Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
859. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland plans to propose a review of Colombia with a specific focus on the prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence as recommended by the Informal Experts Group in July 2020. [40654/21]
View answerSince taking up our seat on the UN Security Council on 1 January, Ireland has been active across the broad range of geographic and thematic issues on the Council agenda, including on Colombia, in line with the three core principles underpinning Ireland’s term: Building Peace; Strengthening Conflict Prevention; and Ensuring Accountability.
Ireland has long been a supporter of Colombia in its efforts and progress towards peace and our seat on the UN Security Council has allowed us to deepen our engagement at what is a crucial time for the Peace Process.
During the annual UN Security Council Open Debate on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) in April, Ambassador Byrne Nason in her statement outlined Ireland’s strong position on the need to tackle CRSV and the belief that the Security Council must fully implement the recommendations of the Informal Expert Group (IEG) on Women, Peace and Security. Ireland in January took up the position of co-chair of the IEG with Mexico and will work to ensure follow-up to recommendations put forward in this regard.
In Ireland’s statements to the Security Council on Colombia this year, we have consistently called for the full implementation of the peace agreement, particularly the provisions on gender and ethnicity in line with the UN Secretary-General’s recommendation on Colombia in his Annual Report on Conflict Related Sexual Violence in March 2021.
In the statements, we also reaffirmed our strong support for the peace process and commended Colombia for the progress made to date, particularly on truth, justice and reconciliation efforts. We encouraged full implementation across all aspects of the peace agreement and raised concerns regarding the persistently high levels of violence experienced by social leaders and human rights defenders.
Ireland participated in the most recent Council Quarterly Briefing on Colombia on 13 July, and we are pleased that the Council agreed a press statement on 16 July, reiterating full and unanimous support for the peace process, and concern at persistent attacks against community and social leaders.
The IEG recommended in its report to the Council in September 2020 that Security Council members should support the advocacy of women’s civil society organisations with regard to opening a case on CRSV with the Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP), and should continue to encourage the UN Verification Mission to report on CRSV as part of its mandate with regard to verification of reintegration and guarantees.
Our Embassy in Bogotá has been following up on the issues and these recommendations raised in the IEG report. From discussions with the SJP, it is clear that CRSV will be a transversal issue in all the macro-cases under its remit, particularly those with a geographic focus. CRSV is viewed as a fundamentally important issue and, in order to guarantee the full effectiveness of the transitional justice system in terms of reconciliation it must be visibly addressed. To that end, the Truth Commission has made it a priority and held its first public recognition event in 2019 on the subject. The Truth Commission is currently drafting the final report, due in November, and it is expected that CRSV will be treated as a transversal theme across the report, as well as forming a core component of the chapter on gender.
Given the ongoing work being undertaken on these recommendations, Ireland is not considering proposing a review at this time, but will continue to follow this issue closely in the coming months and will remain actively engaged on Colombia during our Council term.
