Negotiating rights: the Guatemalan peace process

The signing of peace agreements in 1996 ended 36 years of civil war between the Guatemalan government and the Marxist rebel army, Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit. The peace process went beyond an arrangement between armed groups, allowing regional and civic actors to advance their concerns on issues of social justice, political power-sharing and the rule of law. Accord issue 2 analyses the degree to which deep-seated historical grievances about unfair land distribution, the marginalisation of indigenous people, tight controls on political organisation and unacceptable state violence became marginalised during the process, and the remaining challenges in consolidating the peace agreement. Written by local and international authors, the publication also includes a timeline of the peace process, the full peace accord texts and profiles of the main people and institutions involved.