Colombia asked the United Nations Security Council on Monday to remove rural reform from the mandate of the mission monitoring its 2016 peace deal with the FARC. Since the agreement was signed, 501 former fighters have been killed. The request came just 17 days before the mission's mandate expires on 31 October 2026. The Council had set no date for a vote.
Foreign Minister Omar Bula, speaking at his first Security Council session in the job, said the mission should continue, but focus more narrowly on reintegrating former FARC fighters and the security guarantees promised in the agreement. He called rural reform a structural public policy that should become a permanent part of Colombia's own institutions. "Our commitment remains intact," he told the 15-member Council. Bula said the Council would make the final decision and Colombia wasn't seeking to change any resolution unilaterally.
What Rural Reform Promises
The land chapter opens the 2016 deal. It promises land, roads and services for poor farming regions where the state has historically had little presence. The Council added the chapter to the mission's duties in 2023. Miroslav Jenča, the UN Secretary-General's special representative and mission leader, said it aims to improve services, jobs and local institutions. Development plans monitored by the mission, he said, help extend the state into conflict zones.
That oversight could soon shrink. If the Council approves Colombia's request, the mission would offer less international scrutiny of the country's land policy. Agriculture Minister Indalecio Dangond announced a 90-day pause on land handovers and titling for review in August. Bula said the Agriculture Ministry had legal tools to continue land policy, but he didn't identify any outside body that would monitor it.
Violence Still Shadows the Deal
Bula and Jenča described a grim security picture. Bula told the Council that 132,930 people were murdered in Colombia between July 2016 and August 2026. He cited nearly 100,000 extortion cases and more than 2,750 kidnappings. Armed groups, he said, had grown from about 6,000 to almost 30,000 members since the peace deal. Jenča cited government data presented to Colombia's Congress showing illegal armed groups grew from about 15,000 members in 2022 to roughly 28,000.
Former combatants and community leaders continue to pay the price. Jenča said 501 former FARC fighters had been killed since 2016; the latest died on 22 September in the northern province of Cesar. He condemned the 1 September killing of two community leaders in Cauca, in the southwest. More than 11,000 former FARC members remain in reintegration. They've launched about 6,000 productive projects and 300 cooperatives, with work ranging from coffee to tourism.
Washington's Position
U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Bartos, the U.S. representative for UN management and reform, welcomed "Colombia's determination to take ownership of rural reform." He said the mission should keep its core verification work and field presence. The Council, he argued, should "focus on core mandates, and deliver results rather than perpetuate missions indefinitely." He also praised President Abelardo De la Espriella for ending peace talks with armed groups inherited from his left-wing predecessor, Gustavo Petro.
Bartos said the United States had sent more than US$26.5 million in aid after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Colombia on 10 August. Washington, he said, looked forward to a deeper security partnership. The United States, one of five permanent Council members, holds a veto. During the 2025 renewal, it insisted on removing two tasks: the peace deal's chapter on ethnic communities and sentences from its special peace court. Security Council Report, a New York research group, said most other Council members wanted to keep those tasks.
What Comes Next
Britain, which drafts the Council's texts on Colombia, was preparing a resolution and already speaking with Colombia, El Tiempo reported. A new resolution needs nine of the Council's 15 votes and no veto. Colombia holds one of the elected seats for 2026 and 2027. Whether the Council will accept the change remains unclear. The mission operates 29 offices across the country, monitors the peace deal and isn't a security force.
Why This Matters:
The UN Verification Mission in Colombia began work in 2017 to check that the 2016 deal is carried out. Removing rural reform from its mandate would end independent international monitoring of the agreement's promise to bring roads, services and land to poor farming regions, the same regions where armed groups have grown to roughly 28,000 members. Colombia's government says it'll keep land policy in its own hands. But land titling is paused for review, and no outside monitor has been named. Rural communities and former fighters would have to rely on domestic institutions alone. From this perspective, the Council's choice will determine whether the deal's promises are verified or simply asserted.