As Colombia stands at a historic threshold in the implementation of its 2016 Final Peace Agreement, decisions made in the coming months will be important for shaping the continuity and long-term sustainability of the peace process amid a changing political and institutional context, according to a new report by the Kroc Institute’s Peace Accords Matrix. The report highlights the high stakes of the nation’s current political transition and arrives at a critical moment as the current administration ends and a new administration and a reconfigured Congress take office. Their decisions will shape the country’s path for the next four years.
As Colombia stands at a historic threshold in the implementation of its 2016 Final Peace Agreement, decisions made in the coming months will be important for shaping the continuity and long-term sustainability of the peace process amid a changing political and institutional context, according to a new report by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
The report comes from the Institute’s Peace Accords Matrix (PAM), highlighting the high stakes of the nation’s current political transition. Published through the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, the report — titled “Ninth Year of Implementation: Trends and Keys for the Political Transition” — arrives at a critical moment as the current administration ends and a new administration and a reconfigured Congress take office. Their decisions will shape the country’s path for the next four years.
Drawing on data collected by PAM’s Barometer Initiative between December 2024 and November 2025, the findings reveal that while 36 percent of the 2016 Final Accord’s 578 stipulations have reached full implementation, work continues as the accord enters a pivotal phase of execution. The institute’s analysis further underscores a persistent gap in the “comprehensiveness” of the implementation, particularly regarding the gender and ethnic approaches. Within these findings, the report offers a strategic road map for the current and incoming administration, proposing 16 strategic actions to support the continuity and stability of the implementation process.
“The narrative of the ninth year of implementation is a story of profound tension between institutional ambition and the lived reality of conflict,” said Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, director of PAM. This tension is illustrated by striking contrasts: On one hand, the report documented the adjudication of 40,052 hectares of land until October 2025 — a figure representing more than half of the total land adjudicated since the signing of the accord. In addition, the legal landscape saw a major shift as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) issued its first two restorative sentences and the conclusion of the first adversarial trial, providing a long-awaited measure of justice for victims of the former guerrilla group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) and retired military members.
At the same time, these developments also highlight ongoing implementation challenges, including the importance of institutional coordination between the national government, the JEP and territorial authorities for the implementation of restorative sanctions.
Despite the entry into force of a landmark law to prevent and punish violence against women in politics and the consolidation of 20 peace radio stations, only 13 percent of gender-focused stipulations and 14 percent of ethnic-focused commitments have reached full implementation. With nearly 43 percent of the overall agreement still sitting in a "minimum" or "not initiated" status, the report warns that the window to fulfill the accord's promises within the established timeframe is narrowing, leaving the most marginalized victims of the conflict still waiting for the process to yield tangible results.
The report emphasizes that the 2016 accord must be treated as a permanent “state policy” that transcends political cycles. Ángela Ramírez Rincón, executive director of the Barometer Initiative in Colombia, shares how “stable and lasting peace depends on the sustained implementation of the Peace Accord as a state policy that transcends the political will of any single administration.”
The report also highlights the need to reestablish the Presidential Office for the Implementation of the Peace Accord and to ensure the strict alignment of the 2026-2030 National Development Plan with the Framework Plan for Implementation. By bridging the gap between high-level planning and effective budgetary execution, the report maintains that Colombia can navigate this transition and finally provide the visible, verifiable results necessary to sustain public trust in the territories most affected by the conflict.
Alongside the full Spanish report, the Kroc Institute produced an executive summary in English highlighting key points of the report and has released all its original data for other scholars to utilize in their work. Later this summer, the Barometer Initiative will also release a series of regional reports.
The Kroc Institute has released nine prior reports on the status of overall implementation, as well as four reports on implementation of gender provisions, three reports on implementation of ethnic provisions, a special report on the implementation of the Final Agreement from the perspective of victims’ rights and a special report on the environmental challenges.
All reports can be reviewed here.
Originally published by at kroc.nd.edu on May 13.
Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or [email protected]
