DPPA Partners Visit to Colombia: Witnessing the Progress and the Difficulties of Building Peace
As the Security Council prepares to discuss the latest report of the Secretary-General on the work of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia on 12 July 2023, we look back to the recent visit by a group of mostly New York-based diplomats to the country. The delegates saw how their support helps Colombians put into practice different provisions of the historic 2016 peace accord.
I n early June 2023, representatives of 18 UN Member States visited Colombia to learn first-hand about the progress and challenges in the implementation of the 2016 Final Peace Agreement in that country, including the reintegration of former combatants into civilian life. The visit was organized by the Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and the UN Verification Mission in Colombia. The delegates met with institutions involved in the implementation of the Peace Agreement, civil society representatives, women’s platforms, and leaders from two former territorial training and reincorporation spaces (TATR) in Antioquia and Cesar. They also visited the sites of various peace accord income-generating projects in the Cesar and Antioquia departments of Colombia.
The visiting delegates represented Australia, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Belgium, Slovakia, Japan, Turkey, Malta, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Italy and the Republic of Korea.
As Carolina Vargas, a TATR leader in Tierra Grata, Cesar department, said after meeting the group: “If representatives of the donors are here it is because they have their eyes set on the issue of reintegration in our territories, and this benefits the signatories, our families, the neighboring communities and the victims”.
Here’s a video summary of the visit:
