UN Security Council to verify progress of Peace Agreement in Colombia

Bogotá, Feb 7 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations Security Council is visiting Colombia in order to learn about the progress of the implementation of the 2016 Final Peace Agreement and the ongoing talks with other armed groups.

February 7, 2024
08:10

Representatives of the 15 member states of the UN Security Council will visit Colombia after the invitation of the Government of President Gustavo Petro, and will remain in the country until the 11th, according to a statement from the Colombian Foreign Ministry.

Although this is the third time that the Security Council has visited the country, its presence this year “marks a historic milestone in international support for peace in Colombia” as this is the first occasion it has happened after the expansion of the mandate of the Verification Mission to points 1 (comprehensive rural reform) and 6.2 (ethnic chapter) of the 2016 Peace Agreement, as well as the verification and monitoring of the ceasefire with the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The Foreign Ministry added that this will be the first opportunity in which the Security Council meets with representatives of ethnic peoples to learn about their experiences, which will allow them to “gain a greater understanding of the importance of the Government’s commitment in achieving transformation of the territories”.

During the visit, the Council will also meet with signatories to the 2016 Peace Agreement who have participated in reintegration processes, as well as with representatives of the Government in charge of the implementation of the Agreement, victims, civil society and members of other institutions.

The delegation will also learn about the conversations that the Government maintains with the ELN and the Central General Staff, a dissident splinter group of the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP).

“The visit of the Security Council occurs at a decisive moment for the construction of peace, because despite the challenges, there is a renewed political will towards the comprehensive implementation of the Final Peace Agreement and several peace dialogues underway in the context of the Total Peace policy,” said the head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Massieu. “We are confident that 2024 will be the year of the implementation of the Final Peace Agreement, and this visit is an encouragement from the international community for Colombia to renew its commitments and show the world its determination to build peace,” he added.

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