Peace Mail / November 20-26, 2018
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 / November 20-26, 2018
On the second anniversary of the signing of the Peace Accord, 66% of its 578 commitments have begun implementation, 22% of which have been completed. While the FARC successfully demobilized and disarmed, and progress has been made in the functioning of the transitional justice system,1 there have been significant delays in integrated rural reform and political participation (for example the approval of the 16 seats in Congress for victims).2 Security also continues to cause concern, as does the economic reincorporation of former combatants, and changes to the Peace Accord (particularly the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, JEP), which have been rejected by the FARC3 and have generated pessimism amongst conflict-affected communities.4
The Truth Commission will begin implementation on 29 November and will collect information through nine Truth Houses and mobile groups working across the country for the next three years. The testimonies provided will be included in a final report, which it is hoped will bring together a collective, inclusive account of what happened during the armed conflict. Its greatest challenge will likely be attracting the support of those sectors who view its work with skepticism.5
The director of the Reincorporation and Normalization Agency (ARN), Andrés Stapper, defended the GOC’s efforts in the reincorporation of former FARC combatants this week, citing the difficulties faced in opening bank accounts, as well as the need for planning and support prior to the financing of their productive projects as reasons for delays. The first 30 individual productive projects were approved on 22 November, and 135 more are being processed. However, of the 203 projects and 90 business initiatives studied in October, only 36 received non-economic resources, and of the 24 projects evaluated, only two received funding.6 Stapper also questioned the need to provide former combatants with land titles, but offered assurance that the GOC is investigating alternative forms of access.7
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia expressed his concern over the situation of social leaders on 22 November, declaring it “urgent and extremely worrying.” He highlighted the continued assassinations, attacks, denouncements, and threats against them, and suggested that GOC responses have been insufficient. He also mentioned the GOC’s Timely Action Plan for Human Rights Defenders (PAO), which was announced last week, and called on them to fulfil related commitments to the Peace Accord.8 The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) also called on the GOC to provide further and differential security for ethnic communities.9
The ELN named their leader Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista, alias “Gabino,” as part of their negotiating team this week, a move which could be interpreted as an attempt to free him from the INTERPOL Red Notice against him.10 However, the High Commissioner for Peace, Miguel Ceballos, reiterated the GOC’s demands that the ELN cease kidnappings and criminal activities as a precondition for the resumption of talks, and called on other countries to implement the Red Notices issued against members of the guerrilla group.11 The Congress Peace Commission wrote to President Duque on 26 November, seeking permission to travel to Havana, Cuba, to meet with the ELN peace delegation.12