Colombia

Recognition and preservation of local knowledge, practices, and ways of being are tenets of decolonial practices. However, understanding how, in which ways, and – mainly – who does the decolonial work is still unclear. The Education, Land, and Reconciliation Project (EDUCARE in Spanish) is an action-research initiative co-created between former guerrilla members who are reincorporating into Colombian society while […]

Institutional strengthening, securitisation, free market promotion, and development policy implementation are foundational elements of liberal peace. However, the creation of an inferior colonisable other sustains this link and has justified programmes of violent repression and silencing. Decolonial, post-liberal, localised, and feminist peace-building stances condemn those power structures and promote alternative means of achieving well-being and […]

The role of women human rights defenders in Colombia is fundamental. The conditions of socioeconomic inequality, gender-based inequalities and discrimination, and the armed conflict have been complex scenarios in which women’s leadership in the defence of human rights and peace have played a leading role. The creation of diverse collective processes and social networks at […]

This is a tribute to Edilia Mendoza Roa, an activist and one of Colombia's best known agrarian experts, who passed away in February, 2023. The authors discuss her contributions to the struggle for land and environmental rights and her involvement in formulation of laws and resolutations leading to agrarian reform and rural development for farmers and […]

This is a tribute to activist, Cristina Bautista in Colombia. She was an indigenous woman working on the rights of women in her community and on land rights. The author traces Cristina's life and the Hilando pensamientos (Weaving Thoughts), the Nasa women's movement. Her activism was powerful, and Cristina was killed in 2019 by armed actors. 

Women face disproportionate care burdens on their time because of traditional gender roles, lack of public policies supporting them and the lack of government services for satisfying society's care needs. This unequal distribution of care responsibilities reduces their opportunities to fully participate in labour markets. We argue that all else equal, women's physical proximity to […]