Together for Colombia

On 13 June, the Caritas Working Group on Colombia, led by Monsignor Henao, Director of Caritas Colombia, presented the current situation in Colombia to various representatives to the United Nations. In all, 12 representatives were present at the meeting held in New York. Caritas Luxembourg is represented in this working group by François Jacobs, in the 2nd photo below with Sylvie Dos Santos, 2nd Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the UN.

Considerable progress has certainly been made since the signing of the peace agreements with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) two and a half years ago. Nevertheless, significant challenges still remain. Armed conflicts have not really ceased, millions of people have fled their villages and it is currently very difficult to be a community leader committed to implementing the peace agreements at local level in Colombia. In addition, there is the ongoing humanitarian crisis, which has recently been aggravated by the massive influx of refugees from nearby Venezuela.

During the presentation, Caritas reiterated its confidence in the work of the United Nations, thanked the international community for its political and financial support, and asked that the duration and range of this support be reviewed. Multi-year mandates for UN missions, undisputed support for justice institutions in this transition period, involvement of civil society in the peace process, appropriate response to the humanitarian crisis in the country, were just some of the topics discussed at the meeting.

At the end, Caritas offered to facilitate contact between the international community and local organisations and communities. As a Christian association, Caritas works with many local partners and is present throughout the country.