Advocating for a Gender-Sensitive Implementation of the Colombian Peace Accords

One of the achievements of the 2016 Colombian peace accords with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was the holistic integration of gender and women’s rights into the accord. The case for a differential gender approach is clearly laid out in a new policy memo by Georgetown University graduate students, Laura Cossette and Kenia Saba, as well as WOLA and LAWGEF, that recounts the road to inclusion, battles thereafter, the current state of affairs, and future recommendations for a gender-based approach to peace implementation. The 2016 peace accord is the first in the world to include such an extensive transversal differentiated gender approach. This was only possible after civil society organizations mobilized and advocated to include the voices of women, the LGBTQ+ community, and ethnic communities including indigenous and Afro-Colombians. As a response, the Gender Sub-Commission was installed in 2014. This commission “not only focused on women’s rights, but also on how the conflict-affected individuals based on their sexual and gender identity.”