Sumar urges the government to maintain its support for the peace process and defend human rights in Colombia

Eduardo González The Plurinational Parliamentary Group Sumar has urged the Government to maintain "its full support" for the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia, to promote respect for human rights in the country in the face of irregular armed groups, and to request "a more active commitment" from the European Union and other international organizations to the peace process. In a non-legislative motion presented on March 6 for debate in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sumar (a minority partner of the Government and led by Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz) points out that Colombia suffered an internal armed conflict for more than six decades, resulting in "more than nine million victims, including forcibly displaced persons, murders, disappearances, and those affected by the conflict." “In 2016, the Colombian government signed a historic Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP guerrillas, with the goal of ending the armed conflict and paving the way for reconciliation and social justice,” it continues. “However, despite initial progress, the Agreement's implementation has been complex due to a lack of political will, opposition from reactionary sectors, and the resurgence of illegal armed groups,” it adds. The failure to comply with the Peace Agreement, according to the motion, has allowed for the reconfiguration of violence, with the expansion of FARC dissidents, the strengthening of the ELN, and the consolidation of paramilitary structures, such as the Gulf Clan and other criminal organizations. “These groups have assumed control of vast territories, inflicting violence against peasant, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities,” Sumar denounces. Sumar also recalls that the Peace Agreement established the need for comprehensive rural reform, the implementation of security policies for the protection of ex-combatants, and the creation of a Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition (SVJRNR). “However, the lack of effective implementation has generated uncertainty and mistrust among communities and ex-combatants,” it laments. According to the UN, more than 400 signatories of the Agreement have been murdered since 2016, “which demonstrates the failure to fulfill security guarantees,” it denounces. “Although the current government maintains a clear political will for this Peace Agreement, its power capacity is limited to fully achieve it,” it adds. Meanwhile, the political context in Colombia remains polarized, with sectors seeking to dismantle the Peace Agreement and others attempting its effective implementation, while rural communities continue to suffer from the absence of the State, which facilitates the growth of illegal economies such as drug trafficking and illegal mining. “According to the UN, more than 200 social leaders were murdered in 2024, consolidating Colombia as one of the most dangerous countries for the defense of human rights,” asserts Sumar. “The Spanish government has played a key role in supporting the Colombian peace process, participating in international verification and cooperation bodies,” recalls the group led by Díaz. Therefore, the motion urges the Executive to “continue expressing its full support for the full implementation of the Peace Agreement,” to “promote and support protection measures for human rights defenders, social leaders, and signatories of the Peace Agreement,” to “collaborate and support the Colombian government in accelerating investigations to identify, prosecute, and punish those responsible for crimes committed against human rights defenders, social leaders, and former combatants,” and to “request and support the full implementation of the measures contemplated in the Peace Agreement for the dismantling of paramilitary groups through the National Commission for Security Guarantees.” It also urges the government to "request a more active commitment from European Union institutions and international organizations to monitor and follow up on the implementation of the Peace Agreement in Colombia," to promote "economic cooperation mechanisms between Spain and Colombia for rural development programs, social inclusion, and the protection of victims of the armed conflict," and to "provide budgetary support at the state and regional levels for all delegations and programs that welcome victims of violence in our country."

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