LGBTIQ+ social organizations call for negotiation table with ELN

On February 27, the social organizations of the social sectors LGBTIQ+ they phoned negotiation table between the Government and the ELN, demand that the participation of victims of the conflict and representatives of the community be guaranteed in the process of dialogue with the guerrillas.

The request was made in the context of the second round of negotiations between the Colombian government and the ELNtaking place in Mexico, among the points that will be defined therein is the participation of civil society in the dialogue process.

The request was made by the organization Caribbean Affirmativewho recalled that during the round of negotiations led by the government of Juan Manuel Santos (between 2017 and 2018), there were advances in this area, especially during the preparatory hearings held in Tocancipá.

“That day, we had the opportunity to listen to the peace delegations on the progress they had made in consolidating peace; likewise, some key ideas were brought to the table so that the methodology of the process has a gender and sexual diversity approach that includes the voices of LGBTIQ+ people,” Caribe Afirmativo explained in its appeal to the national government.

During this space, social organizations exposed the cases of violence committed by this guerrilla against the people LGBTIQ+the trial aims to identify these cases in order to achieve the recognition of the truth and responsibilities.

Some of them relate to the practice of sexual violenceknown as “corrective violations”, in which lesbian, bisexual and transgender women are sexually abused, as witnessed in the testimony contained in the report of the truth commission.

The call is addressed to delegations taking up the advances agreed in the past, as well as the need to implement a gender and sexual diversity approach methodology, of a transversal nature, as well as to take the recommendations of the Truth Commission in relation with discoveries about people LGBTIQ+.

Other recommendations are: the non-inversion of the differential approach during the dialogue process, the creation of a Technical Monitoring Commission on gender and sexual diversityas well as its articulation with the ethnic table, the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people who are victims of the conflict, the creation of memories and documentation, among others.

One of the main interests of the national government in the second round of negotiations is the bilateral cessation of hostilities, on this point there were opposing positions in the two delegations.

While Pablo Beltrán, head of the insurgents’ delegation, indicated that they would seek “preparations to agree a bilateral, temporary and national ceasefire”; Patiño argued that this should be permanent relief for the communities.

“We are not going to accept any truce, but we are going to chart a path where what is done, on what is done, there is no turning back. Actions to de-escalate the conflict must create the conditions for communities to have more space of freedom and autonomy for effective participation,” said the head of the government delegation.

Patiño maintained that President Petro instructed them to reinterpret the ceasefire in a meeting they held on February 8. “It is up to us, as a delegation, to reinterpret the ceasefire and see it not only as a reduction in armed confrontations, but fundamentally as a reduction in hostilities against the civilian population and illegal activities that cause damage and violence,” he said in the Inauguration of the second cycle.