Bogotá, 20 July 2018 - The United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and the United Nations System in Colombia celebrate the installation today of the Colombian Congress resulting from the most participative and peaceful legislative elections in decades.

The inclusion in the Senate and House of Representatives of the political party of the Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común - FARC -- 20 months after the signing of the Peace Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP marks this this group’s transition from weapons to politics and the country's transition from conflict to the search for reconciliation.

Given the challenges of violence and poverty that persist in rural areas of the country, the United Nations hopes that, in a climate of national harmony, the work of a new Congress will be decisive for the extension of state presence under the rule of law and the consolidation of peace across Colombia.

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