As Colombia elections near, Security Council hears calls for calm

Following a long time of battle, the Authorities of Colombia and the FARC-EP insurgent group signed an historic Last Settlement on 24 November 2016. 

The next yr, the Council authorised the creation of a UN Verification Mission in Colombia to supervise the accord’s implementation. 

Nevertheless, the Council narrowed the scope of the Mission’s mandate in October 2025, whilst that yr noticed the tried assassination – and later passing – of one among Colombia’s presidential candidates. However, the nation held largely peaceable congressional elections on 8 March 2026.

Keep the course

“It’s important for the nation to remain on this trajectory,” emphasised Miroslav Jenča, Particular Consultant and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission within the nation.

Now, forward of presidential elections on 31 Could, he known as on all involved to make sure a protected, peaceable atmosphere freed from violence and stigmatization. 

And condemning reported threats in opposition to presidential candidates, he known as on State authorities to ensure the protection of all individuals within the electoral course of. 

For its half, the Mission will contribute – because it did throughout congressional elections – in analysing safety dangers and coordinating preventive actions.

Additional, the Mission has been “absolutely restructured” to replicate the “refocused” mandate established by decision 2798 (2025), which he famous contains reintegration of former combatants, safety ensures and complete rural reform. 

On the latter, he pointed to each progress achieved and continued effort wanted, whereas additionally underlining the significance of this course of: “By unlocking viable financial alternatives, it will possibly additionally present sustainable options to illicit economies, thereby serving to to interrupt the cycle of violence.”

Exhausting-won positive factors eroded

He detailed an identical actuality almost about former combatants, the place lively reintegration is difficult by the “fragile socioeconomic, infrastructural and safety situations in rural areas the place many former combatants have settled”. 

He additionally reported that clashes over territorial management and illicit economies in a number of rural areas – “the Catatumbo area is a working example” – are visiting violence and hardship on whole communities.

“As lengthy as violence, territorial disputes or governance vacuums persist in any a part of the nation, they threat undermining nationwide stability and eroding the positive factors made elsewhere,” he underscored. And stressing that the Last Settlement supplies a complete roadmap for addressing each the basis causes and the results of the battle, he noticed: 

“The territories the place the Settlement has not been sufficiently carried out are exactly the place probably the most acute issues persist at present.”

Transformational alternative

Talking for a kind of hotspots – the Catatumbo area – Olga Lucia Quintero Sierra, Basic Coordinator of the Catatumbo Peasant Affiliation, mentioned that honouring the historic settlement is a “actual alternative for transformation” for these dwelling in rural Colombia. 

Its sections are interconnected, and she or he burdened that “advancing in a partial or fragmented method weakens its essence”. 

Additionally underlining the necessity to take heed to communities, she mentioned that, regardless of a brand new escalation of violence in Catatumbo, “indicators of hope” embody social funding, the development of a brand new college and land allocation to rural girls.

On the latter, she mentioned that 54 girls have benefitted from the allocation of 724 hectares of land. “This achievement isn’t nearly entry to land; it’s the potential for rebuilding our lives,” she emphasised.

No summary peace

“Peace in our territories will not be an summary idea – it’s the actual presence of the State” in these areas, she went on to say, which equates to “the potential for dwelling with out concern”. 

In opposition to that backdrop, she urged the Mission to proceed verifying the deal and the brand new Authorities to imagine the dedication to totally implement the accord as a nationwide precedence. 

Colombia, she concluded, demonstrates that, “even in eventualities marked by profound variations, dialogue constitutes the best path to constructing peace”.