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Background

The Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia (MAPP/OAS):

• The MAPP/OAS was created in 2004, at the request of the national government, to carry out monitoring and accompaniment tasks related to the peace policy in Colombia.

• The mandate of the MAPP/OAS emanates from an agreement between the Government of Colombia and the OAS General Secretariat. This mandate has been ratified through five additional protocols that have renewed and broadened the functions of the Mission.

• In 2014, the period of operation of the Mission was extended for three years (2015 – January 2018). This September 27 in Cartagena, President Juan Manuel Santos extended it to December 2018.

• The Mission centers its work on the constant monitoring of the conditions of security; peacebuilding; and transitional justice. Since 2015, it has monitored the current and potential social conflicts that could constitute a challenge to the peace.

• The Mission has focused on its work on the ground. From the first day, it has deployed to the most remote territories, those most affected by the armed conflict. There, the Mission listens to communities and victims, trains them to promote their participation and supports their processes of resiliency. Moreover, it monitors and accompanies institutional initiatives at the local, departmental and national levels.

• The Mission is independent, guided by respect for territorial dynamics and its fluid interaction with key actors in the peace process. Moreover, it´s objective is to generate trust and build bridges between communities, institutions, and the institutional community, thus contributing to building an atmosphere conducive to the building of a stable and durable peace.

• To date, the OAS General Secretariat has presented 21 reports with findings and recommendations to the Colombian state on the implementation of the peace policies. 80 percent of the recommendations of the MAPP/OAS in the field of transitional justice, for example, were translated into laws, decrees, and other legal instruments. The reports are available here.

• The work of the MAPP/OAS is possible thanks to the economic and political support of its donor countries: Germany, Canada, Spain, the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Switzerland, and the European Union.

• Between 2004 and 2006, the MAPP/OAS participated in the verification of the process of the ceasefire, the laying down of arms and the demobilization of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), and accompanied 37 demobilizations.

• Among other tasks, the MAPP/OAS also accompanied family members and institutions in processes of the exhumation of mass graves of victims of the armed conflict; accompanied the implementation and monitored the Law of Justice and Peace; monitored during more than 400 visits the conditions of incarceration of  members of the AUC, FARC-EP and ELN; and contributed to the design, implementation and monitoring of the Law of Victims and the Restitution of Lands.

• In 2015 the MAPP/OAS carried out 1,400 visits to lands, including 330 visits to municipalities.

• In its 12 years of existence, the MAPP/OAS accompanied:
  • More than 80,000 victims participants in Justice and Peace.
  • More than 1,600 community leaders in access to integral reparation.
  • More than 1,000 judicial proceedings in Justice and Peace.
  • More than 700 depositions in the framework of Justice and Peace.
  • More than 500 days of assistance to victims in Justice and Peace processes.
  • 100 acts of delivery of skeletal remains.
  • 80 exhumations.

Reference: S-017/16