Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Mr.Petr Illiichev, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, at the Security Council on the situation in Colombia

We would like to thank you, Mr. President, for organizing this discussion.

We welcome the participation in today’s meeting of Mr. Naranjo Trujillo, Vice-President of Colombia, and we are grateful to Mr. Jean Arnault, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, for his briefing.

We believe it is important to receive updated information in a timely manner from the source. In the year since the signing of the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), the situation in Colombia has shown positive momentum. The main achievements have unquestionably been the completion of the process of the rebels’ surrender of their arms, the transformation of the FARC into a political party and the agreement on a temporary ceasefire with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional.

We firmly believe that the main reason for those achievements has been Colombians’ declared national responsibility for their peace process. With regard to the agreement with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional, we hope that the Colombian side will show the necessary political will and take decisions as soon as possible that will enable the Council to renew the corresponding mandate of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia.

In general, we share the the Secretary-General’s assessments in his recent report on the situation in the country (S/2017/1117). However, we do have some comments to make. We would like to draw attention to a paragraph in the report about the security situation in various parts of the country.

The information refers not only to the police and other national bodies, but also to the data of some non-governmental organizations. We would like an explanation as to why this information is not presented as coming from the Secretary-General. The same paragraph indicates that the data provided by non-governmental organizations is consistent with information in the possession of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, but the Security Council did not request data from that body. That is concerned more with organizational issues.

With regard to the situation in Colombia, the SecretaryGeneral’s report suggests that there are signs that the main task — the disarming of the FARC — has already been accomplished. We consider that to be an extremely dangerous delusion, especially in the absence of an agreement with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional. Colombia will not succeed in achieving a durable peace until every segment of society is satisfied with the situation.

Needless to say, on that front, we support the work of the Verification Mission, which is now focusing on just that — ensuring that Bogotá fulfils its obligations.

Those efforts should be intensified, especially in the run-up to the forthcoming elections.