(Note: Due to the financial liquidity crisis affecting the United Nations and the resulting constraints, the full press release will be published at a later date.)
IDENTICAL LETTERS DATED 19 JANUARY 2016 FROM THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF COLOMBIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL
Briefings
Briefing by Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Colombia and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, to come.
DIEGO TOVAR, Representative of the high contracting party to the Commission for the Follow-up, Promotion and Verification of the Implementation of the Final Agreement, said that today's inauguration of the Colombia peace monument at UN Headquarters symbolized the peace signatories' commitment "to comply with what was agreed upon since we laid down arms". This requires strict monitoring of the Final Agreement's implementation, he stressed - "for all of us who opted for peace". To that end, inter-institutional coordination must be strengthened and comprehensive State presence in the territories must be reinforced. Noting that the Final Agreement's implementation depends on the coordinated work of 53 State entities, he emphasized that, today, 15 "are not producing the expected results" - including the Commission, the Special Instance for Women and Gender, the Ethnic Instance and the National Reintegration Council.
"Violence in the territories continues to destroy the lives of entire communities," he went on to say, adding that it also limits State authorities' ability to fulfil their responsibilities. The involvement of minors in conflict and violence against both women in reintegration processes and members of ethnic communities are major concerns, and the recent forced displacement of the Miravalle Territorial Area for Training and Reintegration is "emblematic", he said, of insufficient implementation of security guarantees and State presence as well as a "precarious reintegration process". He also expressed concern over the degree of impunity for homicides and other forms of violence - "which remains very high" - noting that the special investigation unit of the prosecutor's office has yet to produce significant results. "The State must fulfil its obligations to the women and men who laid down their weapons in a negotiated solution to decades of war - to work for peace", he underscored.
"On a positive note", however, he welcomed State progress regarding the purchase and delivery of land within the framework of comprehensive agrarian reform, the legislature's recent approval of an agrarian jurisdiction and the Government's willingness to update the main implementation road map. Noting that signatories have recently delivered an action plan to the Government detailing specific short- and medium-term goals, he said that such signatories are at the State's service to begin its implementation. He also thanked the Council for its continued and decisive support for the Final Agreement, "against which current and future peace processes in Colombia - and the rest of the world - can be measured". He added: "Peace will prevail."
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