The armed conflict in Colombia has been ongoing for over forty years. It has historically-based social, economic and political roots with clear regional variations. The armed actors are the two guerrilla groups (FARC, ELN), paramilitary groups and the Colombian security forces. The conflict over control of rural areas and their population has had a high civilian death toll and an estimated three million people have been internally displaced.

Most of the FriEnt member organisations have established long-standing relations with Colombian partner organisations. Colombia is a partner country of German national development cooperation with the emphasis being on "peace building and crisis prevention".

Currently, German government organisations and NGOs are facing the challenges of

• assessing Colombian government talks on a demobilisation of paramilitary groups,
• defining appropriate positions and
• supporting endeavours to reach a negotiated solution to the conflict without further consolidating current trends of far-reaching impunity for the sake of peace.

FriEnt Activities

FriEnt's activities concentrate on specialist exchanges between governmental and non-governmental institutions. Their aim is to create a framework to reflect on the various roles and positions of governmental and non-governmental players.
Current activities include

• FriEnt expert discussion: "Demobilisation, Reintegration and Immunity in Colombia - Opportunities and Threats for External Players",
• FriEnt Round Table dealing with current issues of peace building in Colombia,
• Reflection on complementary roles and division of roles between German non-governmental and governmental institutions of development cooperation in Colombia
• Individual consultations for FriEnt Member organisations.

FriEnt-Publications