YouSaid · the spoken record

President Duque Márquez

lines on the record: 38
first: 2022-04-12
most recent: 2022-04-12
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: un-security-council

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“The approach to peace with legality I have described means that the Security Council and this multilateral forum, accompanied by the intensive work of the Verification Mission, can feel proud of the fact that, as Secretary- General Guterres said, Colombia is a reference point for peacebuilding in the world.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“We would open the door only to an understanding based on the release of all those kidnapped and an end to the violence, because accepting an approach to the State so long as those levels of violence continued would represent a justification of violence as a legitimate mechanism of approaching talks in a democratic State, and that should not happen. We know that our challenges are great, but Colombian State policy will continue to be based on those two principles. Violence must be overcome, and what we have said concerning truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition is aimed precisely at ensuring that violence does not lead to fresh expressions of fratricide. Today our country, after long decades of suffering violence, has more robust, better structured and more stable institutions and a greater territorial presence.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“They do exist, they are historical, and there are long-standing debts in some regions. But Colombia, as a society united in its desire for peace, unequivocally wishes to overcome the challenges of violence. That makes it possible for me also to offer a clarification on the comment made about the Ejército de Liberación Nacional, as follows. When I became President, I asked for 90 days to evaluate the 17 months of talks that had been held prior to my Administration, in order to know where the point of departure was, and, after carefully reviewing all the indicators, it became clear that during those 17 months more than 100 people had been killed, more than 400 acts of terrorism had taken place and more than a dozen people had been kidnapped in Colombia. Our message was clear.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“I wish to close by warmly thanking all present for mentioning the possibility that we in Colombia can know the truth. We will receive a report from the Truth Commission, which will represent an opportunity to bring us together, not divide us; to build, not destroy; and to engage deeply in a process of reflection, without bias and with complete independence. That is the wish that we have in our institutions. My visit here and my presence here as Head of State of Colombia is to reiterate that our participation in this multilateral forum, and the invitation for this multilateral forum to be present in an ongoing manner in Colombia, make it possible for us to demonstrate with facts what we have achieved. We do not intend to behave as if all challenges had been overcome.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“We accept all constructive comments, because we are here voluntarily, with a will to build our country. However, it is very important that those who today are attacking a defenceless country should not be broadcasting messages of peace to the world even as they commit fratricidal acts that we all reject, because the sorrow we see in Ukraine today is that of humankind calling for that genocide to come to an end. There can be no justification for whatsoever for such acts. It is therefore very important that here, in the Security Council, in this guiding body of the United Nations system that was created for humankind to resolve its conflicts through multilateral dialogue, we should not hear talk of peace from those who today are waging war and sowing destruction.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“They are the most threatened group, but also the group that has received the most financial support from the Government. I personally attend their meetings. There is a law that facilitates their protection, growth and involvement in public investment, while also offering them a generalized social leadership training programme through the State. It is very important that this message be heard. Of course, we value the progress made in the electoral process, but it is absolutely clear to us that our democracy must be strengthened day after day. I wish to conclude by making a comment that I believe is timely. All the remarks I have heard here seek to be constructive, but comments were also made that should be viewed from the perspective not only of consistency but also of moral authority.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“In fact, we refuse to celebrate it. But we have to defeat these armed groups — these terrorist groups — because terrorism lurks everywhere. In that regard, I would like to reiterate before the Council, in view of the reports of violence in Arauca department, which borders Venezuela, that in accordance with resolution 1373 (2001) of September 2001, States must not sponsor, support, participate in or facilitate their territories for the purposes of attacks in another State. That is another reality we have had to fight. We know, however, that it is an ongoing battle and we must never stop fighting. We will not stop bringing social investment and security to all parts of our territory. Let me make something clear. Colombia’s community action leaders are among the most threatened social leadership groups in the country.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Between 2010 and 2015, illegal armed groups in Colombia perpetrated homicides and kidnappings against a total of 369 social leaders, with the highest of those cases arising in 2012 and 2013. Between 2015 and 2017, such cases increased by more than 21 per cent. That trend continued from 2017 to 2018, with cases tragically jumping from 84 to 115, for an increase of 27 per cent. In 2019, there were 108 such cases, a decrease that we cannot celebrate because we are talking about people’s lives — about the victims of the cruellest violence. However, through that decrease, we were able to establish a stabilization and a downward trend, confirmed from information collected by the Ombudsman’s Office of Colombia. Between 2020 and 2021, we saw those crimes decrease by a further 20 per cent. We will not celebrate that either.