Peace Mail April 09-15, 2019
Weekly Update on the implementation of the Peace Accord. The final peace accord contains a three-pronged approach to ensuring fulfillment of commitments included in the text: the Commission for Monitoring, Promotion, and Verification of the Implementation of the Peace Accord (CSIVI), the National Reincorporation Council (CNR) and the GOC-FARC-UN tripartite Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MM&V).
Download Peace Mail / April 09-15, 2019
The European Union (EU) has announced it will donate 7.7 million euros to support the Integrated System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition, with 4.5 million destined for the Truth Commission and 3.2 million for the Unit for the Search of Disappeared Persons (UBPD). The 12 April announcement comes after the UBPD, Truth Commission and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) were hit by serious budget cuts: respectively, 68%, 40%, and 20% lower than required, which was projected to hinder their territorial reach. The EU has also indicated that it is working on an additional program to support the JEP.1
On the same day, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary General and Head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, briefed the UN Security Council in New York on the progress and concerns regarding the implementation of the Peace Accord. Massieu called on the GOC to accelerate the approval of proposals, disbursement of funds, and access to land for the productive projects of former combatants, key factors in their transition to civilian life. Referring to the legal situation of the JEP, he reiterated the importance of implementing the Peace Accord in its entirety, stating that the “greatest uncertainty would be to reopen the central points of the Accord”. The Representative also called on the international community to continue its support.2
Former members of the FARC guerilla group continue to face attacks, with the latest incident resulting in the death of the one-year-old child of a former combatant who is advancing his reincorporation process in the Territorial Training and Reincorporation Space Simón Trinidad in La Guajira. The parents, who were both injured in the attack carried out by armed men on 13 April, had traveled with their child to visit their families in the town of Montelara, which is on the border with Venezuela. A cousin was also killed. FARC leaders denounced the violence against former combatants and lamented the murder of the child. Since the signing of the Peace Accord in 2016, 126 former guerrillas have been killed, according to the FARC political party.3
Spokespersons from 11 human rights organizations and victim platforms announced on 11 April that they will deliver reports to the JEP on the systemic practices of the Armed Forces in carrying out extrajudicial executions or "false positives," as they are known. In addition to documenting extrajudicial executions, the groups will also report on violence perpetrated by paramilitaries in which State agents are implicated and that of the intelligence structures of the Armed Forces.4
The ELN has announced a unilateral ceasefire during Holy Week, beginning on 14 April and ending on 21 April at midnight. In the communiqué, the General Directorate of the ELN affirmed that the decision is part of the group’s intention to advance towards peace and to continue dialogues, despite facing offensives with the Armed Forces and paramilitary groups.5
Social leader and teacher Aquileo Mecheche was murdered in Riosucio, Chocó on 12 April. Mecheche had served for seven years as the Rector of the Jagual Educational Institution, as well as governor of the indigenous community of Jagual. The UN Human Rights delegation denounced the crime and urged the authorities to investigate the murder.6