Northern Ireland and Colombian Peace Accords: Insights on Negotiations, Design, and Implementation for Sustainable Peacebuilding

Featuring

Eamon Gilmore

Special Representative for Human Rights and the Special Envoy for the Peace Process in Colombia, European Union

Two comprehensive peace accords have greatly influenced frameworks for policy, research, and practice in the past decades: the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, signed in 1998 between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of Ireland, and the 2016 Final Peace Accord signed between the Government of Colombia and the former FARC-EP guerrillas. 

Both agreements ended deeply-rooted armed conflicts and, despite difficulties, have withstood manifold tensions, from their processes of negotiation and approval through upheaval in their implementation in the midst of changing political landscapes.

During this webinar, Eamon Gilmore will deliver a keynote address to examine the status of the Irish and Colombian peacebuilding processes and explore options for overcoming threats to peace implementation. 

Mr. Gilmore has long been a campaigner for peace. As Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, he managed the Northern Ireland Peace Process on behalf of the Irish Government. Now, as the European Union’s special envoy to the peace process in Colombia and special representative for Human Rights, he is well situated to speak to the successes and challenges of both peace agreements negotiation and the struggles for peace and reconciliation during their implementation.

R. Scott Appleby, Marilyn Keough Dean, Keough School of Global Affairs, will offer opening remarks prior to the keynote address. 

The following speakers will provide comments following Mr. Gilmore’s keynote address:

• Josefina Echavarría Alvarez, Director, Peace Accords Matrix, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
• Patrick Griffin, Director, Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies; Madden-Hennebry Professor of History
• Laurie Nathan, Director, Mediation Program; Professor of the Practice, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
• Etain Tannam, Associate Professor, International Peace Studies, Trinity College Dublin
• Moderator: David Cortright, Director of the Global Policy Initiative; Special Advisor for Policy Studies; and Professor Emeritus of the Practice, Keough School of Global Affairs

Watch the full event:

Organized by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies in collaboration with the Keough School of Global Affairs.