Statement by representative of the Russian Federation Mr.Stanislav Suprunenko at UNSC Arria-formula meeting "A Milestone Year for a Peaceful Future: Transitional Justice in Colombia"
Mme.President,
We welcome personal participation of Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia Marta Lucia Ramirez in this meeting. We thank the briefers for their inputs.
We appreciate that the organizers of this Arria-meeting raised the issue of justice, which is pivotal not only for Colombia, but for any state in general. Justice, or rather the lack of it, surely ranks among drivers of conflicts and reasons for their recurrence.
Today’s event is dedicated to a landmark development of Colombian peace process –on 28 June, Colombia’s Truth Commission which was instituted under the Final Peace Agreement, issued its report. Being a truly historic document, the FPA gave the long-awaited peace to Colombians, which was backed by strong international support.
The issued report drew a bottom line under five years of painstaking efforts and therefore it deserves total approval of the global community. This is an earnest fact-based document that reflects numerous miscalculations of Colombian authorities and crimes committed by enforcement bodies, and it articulates well-conceived and reasonable recommendations as to how to prevent these from being repeated. The main goal of the report is to find out the truth regarding the conflict in order to create prerequisites for reconciliation in the Colombian society and preclude recurrence of the deadly events.
Beyond any doubt, the report shares truly shocking data, as it documented almost half a million killings, including murders committed by representatives of power authorities for a price. The report cites data on abductions, forced displacements, tortures, extrajudicial executions, conscription of minors, countless cases of sexual violence.
What is important is that the report offers concrete recommendations that should help avoid such things in future. I will not list the recommendations, because only Colombians themselves are to decide what of those they are going to implement and in what form. Therefore we find it critically important that the document received broad support in the society.
Let me just say that to ignore the recommendations of the Truth Commission would mean a wrong step for the Colombian peace process. External attempts to blur out the recommendations of the report with secondary issues are also unacceptable. As we know from numerous historical examples, attempts to impose external solutions and recipes can only exacerbate the problem.
The report of the Truth Commission is yet another manifestation of Colombia’s commitment to reconciliation. It confirmed feasibility of the Final Peace Agreement which retains its relevance even after four years’ worth of attempts to jeopardize its implementation.
Russia stands ready to set forth consistent efforts at the Security Council to support Colombians in matters of implementation of documented agreements.
Thank you.
