Crossing the line: Racial healing in a family and community

from the article by Phoebe Kilby on PeaceBuilder:

When I began my quest to determine if my family had owned slaves, I initially focused on slavery alone and my family’s involvement in it. But when I discovered descendants of my family’s slaves, I quickly learned that racial wounds inflicted during the Civil Rights era were much more important to them than any scars left from slavery. They had been denied equal educational opportunities and had been terrorized for demanding change. If I were to do something to nurture healing, I would need to address these more modern wounds.

Jun 27, 2011 Region: North America and Caribbean, National Reconciliation, Country:USA

• Read More

Colombia moves past reconciliation and revives the idea of reparation

from Michelle Chen's article in Colorlines:

When unspeakable crimes have been committed, justice often falls silent, too. That’s why half a century after Colombia plunged into bloody conflict and oppression, the healing has barely begun. But a new law is trying to make victims of the violence whole in a country still fractured by brutal violence. In the process, it has revived an old debate over reparations, and how society should confront past injustices that still shape life today.

Colombia’s so-called “victims’ law” is the product of years of negotiation between the government and militia groups. The law centers on punishment as well as restitution. Many will be compelled to confess their crimes and, unlike many previous efforts at what’s been dubbed restorative justice, survivors will be allowed to petition for compensation.

Jun 10, 2011 Government, Legislation, National Reconciliation, Region: Latin America, Country:Colombia

• Read More

Colombia to compensate victims of armed conflict.

From the article by Sibylla Brodzinsky in the Guardian:

Nearly four million victims of Colombia's long-running internal conflict could receive compensation and see their stolen lands returned under a new law.

Government and opposition figures as well as human rights activists have all hailed the legislation, which passed in the Senate last week, as "historic" and "transcendental".

The law aims to give financial compensation – equivalent to about £6,600 – for every victim reported murdered or forcibly disappeared. Colombia has one of the highest numbers of disappearances in Latin America, with more than 57,200 people still missing, at least 15,600 of which were forcibly disappeared, according to the UN high commissioner for human rights. More than 100,000 murders during the last three decades are attributed to rightwing paramilitary groups.

Jun 03, 2011 Region: Latin America, National Reconciliation, Country:Colombia

• Read More