Citation:
KROC Institute for International Peace Studies. 2020. Tres años despues de la firma del Acuerdo Final en Colombia: hacia la transformación territorial. Bogotá: KROC Institute.
Author: KROC Institute
Annotation:
Summary:
Three years after the signing of the final peace accord between the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP or FARC, in Spanish), the implementation process has come to a crucial point of transformation. The armed conflict with the former guerrilla group has ended, and the new institutional framework to execute the measures of the Agreement has been established. The process is entering a new territorial phase in which it is necessary to expand upon on previous achievements and transform the areas most affected by violence, a great challenge for building a stable and lasting peace. Priorities include reducing socioeconomic gaps between rural and urban areas, ensuring the long-term reincorporation of ex-combatants, guaranteeing the rights of victims, and advancing crosscutting measures regarding ethnicity and gender.
In the first two years, implementation focused on short-term commitments, such as the definitive cease-fire, the laying down of arms, the creation of the institutional architecture for peace, and the design of plans and programs contemplated in the agreement. Between December 2018 and November 2019, implementation progressed a total of 6%. To understand this result, it is important to examine the contents and timing of the stipulations. With many short-term stipulations already completed, implementation shifted in 2019 towards the medium- and longterm commitments, especially those focused on the territories most affected by the armed conflict. This new phase requires greater interinstitutional coordination and intense deployment at the local level. Therefore, more time is needed to finalize their implementation.
To better understand the timing of the stipulations that the Kroc Institute monitors, the Framework Plan for Implementation (PMI, in Spanish) provides for their categorization into short- (2017–2019), medium- (2020–2022), and long-term commitments (2023–2031), according to their start and end dates. The analysis of the PMI shows that progress was made during the third year of implementation, including on indicators whose completion is scheduled for the medium and long terms.
The PMI analysis identifies the commitments that were finalized during the first period (2017–2019), as well as others that are incomplete and that are necessary to promote implementation in the future. For the second period (2020–2022), the analysis also finds that half of the commitments are likely to be completed on time. Completion of the remaining commitments in their corresponding timeframes will require accelerating the current pace of implementation. For the third period (2023–2031), an important number of long-term initiatives will need to begin implementation in the next two years.
The report presents a quantitative analysis that shows that at the end of the third year of implementation, according to the methodology used by the Barometer Initiative, 25% of stipulations have been fully implemented. Another 15% of stipulations are at an intermediate level of progress, meaning that they are on their way to being fully implemented in their corresponding timelines. A further 34% of commitments are at a minimal state of implementation, having started but made marginal progress. The remaining 26% of commitments have yet to be initiated.
The report presents qualitative analyses focused on the cross-cutting approaches and each of the six points of the agreement, all with a territorial lens. One of the promises of the final peace accord is to transform the conditions that generated and fueled the armed conflict, including the notion that the State lacks legitimacy. The active and effective participation in the implementation of the agreement by civil society and communities affected by violence is central to increasing public confidence in the process and strengthening the legitimacy of the State.
Fulfilling the whole of the accord, including the cross-cutting approaches, is necessary in order to guarantee quality implementation and to build sustainable peace. The analysis shows that, nonetheless, there is a gap between the implementation of the stipulations related to ethnic and gender approaches and that of the final agreement in general. The low level of progress is explained partly by a lack of incorporation of these approaches into norms, plans, and programs. Specifically, the stipulations focused on gender are mostly medium and long term. This highlights the importance of accelerating implementation to advance structural reforms for peace, as the Kroc Institute highlighted in the second gender report at the end of 2019. (Summary from KROC Institute)
Topics: DDR, Ethnicity, Gender, Post-Conflict, Peacebuilding, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia
Year: 2020
