United Nations S/2017/272 Security Council Distr.: General 21 April 2017 Original: English Letter dated 29 March 2017 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council In accordance with the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace, signed on 24 November 2016, between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), on 24 March 2017, I received a signed original of the Final Agreement from the Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations, María Emma Mejía Vélez, along with a letter from the President of the Republic of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón. I welcome this historic achievement, and have the honour to transmit herewith the letter (see annex I) and the Final Agreement (see annex II). I should be grateful if you could circulate both documents to the members of the Security Council. (Signed) António Guterres 17-06469 (E) 300617 070717 *1706469* S/2017/272 Annex I I would like to reiterate my best wishes to you in your new post as Secretary- General of the United Nations. The United Nations is playing a decisive role in the consolidation of peace in Colombia, and our permanent dialogue and exchange of views will be very important in this process. I would also like to officially express the Colombian Government’s good faith through a unilateral State declaration, and herewith submit the full text of the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace in Colombia, which was signed by the national Government and by the Revolutionary Armed Forces — People’s Army (FARC-EP) on 24 November 2016 in Bogotá. This replaces the Final Agreement signed in Cartagena, which I delivered to your predecessor and to the President of the Security Council in September 2016. The new Agreement in force was ratified by the Colombian Senate on 29 November 2016 and by the House of Representatives on 30 November 2016. Pursuant to the commitment made by the national Government and FARC-EP, which is set out in the Agreement signed on 7 November 2016, paragraph IV, included in the Final Agreement of 24 November 2016, I request that the Secretary- General accept the new Agreement and transmit it to the Security Council pursuant to resolutions 2261 (2016) and 2307 (2016), approved unanimously by the Security Council, for the purpose of creating an official document containing the full text of the Final Agreement as an annex to resolution 2261 (2016). (Signed) Juan Manuel Santos President of the Republic of Colombia 2/277 17-06469 S/2017/272 Annex II [Original: Spanish] FINAL AGREEMENT FOR ENDING THE CONFLICT AND BUILDING A STABLE AND LASTING PEACE PREAMBLE Recalling that the Havana dialogues between men and women delegates of the national Government, led by President Juan Manuel Santos, and those of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — People’s Army (FARC-EP), based on their joint decision to put an end to the national armed conflict, occurred as the result of the Exploratory Meeting held in the capital of the Republic of Cuba from 23 February to 26 August 2012; Bearing in mind that said exploratory dialogues resulted in a General Agreement for Ending the Armed Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace, which was signed on 26 August 2012 in the presence of national witnesses and before delegates from the Republic of Cuba and the Kingdom of Norway, who also served as witnesses and have since helped to consolidate the process as guarantor countries; Noting that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Chile have, at all times, been ready to provide their good offices as observer countries; Recalling that in pursuing the agenda approved in the aforementioned Agreement, negotiations were launched on 18 October 2012 in the city of Oslo, capital of the Kingdom of Norway, and have since continued in the Cuban capital without interruption until the signing of the new Final Agreement; Considering that, as a consequence of the above, on 24 August 2016, the parties signed a Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace; that said Agreement was put to public consultation in the form of a referendum as agreed to by the parties at the time, on a date appointed for that purpose (2 October 2016), and based on a ruling handed down by the Constitutional Court informing the country of the terms and conditions of the path chosen; Recognizing that the referendum returned a majority NO vote, although this did not imply a rejection of the right to peace or to fundamental rights; Emphasizing that the aforementioned Constitutional Court ruling set forth the guidelines to be followed in the event of a majority NO vote in the referendum; that this Court ruling indicates that the powers of the President of the Republic to maintain public order, “including through negotiation with illegal armed groups for the purpose of achieving other peace accords, remain intact”; Asserting the decision of the parties to continue the search for peace by listening to those who expressed reservations over the contents of the Final Agreement as initially signed, with the desire to reach a new agreement that commands broader consensus; that what was achieved thereby was to have been able to enhance and amend the previous Agreement, taking into account the concerns and proposals, clarifications and specific definitions expressed by the widest range of social groups and organizations, sectors of opinion and political movements and parties; that after scrupulously examining everything put to the consideration of the negotiating parties by the stakeholders, many significant changes and substantial amendments were made to the old texts, turning the previous Peace Agreement into a new Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace; 17-06469 3/277 S/2017/272 Emphasizing that the new Final Agreement then signed represents the free expression of the will of the Government and of FARC-EP — having considered various initiatives of different sectors of the Colombian people — acting in good faith, and with the firm intention of complying with the Agreement; Bearing in mind that article 22 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Colombia imposes peace as a right and a duty of mandatory compliance; that Article 95 states that the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized in the Constitution implies responsibilities, which include promoting and maintaining peace; Emphasizing that peace has been universally classified as a superior human right, and a prerequisite for the exercise of all other rights and duties of individuals and citizens; Mindful that the new Final Agreement encompasses each and every one of the accords reached in fulfilment of the agenda of the General Agreement signed in Havana in August 2012; and, to achieve this, the parties have at all times adhered to the spirit and scope of the provisions of the national Constitution, the principles of international law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law (conventions and protocols), the mandate of the Rome Statute (international criminal law), the rulings handed down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on conflicts and how to end them, and other universally recognized jurisdictional judgments and authoritative pronouncements relating to the issues agreed upon; Considering that the rights and duties enshrined in the Charter are interpreted in accordance with the international treaties on human rights ratified by Colombia, without limitation on their enjoyment or exercise; Recalling that Article 94 states that “the enunciation of the rights and guarantees contained in the Constitution and international conventions currently in force, should not be understood as a negation of others which, being inherent to humanity, are not expressly mentioned therein; Considering that the set of accords that form the new Final Agreement contribute to the satisfaction of fundamental rights, such as political, social, economic and cultural rights; the rights of victims of conflict to obtain truth, justice and reparation; the rights of children and adolescents; the right to freedom of worship and free practice of religious faith; the fundamental right to individual and/or collective legal security and to physical security; and the fundamental right of each individual and society not to suffer a repetition of the tragedy of the domestic armed conflict that this Agreement aims definitively to overcome; Emphasizing that the new Final Agreement pays special attention to the fundamental rights of women, vulnerable social groups such as indigenous peoples, children and adolescents, communities of African descent and other ethnically distinct groups; the fundamental rights of men and women campesinos and the essential rights of persons with disabilities and those displaced as a result of the conflict; and the fundamental rights of older adults and of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) population; Considering that, in implementing the foregoing, the State, pursuant to article 13 of the Political Constitution of Colombia, must guarantee the right to equality and non-discrimination in its different dimensions; which should aim to ensure that conditions are in place to enable effective protection of persons in situations of manifest weakness and the punishment of abuses committed against them; Emphasizing that Colombia has signed international treaties