Bogotá. April 28 / 2017. The Security Council in full, with the Ambassadors of its 15 Member States, arrives next Wednesday in Colombia for the first time. The visit represents support for the peace process in Colombia and a reaffirmation of the commitment made by the Council in authorizing the deployment of the UN Mission in Colombia.

"This visit is an endorsement by the international community of the efforts of Colombians," said Jean Arnault, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in Colombia. "The unanimous support of the members of the Security Council seeks to guarantee the consolidation of peace," added Arnault.

The Security Council's visit will last three days, during which the ambassadors will meet with President Juan Manuel Santos, representatives of the Government and the FARC-EP, Peace Commissions of the Colombian Congress, representatives of the United Nations System , Members of the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM), leaders of civil society and women's organizations. In addition, Council members will travel to one of the 26 Transitional Veredal Zones of Normalization (ZVTN, in Spanish), where they will meet with communities, international observers and MVM delegates.

The Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2261 on January 25, 2016, which established the UN Mission comprised by  unarmed international observers, to monitor and verify the laying down of arms and to form part of the tripartite mechanism (MMV) to verify the definitive bilateral ceasefire and cessation of hostilities.

The Security Council is currently composed of five permanent members: China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and the 10 non-permanent members: Bolivia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Japan, Italy, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Sweden. During May, the Council is chaired by Uruguay, who leads the visit to Colombia together with the United Kingdom.