oa Diasporas Building Memory and Peace: The Role of the Diaspora with the Colombian Truth Commission

Over the past years, there has been a trend to promote more inclusive peace processes to foster more transformative and sustainable results in the quest for building peace. At a time of extremely high numbers of refugees and migrants worldwide, this article argues for the need to ensure that people living in the diaspora who are committed to human rights, democracy and peace in their home country can continue their agency despite living abroad. The argument is based on the experience gained by the authors acting as Technical Secretariat in Europe for the Colombian Truth Commission (2018-2022). The Colombian peace agreement (2016), particularly the ensuing Truth Commission, took unprecedented steps to involve the large Colombian diaspora in fulfilling its mandate. This effort's success resulted from a highly participatory process that convened thousands of victims and hundreds of diaspora organisations and international support initiatives. The article describes the innovative infrastructure that was designed to foster diaspora participation. It further identifies eight conditions or approaches that were key to the success of the overall experience and concludes with reflections that may be relevant to other international contexts. The article highlights the role of person-to- person contact and activities that contribute to psychosocial healing and coexistence.