“I would like to speak” is a 42-photo exhibit showing how ex-combatants have found their place in Colombian society through community service in their communities.

The exhibit will travel throughout Colombia as part of an initiative by the government, civil society and international agencies to show Colombians the advances that the country has made in terms of reconciliation, peace-building and ex-combatant reintegration.

“We have been working for over three years with ex-combatants carrying out their community service in the most vulnerable communities in Colombia. This work creates a space for reconciliation with the communities that they previously harmed. We thought this was the right moment to show Colombia that despite the past, most ex-combatants now support peace,” said Joshua Mitrotti, General Director of the Colombian Reintegration Agency (ACR.)

Under the National Reintegration Policy, people who leave illegal armed groups and have not committed crimes against humanity have certain obligations designed to promote reconciliation, including 80 hours of community service in the communities that received them after they were demobilized. I would like to speak shows the positive impact that this work has had on the most vulnerable communities in the country.

The exhibit shows the community service that nearly 25,000 ex-combatants have carried out in the last three years throughout Colombia. It shows how ex-combatants and community members began creating spaces for reconciliation – an essential part of peace-building and coexistence.

IOM Colombia Chief of Mission Alejandro Guidi said: “The exhibit gives a voice to those who left their weapons behind and are now working for a peaceful Colombia. It shows that institutions in Colombia believe in second chances. And it lets communities, who have put their trust in others so that the horrors of the past are not repeated, be heard.”

I would like to speak is the result of the cooperation between the ACR, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and IOM in Colombia, with local support from the Spanish Cooperation Training Center in Cartagena de Indias and the Museum House for Memory in Medellín.

To see more of the pictures exhibited, please go to:

http://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/pictures/co20150611-1.jpg

http://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/pictures/co20150611-2.jpg

http://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/pictures/co20150611-3.jpg

http://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/pictures/co20150611-4.jpg

http://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/pictures/co20150611-5.jpg

http://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/pictures/co20150611-6.jpg

They can also be seen on the IOM Flickr website at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/iom-migration/sets/72157652065894843

For more information please contact Jadín Vergara at IOM Colombia, Email: jvergara@iom.int, Tel. +57 1 6397777 Ext. 1715.