This lecture discusses the concept of peace agreements as platforms for constructive social change, which requires authentic engagement and institutional transformations. It posits that signing peace accords is an important yet, alone and by itself, an insufficient step towards peacebuilding. Rather, the challenge of peacebuilding after wars lies in a robust implementation of the commitments reached at the negotiation table. Dialogue and inclusion during the negotiations needs to be permanent and continued after the signature. This lecture discusses these aspects in particular in the Colombian case, and highlights the role of third-party monitors in accompanying the process.

About the speaker

Josefina Echavarría Álvarez is professor of the practice and the director of the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) program at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. She leads PAM’s researchers, faculty and staff in the South Bend campus, as well as PAM’s field units that carry out official monitoring of the implementation of peace accords in real time. In Colombia, PAM’s Barometer Initiative carries out official monitoring of the entire 2016 Final Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the former FARC-EP guerrillas. In the Philippines, in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Philippines, PAM-Mindanao provides monitoring methodology and technical assistance to measure the progress of the Normalization Annex of the 2014 agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Josefina also directs the Legacy Project for “Preserving and Engaging the Digital Archive of the Colombian Truth Commission", which guarantees continued access to more than 200,000 files including audiovisual, non-textual knowledge and digitized documents compiled by the Colombian Truth Commission.

Host

Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, part of the Einaudi Center for International Studies