBM
