Biography

Luz Méndez of Guatemala is president of the Advisory Board of Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas, which works for gender equality, social justice and peacebuilding. She participated in the table of peace negotiations as part of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity’s delegation, where she dedicated special attention to the incorporation of gender equality commitments in the accords. After the end of the war, she was a member of the National Council for the Implementation of the Peace Accords. She was also the coordinator of the Women Agents for Change Consortium, an alliance of women's and human rights organizations working for the empowerment of women survivors of sexual violence during the armed conflict, seeking justice and reparations. Méndez was a speaker at the first meeting that the U.N. Security Council held with women’s organizations leading up to the passage of resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Méndez was a Woman PeaceMaker in 2004.

Read Méndez's Women PeaceMaker narrative, "A Just Path, A Just Peace: A Narrative of the Life and Work of Luz Méndez of Guatemala."