Transitional justice as education: A feminist network for empowering truth commissions

哥伦比亚真相、共存和不重复委员会的任务是调查世界上持续时间最长的武装冲突之一背后的真相。在筹备阶段，委员会一直注意从世界各地的真相委员会（目前已有40多个）吸取的经验教训。它引入了一些创新做法，将其定位为哥伦比亚更广泛的过渡时期司法进程及其建立持久和平机会的重要组成部分。真相委员会往往在其工作结束时才参与正规和非正规教育，错过了让更广泛的民众参与其工作并改变心态和教育进程的机会。同样，许多技术合作委员会仅狭隘地纳入妇女遭受暴力的经历，或将性别问题作为一个独立的主题，与技术合作委员会的其他工作无关。哥伦比亚TC决心不再重复这些错误。然而，就像哥伦比亚和平进程一样，过渡委员会面临着重大挑战-围绕和平的两极分化的公众舆论，正如2016年政府与哥伦比亚革命武装力量之间和平协议的全民公决没有胜利所证明的那样;该国暴力事件和活跃冲突地区的上升率;以及即将举行的总统选举可能危及和平进程。在开始工作时，真相委员会和从事性别和教育工作的过渡委员会工作人员每天都要面对高风险、情绪化和令人精疲力竭的挑战，努力收集多达50 000名受冲突影响的哥伦比亚人的证词。确保过渡委员会能够为在哥伦比亚实现性别公正和包容性的和平做出重大贡献。该网络将利用艺术和人文领域的工具，包括女权主义方法论、情感中介和变革性教学法，将哥伦比亚真相专员及其团队与鼓舞人心的女权主义领导人联系起来，这些领导人曾在其他地方领导和学习过TC经验。这些前真相委员是和平活动家、人权倡导者、土著领导人、教育工作者和知名人士-他们将分享他们作为南非、加拿大、东帝汶和秘鲁等国真相委员会成员的经验，他们将支持哥伦比亚过渡委员会的性别和教育工作，并提供战略咨询，该项目将通过一系列同行访谈收集这些鼓舞人心的领导者的经验和思考，这些经验和思考也将纳入该项目的支持性关系工作。这些将被用来制作一个互动网站，面向未来的女权主义和平活动家和世界各地的领导人，分享这些令人难以置信的个人的生活史，建议和灵感。该网络将在多个层面产生影响，包括：（1）组成该网络并从中汲取能量和灵感以开展重要的过渡时期司法工作的个人;（2）哥伦比亚真相委员会的成功及其对哥伦比亚和平的贡献;（3）国际过渡时期和过渡时期司法最佳做法;（4）哥伦比亚真相委员会的成功及其对哥伦比亚和平的贡献。以及4）围绕过渡时期司法中的情感能动性和变革性教学法分享和开发理论工具。

Colombia's Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition is tasked with investigating the truth behind one of the world's longest running armed conflicts. In its preparatory phase, the Commission has been attentive to lessons learned from truth commissions around the world, of which there have now been more than forty. It introduces a number innovative practices, positioning it as an important part of Colombia's wider transitional justice process and of its chances to build a lasting peace. Too often, truth commissions (TCs) have left engagement with formal and informal education until the end of their work, missing out on opportunities to engage the wider population in their work and to effect change in mind-sets and educational processes. Likewise, many TCs have included women's experiences of violence only narrowly or have approached gender as a discrete theme, unconnected to the rest of the TC's work. The Colombian TC is determined not to repeat these mistakes. However, like the Colombian peace process more generally, the TC faces significant challenges - polarised public opinion around peace, as demonstrated by the no victory in the 2016 referendum on the peace deal between the government and the FARC; rising rates of violence and active conflict regions of the country; and an upcoming Presidential election that may jeopardise the peace process. As they begin their work, Truth Commissioners and TC staff working on gender and pedagogy are bound to confront daily challenges of a high stakes, emotional, and exhausting stakes endeavour to collect the testimonies of up 50,000 Colombians affected by conflict.This network seeks to support the gender and pedagogy work of the Colombian TC, ensuring that the TC is able to make a significant contribution to embedding a gender just and inclusive peace in Colombia. Using tools from the arts and humanities in feminist methodologies, affective agency, and transformative pedagogy, the network will connect Colombian truth commissioners and their teams with inspirational feminist leaders, who have led and learned from TC experiences elsewhere. These former Truth Commissioners are peace activists, human rights advocates, indigenous leaders, educators, and dignitaries - they will share their experiences being part of truth commissions from South Africa to Canada and Timor Leste to Peru, and they will support and offer strategic advice on the gender and pedagogy work of the Colombian TC, through a series of workshops and travel visits.The project will collect the experiences and reflections of these inspirational leaders through a series of peer interviews, that will also feed into the supportive relational work of the project. These will be used to produce an interactive website aimed at future feminist peace activists and leaders around the world, which shares the life histories, advice and inspiration of these incredible individuals. The network will have impact at a number of levels, including for: 1) the individuals who make up the network and draw energy and inspiration from it for their important transitional justice work; 2) the success of the Colombian truth commission and its contribution to peace in Colombia; 3) international TC and transitional justice best practice; and 4) sharing and developing theoretical tools around affective agency and transformative pedagogy in transitional justice.