Media Center

Press Release

The Netherlands Expands Contribution to the OAS Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia (MAPP/OAS)

The Organization of American States (OAS) this week signed an agreement with the Netherlands through which the country will expand its contribution to the Mission to Support the Peace Process (MAPP/OAS) in Colombia, which accompanies the country in a verification and advisory role during the process of demobilization and reintegration of illegal armed groups, and supports peace efforts.

The Secretary for Political Affairs of the OAS, Kevin Casas-Zamora, received on behalf of the Secretary General of the institution, José Miguel Insulza, the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Netherlands, Peter Mollema, at the headquarters of the Organization in Washington, DC, to discuss issues of cooperation, in particular to acknowledge the decision of the Netherlands to contribute a further $875,000 to the Mission to Support the Peace Process (MAPP) in Colombia, bringing its total contribution for the period from May 2011 to December 2014 to $6.875 million.

During the meeting on Thursday, Secretary Casas-Zamora expressed on behalf of Secretary General Insulza his gratitude for the contribution of the Netherlands, which he called "particularly significant" because it comes at an important moment in the peace talks between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Deputy Head of Mission Mollema said that “the monitoring mission MAPP/OAS has proven to be a valuable instrument to help bring peace and security in Colombia. That effort deserves continued support. The Netherlands is ready to do its part by providing additional funding for 2014.”

On Tuesday, during his visit to the OAS, the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos praised the role of the MAPP/OAS and recalled how for nine years the OAS "has accompanied and supported communities that have been victims of the conflict and initiated the process of healing the wounds and restoring land to farmers who have been displaced by the violence."

On the same occasion, the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, said that the Mission in Colombia “has accompanied the enormous efforts the country has made to end the armed conflicts that have long affected its people." "In carrying out its work," Insulza said, "the MAPP has always had the Colombian government’s support, and we have been able to do important work, under the guidance of President Santos, for the benefit of the Colombian people."

The Netherlands has become the largest donor to OAS programs in 2013 among the Permanent Observers, with contributions of $7.6 million in cash and more than 132,000 in-kind. Since 1999, the European kingdom has contributed more than $30 million to the programs of the Organization. The Netherlands has been a Permanent Observer to the OAS since 1972.

A gallery of photos of the event will be available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-472/13