The presence of the international community was decisive for the development of the negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP. International agents played various roles throughout the different phases of the conversations, including the role of guarantors, partners, facilitators, special delegates for the talks, experts on specific subjects, hosts and inspectors. During the secret phase, Cuba, Norway and Venezuela accompanied the process and provided support for the exploratory meetings between parties (three took place in Venezuela, in addition to the rounds of talks in Havana, for example), and the warring parties mutually agreed that organizations like the CICR would facilitate the operations for these meetings.
During the public phase of the talks, formal roles were given to countries like Cuba and Norway, who acted as guarantors, and to Chile and Venezuela, who acted as partners. Likewise, delegates from the United Nations Development Programme in Colombia (UNDP), together with the National University of Colombia, helped in the development of participation mechanisms, like the forums for each item on the agenda. Other actors, like Germany, the United States and the European Union, sent special delegates to the Negotiating Table as observers. In one of the planned participation mechanisms, the warring parties mutually agreed on experts from different nations who were invited to share their experience and knowledge regarding subjects that would be addressed at the Negotiating Table. Each party also independently chose national and international experts to consult for their negotiating strategy and their positions on discussion subjects.
For the Implementation phase, the Final Agreement defines several roles for actors from the international community: two international dignitaries chosen to be inspectors, the Technical Secretary for the International Verification Component (composed of the Centre for Investigation and Popular Education (CINEP, according to its Spanish initials) and the Conflict Analysis Resource Center (CERAC, according to its Spanish initials) and supported by the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute), or the UN’s Political Mission. As partners in each of the five items of the Final Agreement, and in other less formal roles related to monitoring and support for a sustainable implementation, these actors were given responsibilities related to the laying down of arms, the Reincorporation of ex-FARC-EP members into civilian life, and compliance with the punishments imposed by the agreed upon justice procedures.
In this section, you can find some explanations and deep reflections on the role of international third-parties in different stages of the peace process, which shows the opportunities and the reach that the work of third-party actors can have in these negotiation scenarios.