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“We also determinedly faced down the Clan del Golfo, a group that has killed more social leaders than any other, and whose main leader has been captured and will soon be extradited to the United States and then extradited again, under the agreement for continued collaboration with the Colombian justice system, to return to Colombia to serve his sentences for the crimes he committed against Colombian society. During this presidential term, the aggregate indices for homicides and kidnappings in our country are the lowest they have been in recent history. We know, however, that there are regions in the country that have also been under threat, and I want to briefly share the relevant data.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“We have a budget outline, spending plan and follow-up for the largest public investment in our history for indigenous communities and communities of African descent. It is also important to note that the security challenges described in the Council this morning are alive and well in Colombia today. We have had to face dissidents of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo. We have had to face the threat of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional from groups such as Los Pelusos, Los Caparros and Los Puntilleros, all former unitary groups that are now dismantled.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Let me also point out that the 13 March elections were not the only time that gender parity was reflected on the lists of those elected. In December, the names on the lists for the municipal youth council elections alternated equally between those of men and women, with some 60 per cent of those elected being women. Those are examples of participatory democracy. I also want to emphasize that women make up more than 50 per cent of beneficiaries of land provision programmes and productive projects in each of the areas we described this morning. It is very important to take that into account. When it comes to ethnic issues, as a State, Colombia took a decisive step to make sure that our Government’s development plan is aligned with the objectives we shared this morning.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“I value the virtually uncontested and unanimous general attitude with which the Council has addressed the Colombian people. In addition, I believe that while we share many of the concerns that members have expressed here today, we are facing them with determination. I would now like to briefly address some of them. With respect to gender issues, Colombia has taken historic steps. For the first time in our history, we have a woman Vice-President and Chancellor, who is here with me today. Our Public Service Administration Department has confirmed that for the first time, about 46 per cent of all high-ranking State officials are women. Today, members of the Council highlighted the participation of women candidates, but the number of women in the Colombian military forces is also currently the highest it has ever been.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“President Duque Márquez (spoke in Spanish): First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their statements during this historic meeting. As President of Colombia, I reiterate that this is my first time coming to the Security Council, at our request, to move forward, show what we have built and point out the challenges that lie ahead of us. I would like to express my gratitude for the Council’s general attitude in support of that, and in support of Colombia’s development of comprehensive policies to bring together peace and the rule of law and of the work that is being done throughout all of our country’s institutions. Colombia requested the support of the Security Council. We also requested the establishment of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, which has supervised and guided all of those developments independently.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“I would also like to thank the Verification Mission for its irrefutable approach in acknowledging what has been done well in Colombia. We are a nation that has confronted violence, but that will always defeat it through the rule of law and our institutional capacity to deliver the services of the State to our country’s most remote areas and to sow harmony in the hearts of Colombians. As a Government, our position has therefore been not to see any political agenda in this or to seek any electoral opportunity. On the contrary, it has been to establish institutionality so that such institutionality can speak eloquently of what a country is capable of achieving under article 22 of our Constitution, which states that peace is a duty and a right that must be complied with.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Today, Colombia appears before the world with visible, indisputable results and without bias, but knowing that we face challenges ahead, which we do not seek to hide, but which must unite our nation in this objective. I would like to end by sharing what Secretary- General Guterres said last year during his visit to Colombia. Amid so many difficulties in the world, so much intolerance and such great adversity, Colombia is a beacon of hope. The tasks still pending, due to the reach of time, cannot conceal the achievements that Colombia has consolidated, which, more than the individual success of a Government or of me, as President, are those of a society that has always wanted to defeat violence. I would like to thank each one of those present for the way in which they have welcomed the periodic reports.