Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Two and a half years after the signing of the Colombian peace agreement between the government and FARC, substantial progress has been achieved and it is important to recognise that. Colombia has had the most peaceful elections in decades, the demobilisation of FARC and the beginning of its transition to a political party. That is saving many lives.

According to a recent independent review on the implementation of the peace agreement, the vast majority of the commitments - 400 of the 578 - in the peace agreement are under way. The commitment of the president and his government to implementation of the peace accords has been continuously reaffirmed, but it is important to recognise that serious challenges to peace persist, in particular in rural areas, including political polarisation, increased illicit crop cultivation, lack of evidence of peace dividends, insecurity, leading to the killing of human rights defenders and social leaders, lack of progress on rural reform, a safe and enabling space for civil society and stagnation in negotiations for peace with the other remaining guerrilla group, the ELN, following a car bomb attack on the police academy in Bogotá in January. There is still much work to do here. If there are individual cases the Deputy should share them with me and I will send the information to our embassy in Bogotá.

See this speech in context