As Colombia Nears Presidential Elections, Security Council Speakers Call for Calm, Full Implementation of Historic 2016 Peace Accord
While hope for peace is alive in Colombia as the country prepares for presidential elections, the Security Council today heard that achieving it — and making it last — still requires the full implementation of a peace accord signed almost 10 years ago.
Following decades of conflict, the Government of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo — often abbreviated as FARC-EP — signed the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace on 24 November 2016. The following year, the Council authorized the creation of a UN Verification Mission in Colombia to oversee the accord’s implementation.
However, the Council narrowed the scope of the Mission’s mandate in October 2025, even as that year saw the attempted assassination — and later passing — of one of Colombia’s presidential candidates. Nevertheless, the country held largely peaceful congressional elections on 8 March 2026.
Calls for Calm Ahead of Presidential Polls
“It is essential for the country to stay on this trajectory,” emphasized Miroslav Jenča, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Colombia and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in that country.
Now, ahead of presidential elections on 31 May, he called on all concerned to ensure a safe, peaceful environment free of violence and stigmatization. And condemning reported threats against presidential candidates, he called on State authorities to guarantee the safety of all participants in the electoral process. For its part, the Mission will contribute — as it did during congressional elections — in analysing security risks and coordinating preventive actions.
Further, the Mission has been “fully restructured” to reflect the “refocused” mandate established by resolution 2798 (2025), which he noted includes reintegration of former combatants, security guarantees and comprehensive rural reform. On the latter, he pointed to both progress achieved and continued effort needed, while also underlining the importance of this process: “By unlocking viable economic opportunities, it can also provide sustainable alternatives to illicit economies, thereby helping to break the cycle of violence.”
Territorial Disputes Eroding Hard-Won Gains in Rural Areas
He detailed a similar reality with regards to former combatants, where active reintegration is complicated by the “fragile socioeconomic, infrastructural and security conditions in rural areas where many former combatants have settled”. He also reported that clashes over territorial control and illicit economies in several rural areas — “the Catatumbo region is a case in point” — are visiting violence and hardship on entire communities.
“As long as violence, territorial disputes or governance vacuums persist in any part of the country, they risk undermining national stability and eroding the gains made elsewhere,” he underscored. And stressing that the Final Agreement provides a comprehensive roadmap for addressing both the root causes and the consequences of the conflict, he observed: “The territories where the Agreement has not been sufficiently implemented are precisely where the most acute problems persist today.”
Providing a voice from one of them — the Catatumbo region — Olga Lucia Quintero Sierra, General Coordinator of the Catatumbo Peasant Association, said that the Final Agreement is a “real opportunity for transformation” for those living in rural Colombia. Its sections are interconnected, and she stressed that “advancing in a partial or fragmented manner weakens its essence”. Also underlining the need to listen to communities, she said that, despite a new escalation of violence in Catatumbo, “signs of hope” include social investment, the construction of a new university and land allocation to rural women.
On the latter, she said that 54 women have benefitted from the allocation of 724 hectares of land. “This achievement isn’t just about access to land; it is the possibility of rebuilding our lives,” she emphasized. However, she added that the democratization of land access through allocation, formalization and restitution of land for peasants, victims, ethnic peoples and rural women must be accompanied by a firm commitment to peace in the territories.
“Peace in our territories is not an abstract concept — it is the real presence of the State” in those areas, she went on to say, which equates to “the possibility of living without fear”. Against that backdrop, she urged the Mission to continue verifying the Final Agreement and the new Government to assume the commitment to fully implement the accord as a national priority. Colombia, she concluded, demonstrates that, “even in scenarios marked by profound differences, dialogue constitutes the most effective path to building peace”.
UN Verification Mission ‘Indispensable’
For her part, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio Mapy, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Colombia, said that today’s meeting provides a moment to reflect on the Final Agreement’s “sustainability as a State policy” and its “irreversible character”. She also took the opportunity to welcome the Mission’s work — which has been “indispensable in places where we define, in practice, the sustainability of peace” — and stressed that its finances should not be cut further amid the UN’s liquidity crisis.
