Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UNSC Briefing on Colombia
Mr. President,
We would like to thank Special Representative of the Secretary-General Carlos Ruiz Massieu for his detailed briefing, his last one in this capacity. We extend our sincere appreciation to him for his irreproachable leadership of the Verification Mission and his many years of work to advance peace in Colombia. We welcome the participation of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo in today's meeting.
We note that, thanks to the decisiveness and resolute position of Bogota and the international support, since the very signing of the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) Colombia has continued to move along the fragile but only viable path towards national reconciliation. It is important that the authorities remain committed to their obligations under the agreement and are making efforts to achieve progress on the various aspects thereof. Land reform is advancing slowly but surely, and there has been progress in terms of reintegration and ensuring safety and security for ex-combatants. We welcome the conduct of this year’s first meeting of the Commission for the Follow-up, Promotion and Verification of the Implementation of the FPA. It is important for the parties to the agreement to engage in dialogue among themselves so as to set out priorities for their concerted efforts. And now there remains the most important objective to attain, which is to implement what has been planned.
For now, however, we note a continued significant discrepancy between the expectations of the signatories to the FPA and the real situation on the ground. The key problems here are the security vacuum and limited state presence in the conflict-affected regions. Against this backdrop, we see armed and criminal groups expanding their areas of influence, with participants in the dialogue increasingly turning into drug dealers who are fiercely fighting among themselves for cocaine routes and markets. As time has shown, many of them are not actually willing to embrace peace, and in response to the spiking violence by illegal armed groups, the state is also compelled to use force to ensure public order. Nevertheless, we remain hopeful that there will be dialogue with those armed actors who are genuinely committed to returning to peaceful life.
The situation in a number of regions of the country is exacerbating, which generates unacceptable risks to the security of various vulnerable groups, including Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples, public and political figures, and, of course, ex-combatants who have laid down their arms. We strongly condemn the attempted assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe and any manifestations of political violence, especially in the run-up to the elections. Murders of and attacks on signatories to the FPA continue, which makes their normal integration into society impossible: 80% of former insurgents have been forced to move home due to security threats, and 76% of them remain unemployed. We call for the immediate practical implementation of the comprehensive protection program for former FARC members, which was adopted in June.
Another problem here is the following – given the above-mentioned risks, how will ex-combatants and representatives of government structures (who bear primary responsibility for crimes committed during the armed conflict) implement the sentences handed down by the transitional justice mechanism, Special Jurisdiction for Peace? To this end, there is a need for the authorities to establish proper conditions, while harnessing the support of a UN special political mission, which has the relevant mandate.
Mr. President,
On the eve of the long-anticipated issuance of first decisions by the Special Jurisdiction, we would like to dwell on the transitional justice system in Colombia and, in this connection, we wish to welcome the President of the Special Jurisdiction, Alejandro Ramelli, at today's meeting. This is a unique mechanism, established by the FPA and endorsed by the UNSC, and over the past seven years it has carried out tremendous work: testimonies of thousands of victims, accused persons, and witnesses have been heard; tens of thousands of fragmented pieces of evidence and testimonies on crimes committed during decades of armed conflict have been collected, analyzed, and systematized. But the main innovation of the Special Jurisdiction is that it serves not to punish, but rather to reconcile and heal the wounds inflicted on Colombian society by years of hostility and strife. We support this approach and we view this as a model for other post-conflict situations, especially at a time when international judicial mechanisms often serve the interests of specific states rather than justice.
To conclude, I wish to extend solidarity with the government and people of Colombia as they aspire to attain peace. The current administration has only one year left in office, but we do hope that tangible progress will be made during this period on key areas of the implementation of the FPA, which is the foundation for an intra-Colombian settlement. For our part, the Russian Federation will continue to comprehensively facilitate the peace process in the country and to support the work of the UN Verrification Mission under its new leadership.
Thank you.
