The School of Peace Culture (ECP) of the UAB has publishedPeace negotiations 2025. Analysis of trends and scenarios, its annual report on the global state of peace negotiations. The analysis shows that 53 peace processes were registered in 2025, the highest number in recent years. In addition, in 55% of current armed conflicts (22 out of 40) there were processes of dialogue and negotiation. Despite this increase in negotiations, an increase in conflict was detected in a context of increased armed conflicts and tensions around the world.
The ECP-UAB studystates that 2025 was a record year: 53 peace processes and negotiations were counted, the highest figure since the ECP-UAB began using the current classification in 2017. This trend, however, was not accompanied by less conflict and violence, but occurred in a global context of an increase in armed conflicts and an upward trend in the number of tensions: during 2025, up to 40 active armed conflicts were registered, the highest figure since 2011, according to the report Alerta! also prepared by the ECP.
With regard to peace processes, the report highlights that they were present in 55% of active armed conflicts in 2025. The geographical distribution shows that 36% of negotiations were underway in Africa; 23%, in the Asia and the Pacific area; 15%, in the Middle East, and the same percentage (13%), both in America and Europe. Among all the dialogue processes, the study analyzes, among others, the resumption of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, although with multiple obstacles; negotiations over Iran's nuclear program that had ups and downs and were marred by the 12-day war between Iran, Israel and the US; the negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia on the armed conflict that began in 2025 around their historic border dispute, and the Inclusive National Dialogue process in Mozambique to respond to the large popular protests and social crises that shook the country.
Processes with difficulties
Most of these negotiations faced blockages, obstacles and difficulties, and in some cases even setbacks, as in the case of Colombia, with the official suspension of negotiations with the ELN at the beginning of 2025, or Yemen, with the blocking of the peace process affected by the dynamics of regional upheaval and the interrelationship of conflicts.
The yearbook highlights another aspect of the 2025 peace processes and that is the participation of external actors in roles of mediation or dialogue support: in 48 of the 53 negotiations third country governments, intergovernmental organizations and also religious organizations and civil society actors participated. In line with the trend consolidated in previous years, the UN was the main intergovernmental organization that participated as a third party in support of peace processes. However, its role was slightly reduced compared to previous years. Many states became involved as third parties in negotiation processes, often in a context of projecting national interests in an international context of dispute for hegemony between powers. For example, Turkey, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia played an active role as third parties in various negotiations in Africa.
On the other hand, the study highlights the persistent difficulties suffered by women to participate in negotiations and to incorporate the gender perspective in peace processes. America was the only region in which the participation and leadership of women was verified in a large part of the peace negotiations, specifically in Colombia, but without this participation implying that gender agendas had a preeminent space.. The ECP-UAB emphasizes that despite their exclusion from most processes, women's organizations in civil society mobilized to claim their participation in the peace negotiations, raising demands, demanding strikes the fire and getting involved in multiple initiatives such as emergency responses to conflicts.