A community-perspective on truth, justice and reparations in Colombia: The gap between what people want and what the peacebuilding system offers

After war, various international and domestic actors seek to build peace and promote justice in local communities. While peacebuilding scholars have stressed the importance of inclusive local peacebuilding, the practice often remains top-down and focused on ex-combatants. Through a case study of Mesetas, a conflict-affected municipality in central Colombia, this paper assesses the way the peacebuilding framework adopted in the recent peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is put into practice. The framework has been praised for its sophistication and ambition, but how does it cater to the needs of the most vulnerable? To this end, it asks two questions: Firstly, how do people in conflict-affected communities describe the relevance of peacebuilding measures for their own lives? Secondly, recognizing Colombia’s focus on reintegrating FARC ex-combatants and the presence of two such reintegration camps in Mesetas, how can these peacebuilding measures contribute to reconciliation in the local community beyond ex-combatants? This paper adopts a community-perspective on peacebuilding, where interactions, collaboration and tension between ex-combatants and the larger community are in focus. In this way, it explores if the focus on ex-combatants may be to the detriment of reconciliation in the community at large, and may therefore impede peacebuilding the medium and long-term. Hence, it seeks to contribute to a more grounded debate on the potential for fostering inclusive peacebuilding in local communities. As part of this study, it engages with methodological challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, it asks how digital methods may serve as ad-hoc measures to conduct bottom-up studies from afar and whether it can serve a complementary role to on-site field research also beyond this period. While many conduct online interviews over platforms such as Skype and Zoom, this paper also engages with the use of the instant messaging service WhatsApp to reach beyond those with more stable internet connections and laptops. Beyond the importance of reaching conflict-affected people also during international travel restrictions, digital methods may serve to enable more research also for those with limited time or resources to make longer or repeated travels. In addition to opportunities that may arise, this paper also reflects on drawbacks and potential biases, as well as other practical and ethical issues.