The United Nations Security Council voted to continue monitoring the implementation of a 2016 peace deal between Colombia’s government and FARC guerrillas.
The vote allows the UN verification mission to continue monitoring the peace process until October 31, 2025.
Since the signing of the peace deal, the UN mission has informed the Security Council with quarterly reports on the parties’ compliance with the agreement that allowed the demobilization and disarmament of the FARC.
As part of its current mandate, the UN mission has additionally been monitoring the government’s ongoing efforts to negotiate peace with guerrilla group ELN and the demobilization of other illegal armed groups, including FARC dissident organizations that formed during the peace process.
The extension had been requested by Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, who was invited to attend the vote.
I thank each of the members of the Security Council for their unanimous support for peace in Colombia, for the implementation of the historic Peace Agreement and for the Government’s peace policy, which focuses on victims, territories, ethnic and peasant groups, women, children, adolescents and youth.
Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo
Interior Minister Luis Fernando Cristo, one of the main promotors of peace in Colombia, celebrated the Security Council decision.
According to Cristo, the UN “has been fundamental in accompanying the construction of peace in the country and guaranteeing compliance with the commitments of the Agreement” made with the now-defunct guerrilla group.
The government of President Gustavo Petro has vowed to implement the FARC deal as part of his “Total Peace” policy, which includes processes with the remaining illegal armed groups.
The UN Security Council has explicitly supported Petro’s peace policy and the government’s attempts to expand the peace process.
