Context

The Final Agreement ending the conflict between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) was signed in September 2016. From a peacebuilding perspective, signing an agreement that ends a conflict is only the first step in a long process to build lasting peace. In order to adjust to the new challenges derived from the post-conflict scenario, the National Police of Colombia created the Police Unit for Peacebuilding – UNIPEP –, which seeks to enable a peaceful transformation of conflicts, as part of its institutional policies.

Working with the Colombian National Police contributes to the non-recurrence of armed violence and reduces the emergence of new forms of violence and criminality. For this reason, supporting the Colombian National Police has been strategically valuable for Interpeace and local partner, Alianza para la Paz. A partnership between UNIPEP, Interpeace and Alianza para la Paz, gave rise to the Peacebuilding Model of the National Police, launched on May 2017. Building on this participatory research process, our partnership in Colombia is working with the Police on addressing gender-based violence (GBV) and the recurrence of social protests.