Security Council expands mandate of UN Verification Mission in Colombia

UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution to expand the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia to include monitoring the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement's comprehensive rural reform and ethnic chapters.

The decision to expand the mandate of the Verification Mission was made at a shared request by the Colombian government and representatives of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) contained in a letter by Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva Duran in October 2022.

Wednesday's decision was also in line with the recommendations and proposals of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the issue.

Resolution 2673, which won the unanimous support of the 15-member council, expresses the council's willingness to continue working with the Colombian government on the mandate of the Verification Mission on the basis of agreement between the parties.

The Colombian government and FARC struck a peace deal in August 2016 after four years of negotiations in Havana, Cuba. The Security Council in July 2017 approved the establishment of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia to verify the political, economic and social reintegration of former FARC combatants as well as security guarantees.

In May 2021, the Security Council decided to expand the mandate of the Verification Mission to include verifying compliance with and implementation of the sentences handed down by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, which is a transitional justice mechanism to investigate crimes committed during the five-decade-long armed conflict between the government and FARC.

The Verification Mission succeeded a UN mission of unarmed observers tasked by the Security Council to monitor and verify the laying down of arms and to help monitor and verify the cease-fire following the signing of the 2016 peace agreement.