Luz Méndez

Guatemala

Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996, was marked by human rights violations and the displacement of an estimated one million out of a population of only 13 million. Luz Méndez is president of the Advisory Council to the National Union of Guatemalan Women. She was formerly general coordinator of the Union, which promotes women’s rights, gender-equitable political participation, and the implementation of the Guatemalan peace accords. Between 1991 and 1996, Ms. Méndez participated in the negotiations as the only female member of the delegation of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca), contributing to the incorporation of woman-specific commitments for gender equity into the accords. Until recently, she was a member of the Comisión de Acompañamiento, which monitors and promotes the implementation of the accords at the highest level. Ms. Méndez is a member of the advisory council of the Global Fund for Women, and she has been a member of the advisory group of the Independent Experts’ Assessment on Women, War, and Peace, a study supported by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Currently pursuing a master’s degree in public administration as a Mason Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, her university education also includes gender studies 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;
• participating in the first Arria Formula meeting on women, peace, and security in October 2000—these talks among the United Nations Security Council and several women’s organizations led to the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls on member nations to promote the full inclusion of women throughout peace processes;
• speaking at conferences on women, gender equity, peace, and public policy, including the UNIFEM panel “Engendering the Peace Processes” during the Beijing +5 UN General Assembly Special Session, and the University of Virginia’s conference “Gender, Equality, and Democracy in Central America”;
• participating, with other women leaders from member nations, as panelist in the videoconference on Women, Peace, and Security organized by the Organization of American States Interamerican Commission for Women;
• 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 projects for the implementation of the accords and the incorporation of gender equality in programs throughout Guatemala’s rural communities; and
• disseminating information about the Guatemalan peace accords among grassroots women’s organizations.

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