A/HRC/31/3/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. The office in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was established in 1996 through an agreement between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Government and renewed in 2014 through 31 October 2016. The report is the result of monitoring by the office in Colombia (OHCHR-Colombia) of the human rights situation and technical cooperation in the country, through its 12 field offices. From 15 to 21 April 2015, the Deputy High Commissioner visited Colombia, meeting national and local authorities and representatives of ethnic, social and human rights organizations in Bogotá, Cauca and Putumayo. In 2015, periodic reports submitted by Colombia were considered by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 2. The High Commissioner transmits his sincere recognition to the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) for the historic advances in their negotiations in Havana to end the internal armed conflict. Four of the six negotiation agenda items have concluded in preliminary agreements. The agreement reached in 2015 on victims of the armed conflict follows agreements on rural reform, political participation and illegal drugs. Congress approved the holding of a referendum on the peace accords that will require approval by 13 per cent of the electorate. The Government and the National Liberation Army have yet to initiate formal peace negotiations. 3. The United Nations and the Union of South American Nations designated representatives to support the negotiating parties’ subcommission on the end of the armed conflict. In 2015, the President of Colombia announced that the State would request Security Council support in monitoring an eventual ceasefire. 4. As the Government recognized in its planning, the sustainability of peace will depend on Colombia overcoming the enormous divide in human rights enjoyment between rural and urban areas, between men and women and between different population and ethnic groups. This will require participative processes that enable the State — through commitment, funds and capacity — and civil society, including social movements, the private sector, academia and faith-based entities, to find and implement solutions jointly. The implementation of the eventual peace agreements must aim to generate the conditions necessary to overcome past conflict-related violations, as well as structural human rights problems. 5. OHCHR-Colombia continued to coordinate with and support the Ombudsperson’s Office throughout the country. It also strengthened coordination with the United Nations country team, advising on the integration of a rights-based approach in the Development Assistance Framework for Colombia for 2015-2019 and on support for State implementation of recommendations issued by international and regional human rights mechanisms. II. Peace process and victims of the armed conflict 6. In 2015, a third year of the peace negotiations was completed. The High Commissioner highlights government and FARC-EP recognition of the centrality of victims and their rights in the negotiations and underlines the importance of the realization of those commitments in the implementation phase. 3