CONFLICTS AND PEACE PROCESSES
International consultant
Armed conflicts and peace processes
- Analyst of armed conflicts and organized violence and a negotiation and mediation specialist for resolving armed conflicts.
- Non-Resident Fellow of the Center for the Comparative Study of Civil War (CCSCW, 2022-2023).
- Advisor and member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Studies on Conflicts and Humanitarian Action (IECAH).
- Advisor to governments and international institutions on matters of mediation in international conflicts.
ABOUT
Expert in mediation, negotiation, and conflict resolution with experience in Track I and Track II mediation processes in armed and socio-political conflicts. Articulation with crucial actors in peace and conflict scenarios. Advisor to different governments and international institutions on mediation and conflict resolution issues.
Mabel has developed her career through a series of positions related to peace and security: trends in armed conflict and organized violence; illicit economies and violence; mediation, conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
Currently, she advises various governments and international institutions on matters of mediation, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. She is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for the Comparative Study of Civil War (CCSCW, 2022-2023). She also advises and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Studies on Conflicts and Humanitarian Action (IECAH). Mabel is a visiting professor of geopolitics, trends in armed conflicts and organized violence, conflict analysis, mediation, and peacebuilding (Postgraduate courses in Spain and abroad).
From 2016 to 2021 Mabel was a Senior Advisor of the Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution (NOREF), providing specialized support to Track I and Track II dialogue initiatives in Venezuela. She was a member of the Norwegian MFA facilitation team for the dialogue processes in Oslo-Barbados (2019) and during the road to Mexico (2021).
In 2015 she was a Fellow of the Global South Unit for Mediation (Brazil) and has worked with Doctors without Borders, the Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa, and Greenpeace, among others.
In 2022 she was selected to attend the Peace Mediation Course (PMC) of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
Among other distinctions, she was a 2008 German Marshall Fellow of the US, and in 2012 she completed the MLitt in Terrorism Studies at the University of St Andrews with final distinction. In 2015, she completed the Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict (Tufts University).
TEACHING
Since 2001, guest lecturer in doctoral and postgraduate studies on international security and geopolitics, armed conflicts, mediation and conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. She also delivers university lectures on conflicts, peacebuilding, and geopolitical challenges in the MENA region and Latin America.
- Diplomatic School (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
- Alice Salomon University (ASH Berlin)
- Jaume I University
- SEIPAZ Foundation
- School for a Culture of Pau
- Autonomous University of Madrid
- University of Granada
- Institute for Conflict Resolution, UCLM
- Ortega Marañón Foundation
- Complutense University of Madrid
- Pontifical University of Comillas
- International University of Andalusia
- International University of La Rioja
- International University of Valencia (VIU)
- REACT Course (Rapid Expert Assistance and Cooperation for Conflict Prevention, Crisis Management, and Post-Conflict Rehabilitation)
CONSULTING SERVICES
Mabel has provided analysis and advice for political decision-making in mediation processes, conflict analysis, process design, and negotiation. She has extensive experience in process design, facilitation, advisory services, capacity building, and policy development/research, and a proven ability to deal with a diverse range of stakeholders in different settings including conflict parties, civil society, diplomats, and government officials.
Selection:
European External Action Service – EEAS (2024)
CEPPS | Consortium for Elections & Political Process Strengthening – IRI & NDI (2022-2024)
Chatham House (2024)
Berghof Foundation (2023)
Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, España (2022)
Navanti Group (2021-2022)
Norwegian Refugee Council (2016)
NOREF (2014-2016)
Wikistrat (2013-2016)
The Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa (2004-2005)
EVENTS
AND MEDIA
Culture of Peace and Armed Forces. Presentation on Plural Media in the prevention and resolution of conflicts
SIP Foundation | September 27, 2024
Netanyahu’s, a language that “precedes genocide”
Interview in Proceso, Mexico | November 5, 2023
International mediation, a key to achieving peace
International mediation, a key to achieving peace. With Teresa Withfield, Mabel González Bustelo and Mariano Aguirre | IECAH-La Casa Encendida. (Spanish) | December 2023
Debate Forum: Conflict in the Middle East: disinformation and geopolitics
With Alfredo Kramarz, Mabel Bustelo and MalkahNobigrot. Ortega y Gasset Mexico Foundation, November 25, 2023.
Seeking a Way Out: Prospects for International Mediation in Palestine
IECAH virtual seminar | October 25, 2023
War Ukraine: the Chinese plan for peace, can it work? is it neutral?
Interview on RTVE Noticias, (Spanish) | March 31, 2023
War in Ukraine: What form can the end of the conflict take? Is a negotiation viable instead of a military defeat of one of the two parties?
Interview on Radio Mundo, Uruguay (Spanish) | May 16, 2022
Workshop: From the prevention and resolution of conflicts to the construction of peace
Seminar organized by IECAH: From the prevention and resolution of conflicts to the construction of peace (Spanish) | 19 April, 2022
Roundtable: Ending the war: negotiation and mediation between bombs
Round Table organized by IECAH and La Casa Encendida: Ending the war: negotiation and mediation between bombs (Spanish) | April 6, 2022
Seminar: Ukraine: negotiated solution, shared security
Seminar: Ukraine: negotiated solution, shared security (Spanish) | March 30, 2022
How peace is built
Interview in Carne Cruda Radio -El Diario- (Spanish) | March 10, 2022
Podcast: Enemies at the table: how to negotiate a peace in the middle of war
Podcast: Al día: Juan Luis Sánchez -El Diario- (Spanish) | March 3, 2022
PUBLICATIONS
Publications (selection)
The ban on cluster bombs
Deusto Human Rights, University of Deusto, Bilbao, 2009
Is mediation with criminal groups possible?
Peace in Construction (El País), March 14, 2016
Mediation with Non-Conventional Armed Groups? Experiences from Latin America
BPC Policy Brief, V. VI, no. 1, BRICS Policy Centre, Brazil
Two months for peace in Colombia?
In Global, February 9th, 2016
A sense of déjà vu: Illegal Drugs in West Africa and the Sahel
The Broker, 28 January 2015
Violence and illegal economies: Old answers for new challenges?
Peace in Construction (El País), 18 March 2014
