Mediación en conflictos internacionales y el caso de Colombia

The peace agreement signed in November 2016 between the colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is particularly relevant to international relations and conflict mediation. After a downward phase since 1989, in the last five years there has been an increase in the number of armed conflicts in the world. This increase is specially due to the wars in Syria, Irak, Yemen and Libya. The numbre of armed conflicts that end through negotiations has also decreased. The difficulties in reaching negotiated agreements in current violent conflicts reveal their growing complexity, particularly the overlapping of political, economic and identity interests (ethnicity, religion, class), clashes over resources and the interactions between local, regional and international levels. The Colombian conflict has many of this characteristics, and the peace agreement has innovative aspects, both in the way it has been negotiated, and in the actions and challenges that are foreseen for the next decade. It has been particularly innovative that while a limited agenda was negotiated, in parallel it opens the doors to an ambitious reform and modenization of the country.