Abstract

Reconciliation is one of the main challenges that face countries able to overcome a situation of armed conflict. This is a long and complex process that involves remembering the past, redesigning the present, and building the future. The purpose of this document is to reflect on the elements that need to be taken into account for a process of sustainable reconciliation. That is a process that includes victims' attention, closure of the cycle of violence and the construction of a stable and durable peace. To do that it is followed the proposal of John Paul Lederach who develops the idea of an integrated framework of reconciliation based on three axes of coordinates: time and objectives in the short, medium and long term; the dimensions or areas of action (legal, psychological and structural); and the different levels of society (political, middle and grassroots level). It is concluded that there are no unique and satisfactory peace-building formulas in a society. The times that are handled, the mechanisms that are implemented and the actors that intervene vary from one reality or another. Nevertheless, the idea of reconciliation as an integral process is and must be the essence for the success and sustainability of peace. _Published online_: 11 December 2017.