By Julia Symmes Cobb
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Rural reforms to correct deep inequalities in the Colombian countryside are the least implemented part of the country’s 2016 peace deal with the FARC rebels, the academic body which tracks the accord said on Tuesday.
The agreement ended the role of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Colombia’s long-running internal conflict, which has displaced millions and killed more than 260,000 people.
Some 13,000 people demobilized under the deal, which also created a transitional justice system, inaugurated a search unit for disappeared people, guaranteed congressional seats for the FARC until 2026, and pledged three million hectares for landless farmers and others.
Completion of the six-section accord is progressing but is not on track to reach majority implementation within its 15-year timeline, researchers at the University of Norte Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies said in a presentation.
Just 4% of the rural reform section had been fully implemented by the deal’s fifth anniversary in November 2021. Some 14% of the section was partially finished and 67% had seen minimal advances, the researchers said.
Another 14% of the section has not progressed at all.
Some 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres) were distributed during the deal’s fifth year, 8% of the overall goal, the researchers said.
“Without a doubt the handover of 250,000 hectares is positive, but we believe accelerating that process, increasing the amount of distributions, is important,” said Mateo Gomez, head researcher on Kroc’s tracking project.
Both candidates in a June 19 presidential election – leftist former rebel Gustavo Petro and independent construction magnate Rodolfo Hernandez – have pledged to fully implement the deal.
The new administration’s top challenge will be pushing the many minimally implemented points towards partial implementation or beyond, Gomez said.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres applauded advances on a visit last year but urged a re-doubling of efforts to ensure opportunities for ex-combatants.
(Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Richard Chang)
