Statement by the Republic of Slovenia at the Briefing on the Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia

Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank Special Representative Ruiz Massieu for his briefing and express my appreciation for his leadership of the Verification Mission in Colombia.

I also thank Ms. Molano for sharing her insights and I welcome Minister Sarabia to today’s meeting. 

Mr. President,

Exactly three months ago, this Council convened to discuss the report on Colombia, following a series of attacks by the ELN in the Catatumbo region, which resulted in significant loss of life, forced displacement, and a dire humanitarian crisis.

While efforts to achieve sustainable peace in Colombia should not be judged solely on the basis of the Catatumbo incident, the crisis has, as illustrated in the Secretary-General’s report, highlighted the persistence of structural challenges in conflict-affected regions, notably the limited presence of state. 

At the same time, through the Pact for Catatumbo, the Colombian Government has demonstrated its ability to swiftly accelerate the implementation of the Final Peace Agreement and to prioritize dialogues with those armed groups willing to commit to peace and the protection of civilians.

Mr. President,

I would like to reaffirm Slovenia’s strong support for the continued implementation of the Agreement and, more broadly, for the pursuit of comprehensive peace across Colombia.

In this respect, we urge the Government to ensure women’s full, equal, safe, and meaningful participation in all relevant decision-making processes.

We welcome the Government’s strong focus on rural reform, a fundamental aspect of the Agreement, and the important recent steps taken in land adjudication, and encourage it to accelerate the process as much as possible while complementing these efforts with measures that enable recipients to make productive use of the adjudicated land.

Furthermore, in the anticipation of the first restorative sentences, we underline the central role of transitional justice in Colombia’s peace process and once again call on the Special Jurisdiction for Peace to expeditiously advance to the next stage of its historic mandate, for the benefit of victims and survivors, and the resilience of Colombian society as a whole.

Mr. President,

Let me return to where I began and underline Slovenia’s utmost concern about the growing toll on civilians resulting from fighting between non-state armed groups, including its severe impact on access to essential services such as healthcare, food, and safe drinking water.

Ensuring the security of communities is as important as achieving peace itself.

We particularly condemn the increasing recruitment and use of children by armed groups, as well as the grave violations committed within their ranks, especially sexual and gender-based violence against girls, and urge all armed groups to immediately and unconditionally release all children and adopt concrete, time-bound commitments with the United Nations to end and prevent such violations.

Finally, Mr. President,

We insist that international humanitarian law, with the protection of civilians at its core, must be upheld by all actors and actively promoted by the Government in its dialogues with armed groups.

Thank you.

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