And while territorial transformation has proceeded at an “uneven rhythm”, illegal economies persist in certain areas and the safety of signatories to the peace accord is still a matter of concern, she underscored that “Colombia has not stopped implementing the Agreement”. But, the international community’s role remains indispensable. “Colombia would not have made it this far without that support, and we will not be able to consolidate peace without that very same support throughout this phase,” she underscored.
Prioritize Peace; Protect Candidates, Voters, Speakers Stress
This narrative of progressing, but incomplete, peace was advanced by Council members, as well as they urged full implementation of the Final Agreement.
While joining others in welcoming the “broadly peaceful” municipal and legislative elections on 8 March, Panama’s representative nevertheless noted “constant threats against candidates”. Yet, the 16 “peace representatives” appointed to the legislature allow peasants, women, Afro-Colombians and Indigenous People — “all those disproportionately affected by conflict”, he noted — to have a “tangible” role in decision-making. The representative of Bahrain, Council President for April, spoke in his national capacity to add that these seats also serve as a tool for repairing harm and protecting vulnerable groups.
Greece’s representative also spotlighted the importance of those seats — provided for in the Final Agreement — and added: “Equally important is the fact that, despite the Comunes Party losing congressional representation, its leaders acknowledged the electoral results and reaffirmed their steadfast commitment to the Peace Agreement.” France’s representative, similarly, welcomed the Government’s efforts to ensure smooth elections, which demonstrates the “robust nature of Colombia’s institutions”. Yet, he underlined the need — as did others — to ensure the security of candidates as the next round of elections approaches.
“Elections are volatile moments, not least in countries emerging from conflict,” observed Denmark’s representative. Concurring on the need to protect candidates and voters, she also urged the protection of Indigenous and women human-rights defenders. Noting that nearly 1,000 such individuals were killed between 2016 and 2025, she said that Colombia “remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a human-rights defender”.
Social Leaders Silenced, Ethnic Communities Displaced
“Behind the numbers,” stressed the representative of Liberia, also speaking for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia, “are former combatants choosing peace, social leaders silenced, women subjected to abuse and ethnic communities forcibly displaced.”
The representative of Latvia, meanwhile, stressed that Colombian women must continue to be fully recognized as indispensable peacebuilders. While they were instrumental in both drafting and implementing the Final Agreement – which fully integrates a gender perspective – she pointed out that “their contributions are too often overshadowed by narratives that solely focus on their suffering and victimhood”.
And that Agreement, China’s representative stressed, is “essential for Colombia’s long-term stability and for regional peace and security”, as he joined others in urging its continued implementation. Welcoming Government efforts in several areas, he expressed hope that work will continue towards creating conditions for the reintegration of combatants and eliminating the root causes of violence. Also welcoming the Government’s work in this area, the representative of Pakistan condemned “targeted violence against ex-combatants and social and political leaders by armed groups”.
The representative of the United States urged the Government to prioritize addressing the threat posed by these armed groups, stressing that their actions are jeopardizing the safety of “not only Colombians, but the safety of everyone in the region”. She added that “curbing the cultivation of coca and the production of cocaine is also essential”.
‘Gaping’ Hole: Failure to Protect Ex-Combatants
The representative of the United Kingdom pointed out that rural reform, backed by effective State presence, is crucial for constraining the operating space for armed groups and illicit economies. Calling for greater efforts to protect women, girls, Indigenous and Afro-Colombians who are disproportionately affected by violence, he also stated that “an unacceptable 491 peace signatories have been killed”.
Also spotlighting this number was the representative of the Russian Federation, who stated that failure to protect former fighters is a “gaping hole” in implementation of the Final Agreement. He urged the current Government to make as much progress in this and other areas as it can with the time it has left, underscoring that the accord “is not a dish on a menu for political leadership in Bogotá — it is the very basis for national reconciliation”.