S/PV.8580 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. At this meeting, Council members will hear detailed briefings by the representatives of Peru and the United Kingdom in their capacity as co-leads of the Security Council mission to Colombia on from 11 to 14 July. I shall now make a statement in my capacity as the representative of Peru. The Security Council, led by Peru and the United Kingdom, visited Colombia from 11 to 14 July at the invitation of the Colombian Government. The goal of the visit was to express the full commitment of the Council to the peace process and its support for the implementation of the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace; observe and support the efforts of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, in accordance with its mandate; and better understand the expectations and concerns of the parties and other stakeholders. In keeping with the practical mindset that structured the visit, I will report on the meetings held in Bogotá during the first day of work on Friday, 12 July, while Ambassador Allen will discuss the visit on the ground in the department of Cauca on Saturday, 13 July. In Bogotá, we had a broad agenda that included meetings with various interlocutors, whom we thank for their exceptional frankness and eagerness to talk with us. At breakfast with President Iván Duque Márquez and a meeting with several Government Ministers, including Foreign Minister Trujillo García, who is present here today, the highest-level authorities of Colombia stressed their commitment to the implementation of the peace agreement and the role of the United Nations to that end, the importance of the reincorporation process, concerns about and measures intended to respond to threats to and the killings of social leaders, and the need for rural development. At the same time, the scope and the difficulties of these tasks were explained. At the end of breakfast, the President gave the Security Council a letter requesting the extension of the mandate of the Verification Mission. At a meeting with the members of the congressional peace commission, the majority of representatives underscored the historic importance of the peace agreement and the Council’s support. While stressing the progress made in the implementation of the agreement, they also emphasized such difficulties as political polarization, the need for comprehensive rural reform and for making progress in crop substitution, the lack of State presence in rural areas, and the killings of social leaders, which they blamed on drug trafficking and paramilitary groups. At lunch with the country team, some representatives explained the various tasks that they perform across 20 agencies and programmes of the United Nations represented in Colombia, in particular in support of the implementation of the peace agreement. In that regard, they shared the progress made and challenges faced with respect to rural development, guarantees for reincorporation and security, the rights of victims and reparations, the voluntary substitution of illicit crops, the management of mixed migration flows and the participation of children and young people in the peace process. At our meeting with the political party Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común, despite the difficulties, senators and representatives reaffirmed the full commitment of former combatants to the peace agreement and reiterated the need for the support of the Council. In particular, they questioned the lack of concrete results with respect to reincorporation, the deaths of social leaders and former combatants, persistent political violence and criticism of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. In that regard, they pointed to the need for a national political agreement to overcome the divisions of the past. At our meeting with civil society, which included representatives of peacebuilding organizations, human rights groups, ethnic groups, organizations for women and the protection of children and young people, the Church, the private sector and academia, the progress made and challenges faced in implementing the agreement were also highlighted. Participants cited the need for greater results in the areas of comprehensive rural reform, the substitution of illicit crops, political participation, the dismantling of armed groups, the suppression of fear, the prevention of murder and the vulnerability of ethnic groups, women and children. In that regard, they called for, among other measures, the promotion of a national pact to facilitate the participation of women and young people in political processes, as well as for the convening of the National Commission on Security Guarantees and the allocation of the necessary resources to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. During our meeting with the comprehensive system of truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition, the representatives of the three institutions that make up the system shared with the Council the sensitive issues and difficulties they encounter in fulfilling its mandate, while ensuring a profoundly inclusive and participatory transition. It is a colossal task that involves addressing the structural aspects of the conflict through the quest for truth and justice. We trust that the Colombian people are committed to that task. I shall now resume my functions as President of the Security Council. I now give the floor to Ambassador Allen.

Let me continue where you, Mr. President, left off — with day two of the visit of the Security Council. On 13 July, the Council travelled to Caldono, in Cauca — an area that has been highly affected by conflict over the past five or more decades. Our first meeting there was with community leaders from Caldono and the surrounding region. Those leaders represented diverse stakeholders, including local indigenous authorities and civil guards, women’s groups, Afro-Colombian groups, human rights defenders, cooperatives of rural workers and the Church. Those stakeholders expressed their concerns regarding several challenges that were hindering their work, such as the lack of channels for democratic participation at the local level, the slow pace of implementation of transitional justice and crop- substitution aspects of the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace, the polarization of the national political discourse and killings of and threats against community leaders and human rights defenders. On that last point, I would like to note with concern that one woman community leader decided not to attend the meeting with the Security Council due to threats that she had received the night before. All of us would hope that no further threats are made against her or against her colleagues who were able to attend the meeting with us. That meeting was an important opportunity for Council members to hear at first-hand from those whose daily work focuses on building peace at the local level in Colombia. The discussion with them brought to life many of the challenges outlined in the Secretary-General’s report (S/2019/530). We commend their ongoing commitment to their work. From Caldono, the Council travelled to the Santa Rosa territorial area for training and reincorporation, where we met Government representatives, including Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo García, who we see here today, and Presidential adviser Emilio Archila, local authorities and ex-combatant residents. We also toured a productive project, where ex-combatants and community members were growing tree tomatoes for sale in local and external markets, and we heard about other such projects. In our open meeting, the Government representatives outlined the efforts the Government has been taking to roll out the development plan, with a territorial focus in Cauca, in concert with local indigenous authorities. We also heard about Government-led reintegration programmes in the surrounding area. Regional and local Government representatives reaffirmed their commitment to peace. Local indigenous authorities called on the national Government to accelerate the implementation of the peace agreement and expressed their concern about the killings of community leaders and overall insecurity in the region. The leaders of the Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (FARC) and former combatants called for the consolidation of peace, the acceleration of implementation of the peace agreement and increased efforts to ensure political reintegration, especially ahead of local elections in October, alongside an increased State presence in areas previously occupied by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia- Ejército del Pueblo, where other illegal armed groups now threaten to increase their activity. The visit to the tree tomato productive project allowed the Council to see how agriculture plays a central role in the reintegration of former combatants and to hear from them about their collective efforts and commitment to reintegrating into civilian life. The former combatants were proud of the results their project has shown over the six months since it began and were now looking to expand past the local market and sell directly to national and international supermarkets and distribution channels. Members of the Security Council showed their appreciation for the quality of the tree tomato product in their personal consumption and, without wishing to name names, I would simply suggest to those stakeholders that, if they are looking for an external export market, they might start with Russia. That visit to the field was an important complement to our day in Bogotá and we are grateful to the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, the Government, FARC, former combatants, community leaders and all other stakeholders who were involved in the organization of the visit and the discussions we held. We very much welcome the commitment of all whom we met to building and sustaining peace in Colombia.

On behalf of our delegation and all Council members, I would like to thank all of the members of the Council that participated in the visit. I would also like to thank the Secretariat and the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia for their support in organizing such an important visit and for the efficient manner in which it was organized.