Luz Méndez
Guatemala

Luz Méndez is General Coordinator of the National Union of Guatemalan Women, an association that promotes women's leadership, equitable political participation, and the dissemination of the peace accords. She is also a member of the Comisión de Acompañamiento, which oversees and promotes the implementation of the peace accords at the highest level. Between 1991 and 1996, Ms. Méndez participated in the Guatemalan peace negotiations as the only female member of the delegation of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca). She contributed to the incorporation of woman-specific commitments for gender equity into the Guatemalan Peace Accords. Her university studies were in the fields of communication and business administration.

Ms. Méndez's peace-building activities include:

• participating in Burundi's peace process as part of the UN team of gender experts whose mission was to advise on the incorporation of women's rights into this process;
• speaking at numerous conferences on women, gender equity, peace, and public policy, including the UN Security Council debate "Women, Peace, and Security" in October 2000, the UNIFEM meeting "Engendering the Peace Processes," and the University of Virginia's conference "Gender, Equality, and Democracy in Central America";
• sharing her experiences with Colombian women's organizations and grassroots groups working to participate in and influence the peace efforts in their own country;
• directing numerous projects for the implementation of the peace accords and the incorporation of gender equality in programs throughout the rural communities of Guatemala; and
• disseminating information about the Guatemalan Peace Accords among grassroots women's organizations.

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