4 May 2017

"The American Continent is the only area of the world where there is no active conflict": President of the UN Security Council

Bogotá. May 4, 2017. On the first day of their visit to Colombia, the UN Security Council held a meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos, Chancellor María Ángela Holguín, Ambassador María Emma Mejía, and the post-conflict cabinet members. The Security Council gave a clear message of support to the implementation of the peace process in Colombia.

In his statement to the media, Elbio Roselli, the President of the Security Council and Ambassador of Uruguay, stated, "with the pacification process of Colombia the American continent is the only area in the world where there is no active conflict."

"We thank you for the example you are giving. These processes are never linear, they have difficulties, they may have setbacks but what matters is sustaining the effort. The Security Council is committed to providing the support that Colombians want and deserve, "said Mr. Roselli.

Moreover, President Santos thanked the Security Council and the international community for the process success.

"I want to highlight the way the United Nations has helped us to manage the cease-fire," Mr. Santos said. "More than 2,670 lives have been saved so far in the peace process," the President affirmed, referencing CERAC figures.

United Kingdom Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, co-leader of the visit with Uruguay, highlighted the full support of the Security Council and the international community to make the peace process a reality.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Colombians, to make sure that all the parties fulfil all of the commitments and then finally the peace that your country deserves will be a reality, from which there cannot be a turning back. " said Ambassador Rycroft.

In the afternoon, all member of the UN Security Council will hold meetings with the UN Mission Team, the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM), the United Nations System in Colombia, representatives of civil society and National Commission of Monitoring, Impulse and Verification of the implementation of the peace agreements (CSIVI, acronym in Spanish).

The Security Council arrived to Colombia on Wednesday night and will be visiting the Transitional Zone of Normalization (TZN), “La Reforma” in the Department of Meta, where they will hold meetings with local communities to discuss the implementation of the agreements.

The Security Council delegation arrived with the ambassadors of the five permanent countries: China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Russia; and the ten current non-permanent countries: Bolivia, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Ukraine, Uruguay, Egypt, Japan and Sweden.

At the request of the government of Colombia and the FARC, the Security Council authorized in 2016 the UN Mission in Colombia to carry out the monitoring and verification of the Ceasefire and the Bilateral and Definitive Hostilities, as well as verify the laying down of arms.

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