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“I will conclude by saying the following. Peace in Colombia is not a political or an electoral issue. It is not an ideological matter. It has no individual owners, but is the joint objective of an entire nation and its institutions. The future challenges for peacebuilding, given the progress described, are based on the premise that there is a genuine, indisputable, non-ideological and impartial truth and that all the necessary measures exist under international law, bearing in mind the transitional period, but that there are real restrictions on such freedoms for those who are ultimately responsible. As we have requested, the Organization can assist in the application of penalties under the transitional justice system, which is a mechanism to strengthen the peace process, resulting from our Government’s efforts.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“But that also requires that the many cases of recruitment of minors, harassment of women and attacks against the security forces and the impacts of drug trafficking be resolved in the context of transitional justice. It is, of course, very important that Colombia continue to guarantee the actions of its security forces, while always respecting international humanitarian law and human rights and always ensuring that it is the oversight bodies that investigate any operation where they have been involved in what are known as urgent actions by our country’s investigative service. Our nation has a zero-tolerance policy towards human rights violations by the security forces, but it also has a security force that, in the country every day, earns the affection of the citizens, including those being reintegrated, to whom it provides protection.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Today, we can also say that significant progress has been made on many important issues, regardless of the peace agreement. The greatest challenge to a peace process is not the signing; it is the implementation over time, given that the process will take place over nearly three Administrations. Not even the pandemic prevented Colombia from moving forward in the peace process. Not even a migrant crisis, the largest-ever experienced by a Latin American country, a category five hurricane or the social and economic ravages of the pandemic deprived us of the progress shared today, which is reflected in the report of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia (S/2022/267). Today, Colombia wants to continue moving towards building peace with legality.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“While there is no sense of joint responsibility, by which the countries that most affect consumption adopt more direct and clearer public policies, it will continue to be a great burden for Colombian society. It is therefore appropriate to say that in this Chamber. I would like to share a few final messages. One such message has to do with what our Government, through its budget plan, will leave for the next Administration. We have moved on from fragility to a planned budget process with measurable benchmarks, like the one used by the United Nations. In Colombia, there are no enemies of peace within institutions and democracy. We all want peace. We are all working for it, and the only enemies of peace are those who have sought to undermine our nation through violence.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“However, let us also start by acknowledging that, over the four years of our Government, we will have the lowest average and overall homicide rate of a presidential term for more than 40 years. That, too, is already an achievement for our society, just as it is an achievement that we have recorded the lowest kidnapping rates since there were such indicators in our country. However, I could not address the Council without mentioning some concerns. Drug trafficking is the greatest enemy of peacebuilding in Colombia. Eradication and substitution efforts have been made, and there have been historic efforts in terms of seizures, reaching record levels last year, with Colombia seizing 670 tons. But we see how consumption in the world continues to grow.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“But it is important to put into context what the Office of the Ombudsman of Colombia stated in its most recent report. “Studies conclude that the implementation process following the peace agreements with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) has had the lowest number of fatalities per 1,000 in the reintegration process.” That fact alone shows us the efforts that have been made with regard to security. We cannot consider it a victory because such incidents should not occur. However, historically, we have seen how the commitment to protecting those involved in the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration process has produced results. It is also sad to see how the murderous hands of drug traffickers continue to wreak havoc in some areas of Colombia.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Today we also hope that those most responsible for crimes against humanity will tell the truth to Colombia about the kidnappings, the recruitment of minors, crimes against women and, of course, those attacks on the public security forces. And I want to express our sincere desire to make progress with effective reparations — the Colombian State has followed through with that — but those responsible for crimes against humanity must also undertake economic, material and credible reparation based on the fact that many of their contributions fall far short of expectations. I also want to discuss the challenges we face. We have unfortunately seen violence during the peace processes in Colombia. In many previous processes, people viewed as former combatants were killed after being demobilized.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“But this is also the time to say that when our Government was looking to the future and considering how to correct the errors of the past, we were able to amend the Constitution so that neither drug trafficking nor kidnapping would be designated as connected to political crime and thereby covered under amnesty in the future. That is a significant correction that we promoted even before being elected to the presidency. Today we are seeing how Colombian military forces have reported on all their work over the past 50 years, defending the legal system of our country and calling for the opening of a class action suit based on the claim that more than 400 members of the police and armed forces were victims of violence. That is a documented contribution without precedent in such cases.