Colombia

In 2013, the Carter Center’s Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, in partnership with the Universidad de La Sabana, began awarding two fellowships each year to journalists in Colombia. The program was established in support of Colombia’s efforts to raise awareness of mental illnesses, which are among the most under-recognized health conditions in the nation, often characterized by stigma and misinformation.

Now self-funded, the Latin America program — as it’s referred to today — has since grown to include other Central and South American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. 

The goals of the international fellowships remain the same:

• Develop a diverse cohort of better-informed journalists who can more effectively report on mental health across evolving and emerging platforms. 
• Increase effective and accurate reporting on mental health issues and substance use disorder.
• Equip journalists with the tools needed to produce high-quality work that reflects an understanding of responsible mental health reporting.

From 1996 until 2006, The Carter Center and its partners helped the Colombia Ministry of Health and Social Protection distribute Mectizan®, donated by Merck, to prevent river blindness in the nation’s lone endemic community, Naicioná, also known as the López de Micay focus. 

The community-based program paired mass drug administration with health education and community participation to eliminate the disease.

In July 2013, Colombia became the first country in the Americas to eliminate river blindness and the first country in the world to apply for and be granted verification of the disease’s elimination by the World Health Organization. 

Through its groundbreaking Inform Women, Transform Lives campaign, The Carter Center partners with city leaders worldwide to raise awareness about women’s right to access information and to help cities reach women with valuable information and essential municipal services. 

Access to this information empowers women with a stronger voice, enabling them to participate in public life, utilize public services, and make more informed decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities. In Colombia, this project has partnered with the cities of Bogota and Medellin.

In 2016, the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, signed a peace accord that brought an end to a 50-year civil war. The accord specifically named The Carter Center as a partner in supporting its implementation.

Our role included monitoring the separation of child soldiers in the FARC, tracking human rights compliance, and recommending legal and electoral reforms to help solidify peace and create a more inclusive democracy.

Today we continue to support peace and democracy in Colombia through trainings for journalists and women leaders.

The Carter Center sent a team of election experts to observe Colombia’s 2022 presidential election, with a focus on analyzing the legal and administrative framework for the election, with special emphasis on the transparency of the process and on electoral reform. Our report included recommendations for improving future elections.

The Carter Center and the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance initiated a series of dialogue sessions among the five Andean countries — Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia — and the United States in 2010.

Impacts
Through frank and open dialogue, participants:

• Identified a common agenda for the six countries
• Addressed misperceptions and misunderstandings
• Proposed innovative solutions to problematic issues
• Explored possible bilateral dialogues between countries with tense relations

The Center also worked with the United Nations Development Program to support a dialogue group of distinguished citizens from Colombia and Ecuador beginning in September 2007. When the two countries broke diplomatic ties in 2008, after a Colombian attack on a FARC rebel camp inside Ecuador’s sovereign territory, the Center worked to facilitate communication. The countries’ presidents accepted a proposal from President Carter to renew diplomatic relations. 

Years before, in June 1997, the Center was invited to witness the return of 60 Colombian soldiers and 10 marines who’d been captured by the FARC. And in September 1996, President Carter and other senior Center officials met with Colombian leaders to discuss negotiations in Colombia’s guerilla war. 

Our work with Colombia and other South American countries helped resolve conflicts and develop cooperation.

Concerned about an arms race in Latin America, the Carter Center’s Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas urged governments in the region to pause before embarking on major arms purchases. Between April 1997 and March 1998, 28 current and 14 former heads of government — including Columbia’s — signed a pledge to accept a moratorium of two years on purchasing sophisticated weapons.