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UN envoy says gaps in Colombia peace implementation fuel violence and child recruitment
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Summary
Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the UN Special Representative for Colombia, told the UN Security Council that incomplete implementation of the 2016 peace agreement has left territories such as Catatumbo, Cauca and Chocó vulnerable to renewed violence, illicit economies and child recruitment, and called for combined security and development responses.
Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the UN Secretary‑General for Colombia and head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, told the UN Security Council that gaps in implementing the 2016 final peace agreement have contributed to renewed violence in areas including Catatumbo, Cauca and Chocó.
Ruiz Massieu summarized the secretary‑general’s recent report on peace implementation and said the verification mission and the government must accelerate steps to consolidate gains while addressing failures that leave communities exposed to armed actors and illicit economies.
"Child recruitment is undoubtedly a matter of grave concern in Colombia," Ruiz Massieu said, noting an increase in recruitment of children in some territories. He told the council that, despite the peace agreement’s transformative potential, several long‑term provisions — including comprehensive rural reform — remain incompletely implemented.
The envoy said more than 12,000 former FARC‑EP members remain actively involved in reintegration programs and that insecurity remains a pressing problem: "Four more combatants were killed since the issuance of the report, bringing the number to 23 this year. I condemn these killings and call again for strength and protection for them," he said.
Ruiz Massieu highlighted the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (the transitional justice mechanism created under the agreement) and welcomed measures announced by the jurisdiction to expedite investigations and restorative sentences. He said the verification mission stands ready "to monitor the compliance with the restorative sentences."
On rural issues, Ruiz Massieu said the comprehensive rural reform envisioned by the agreement — intended to address unequal land distribution and rural poverty — has progressed in land adjudication and formalization but remains short of its targets. He said illicit economies remain intertwined with conflict and that voluntary crop substitution programs have had limited success in part because promised state development assistance to peasants was not always delivered.
The envoy described the government’s revived crop substitution program and the delivery of development projects with a territorial focus as part of the response to the recent crisis in Catatumbo. He said security guarantees in the agreement and the government’s public policy to dismantle illegal armed groups must be implemented in a complementary way with development measures.
Ruiz Massieu also called attention to displacement, confinement, murders of social leaders and former combatants, and said: "A genuine will for peace is not demonstrated by recruiting minors and murdering leaders. A genuine will for peace is not demonstrated by extorting communities. A genuine will for peace is not demonstrated if people are deprived of freedom." He urged continued cooperation between the government and other signatory parties to accelerate implementation.
The envoy welcomed participation by Ilda Molano, representative of the coalition against the involvement of children and young people in the armed conflict (Coelico), and thanked the government of Colombia for its cooperation with the verification mission. He closed by asking the council to continue support for Colombia’s peacebuilding efforts and for the international community to sustain assistance.
The Security Council president thanked the special representative for his report and analysis.
