STATEMENT TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL FROM THE SPECIAL

REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND HEAD OF

THE UN MISSION IN COLOMBIA JEAN ARNAULT
11 JANUARY 2017

Mr. President,
Distinguished members of the Council,
Excellency Ambassador Mara Emma
Meja
Thank you for the opportunity to brief
you on the work of the United Nations
Mission in Colombia and developments
in the implementation of the Colombia
Peace Agreement since the close of the
period covered in the SecretaryGenerals report, dated 23 December.
In spite of the holiday season, this has
been a short but very active period, that
has delivered some encouraging results.
Legislative agenda

As you may recall, in early December

the Constitutional Court enabled
Congress to adopt laws deriving from
the Peace Agreement through a fasttrack process.

As a result on 28

December Congress was able to pass an

amnesty law excluding serious crimes
- that was ratified by President Santos
two days later.

Its passage was a key

request from the guerrilla organization

and, besides paving the way for the
release or conditional release of some
4000 prisoners, it should facilitate the
first key step towards the laydown of
weapons, namely the movement of FARC
members to the 26 Zones where the
laydown will take place.
Next week, on 16 January, Congress will
take up another two critical pieces of
legislation : the draft constitutional law
that will enable the setting up of the
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 Integral System for Truth, Justice and

Reparation , including the Special
Jurisdiction for Peace ; the Truth
Commission and the Missing Persons
Search Unit.

According to the

Colombian Government some 20,000

cases might be brought before the
Special Jurisdiction for Peace.
Congress will also consider the inclusion
in the Constitution of a provisional
article that grants constitutional rank to
provisions in the Agreement that are
connected to International
Humanitarian Law and fundamental
rights recognized in the Constitution.
Implementation of the Agreement
A key dimension of implementation is,
of course, the reintegration of FARC
members into civilian life, which bears
a close relationship to the success of
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the weapons laydown.

As mentioned in

the Secretary Generals report,

reintegration in Colombia faces unique
challenges, including those relating to
the thriving illegal economy in conflict
areas. A National Reincorporation
Council was established on 20
December, and since then it has held
four meetings devoted primarily to the
reintegration of recently pardoned FARC
members and the preparation of a
socioeconomic census of FARC
combatants.

Unfortunately there

remain disagreements regarding

attention to children, which should
hopefully be resolved soon.
Mr. President,
The logistical dimension of the
implementation of the ceasefire and
weapons laydown agreement has posed
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perhaps the most difficult challenge so

far.

This is due to a variety of factors,

including the political uncertainty

surrounding the peace process in the
wake of the October plebiscite ; the
large number and remote location of the
Zones where the process of
disarmament is to unfold, and some
issues relating to land ownership and
illicit crops.
As mentioned in the Secretary Generals
report, in early December the tripartite
monitoring mechanism pointed out the
need to redouble efforts on the
logistical front.

Good progress has

been made in the past three weeks with

regard to setting up the mechanisms
local headquarters.

The MVM is now

deployed in 18 out of the 26

headquarters at local level and has
established presence in another three
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temporary premises.

Conditions are

still spartan, but available

accommodation is allowing the Mission
to deploy around 350 observers out of
the 450 required for full
implementation of its mandate. Thirty
three civilian staff will join the
observers at local headquarters before
the end of the month.
Let me note in passing that, at 15%, the
UN Mission in Colombia has currently
the highest percentage of female
observers of all peace missions; that
with the inclusion of civilian observers
deployed at local level, this number
reaches 21%, and that women
constitute 55% of the Missions
substantive personnel.

Among others,

this has enabled the Mission to develop

close ties with womens organizations at
national and local level. Indeed, a
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special effort has been made to engage

with womens groups to include their
views and recommendations on the
ceasefire process and the Missions
activities, and to establish the
confidence necessary to prevent and
deal with potential gender-based
violence.
With the Mission and the MVM now
deployed in 21 local sites, monitoring of
the FARC camps, the Army units
deployed in the vicinity and the 3kmsecurity zone between them have
intensified.

