EL ESPECTADOR, June 7, 2025
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
Labor Minister Antonio Sanguino signed the resolution announcing that 432 young people would be the first to furnish Social Service for Peace, an alternative to obligatory military service.
The program contemplates eleven different modalities of participation, all of them oriented toward the promotion of peace, social justice, and environmental protection in rural as well as in urban contexts. Among the areas of activity are community work, education for peace, strengthening the social fabric, historical memory, reconciliation, and the preservation of the environment.
The selection process for this service opened last January, offering a total of 5,000 positions.
For Senator Iván Cepeda, who has been one of the main promoters of this initiative in the Congress, it stands out as an unprecedented highlight that marks a transformation in the way the Colombian government recognizes service to the nation.
“After many years of effort, together with young people’s organizations and conscientious objections, today I can state that Social Service for Peace is a reality. It’s an achievement by this administration that, in spite of attacks and obstacles every day, the changes required by our society are being put together,” Cepeda said in his X account (formerly Twitter).
(Cepeda Twitter post omitted)
(Minister Sanguino resolution omitted)
Social Service does not only expand the options for young people who for ethical, political, or religious reasons are opposed to military service, but also redefines the concept of active citizenship.
It’s hoped that the participants will contribute directly to building peace in their communities, which will represent a profound change in the relationship between young people and the government in a country that for decades has been pierced by the armed conflict.
Although the program is in a pilot phase, it’s hoped that its progressive implementation could institutionalize it as a stable alternative that enjoys legal support. The initiation of this first cohort of participants marks a concrete step in the administration’s hope for progress toward a policy of total peace in which citizen participation, and especially participation by young people, will be a fundamental axis in social and territorial transformation.
In its very beginning, Social Service for Peace will be developed in Quibdó (Chocó Department), Bogotá, Cali (Valle del Cauca), Medellín (Antioquia), and Armero Guayabal (Tolima).
The young people who were chosen to furnish Social Service for Peace will receive a stipend equivalent to 80% of the salary a soldier would receive for military service.
How can you get into the program and which fields of social service are available?
The administration announced that 5,000 positions would be available initially so that young people might get the benefit of working in social service. Their term would last 12 months and could be performed in any one of the 11 modalities, which include the following programs:
- Promoting digital literacy in rural and urban areas
- Working with victims of the armed conflict and promoting their rights, defending human rights and international law
- Confirming and carrying out the Peace Agreement
- Promoting public policies for peace, reconciliation, and co-existence without stigmatization
- Protection of nature, biodiversity, and water sources, strategic ecosystems, and the environmental and forest riches of the country
- Promoting ethnic-territorial peace, respecting the rights of self-determination and autonomy, uses, and customs of the ethnic communities
- Working with victims of sexual violence and violence based on gender
- Protection of and care for elderly people in vulnerable situations.
Interested young people can apply through this page www.funciónpublica.gov.co
If they are interested in the areas of peace, conflict, and human rights, or have information that they would like to share with us, they can write to us at: cmorales@elespectador.com; pmesa@elespectador.com; or
aosorio@esespectador.com