Security Council Provisional Seventy-Second Year
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United Nations S/ PV.7941 Security Council Provisional Seventy-second year 7941st meeting Tuesday, 16 May 2017, 3 p.m. New York President: Mr. Rosselli .................................... (Uruguay) Members: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) ..................... Mr. Llorentty Solíz China ......................................... Mr. Shen Bo Egypt ......................................... Mr. Kandeel Ethiopia ....................................... Mr. Alemu France ........................................ Mr. Delattre Italy .......................................... Mr. Cardi Japan ......................................... Mr. Kawamura Kazakhstan .................................... Mr. Umarov Russian Federation ............................... Mr. Zagaynov Senegal ....................................... Mr. Seck Sweden ....................................... Mr. Skoog Ukraine ....................................... Mr. Fesko United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .. Mr. Rycroft United States of America .......................... Ms. Tachco Agenda Security Council mission Briefing by Security Council mission to Colombia (3 to 5 May 2017) This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the translation of speeches delivered in other languages. The final text will be printed in the Official Records of the Security Council. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room U-0506 ([email protected]). Corrected records will be reissued electronically on the Official Document System of the United Nations (http://documents.un.org). 17-13917 (E) *1713917* S/PV.7941 Briefing by Security Council mission to Colombia 16/05/2017 The meeting was called to order at 3.05 p.m. the process and the Council’s potential contributions to it were also discussed there. Adoption of the agenda Council members also met with the Resident The agenda was adopted. Coordinator and all the bodies, funds and programmes of the United Nations country team. During the visit, Security Council mission we were able to appreciate the excellent work of Special Representative Jean Arnault and the United Briefing by Security Council mission to Nations Mission in Colombia, and we thank them for Colombia (3 to 5 May 2017) all of the support that they provided to the Security The President (spoke in Spanish): In accordance Council mission. with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of Also of great importance were the meetings with procedure, I invite the representative of Colombia to Government authorities. participate in this meeting. The President of the Republic, Juan Manuel The Security Council will now begin its Santos, received us as members of the Security Council consideration of the item on its agenda. and then held an extended meeting with the highest At this meeting, the Security Council will hear authorities, including, besides the President himself, briefings by the two co-leads of the Security Council the Vice-President, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, mission to Colombia, which took place from 3 to 5 May, the High Commissioner for Peace and several other namely, the United Kingdom and Uruguay. senior officials of the Government of Colombia. I shall now make a statement in my capacity as In addition to thanking us for the visit, the President representative of Uruguay. also expressed gratitude for the support that the Council is extending to the peace process in Colombia. We also The Security Council mission to Colombia, which heard from the Congressional Peace Commission, Uruguay had the honour of co-leading with the United which brings together the entire Colombian political Kingdom, took place from 3 to 5 May. The purpose spectrum. Its representatives stressed the importance of the visit was to express the support of the Council of safeguarding the achievements made as part of the for the implementation of the Final Peace Agreement, peace process. as referred to in the terms of reference of the Security Council mission, as well as to hear from all stakeholder: Another key moment was an exchange with the the Government, the people of Colombia, the Fuerzas National Commission for Follow-up, Impulse and Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — Ejército Verification of the Implementation of Peace Agreement, Popular (FARC-EP), the United Nations Mission in in which Mr. Sergio Jaramillo Caro, High Commissioner Colombia and the country team, and to ascertain the for Peace, and Mr. Iván Márquez, Commander of progress made in and the difficulties of the process. the FARC-EP, also participated. At that meeting, Mr. Jaramillo referred to the progress on the issues that The visit took place over two days. I shall report on are being worked on as peace is implemented, such as, the activities conducted on 4 May before handing over inter alia, the gender perspective, indigenous peoples to my colleague, Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, who and comprehensive economic recovery strategies. The will describe the activities of the second day. FARC-EP referred to the importance of reconciliation, to On 4 May, we held institutional meetings in the the system of truth, justice, reparations, non-repetition, city of Bogotá. Those took place in three key instances. and guarantees, especially in the areas of security and The first was a meeting of the Council members with legal and political matters. the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for We also held a meeting with members of civil Colombia and Head of the United Nations Mission in society. Several organizations expressed their concern Colombia, Mr. Jean Arnault, who stressed the timeliness about insecurity and killings in local communities. of the visit, given that the parties were working to The Council also heard the same concern from the complete the process of laying down of arms within the Government and the FARC. We share that concern 180-day term set out in the agreement. Other aspects of and call for institutional protection measures to be 2/6 17-13917 16/05/2017 Briefing by Security Council mission to Colombia S/PV.7941 implemented to respond to the threat of armed groups. Special Representative of the Secretary-General, by Women’s organizations pointed out the disproportionate senior Government officials, including the Colombian harm suffered by women in conflict and post-conflict Foreign Minister and the Colombian Permanent environments. We acknowledged the fundamental Representative, and by the High Commissioner for importance of the gender perspective in peace processes. Peace, plus members of the FARC-EP secretariat, Members of civil society suggested the establishment including Iván Márquez and Pastor Alape. of a successor United Nations mission that should be There were three key elements to the day. First deployed throughout the territory of Colombia. During of all, when we arrived, we received a fascinating the visit, we witnessed the commitment of the parties, briefing from leaders of the Tripartite Monitoring and the goodwill and the hope that Colombians have for the Verification Mechanism. They gave us a tour of their results of this peace process. site, which gave us an insight into the challenging As a general assessment of those meetings, I would terrain that they have to operate in but also the unique like to highlight the commitment of all participants in character of the Mechanism and the remarkable joint the peace process to continuing their best efforts to working between the United Nations, the Colombian move the process forward, with the awareness of the Government and the FARC members of that Mechanism. difficulties that were raised and knowing that further Then we went on to a town hall-style meeting difficulties will arise in future, as is normal for such at a community centre with members of the local processes. Several of these difficulties derive from the community and the Governor of the Meta department. difficult conditions in relation to building the federal The rain by then was beating down on the corrugated zones, which are in very rural and distant areas, where iron roof of the hall, and we were absolutely crammed highways and all the other infrastructure that is needed in shoulder to shoulder. There were many community for their installation still need to be built. Another leaders, women, children, teachers and others present, factor that has had a negative impact is the climate, who gave us fascinating insights into what peace means with heavy rains making tasks extremely difficult. for that community. Another difficulty relates the pace of the adoption of legal and administrative measures for the purpose of Thirdly, and in a way even more remarkably, we reintegrating former combatants in civilian life. In all had an opportunity to meet members of the FARC-EP cases, these points were brought up not as complaints at one of the newly built reception centres, just outside but to indicate the difficulties for which efforts must be their camp area, along with the Special Representative, made if they are to be resolved. the Foreign Minister, the Permanent Representative and the High Commissioner for Peace. It was a fascinating I now give the floor to my colleague Ambassador site to see, at very short notice, all of these families Matthew Rycroft. coming to us, carrying their chairs with us to this new Mr. Rycroft (United Kingdom): I thank the place