The United Nations mission in Colombia is reinforcing its role by validating the peace process between the government and the FARC, while expanding its mandate to include oversight of rural reform and ethnic issues, as established in the 2016 peace agreement and endorsed by the United Nations Security Council on the latest decision day.
The Security Council, in a unanimous vote, adopted a concise resolution that authorizes the mission to broaden its responsibilities. Specifically, the mission will now monitor the implementation of the rural reform chapter and the ethnic issues chapter, in addition to its ongoing duties related to the broader peace agreement with the FARC and the Colombian authorities.
This development follows a request from the administration of President Gustavo Petro, submitted last October, which emphasized the structural importance of these two areas for achieving a sustainable settlement to the conflict and for ensuring lasting peace within the country.
The draft resolution was crafted with the involvement of the United Kingdom and approved by the Security Council ahead of a quarterly briefing on the situation in Colombia. The meeting was attended by Vice President Francia Márquez and Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva, underscoring high-level government engagement in the process.
Earlier, the Council had already signaled its willingness to expand the mission’s tasks in October and renewed the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia for another year. The mission’s principal function remains to oversee engagement across political, economic, and social dimensions, while monitoring security conditions involving former rebels and the broader transition process.
From the outset, the United Nations has supported the peace process with the FARC through a dedicated mission, entrusted with observing the ceasefire and, since 2017, contributing to a civilian operation focused on validating key aspects of the peace agreement and ensuring compliance on several fronts over time.
The Colombian case has received wide backing within the Security Council, which has repeatedly highlighted the program as a notable example of conflict resolution and international cooperation in post-conflict stabilization, reinforcing the importance of sustained international partnership for Colombia’s ongoing peace trajectory.