Monitoring activities have

tripled since early November.

In this

respect, allow me to stress the

dedication and professionalism of the
Missions staff observers and civilians
who have been performing in the too
often precarious conditions typical of
start-ups.

Incidentally, we are all

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delighted and relieved that an

agreement has been reached last night
between the Colombian Government
and UN Headquarters that provides
CASEVAC, MEDE VAC and medical
coverage to all obsevers.
With regard to health care for FARC
members, an equally sensitive and
urgent issue, progress has also been
achieved in the past couple of weeks,
with the affiliation, on 28 December, of
2500 FARC members to the national
subsidized health system.
Mr President,
Members of the Council,
The main focus of the effort must now
be the setting up of the FARC-EP camps.
To date, construction has begun in one
third of the Zones, preparations are
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ongoing in another third, while the

remainder continues to face difficulties.
Last week President Santos reviewed
progress during a visit, which I
accompanied, to one of the zones in
southern Colombia. He gave specific
instructions to overcome pending
obstacles and redouble efforts to enable
the 26 camps to be ready at the
earliest.
At yesterdays session of the Council of
Ministers, President Santos reiterated
the urgency of that endeavour, and
tasked the Cabinet to prioritize
implementation in the Zones. This is an
important decision. It will hopefully
allow the arms laydown process to
begin in the next few weeks.

As you

know, the UN Mission bears

responsibility for verifying this process,
and for this purpose observers will be
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deployed permanently in all FARC

camps.

In anticipation of the start of

this verification, the equipment required

for initial storing, marking, recording
and monitoring of weapons is being
distributed to the Missions regional
and local offices.
Mr President,
For a number of reasons, including the
just mentioned logistical issues, it
proved impossible to meet the first
benchmark of the ceasefire process
namely the full concentration of FARC
combatants and militias in the Zones by
1 January. It will hardly be possible to
meet the 30 January 2017 deadline for
the destruction of unstable ammunition
spread in caches throughout the
country.

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In spite of this setback, last week

President Santos and the FARC
Secretariat reaffirmed their
determination to do everything possible
to meet the original goal of the
comprehensive laydown of weapons by
early June.

We do share the

perception that an overly protracted

process and a loss of momentum would
not be in anybodys interest.

Fast-

tracking the ceasefire process alongside

the legislative agenda makes sense.
With determination on all sides, it is not
impossible to accomplish that objective.
Among others, there is room to review
the timelines once the logistical
imperatives have been met.

Some of

the more complex processes, such as

the destruction of unstable ammunition
could begin right away and extend
beyond the very short deadline initially
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envisaged in the Peace Agreement.

The timetable for the storing of
weapons under UN monitoring could
also be adjusted. Such flexible
adjustments could be made without
extending the overall 180-day time
frame.
Mr President,
Members of the Council,
The Colombian peace process has faced
and still faces a host of challenges,
many of them referred to in the
Secretary-Generals report.

It has

solid assets too. In the first place, the

resolve of the Colombian Government
and the FARC leadership to persevere in
spite of difficulties; and the
overwhelming popular aspiration to
bring one of the worlds oldest armed
conflicts to an end.
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The support of the region and the

broader international community will
also continue to be a very significant
success factor.

I want to thank once

again countries contributing observers,

and those governments and
organizations that have responded to
the parties call for assistance in the
implementing provisions of the Peace
Agreement. I also wish to acknowledge
the united effort by UN agencies and
programmes in Colombia to mobilize to
meet the needs of the people and areas
most affected by the conflict.
Finally, let me recall that almost exactly
one year ago today, on 19 January the
parties invitation to the Council to
oversee UN monitoring of the ceasefire
and weapons laydown process was
widely viewed in Colombia, across
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political lines, as a guarantee of

success.

As the process of

implementation of the Peace Agreement

gets under way, the attention and the
unanimous support of this Council to
the peace process, its encouraging
voice are and will continue to be a very
important source of confidence and
strength.
Thank you.

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