First, on behalf of the Government of Colombia, I would
like to congratulate Mr. Kutesa for his election to the
presidency of the General Assembly and to express
Colombia’s support for his work in promoting a post-
2015 development agenda that responds to humankind’s
current challenges. The sustainable development
goals recently adopted after an open, transparent and
inclusive negotiation process should be at the centre of
that agenda.
In a world full of bad news, war, terrorism and
disease, I would like to bring a ray of hope to the
Assembly: that, after more than half a century of
conflict, Colombia will soon enjoy peace. If we achieve
this goal, which Colombians have unsuccessfully
sought for so long, there is hope for peace anywhere in
the world, despite how difficult things may seem right
now. Today, I can say to the international community
that we are closer than ever before to achieving that
peace. The process that has been taking place in
Havana over the past two years with the guerrilla group
known as the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia (FARC) has been serious, realistic, credible
and effective and has produced concrete results.
We agreed on an agenda with five substantive
points, of which we have achieved agreements on
three: comprehensive rural development, political
participation and the illicit drug problem. In the first
of those areas, we have agreed to unprecedented
investment in agricultural development, working to
give farmers access to land and to generate a better
standard of living for farming families. Regarding
political participation, what we are striving for is very
simple. We want to broaden our democracy in order
to build peace and promote citizen participation, and
to forever sever the link between politics and arms.
Regarding the illicit drug problem, we have agreed
to continue dismantling the drug mafia structures,
promote a national crop substitution and alternative
development programme and address the issue of
consumption from a public health perspective. The
agreement also includes a commitment on the part
of FARC to contributing effectively to a definitive
solution to the illicit drug problem and to ending any
relationship it may have had with it.
A Colombia without coca and without conflict
was an impossible dream just a few years or decades
ago. Today, I can affirm that it is a real possibility.
We have already begun discussions on the last two
substantive points of the plan: the victims and the end
of the conflict. This war has left in its wake millions of
victims who never had a voice before and who are now
at the centre of the process. We are working to fulfil
the rights of victims to justice, truth, reparations and
non-recurrence. Above all, we are working to ensure
that there are no more victims.
In an act that I believe to be without precedent in
the history of the world, representatives of the victims
are explaining their situations, exposing their pain and
setting out their expectations before the Government
and guerrillas. The victims are the main protagonists
and the main beneficiaries of the peace that we seek.
Constanza Turbay, who represents the courage of our
women and who lost most of her family at the hands
of the guerrillas, had the opportunity to confront her
victimizers, look them in the eye and to directly hear
their expressions of sincere remorse. In her own words,
Ms. Turbay stated that the victims are “replacing
their pain with the hope of peace”. Another woman,
Ms. Juanita Barragan, who spent several years of her
youth within the ranks of the FARC, was able to tell her
former leaders in Havana: “Please do not enlist more
children to fight your war”. Today, Ms. Barragan wants
to be a lawyer and to work for children. There are so
many cases and so many voices that are finally being
heard.
We have also created a subcommittee that
includes active military and police personnel. This
subcommittee is beginning to consider the details of
a definitive bilateral ceasefire process, as well as the
demobilization and disarmament of guerrillas upon
signature of the final agreement. I can therefore now
report to the international community that Colombia has
made substantial progress in its effort to end the armed
conflict that has affected us to such a great extent, and,
inevitably, impacted the region and the world.
When the post-conflict phase begins, we will face
immense challenges in reintegrating those who have
demobilized, ensuring a State presence in conflict-
affected areas, and guaranteeing civic security.
The support and contributions of the international
community are key in that regard, and we call for
that support. I take this opportunity to express
our gratitude to the many nations and multilateral
agencies — especially the United Nations — for their
commitment to the peace process and their willingness
to provide all manner of support, not only now but also
in the future as we implement those agreements in the
post-conflict stage.
