Equipo Nizkor - Note from Juan Manuel Santos Calderon requesting the participation of the UN in the verification of the Agreement on the ceasefire in Colombia.

United Nations
Security Council

S/2016/53

Distr.: General
22 January 2016
English
Original: Spanish

Identical letters dated 19 January 2016 from the Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

For the purposes of circulation to the members of the Security Council and issuance as a document of the Security Council, I wish to transmit to you the note wherein the President of the Republic of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, on behalf of the Government of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC-EP), requests the participation of the United Nations in the international component of the tripartite monitoring and verification mechanism of the Agreement on the ceasefire and definitive and bilateral cessation of hostilities and the abandonment of arms, in accordance with joint communique No. 65, issued on 19 January 2016, which is enclosed for your information.

(Signed) Maria Emma Mejia
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

Annex to the identical letters dated 19 January 2016 from the Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

[Original: Spanish]

I have the honour to address you, and through you the members of the Security Council, to report on the progress made in the negotiations between the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — Ejercito del Pueblo (FARC-EP), on the basis of the General Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace, signed on 26 August 2012 in Havana. These negotiations have gone forward with major support from the Republic of Cuba and the Kingdom of Norway as guarantor countries, and with the Governments of the Republic of Chile and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as monitors.

Over the past three years of talks, we have achieved agreement on fundamental issues; the points concerning the end of the conflict, including the ceasefire and bilateral and definitive cessation of hostilities and abandonment of arms, as well as those relating to verification, implementation and endorsement of the Final Agreement for the Termination of Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace, among others, remain pending.

With regard to the latter, I would like to express the wish of my Government and FARC-EP to request the participation of the United Nations, through a political mission made up of observers from member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, as the international component of the tripartite mechanism for monitoring and verification of the Agreement on the ceasefire and bilateral and definitive cessation of hostilities and abandonment of arms.

We have also decided to request the international component to chair and coordinate the tripartite mechanism in all its aspects, to settle disputes, make recommendations and present reports. I have attached for circulation among the members of the Security Council the text of joint communique No. 65, issued on 19 January 2016, which contains these proposals (see enclosure).

Along those lines, we have agreed to request the immediate establishment of a special political mission for that purpose, for a period of 12 months, which can be extended by request of the Government and FARC-EP, made up of unarmed international observers, with a mandate in keeping with the agreement between the Government of Colombia and FARC-EP concerning the monitoring and verification mechanism for the ceasefire and the bilateral and definitive cessation of hostilities and abandonment of arms.

The Government of Colombia and FARC-EP have agreed to invite the member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to take part in the group of unarmed international observers which we are requesting the United Nations to form.

We are likewise requesting the mission to consider making preparations for deployment once the Security Council resolution is adopted. The mission will enjoy full security guarantees.

On behalf of the Republic of Colombia, I take this opportunity to thank you and the Member States of the United Nations for the willingness they have shown to support the people and Government of Colombia in this process.

A positive response to our request and the immediate establishment of this mission for monitoring and verification of the Agreement on the ceasefire and bilateral and definitive cessation of hostilities and abandonment of arms will make a significant contribution to progress in the final phase of the negotiations, which should quickly result in the signing of a Final Agreement for the Termination of Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Durable Peace between the Government of the Republic of Colombia and FARC-EP.

(Signed) Juan Manuel Santos Calderon

Enclosure

Joint Communique No. 65

Havana, 19 January 2016

The Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — Ejercito del Pueblo (FARC-EP):

Reiterate their commitment to the negotiations to achieve a Final Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace (Final Agreement), including an agreement on a ceasefire and bilateral and definitive cessation of hostilities and abandonment of arms.

They also reiterate their commitment to the implementation of all the agreements contained in the Final Agreement and the implementation of effective monitoring and verification mechanisms, with international oversight, that guarantee full compliance with the commitments made.

We have decided to establish a tripartite mechanism for monitoring and verification of the Agreement on the ceasefire and the bilateral and definitive cessation of hostilities and abandonment of arms to build confidence and to guarantee its fulfilment, comprising the Government of Colombia, FARC-EP, and an international component that will chair and coordinate the mechanism in all its aspects, settle disputes, make recommendations and present reports; it will begin its work once this agreement has been achieved. With regard to the abandonment of arms, this international component will verify it under the terms and with the due guarantees to be established under the protocols of the agreement.

We have agreed that this international component will be a United Nations political mission made up of observers from member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

For this purpose, we have decided to request the United Nations Security Council immediately to establish this political mission with unarmed observers for a period of 12 months, to be extended at the request of the Government and FARC-EP, and to ascertain the availability of the member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to contribute to this mission to be established by the United Nations.

We further request the mission to begin the necessary preparations, in close coordination and collaboration with the Government of Colombia and FARC-EP, for its deployment. The international observers will enjoy full security guarantees.

We thank the United Nations and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States for their willingness to support Colombia in its search for peace.

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Note from Juan Manuel Santos Calderon requesting the participation of the UN in the verification of the Agreement on the ceasefire in Colombia