I. Key general developments in the region

Chapter:

3. Armed conflict and peace processes in the Americas

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2021

Author(s):

Marina Caparini

In 2020 the Americas region experienced varying levels of peace and conflict. According to the global peace index, in 2019 South America experienced the largest decline in peacefulness due to militarization and deterioration of safety and security, while Central America and the Caribbean recorded the second-largest deterioration in peacefulness based on ongoing conflict.¹ In contrast, the trend in violence in 2020 was not as clear—a likely result of the disruptive effects of the Covid‑19 pandemic. Non-international armed conflicts continued in two states in the Americas, worsening in Colombia and Mexico. The 2016 peace accord between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia–Ejército del Pueblo, FARC–EP), which had brought an end to over 50 years of conflict, experienced continuing implementation problems and delays, while killings of former combatants, activists and community and indigenous leaders persisted (see section II). Criminal gang violence intensified in Mexico, leading international humanitarian law experts to identify a third non-international armed conflict to add to the two already existing (see section III).