• Country/entity

  Colombia
  

• Region

  Americas
  

• Agreement name

  Acuerdo de Conformación del Frente Común por la Paz y Contra la Violencia

• Date

  22 Nov 2000

• Agreement status

  Unilateral document

• Interim arrangement

  Yes

• Agreement/conflict level

  Intrastate/intrastate conflict ( Colombian Conflict (1964 - ) )

• Stage

  Pre-negotiation/process

• Conflict nature

  Government

• Peace process

  Colombia III - Arango

• Parties

  President of the Republic, President of Congress, Political parties

• Third parties

  /

• Description

  This document constitued a unilateral 'agreement' between parties on one side of the conflict, notably President, Congress and Politial Parties. It records the decision to establish common front for peace and against violence. It includes affirmations that dialogue is the only way forward, calls to reach out and include FARC and initiate talks with ELN, but also the fight against auto defence groups, it affirms the fight against drug-trade, asks all groups to join and calls on the international community to help and do their bit. It is signed by the president, president of the congress and the political parties. It is part of a broader process with FARC.

• Agreement document

  CO_001122_ACUERDO DE CONFORMACION DEL FRENTE COMUN POR LA PAZ - tr.pdf | Download PDF

Groups

Gender

State definition

Governance

Power sharing

Human rights and equality

Rights related issues

Rights institutions

Justice sector reform

Socio-economic reconstruction

Land, property and environment

Security sector

Transitional justice

Implementation

AGREEMENT FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMMON FRONT FOR PEACE AND AGAINST VIOLENCE

Bogota, Capital District, 22 November 2000

Convened by the President of the Republic, in his constitutional role as a symbol of national unity, the signatories to this agreement, after carefully analysing the situation of violence from which the country is suffering and the current situation of the peace process, have decided to establish a Common Front for Peace and against Violence.

During our talks, we have found issues and perspectives that bring us together, to which we will direct our joint efforts, always in the best interests of Colombia.

To allow this common front to make an effective contribution to the operative aspect of peace, it will hold periodic meetings to analyse the process.

Our commitment is not only peace in general, but the specific demands this entails.

In this respect, we have agreed the following points.

We ratify our commitment to the negotiated political solution to the armed conflict.

Dialogue is the correct method for dealing with differences and peacefully resolving social conflicts, while violence and armed conflict are the biggest obstacle to the country making progress.

We are willing to work and participate in dialogue to ensure the peace process is not just a government policy but a genuine, autonomous national state policy, in which all political forces and civil society are represented.

We condemn the use of violence as a tool for political struggle, which, moreover, has become obsolete in the world.

In contrast, we demand a culture of peace based on democratic and citizen security, which practices the principles of tolerance and peaceful methods for resolving the conflicts that inevitably occur within society.

We agree that this invitation must go beyond political forces and as such we back active communication between the government and the National Peace Council, which by law constitutes a broad representation of civil society and also connects with the various branches of public power, in order to consolidate a common position for the country as a whole.

We regard an agreement on human rights and international humanitarian law that excludes civil society from the armed conflict as urgent.

In this respect we condemn kidnappings, massacres, forced disappearance, extortion, murders outside combat and, armed protests, the use of universally prohibited arms and the destruction of public and private wealth.

Peace requires the defence and promotion of freedom as a supreme right of human dignity.

We condemn all illegal actions that seek to restrict it, and it is the duty of citizens to show solidarity in demanding it be respected.

We believe the time has come to settle negotiations with FARC to avoid protracted dialogue without specific outcomes or results and to ensure that Colombian society sees that the process is making progress, restoring trust.

If it is necessary to extend the demilitarised zone, the specific legal requirements must be met, ensuring that it is possible to negotiate calmly and peacefully without a risk to the parties.

As such, we urge FARC to immediately restart negotiations on the substantial issues related to the mechanisms to ensure the continuity, seriousness and success of the process, and to reach specific agreements on employment and economic policy, initiate dialogue on political agreements and debate the proposals for ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities, the fight against drug trafficking, the substitution of crops and the release of soldiers, police and all those who have been victims of kidnapping.

We back the swift initiation of talks with ELN and issue a firm called to overcome difficulties in establishing a meeting zone for talks, with clear regulations and verification mechanisms.

We are grateful for the active participation of the Group of Friendly Countries, an example of how much international support means to the peace process, in addition to the initial commitment to contribute to the substitution of illicit crops.

We ratify our conviction in the fight against self-defence groups and emphatically reject the actions of these groups that contribute to deterioration of the armed conflict.

We also ratify the commitments made in the agreements signed with FARC in Caquetania and Los Pozos and urge the government to strengthen the decisive fight by all state institutions against this manifestation of violence.

We believe in the need to increasingly strengthen the armed forces in the service of democracy, respecting human rights and international humanitarian law and exercising their authority in line with the constitutional mandate to defend sovereignty and citizen security.

We understand that this is necessary to restore the solid concentration of force and arms to the state.

We firmly believe that this concentration will only be solid and long-lasting by achieving peace.

We maintain the unalterable Colombian tradition of a sovereign and democratic foreign policy based on consensus, in line with the country’s fundamental interests and ready to defend itself against any threat to national unity.

As such, we make it known to the community of nations that the problems currently affecting the country must be resolved by Colombians, while requesting the solidarity, respect and cooperation befitting the current circumstances.

We are committed to the strategy against the global drugs problem.

The incidence of drug trafficking on the Colombian population makes it one of the biggest stimuli for violence and corruption.

This policy must be universally applied to the whole production chain and requires an equivalent commitment by the international community against chemical precursors, asset laundering and consumption.

It is also necessary to forcibly eradicate cultivation for profit, without compensation and without affecting the environment while systematically replacing small plantations as part of the implementation of alternative development projects.

We call on the insurgency to work together on these proposals.

We are also convinced that peace is the most efficient mechanism to achieve results in these areas.

On this point, Antonio Navarro expressed his opinion that the fumigation of illicit crops should be permanently abolished.

The future without misery and violence must be built by all, sticking firmly to agreements and ensuring national unity, democracy and the participative spirit of the national constitution.

ANDRÉS PASTRANA ARANGO, President of the Republic

MARI URIBE ESCOBAR, President of Congress

HORACIO SERPA URIBE, CIRO RAMÍREZ PINZÓN LUIS FERNANDO ALARCÓN M., ANTONIO NAVARRO WOLFF, SAMUEL MORENO ROJAS, LUIS GUILLERMO GIRALDO H., Leaders of the political parties