Statement of Colombia

We must continue to prioritize the participation of women in conflict prevention and resolution and peacebuilding, and States must fully assume the responsibility of safeguarding and guaranteeing women’s rights in a safe and suitable environment. In Colombia, as we close a difficult chapter of the hemisphere’s most protracted conflict, we understand that women and girls play a fundamental and proactive role in the building of the peace we so desire. We can say that the process has been a new, almost unprecedented experience. It is the first time that a gender focus is expressly included, not only through the participation of women as fully empowered members of both the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia guerillas and the Government, but also through the creation and work of a gender subcommission — that the Secretary-General and many of delegations recognized this morning — which, through often difficult but respectful dialogue, bore fruit as all resulting chapters of the final peace agreement provide concrete gender- specific provisions. As the Secretary-General’s report (S/2016/822) on women and peace and security indicates, women accounted for up to a third of the participants at the table, approximately half of those participating in the consultations and over 60 per cent of the victims and the experts that visited the negotiation table in Havana.

The commitment to gender equity and peace was strengthened on 21 October when President Santos and 109 women’s organizations reaffirmed their support for the peace agreement and welcomed the fact that victims’ rights were at the heart of the agreement and that the fundamental role of women and girls in peacebuilding was recognized. The President of Colombia will continue to strive for peace until the very end of his mandate.