Next month marks the eighth anniversary of the signing of Colombia’s Peace Accord that ended the 54-year conflict between the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
“The Peace Accord addresses conflict-related atrocities and abuses that took place during a time span of more than 50 years,” said Dorothy Shea, Deputy U.S. Representative to the U.N. “Despite progress ... Colombia continues to experience long-term consequences of this conflict. Full implementation of the 2016 Peace Accord is key for Colombia to address these consequences and to achieve durable peace.”
“Achieving this goal will entail accelerating efforts toward full implementation and attaining justice for victims and survivors of the conflict, including survivors of gender and sexual-based violence. Absent these steps, Colombia will continue to face challenges meeting its security, stability, and counternarcotics goals,” she said.
Colombia is developing a rapid response plan that seeks to include development projects, and public investments and services to re-energize the Peace Accord implementation process. Ambassador Shea told the U.N. Security Council recently that “[w]e welcome renewed efforts to revitalize the implementation of the Final Agreement.”
“The United States has long supported Colombia’s efforts to enact rural reform, a comprehensive and challenging, but vital, component of the Peace Accord,” she said. “To advance the Comprehensive Rural Reform chapter and to create more equitable, sustainable, and peaceful communities across Colombia, more must be done – particularly, to expand land rights and climate-smart agriculture, access to financing for women, youth, and marginalized racial, ethnic, and Indigenous communities.”
There is a clear “need for greater security measures to protect human rights defenders, social leaders, and ex-combatants. ... Likewise, the continued violence against social leaders and human rights defenders is deeply troubling,” said Ambassador Shea. And “[e]thnic communities continue to be disproportionately affected by ongoing violence.”
“It is important that Colombia’s government uphold its commitments to Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities under the Ethnic Chapter. As the international accompanier to the Ethnic Chapter of the Peace Accord, the United States urges more rapid progress and implementation in this area,” she said.
“[I]n the eight years since the Final Agreement, continued implementation of this peace agreement’s provisions remains key,” said Ambassador Shea. “Achieving peace for the sake of all Colombians, especially civilian communities and the vulnerable communities of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples, should remain at the forefront of all involved.”
