Achieving Women's Rights through Peace Accord Implementation: Lessons from Colombia

Policy Brief No. 8 The Colombian Final Accord, signed in 2016, opened opportunities in the country for dialogue and increased stakeholder capacity to include women’s rights in peacebuilding programs. Effective participation of women’s organizations in the peace process has resulted in improved access to information, increased technical expertise, more opportunities to lobby and advocate for change, and strengthened implementation of the peace accord. While the evidence shows that the implementation of gender commitments lags behind general accord implementation, the participation of women has been fundamental to tying peace accord implementation to increased women’s rights. Key recommendations learned from the Colombian case include the importance of guaranteeing women’s participation in peace negotiations, including electoral reform laws to increase women’s political participation, and including the international community as accompaniers for the gender approach to increase funding and technical support provided to women’s organizations.