Remarks of SRSG Carlos Ruiz Massieu
Peacebuilding Commission Ambassadorial-Level Meeting on Colombia
11 July 2024

As delivered 

Mr. Chairman, and distinguished members.

Agradezco la oportunidad de participar en esta importante reunión.

Es un honor particular hacerlo en una ocasión tan especial, marcada por la visita del presidente Petro a las Naciones Unidas. 

Saludo la ambición del Presidente Petro de llevar la “paz total” a Colombia.

Agradezco el apoyo y cooperación extendidos por él y por su Gobierno a la Misión de Verificación y a las Naciones Unidas en sentido amplio en el país.

Colombia’s initiative to proactively engage with the Peacebuilding Commission is welcome news: an opportunity to offer its experiences to other nations grappling with conflicts, but also to explore how the United Nations can further contribute to peacebuilding in Colombia.

As members of this Commission are aware, a peace process that has inspired the world and brought historic progress to Colombia is also facing challenges.

Most notable among them is the ongoing violence in certain regions, linked to limited progress to date in extending services, development and a robust presence of the state to areas historically affected by conflict. 

Actions to deescalate the ongoing conflicts in those areas and increase protection for communities and vulnerable persons must be coupled with longer-term efforts to transform these territories.

Thousands of former combatants striving to carve out new lives in peace need greater security, improved housing, technical assistance and access to markets to ensure their new livelihoods are sustainable.

Implementation of key areas of the agreement of 2016 have also lagged behind schedule, including the ethnic chapter and gender provisions.

Rural reforms aimed to overcome structural causes of the conflict, most notably the inequitable distribution of land, are still at a preliminary stage, despite impressive steps by the current Administration to make this a priority.

Reconciliation, spurred on by the work of a pioneering system for transitional justice system, remains incipient.  

As Colombians keep working to overcome such  obstacles, they will benefit from an international community that remains engaged and supportive.  As they stay the course, so should we.

However, it is equally important in my view that we make sure that our assistance to Colombia is tailored to Colombia’s requests and Colombia’s needs. 

That principle has guided well the UN’s involvement to date, and I believe it has been one of the key ingredients to successful partnership with Colombia.

I can offer as an example to this Commission the role of the Verification Mission.

As it neared a peace agreement eight years ago, Colombia took its own carefully considered decision to come to the Security Council and request its support through the deployment of a Special Political Mission. 

It had studied other peace process and taken note of the UN’s experience in the verification of peace agreements, its trustworthiness as an impartial third party to help build confidence on the ground while acting with full respect for national sovereignty.

From an initial mandate to verify the final ceasefire and laying down of arms of the former FARC-EP, the focus of the Mission’s monitoring has grown, but always at the request of the Colombian parties.  

The Mission’s verification today spans a wide gamut of issues: the reintegration of former combatants, their security and that of conflict-affected communities; transitional justice; rural reforms and a chapter addressing the special impact of the conflict on Colombia’s ethnic peoples.

The Mission takes a proactive approach, not simply reporting on the evolving state of implementation, but setting out each day, though is presence around the country, to accompany the parties, state officials, communities in areas still affected by conflict, women, youth, ethnic peoples, victims, and others, in an intensive, non-stop peacebuilding exercise. 

We do so in complement with UN agencies who work within their mandates to support inclusive peacebuilding in Colombia.

Today, under the Total Peace policy articulated by President Petro, the UN has been able to expand further its assistance  by responding to requests of the parties to support dialogues with remaining armed groups.  

We see the implementation of the Final Peace Agreement and these new peace initiatives as two pillars of a mutually reinforcing strategy for bringing down residual violence and addressing its causes.

We appreciate the trust the President and his peace team have placed in the UN to play this good offices role, and we are committed through our presence at the peace table to help to build confidence that is essential for peace.

One of the strategic contributions of the Secretary-General’s peacebuilding fund has been its support through an Immediate Response Facility to allow the UN to assist the dialogue processes.  

In conclusion, Colombia’s success story is still being written. The situation remains dynamic, and we must be attentive to opportunities to help Colombia to address the ongoing challenges to building peace.

I trust that this Commission can serve as a platform to help identify and respond to such opportunities, while also permitting Colombia to offer its peacebuilding experiences and innovations to the world.

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