In my inaugural speech upon taking office for a
second term as President of Colombia on 7 August,
I stated the following, and repeat it today before the
world’s nations. While conflicts rage around the world,
Colombia aspires to bring the good news for humankind
that the final armed conflict in the western hemisphere
is coming to an end. If we are successful, as we truly
expect to be, we will be ready to share our experience
with other countries. We are sure that our case can
become a model and a beacon of hope for the world’s
other conflicts.
In Colombia, we seek peace because the suffering
of our fellow citizens pains us. We do not want any
more victims, or women or children involved in war.
We therefore understand the pain of and express our
solidarity with the many nations that today are suffering
from war and unutterable atrocities, due — it must be
said — to the impotence of the international community
We are not oblivious to the suffering of those who
live in such countries such as Syria, Iraq, Libya and
Ukraine and in regions like the Sahel. We condemn
the ruthless terrorism of the Islamic State in Iraq and
the Sham. We are not indifferent to the suffering of the
many families in Palestine and Israel who are victims
of armed confrontations, or to the loss of life due to
epidemics, such as Ebola in Africa.
As we approach the Organization’s seventieth
anniversary, we find ourselves at a defining moment in
the consolidation of the international system embodied
by the United Nations. Full respect for international
law and the purposes and principles enshrined in the
Charter is essential to attaining lasting solutions to
overcome conflict and achieve progress in fulfilling the
legitimate aspirations of the people. In confrontations,
we must restore the ethical principles that are
fundamental to the human condition, and children,
women and civilians must be spared such tragedies.
Colombia favours negotiated political solutions.
Today, we must ask questions that are not only rhetorical
but also true. Why are there people who stand against
peace? Why do some see war as the only way out?
Perhaps they do so because without war they would lose
their power, accustomed as they are to making a living
and profiting from it, and unable as they are to imagine
life without it. We have to convince the promoters of
war that this is not the way, and convert them into
promoters of peace. We are doing just that in Colombia,
and we must do the same in every corner of the planet.
The United Nations was established precisely to prevent
conflict and to seek peace.
Undoubtedly, the drug trade and drug trafficking
are fuelling the conflicts in Colombia and elsewhere in
the world. Colombia has promoted a serious, technical
and objective discussion of the methods and results
of the so-called war on drugs. This war has not been
won, but we have had some success at the hemispheric
level. Last week, at the Special General Assembly of
the Organization of American States in Guatemala, we
achieved hemispheric consensus on several positions
and adopted a resolution that shows that we can move
forward together on this issue. Those results will help
us to be more prepared to be able to achieve progress
at the United Nations special session on drugs that has
been called for 2016.
Last month, in the inaugural speech of my second
mandate, I set out for Colombians the vision that will
guide our actions. I want to make Colombia a country
of peace, a country with equality, and the most educated
country in Latin America by 2025. At the same time,
this vision also draws us towards the future sustainable
development goals for the post-2015 period — ambitious
goals that address humankind’s most pressing social,
economic and environmental problems.
The good economic climate that Colombia is
experiencing, progress in the social indicators,
particularly poverty reduction and job creation, and the
peace process itself allow us to believe in the possibility
of achieving this vision. It is this Colombia, the one
that is overcoming poverty, has regained control of its
territory, is growing at the world’s highest levels and
has successful social equality policies in order to find
more fairness, which is also searching for peace.
I envisage the same things for Latin America and
the Caribbean as I envisage for my country — that
we can be a region at peace, with greater equality and
better education; a region that makes the transition
from resource-based economies to knowledge-based
economies; a region in which entrepreneurship and
innovation are the engines of development; a region with
socially and environmentally responsible companies
that transform our future.
As I said in the Assembly in 2010 (see A/65/PV.15),
this should be the decade of Latin America and the
Caribbean. And now, before the world’s nations,
I reiterate the call on my region, Latin America and
the Caribbean, to remain true to that intention. To the
international community, I make an impassioned appeal
for us to put everything we can — everything — into
ensuring that the sense of humanity overcomes war. We
are losing our way when we look at the tragedies that
humankind is suffering without being pained by them,
without the world waking up and taking decisive action
to address them. We cannot allow ourselves to lose the
capacity to be shocked by war. It is time to wake up. It
is time to act.