Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / COLOMBIA
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
UN / COLOMBIA
TRT:
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 APRIL 2020, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
14 APRIL 2020, NEW YORK CITY
2. Multiple screens, ambassadors
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia:
“Echoing the Secretary-General’s appeal for a worldwide ceasefire in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, and joining numerous voices from Colombia’s civil society, in recent weeks I called upon all armed actors in the country to put life above any other consideration and focus on preventing the spread of the virus. The National Liberation Army (ELN) responded by declaring a one-month unilateral ceasefire during the month of April. However, armed clashes continued between illegal armed groups in several departments, including Cauca, Chocó and Norte de Santander. At a time when all efforts must be focused on fighting the pandemic, we urge all illegal armed actors in Colombia to desist from continuing to perpetrate violence upon vulnerable communities, including indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.”
4. Multiple screens, ambassadors
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia:
“COVID-19 is and will continue to affect the implementation of the peace agreement and the Mission’s verification activities. However, we have a collective obligation to continue to ensure progress in its implementation. Peace in Colombia cannot be, should not be a casualty of this pandemic.”
6. Multiple screens, ambassadors
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia:
“As the Secretary-General highlighted in his report, the sustained and integrated presence of state institutions remains the most effective and necessary means to ensure peace and stability in the territories. In this sense, I am encouraged that Presidential Chancellor Archila, has continued to coordinate arrangements so that implementation in the development programmes with a territorial focus is not affected by the current crisis.”
8. Multiple screens, ambassadors
9. SOUNDBITE (English) David Santiago Cano, Strategic Partnership Consultant, World Wildlife Fund Colombia:
“We should not need a pandemic to argue for the silencing of weapons, to focus on the greatest threats to our common survival, from climate change, to transnational crime, to poverty. This is what happened in Colombia. The end of the conflict with the FARC-EP, has allowed us to focus on the structural problems that affect our country.”
10. Multiple screens, ambassadors
Briefing via video teleconference, the Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia (UNVMC), Carlos Ruiz Massieu, today (14 Apr) told the Security Council that the National Liberation Army (ELN) had responded to the Secretary-General’s appeal for a worldwide ceasefire in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, by declaring a one-month unilateral ceasefire during the month of April.
Ruiz Massieu, who is also the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Colombia, said, “however, armed clashes continued between illegal armed groups in several departments, including Cauca, Chocó and Norte de Santander.”
At a time when “all efforts must be focused on fighting the pandemic,” he urged “all illegal armed actors in Colombia to desist from continuing to perpetrate violence upon vulnerable communities, including indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.”
The Special Representative said, “COVID-19 is and will continue to affect the implementation of the peace agreement and the Mission’s verification activities.” However, he added, “peace in Colombia cannot be, should not be a casualty of this pandemic.”
He noted that Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted in his report to the Council that “the sustained and integrated presence of state institutions remains the most effective and necessary means to ensure peace and stability in the territories.” In this sense, he said he was encouraged that Presidential Chancellor for Stabilization and Consolidation Emilio Archila, “has continued to coordinate arrangements so that implementation in the development programmes with a territorial focus is not affected by the current crisis.”
Also briefing the Council, David Santiago Cano, who is a strategic partnership consultant for the World Wildlife Fund in Colombia as well as Colombian Ambassador for One Young World, said, “we should not need a pandemic to argue for the silencing of weapons, to focus on the greatest threats to our common survival, from climate change, to transnational crime, to poverty. This is what happened in Colombia. The end of the conflict with the FARC-EP, has allowed us to focus on the structural problems that affect our country.”
The Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of the mandate of the Mission covers the period from 27 December 2019 to 26 March 2020.
In March, the Government of Colombia intensified preventive measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including declaring a state of emergency, closing the borders and ordering a countrywide quarantine from 24 March to 13 April. President Duque also announced that the Government would allocate additional resources for the public health system and social welfare programmes. As at 22 March, the Ministry of Health had confirmed 277 cases of COVID-19 across the country, with two deaths.
On 17 March, the Presidential Counsellor for Stabilization and Consolidation stated that the Government would be taking the necessary measures to ensure that the implementation of peace-related programmes could continue, despite the challenges resulting from the outbreak.
