The UN called on Colombia on Monday to accelerate the implementation of its 2016 peace accord, warning that delays and the expansion of illegal armed factions threaten fragile gains across conflict-affected regions.

"The agreement has made undeniable contributions to advancing peace in the country ... implementation over the years has also had many shortcomings, and much remains to be done," Miroslav Jenca, special representative and head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, told the UN Security Council, stressing that "the agreement should be implemented comprehensively." Jenca warned that the new administration under President Abelardo de la Espriella faces "mounting insecurity due to the expansion of armed groups and illegal economies," citing government estimates that illegal armed factions have grown from roughly 15,000 to 28,000 members since 2021, with the Gulf Clan alone exceeding 10,000 fighters.

Highlighting economic reintegration, Jenca noted that more than 11,000 former combatants continue transitioning to civilian life across approximately 6,000 productive projects and 300 cooperatives, though sustainability and security remain pressing obstacles.

"The government has stated its intention to comply with the constitutional and legal obligations arising from the agreement, however... it has yet to fully outline its approach to implementation," Jenca said. Bogota pushes to refocus mandate Colombian Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar pushed back against international depictions of the agreement, arguing that promotion of the accord as an exemplary model "is not borne out in the figures or in the reality that this government inherited."

Bula underscored that between July 2016 and August 2026, Colombia recorded 132,930 homicides, nearly 100,000 extortion cases and more than 2,750 abductions, asserting: "For our peasant farmers, our workers, our children, and our security forces, peace has simply not existed." He noted that illegal armed groups expanded fivefold over the past decade, forcing authorities to confront the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Gulf Clan and former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissident factions simultaneously. Over the administration's first 60 days, security forces made more than 32,000 arrests, seized over 135 tons of narcotics and recovered 3,414 firearms.

Consequently, Bula submitted a formal proposal to refocus the UN mission's mandate strictly on security guarantees and the reintegration of former FARC-EP combatants, arguing that comprehensive rural reform represents a long-term domestic institutional task that "goes beyond the scope and duration of a special verification mission."