Consolidating Peace and Indigenous Rights through Higher Education - a Biocultural Indigenous University in the Andean Amazon of Colombia

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The research aims to advance understanding of Indigenous peoples' rights to education, culture, and a healthy environment. It will explore the possibility of a rights-based, Indigenous-led, and autonomous form of tertiary education in Colombia, focusing on the establishment of a "Biocultural Indigenous University" ("BIU") in the Andean Amazon of Colombia. By examining inclusive and Indigenous-centred tertiary education, the project contributes to United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 16 ("SDG 16") on peace, justice and strong institutions.The project will occur in the post-conflict transitional justice setting of Colombia. After decades of armed conflict, Colombia faces an ongoing struggle to cement peace and security. The 2016 Peace Accord identified Indigenous communities as a particularly vulnerable group. It also committed the Colombian Government to a Special Rural Education Plan, seeking to close the gap between rural and urban education, which is particularly significant for the largely rurally-based Indigenous groups. The possibility of creating an Indigenous-led and autonomous form of educational institution, as exemplified by the development of the BIU, is important given the precarious position of Indigenous peoples in the Andean Amazon. By placing Indigenous culture and pedagogy at the centre of a tertiary educational institution, the BIU model can strengthen the preservation and inter-generational transfer of Indigenous knowledge and learning. Given the traditional Indigenous respect for their land and surrounding ecosystem, the BIU model and curriculum offers a pathway to ecologically centred sustainable development.The BIU model can promote peace and justice among Indigenous communities. By establishing locally-based career paths (whether at the BIU itself or on ecological or cultural enterprises that it will support), it provides opportunities for Indigenous youth to escape the cycle of violence, criminality, and alienation that has been prevalent in Colombia over recent decades. The Research Network will link Indigenous representatives involved in the BIU project with international researchers and human rights experts (specialising in education, environmental, cultural and Indigenous rights, and spatial design). Through knowledge exchange and best practices sharing, the Research Network will address the key issues of (i) how an Indigenous-led university can be established and recognised as an autonomous institution; (ii) the implications of establishing an Indigenous-led university for the Indigenous peoples' rights to education, culture and a healthy environment; and (iii) a rights-based framework for Indigenous-led autonomous tertiary education.The Research Network activities include:(i) a 5-day workshop in Colombia bringing together Indigenous representatives and experts (including the investigators) on education, cultural, and environmental rights, to share knowledge and lessons learned in these respects; (ii) meetings with Colombian officials from the Ministries of Education and the Interior (Indigenous Affairs Division);(iii) engagement with Special Rapporteurs (in the field of cultural rights; on the rights of Indigenous peoples; and on the right to education) at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to present the BIU case-study and its link with their respective mandates; and(iv) an online presentation by the research team as part of the University of Essex Human Rights Centre Speaker Series to engage researchers involved in promoting the rights to education, culture and a healthy environment.The knowledge generated by the research network in the context of the BIU will be used to assist initiatives in Colombia seeking to establish Indigenous-led autonomous tertiary institutions. The knowledge will also be disseminated more broadly, to academics and those seeking to establish similar Indigenous-led tertiary education institutions in the Amazon and other regions of the World.