Colombia: Efforts must continue

The Working Group Colombia (GTC in Spanish) is a platform made up of organisations of the Caritas International network in Europe and the United States, which, together with the National Secretariat of Social Pastoral Care of Caritas Colombia, promotes actions in favour of peace and reconciliation in Colombia. Caritas Luxembourg is represented in this group by François Jacobs. The group met recently via videoconference and published its position, which is available below in English.

The group recognises the progress made in the implementation of the peace agreements, particularly in the areas of ceasefire, disarmament, and economic, social and political reintegration. However, the group calls for further progress in peacebuilding, effective participation of society and reduction of inequalities. To this end, it is imperative to make progress on the work on Ethnicity, Gender and Territory. But not only that. It is also necessary to guarantee some security, especially for political leaders, which is far from being the case at the moment. Finally, urgent measures are needed not only to stop the increasing exploitation of natural resources, but also to face the migration crisis with the many Venezuelan refugees. Opportunities for the human and community development of migrants must be created in the medium and long term. Finally, it is important that all humanitarian response activities are coordinated with the different social and institutional actors in order to best mobilise the resources needed to respond to the emergencies raised today by the COVID-19 health crisis and severe weather, particularly in terms of food security, protection and shelter.

Dowload the position paper (en anglais)