What's New in Version 6 of the PA-X Database?

The sixth release (V6) of the PA-X Database and Dataset adds 44 new agreements to the collection, for a total of 1,959 agreements covering the 1990-2022 period with global scope.  All the agreements are coded for a variety of substantive categories, from constitutional reform, to ceasefire provision, and transitional justice, to name but a few.

The PA-X website allows for the agreements to be explored and viewed, while the data can be downloaded as a csv file for quantitative analysis or as a corpus of agreement texts. Each agreement is available as a pdf document, and where the agreement was translated into English, both the English and the original language versions are available.

New Data on Local Agreements and Gender

Of these 44 newly added agreements , only 12 have a gender-related component, which is both low and in line with expectations1. These agreements have also been added to Gender PA-X, which provides more detail on how agreements deal with matters related to women, girls, and gender, with the same global coverage for the 1990-2022 period as the main PA-X collection.

Over its six releases, PA-X has seen a steady stream of local agreements – those that refer to localised conflicts or localised impact of wider conflicts – and in this release, such agreements make for nearly a third of the newly added documents: 14 of the 44 new agreements have been added to PA-X Local.

While most of the agreements among those newly added are from 2021 and 2020 (18 and 13, respectively), some older agreements have been added as well, the oldest among these dating back to 2008.

The newly added agreements also feature English translations of three local agreements from Syria, collected by the PeaceRep team at LSE Ideas, headed by Dr Rim Turkmani.

World map highlighting countries that are the subject of peace agreements added to version 6 of the PA-X Database
World map highlighting countries that are the subject of peace agreements added to version 6 of the PA-X Database

Unusual Additions

This release also contains some unusual documents, such as the agreement between Taliban and a local education department in Helmand2, which regulates the provision of education in the area and allows for passage of education workers. It is this aspect of normalisation and the provision for access and mobility that makes it an agreement that aims to regulate the armed conflict, even if it only contributes to resolving the entire conflict in a marginal way.

Another somewhat unusual document in the new release of PA-X is the Troika Statement on Witnessing the Juba Agreement3, which extends the Juba Agreement in Sudan so that the governments of United Kingdom, Norway and United States are formally acting as witnesses to the Agreement. The Statement adds little to the Juba Agreement, but it does expand the set of actors involved in the agreement, which is why it is added to PA-X as a key part of the negotiations in Sudan.

Explore the updated PA-X Peace Agreements Database

 

References

  1. Gender perspectives in peace agreements: Time for a new approach? (PeaceRep blog)
  2. Taliban MoU with Department of Helmand on Education (peace agreement)
  3. Witnessing the Juba Peace Agreement: Troika statement (peace agreement)

 

Author

Sanja Badanjak’s profile