Legacies of Violence and the Unfinished Past: Women in Post-Demobilization Colombia and Guatemala
Publisher: Peacebuilding
Author(s): Elisa Tarnaala
Date: 2018
Topics: Dispute Resolution/Mediation, Gender, Governance, Protection and Access to Justice
Countries: Colombia, Guatemala
This article examines the historically grounded social acceptance of impunity and the role of unwanted actors in peace and transitional processes. The article argues from a post-demobilization violence perspective that counter-democratic developments, which have historical and global roots, condition peacebuilding and impose important limits on the deepening of inclusion. In Colombia and Guatemala, internationally backed peacebuilding activities occurred in the same regions where the local authorities continued their partnership with criminal and authoritarian actors. Thus, parallel to the shift towards greater political and economic stability at the national level, attacks against human rights activists and environmental activists, intra-community violence, violence against women, prostitution and the trafficking of girls continued at the local level and in some areas increased.