The Colombian government, seeking to reform its National Police in a time of security challenges and mass protests, has focused on big-city units that sit in the national spotlight. While the reform efforts are generally praiseworthy, the emphasis on… Read more
USIP implemented its Initiative to Measure Peace and Conflict (IMPACT) program first in the Central African Republic and later in Colombia, where it worked directly with peacebuilding organizations to gauge their collective impact on fostering… Read more
Drawing on a wide range of cases, including Burma, Colombia, Senegal, and Uganda, this Peace Brief discusses the internal cohesion of nonstate armed groups, explains how weak cohesion can undermine a peace process, and offers various strategies that… Read more
Violent conflict, refugee flows, and internal displacements present international policymakers and practitioners today with unprecedented challenges. Tackling these problems requires not only signed peace agreements but also sustainable peace. It is not… Read more
The promises and visions articulated in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and subsequent UN resolutions and position papers that recognize the connection between gender equity and women's participation in all aspects of peace processes and… Read more
Forced disappearances are a legacy of Colombia’s half-century of internal armed conflict. They have affected the rural and urban poor, labor and peasant organizers, journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, and Afro-Colombian and indigenous… Read more
Providing guidance on the mediation and negotiation aspects of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs, this toolkit lays out eight detailed steps that mediators can take to establish appropriate linkages between DDR and other… Read more
Over the past several decades, dozens of countries have established truth commissions and other bodies to investigate mass atrocities or systematic human rights abuse. Lessons learned from past truth-finding processes are invaluable to help address the… Read more
Two seasoned NGOs engage nonstate combatants on international human rights law to get them to change behaviors, from eliminating use of landmines to protecting civilians. Their work can inform and complement other attempts at engagement. Summary… Read more
On August 7, 2010, Juan Manuel Santos, a defense minister under the outgoing administration of President Alvaro Uribe, was inaugurated as Colombia’s new president. Peace issues were largely absent from public debate during the presidential campaign, but… Read more
Private oil companies invested $800 million in Peru in 2009 alone, and another $1 billion is planned for investments in natural gas developments between 2010-2013, as Peru is rapidly on its way to becoming Latin America’s first exporter of liquefied… Read more
With congressional and presidential elections respectively scheduled for March 14 and May 30, 2010, electoral politics in Colombia will shape the prospects for peace in the coming months. Peace does not appear on the government’s public policy agenda and… Read more