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

这项研究旨在增进对土著人民享有教育、文化和健康环境的权利的了解。它将探讨在哥伦比亚建立以权利为基础、土著主导和自主的高等教育形式的可能性，重点是在哥伦比亚的安第斯亚马逊地区建立一所“生物文化土著大学”(“Biu”)。通过审查包容性和以土著为中心的高等教育，该项目有助于实现联合国关于和平、正义和强有力体制的可持续发展目标16(“可持续发展目标16”)。在经历了数十年的武装冲突之后，哥伦比亚面临着巩固和平与安全的持续斗争。2016年《和平协议》将土著社区确定为一个特别脆弱的群体。它还承诺哥伦比亚政府实施一项特别农村教育计划，寻求缩小城乡教育之间的差距，这对主要以农村为基础的土著群体尤为重要。鉴于土著人民在安第斯亚马逊地区的地位岌岌可危，建立土著领导和自主形式的教育机构的可能性很重要，BIU的发展就是一个例证。通过将土著文化和教育学置于高等教育机构的中心，BIU模式可以加强土著知识和学习的保存和代际传授。鉴于土著对其土地和周围生态系统的传统尊重，BIU模式和课程提供了一条实现以生态为中心的可持续发展的途径。BIU模式可以促进土著社区之间的和平与正义。通过建立以当地为基础的职业道路(无论是在BiU本身，还是在它将支持的生态或文化企业)，它为土著青年提供了机会，使其摆脱近几十年来哥伦比亚普遍存在的暴力、犯罪和疏远的循环。研究网络将把参与BIU项目的土著代表与国际研究人员和人权专家(专门从事教育、环境、文化和土著权利以及空间设计)联系起来。通过知识交流和最佳做法分享，研究网络将解决以下关键问题：(1)如何建立土著领导的大学并承认其为独立机构；(2)建立土著领导的大学对土著人民的教育、文化和健康环境权利的影响；以及(3)土著领导的自治高等教育以权利为基础的框架。研究网络的活动包括：(1)在哥伦比亚举办为期5天的讲习班，土著代表和专家(包括调查人员)聚集在一起，分享在这些方面的知识和经验教训；(2)与哥伦比亚教育部和内政部(土著事务司)官员举行会议；(3)在日内瓦人权理事会与特别报告员(文化权利领域、土著人民权利和受教育权)进行接触，介绍BIU案例研究及其与各自任务的联系；(4)作为埃塞克斯大学人权中心发言人系列的一部分，研究小组在网上发表演讲，让参与促进教育权、文化权和健康环境的研究人员参与进来。研究网络在BIU背景下产生的知识将用于协助哥伦比亚寻求建立土著领导的自治高等教育机构的倡议。这些知识还将更广泛地传播给学术界和那些寻求在亚马逊和世界其他地区建立类似的土著领导的高等教育机构的人。

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.