A peace agreement is a negotiated settlement between the belligerents of a conflict to end hostilities. Peace agreements can be negotiated in a variety of formats. They may be in the form of a treaty between the parties to a conflict or an agreement within a larger peace process. They are also sometimes called pacts, pactum de contrahendo or pactum de negotiando.
Although they are often referred to as treaties, peace agreements do not have the same international legal status as a treaty under the two Vienna Conventions. This is because they usually do not terminate the state of war in the formal sense between the belligerents, and are only concerned with putting an end to hostilities.
The underlying concept of a Peace agreement is that parties must take responsibility for the recurrence of violent conflict and for finding lasting solutions to its root causes. This building block includes various ways to achieve this objective, including the establishment of institutions aimed at resolving grievances and conflict prevention mechanisms.
In the course of any protracted violent conflict, transgressions against justice are inevitably committed. This building block includes a series of articles that address the need to incorporate structures for acknowledging and addressing injustice in the structure of Peace agreements, as well as strategies for bringing justice to victims.
A successful peace agreement requires strong preparation. One of the most important factors is understanding the cultural context in which the negotiations are conducted. The differences between cultures affect language, timing and silence, as well as whether or not there is an emphasis on empathy or sympathy during the negotiation process.