Events
Seminars, discussions and more from PeaceRep consortium members.
Peacemaking at a Crossroads: Reflections from Colombia
Join PeaceRep for a conversation on peacemaking in Colombia, 10 years since the peace agreement with the FARC.
PeaceRep and Rodeemos el Diálogo (Embrace Dialogue) are delighted to host former negotiator and PeaceRep Policy Affiliate, Andrei Gómez-Suárez, for a discussion on the progress of peacemaking in Colombia, reflecting on past achievements and current challenges.
In the 10 years since the Colombian government signed the 2016 agreement to resolve conflict with the of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), peace negotiations developed with multiple armed and political rebel groups including the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissent groups of the FARC. In recent months, the new Colombian government has taken a radically different approach to dealing with armed groups, leaving many peacemakers trying to consolidate gains whilst unsure of what happens next.
In this conversation with PeaceRep Senior Research Fellow Laura Wise, Andrei will share his first-hand experience of negotiating as part of the Colombian government’s delegation in Nariño with guerrilla group Comuneros del Sur, and reflect on how civil society is responding to the current challenges to peacemaking. The speakers will also situate Colombia’s experiences within the wider global order, and exploring other moments of rupture in peace processes.
Following the conversation, there will be an opportunity for attendees to participate in a Q&A.
This event is in-person only. Refreshments will be provided. Doors open 5:30pm.
About the speakers
Andrei Gómez-Suárez (PhD University of Sussex) was part of the Colombian government’s delegation in a peace process in Nariño. He is PeaceRep Policy Affiliate and co-founder of peacebuilding organisation Rodeemos el Diálogo (ReD, or Embrace Dialogue). He has lectured at the Universities of Bristol, Oxford, Sussex, and Winchester and has done consultancies for Conciliation Resources, the International Organisation for Migrations, and in Colombia for the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, the National Centre for Historical Memory, and the Ombudsman’s Office. His books include Genocide, Geopolitics and Transnational Networks: a Contextualisation of the Destruction of the Patriotic Union in Colombia (Routledge, 2015), El Triunfo del No: la Paradoja Emocional detrás del Plebiscito (Icono, Colombia, 2016), and We are not made of sugar: a childhood memoir from Colombia (Fuller Vigil 2025).
Laura Wise is a Senior Research Fellow with PeaceRep at Edinburgh Law School. Her research explores comparative peace processes and the politics of inclusion. Her expertise regularly supports peace process stakeholders to understand peace process design, including governments and intergovernmental organisations, and she is a Co-Investigator of the PeaceRep Study Group for Myanmar. Laura is also a Senior Advisor for the Beyond Borders Scotland Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship, and a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Ethnic Conflict from Queen’s University Belfast.