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“And within our comprehensive approach, we have differentiated according to gender and by ensuring that Afro-Colombian communities — Raizales and Palenqueras — and members of indigenous communities today have a specific budget assigned to them. For the first time in Colombia, we have a new law that makes it possible for those communities to directly contract with the State, on a larger scale, in order to have an impact on our development programmes. I also want to bring up the very important aspects related to the principles of truth, reconciliation and non-repetition. We have provided full economic support to the relevant institutions and in our design of public policies. We are supporting the first restorative processes in our country for those who have been deprived of freedom and for providing reparations for victims.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Approximately 300,000 rural producers will be incorporated into the programme by the end of August. Another very important aspect of our comprehensive vision has been substitutions of illicit crops. Fifty per cent of the eradication in the areas under the model has occurred during our Administration, in the understanding that we have to consider all the tools at our disposal in order to address the threat of drug trafficking. Yet another element related to that comprehensive approach is humanitarian de-mining. Today we are able to share that 50 per cent — half — of all of the de-mining in Colombia has taken place during the almost four years of my presidency.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Today our Government can say that we have distributed almost 52,000 titles to rural property in Colombia in under four years, meaning that our Government has distributed the largest number of titles to land in the history of our country. We have been able to incorporate more than 1.6 million hectares into Colombia’s land bank. By August of this year our investments in secondary roads will be the highest in public works and job creation in rural areas in the country. It is that comprehensive approach that in the middle of the pandemic enabled us to record the largest agricultural exports in Colombia’s history, with the element that made the difference being farming by contract. Farmers can sell without a middleman, and with micro-insurance and financing schemes can have a predictable income over time.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Those development plans involve investments in water, electricity and education and an almost unprecedented investment in secondary roads, and are one of the best examples of Colombia’s commitment to the territories, with investments that with or without the agreement are historic. I am pleased that we have been able to undertake public works based on taxes and more recently launch a national brand, led by the State, so that all producers, whether former combatants, victims or residents of those areas, can reach every market in our country, and so that when products with that brand are purchased, they contribute to the well-being of people who are betting everything on a productive life. Fourthly, the comprehensive rural development of our country is key to that comprehensive vision.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“That historic decision also reflects another cross-cutting aspect, which is that those electoral districts are in deepest Colombia, the part of the country that is demanding more and more development efforts. That leads me to the third point that I want to share today. The development plans with a territorial focus are the cornerstone of peace for Colombia. Twenty months after the start of their implementation and before I assumed my presidency, there were only two development programmes with a territorial focus. Today we have 16, after conducting 14 community round-table processes, which I am proud to say have enabled Colombia to see more than $4 billion invested in 170 municipalities, encompassing more than 11,000 villages and 6 million Colombians, 2 million of whom have been victims of violence.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“In that regard, it is also important to point out that our Government was able to move from conducting three proceedings for collective reparation to more than 50, providing an unprecedented budget and economic reparations for almost 400,000 victims in only four years, which is also an unprecedented milestone. In line with the principle of giving the victims a voice and a vote and political representation and influence in public decision-making, we supported regulations enabling 16 victims, elected by popular vote in the most violence-ridden regions of the country, to be able to sit in Congress with a voice and vote, beginning on 13 March.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“We are tackling those shortcomings through our policies aimed at enabling people to reintegrate into Colombian society. Today, more than 85 per cent of them are now participating in our country’s social security, pension and health- care systems, which is unprecedented in other peace processes around the world. Let us talk about the victims. That is the second element of our comprehensive vision. Our Government promoted the extension of Law 1448, on land restitution for victims, to enable us to use State resources to help the situation of the millions of Colombians who were affected by the decades of violence.