OxPeace 2017: ‘Peace doesn’t exist’: Marginalised youths’ disengagement from Colombia’s peace process threatens the achievement of a lasting peace

Young participants from a conflict-affected town express their ideas about peace, which contrast starkly with the country’s dominant optimism. In the aftermath of the ‘no’ victory in the Colombian peace plebiscite, great emphasis has been placed on youth movements’ push for peace. Violent groups in Latin America are largely made up of male youths. In my documentary made during 9 months of fieldwork: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT_BqPT9E-U), a short section of which will be shown, young participants from a conflict-affected town express their ideas about peace, which contrast starkly with the country’s dominant optimism. For them, the peace process is nothing more than corrupt politics. When they do talk of peace, they emphasise its domestic, inner and apolitical dimensions. More often, however, they simply believe that peace is not possible at all. The marginalisation of youths constitutes an enduring form of structural violence in Colombia’s post-conflict phase – one which should be urgently addressed through the lenses of social justice if Colombia’s peace is to last.

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