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Explanation of Vote by Sweden at the UN Security Council Adoption - Colombia

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Explanation of Vote delievered by Ambassador Olof Skoog on behalf of Sweden at the United Nations Security Council Adoption on Colombia, Thursday, 05 October 2017, New York

Mr President,

Sweden welcomes the adoption by consensus of the resolution before us this afternoon. We commend the strong commitment to peace of the parties in Colombia. It is important that the Council stands with them.

The UN mission in Colombia has played an important role in support of the peace process. We would like to thank the mission and SRSG Jean Arnault for their excellent work. We would also like to thank the SRSG for the efforts of the mission on the inclusion and participation of women and trust that this will be continued in the second mission.

Mr President,

We are happy to see that the Security Council could once again show its unity and strong support for the peace process in Colombia by quickly adopting a resolution that approves the recommendations of the Secretary-General to verify the ceasefire between the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN). A ceasefire that once again shows the commitment of Colombia to move forward and build on the momentum of peace. We praise the courage and leadership shown by the Colombian government.

In our discussions as a Council, we repeatedly say that mandates must be clear, realistic and up-to-date, and that we must allocate the necessary resources for missions to deliver on these mandates. In this instance that means making sure that the mandate to verify the cease-fire agreement with the ELN is realistic, including with regards to allocating the right resources. It also means making sure that the UN Verification Mission in Colombia can live up to the mandate to carry out this additional task of verifying the ELN cease-fire agreement "without affecting the implementation of its previously mandated tasks under resolution 2366".

We also look forward to the Secretary-General's report expected on 8 December, which will give us the the opportunity to review the situation in order to ensure that the resource allocation is realistic and the mandate up-to-date.

Thank You.

Contact

Lisa Laskaridis
Head of Press and Communication, Permanent Mission of Sweden to the UN
Phone +1 212 583 2543
Mobile +1 917 239 0941
email to Lisa Laskaridis
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