“The members of the Security Council reiterated that the peace process remains an example for others around the world” and said they will soon decide on whether to extend the monitoring mission of the process whose mandate is due to expire in September.
The United Nations Security Council urged Colombia’s government on
Tuesday to implement elements of the 2016 peace deal with former
FARC rebels that have come to a virtual halt.
Following their visit to the country earlier this month, the ambassadors praised the government of President Ivan Duque‘s commitment to the reintegration of former guerrillas in a press release.
The ambassadors additionally welcomed the government’s recent
initiation of the implementation of development programs in areas
considered priority in the 2016 peace deal and Duque’s signing of the
statutory law of the war crimes tribunal.
The Security Council
members, however, “stressed the importance of implementing the Final
Agreement as an interlocking set of commitments, which include
reintegration plans as well as agreements on rural reform, political
participation, countering illicit drugs, and transitional justice.”
While
Duque has committed to the reintegration of the FARC’s former
guerrillas since he took office last year, the president has done little
to nothing to implement the elements considered key to prevent a
possible resurgence of armed conflict.
The UN ambassadors also made it clear that they expected the
president to keep his promise and ensure “that the transitional justice
system is able to work independently and autonomously, with the
necessary political and financial support.”
The Finance Ministry
announced earlier this month that it would cut the budget of the
transitional justice system that would severely limit the work of the
Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the truth commission and the
search unit trying to return some 120,000 disappeared persons to their
families.
Last but not least, the top UN body “expressed serious
concern at the continued killings of social and community leaders and
former FARC-EP members” and urged Duque to make sure that a series of
announced measures “translate into concrete results in preventing
attacks and bringing those responsible to justice.”