Peace agreement
A peace agreement is a comprehensive political settlement in the form of an accord that ends conflict and creates the conditions for sustainable, stable, and democratic governance. Peace agreements typically address a range of issues including cessation of hostilities, power-sharing, foreign troop withdrawal, constitutional reform and transitional mechanisms, criminal accountability, the treatment of victims, and economic development.
The structure of a peace agreement is highly dependent on the nature of the conflict and the context in which it takes place. Generally speaking, the most successful peace processes are more inclusive, and involve multiple parties and mediators. This allows for the creation of more realistic compromises, which have a better chance of being implemented. It also gives the peace process the ability to build trust with internal parties and external stakeholders.
It is important for the people involved in a peace agreement to feel invested in it. A key step in this is for peace processes to offer the parties a chance to shape their own agreement text, and give them expert assistance in transforming their goals into practical proposals and in designing compromises. This is crucial, especially in situations where the parties might be unfamiliar with negotiating, and have difficulty in imagining compromises that they might be willing to make.
Finally, peace processes should also ensure that they are providing the parties with the resources they need to implement their commitments. This is particularly important in relation to economic issues. Specifically, this means enabling the conversion of the war economy to one that supports civil society, and helps stabilize legal trade.
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