The formal representatives of the two guarantor countries of Colombia’s peace process, Norway and Cuba, have sent a letter to the Commission for the Followup, Promotion and Verification of the Implementation of the Final Peace Agreement (Comisión de Seguimiento, Impulso y Verificación de la Implementación del Acuerdo Final, CSIVI) expressing their concern over the current state of implementation of the agreement.
According to the Cuban ambassador Jorge Iván Mora Godoy and Norway’s special envoy Anne Heidi Kvalsøren, it is vital that the international commnity maintain its support for the peace process. In addition, the FARC must make strong efforts to ensure its demobilised members comply with the agreement, while the government must ensure that the terms of the agreement are fully implemented.
They also said that priority must be given to the following points:
- All FARC political prisoners who have been verifed for release must immediately be granted their liberty, while decisions must be made over those that have not yet been cleared as a matrter of urgency. Between 500 and 1,000 FARC members remain in prison.
- Demobilised FARC members must be awarded their citizen registration as a matter of urgency so they may proceed in the reintegration process.
- The government must provide security for communities in territories vacated by the FARC which have subsequently seen high levels of violence as armed groups seek to establish control. This security must also be extended to former FARC guerrillas, with several killed by paramilitaries since the agreement was signed.
- Land reform elements contained within the peace process must be implemented immediately in order to stimulate community productivity in rural zones.
- The government must work with sponsor-countries of the peace process to accelerate implementation.
- There must be greater coordination between state and society over the substitution of illicit crops, with communities involved centrally in dialogue, in ordr to avoid tensions which have severely undermined the agreement so far.
Source: El Quindiano