Colombia: UN mission collects nearly all remaining weapons from FARC-EP
| Publisher | UN News Service |
| Publication Date | 27 June 2017 |
| Cite as | UN News Service, Colombia: UN mission collects nearly all remaining weapons from FARC-EP, 27 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5954b9384.html [accessed 29 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The peace effort in Colombia today reached a milestone, with nearly all of the remaining number of weapons held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) turned over to the United Nations for registering and storing.
The UN political mission in the country today confirmed that “on 20 June the third phase of the laying down of individual weapons of the FARC-EP combatants was initiated.”
The Mission has now stored 7,132 arms, which constitutes all the weapons that were registered from FARC-EP. The only exclusions from the list are the weapons used to provide security in the 26 FARC-EP camps until 1 August 2017.
“To date, the Mission has verified 77 arms caches from which weapons have been extracted and munitions, explosives and unstable armaments destroyed,” the UN political mission said.
The lay down is in compliance with the timeline agreed to between the Government and FARC-EP on 29 May, part of the historic deal that ended the half-century long conflict.
The arms laydown process – a major component in the peace agreement – includes five distinct steps including: registration and identification of weapons, monitoring and verification of the holding of weapons, reception and storage of arms, neutralization of arms (to ensure that they will never again be used as firearms), and extraction of arms from camps.
