The following year, the Council authorized the creation of a UN Verification Mission in Colombia to monitor the implementation of the agreement.
However, the Council reduced the scope of the Mission’s mandate in October 2025, even as that year saw the attempted assassination (and subsequent death) of one of Colombia’s presidential candidates. However, the country held largely peaceful legislative elections on March 8, 2026.
stay the course
“It is essential that the country remains on this trajectory”emphasized Miroslav Jenča, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in the country.
Now, ahead of the presidential elections on May 31, he called on all stakeholders to ensure a safe and peaceful environment, free of violence and stigmatization.
And condemning the reports of threats against the presidential candidates, he called on the State authorities to guarantee the safety of all participants in the electoral process.
For its part, the Mission will contribute – as it did during the Congressional elections – in the analysis of security risks and the coordination of preventive actions.
In addition, the Mission has been “completely restructured” to reflect the “refocused” mandate established by resolution 2798 (2025), which, it noted, includes the reintegration of ex-combatants, security guarantees and comprehensive rural reform.
Regarding the latter, he highlighted both the progress made and the continuous efforts necessary, while underlining the importance of this process: “By unlocking viable economic opportunities, it can also offer sustainable alternatives to illicit economies, thereby contributing to breaking the cycle of violence..”
Hard-earned achievements erode
He detailed a similar reality with respect to ex-combatants, where active reintegration is complicated by the “fragile socioeconomic, infrastructure and security conditions in rural areas where many ex-combatants have settled.”
He also reported that clashes over territorial control and illicit economies in several rural areas – “the Catatumbo region is a good example” – are causing violence and hardship in entire communities.
The key task of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia is to verify the reintegration into society of former members of the FARC-EP.
“As long as violence, territorial disputes or governance gaps persist in any part of the country, they risk undermining national stability and eroding progress made elsewhere,” he stressed. And highlighting that the Final Agreement provides a comprehensive roadmap to address both the root causes and consequences of the conflict, he observed:
“The territories where the Agreement has not been sufficiently implemented are precisely where the most acute problems persist today.”
Transformative opportunity
Speaking on behalf of one of those hotspots, the Catatumbo region, Olga Lucía Quintero Sierra, General Coordinator of the Peasant Association of Catatumbo, said that honoring the historic agreement is a “true opportunity for transformation” for those who live in rural areas of Colombia.
Its sections are interconnected and he highlighted that “advancing in a partial or fragmented manner weakens its essence.”
Also underlining the need to listen to communities, he said that, despite a new escalation of violence in Catatumbo, “signs of hope” include social investment, the construction of a new university and the allocation of land to rural women.
Regarding the latter, he said that 54 women have benefited from the allocation of 724 hectares of land. “This achievement is not just about access to land, it is the possibility of rebuilding our lives,” he emphasized.
No abstract peace
“Peace in our territories is not an abstract concept, it is the real presence of the State” in those areas, he continued, which is equivalent to “the possibility of living without fear.”
In this context, he urged the Mission to continue verifying the agreement and the new Government to assume the commitment to fully implement the agreement as a national priority.
Colombia, he concluded, demonstrates that, “even in scenarios marked by deep differences, dialogue constitutes the most effective way to build peace.”