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“More than 8,600 are directly involved in individual or collective productive projects — producing, selling, marketing and building a better life for their families. However, as Mr. Ruiz Massieu noted, we have gone even further to address issues related to land, housing and property. I have had the opportunity to visit seven former territorial spaces for training and reincorporation that had been handed over during the first transition phase to create settlements for former combatants. We have shifted to the provision of property that individualizes the rights of each family, affords them genuine economic freedom and allows them to re-enter Colombian society. Here it is crucial to emphasize that the first set of considerations presented to me by Mr. Jean Arnault, Mr. Ruiz Massieu’s predecessor, were the shortcomings of the process.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“If the reintegration of individuals with a violent past did not turn out well, it would affect the full development of a genuine peace process throughout the country. That is why we stress that there are now approximately 12,800 people who had taken the wrongful path of arms who today are in a trustworthy, credible process of reintegration into Colombian society. There are a number of features that make the process unique, beginning with the fact that seven qualitative guarantees are established for each person, including psychosocial, economic and legal support and assistance entering the labour market. It is very important to emphasize that today many of those former combatants or those in the process of reintegration are involved in productive projects.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Ruiz Massieu and his team for their consistent participation in the work of developing public policies that can enable our reach to extend throughout our territory. Based on that perspective, our focus on Peace with Legality is comprehensive and we aim to ensure progress in all areas, while maintaining a critical view in order to improve in those areas where improvement is needed. It is because of that comprehensive focus that I would like to mention the many achievements in our country, which have been supported by the Security Council, as is noted in all reports that have been published since then, as well as bilaterally by a number of the countries represented here in the Security Council. Let me begin with the issue of reintegration.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“It is our guiding principle for building peace without impunity while seeking to adapt to ensure clear, effective, verifiable implementation that is open to scrutiny by all members of our society, in accordance with the Constitutional Court of Colombia. And so from the first day that we announced the Peace with Legality policy, we asked the United Nations to ensure that its Verification Mission would support us throughout the process for the entire four years of our term of office. I would like take this opportunity to thank Secretary-General Guterres for his commitment and leadership aimed at ensuring that this support, which should be independent and impartial, can provide the assistance that Colombia needs within the concert of nations and the context of multilateralism. I also want to thank Mr.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“It is also important to consider within the context of the international community the fact that after the agreement was signed, we continued to deal with latent threats from illegal armed groups such as the Ejército de Liberación Nacional and terrorist groups linked to drug trafficking, including organizations such as Los Pelusos and Caparros, dissidents from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia and, of course, the terrifying drug-trafficking group known as the Clan del Golfo. In the light of these multidimensional threats to security, we need to build peace throughout the territory of Colombia. From the very first day our Government took office we set in motion a vision for a public policy that we call Peace with Legality.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“Nonetheless, our institutions have constantly sought to promote the principles of demobilization, disarmament and reintegration together with another key element, which is the ability to adapt to circumstances, progress and developments in international law and the willingness to build peace, with even greater certainty since the world witnessed the advent of the Rome Statute, enabling us to ensure that crimes against humanity do not go unpunished. The process undertaken in 2016 is one of those developments, and it unquestionably presents our country with both challenges and opportunities.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“That said, Colombia is a country that embraces the substantive principles of peace, as enshrined in article 22 of our Constitution, in which our political charter, as our society’s beacon and guidepost, stipulates that peace is a duty and a right that we are obliged to comply with. That core virtue of article 22 is also endorsed by article 2 of our Constitution, which fully and clearly states that the principal duty of the State is to protect the lives of its citizens and honour the rights and freedoms of all its citizens at all times, wherever they may be. Based on that premise, we must acknowledge that over the past 40 years, Colombia has launched various peace processes with illegal armed groups, some more successful and with better results than others.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source
“President Duque Márquez (spoke in Spanish): Mr. President, please convey my greetings to your Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Dame Barbara Woodward. I am very pleased to be able to also greet Mr. Ruiz Massieu and all the representatives here today, as well as the entire organizational team at the United Nations and the members of the Colombian delegation. As President of Colombia, it is an honour for me to be here at the Security Council today and to do so at our request to share with Council members the results of my country’s peacebuilding agenda. Our country has endured the shame of violence for many decades, with much senseless fratricidal violence inflicted by illegal armed groups that have sought to tear apart our nation and undermine institutional stability.”
2022-04-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9015 (2022) · source