Dr Jennifer Schirmer
Published: 7 Oct 2016
Country: Columbia
Jennifer Schirmer holds a PhD. in Anthropology and is Research Professor and Projects Director of Conflict Analysis, Armed Actors and Peace Dialogues at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. Between 1996 and 2004, she was a fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the School of Public Health, a Henry Luce Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and an Associate of the Program on Non-Violent Sanctions and Cultural Survival at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
Dr Schirmer has expert knowledge of both the historical and current conditions in Colombia and has 16 years of experience working on and in Colombia (2000-2016). Dr Schirmer has organized a series of dialogues among multiple sectors of Colombian society (parliamentarians, former guerrillas, the armed forces, journalists, human rights NGOs) to discuss various topics in preparation for the peace process (land reform, paramilitarism, human rights, security, drug-trafficking, the roots and evolution of the insurgencies, rural poverty, among others). In 2012,with the initiation of the public phase of the peace talks, the Colombian negotiators requested that Dr Schirmer organize 25 Seminars to train their advisors in ceasefire, disarmament and demobilization. This group of 20 officers and civilians became the Technical Commission at the negotiating table in Cuba, responsible for writing the protocols and structuring, together with the FARC, of the recently signed ceasefire and disarmament.