FINAL AGREEMENT TO END THE ARMED CONFLICT AND BUILD A STABLE AND LASTING PEACE
PREAMBLE Download the full agreement here.
Recalling that the Havana dialogues between delegates from the National Government, led by
President Juan Manuel Santos, and delegates from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP), based on their mutual decision to bring the national armed
conflict to an end, came about as the result of the exploratory meeting that took place in the
capital of the Republic of Cuba between 23 February and 26 August 2012;
Considering that said exploratory dialogues resulted in a General Agreement to End the Armed
Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace, signed on 26 August 2012 before national witnesses
and before delegates from the Republic of Cuba and from the Kingdom of Norway, who also
served as witnesses, and, since then, have accompanied the process as guarantor countries;
Emphasising the fact that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Chile have
been ready at all times to perform their proper duties as observer countries;
Recalling that in fulfilment of the agenda approved in the aforesaid Agreement, the Negotiation
Table was established on 18 October 2012 in the city of Oslo, capital of the Kingdom of Norway,
and activities have continued in the Cuban capital without interruption up to the act of signing
the new Final Agreement;
Considering that, as a consequence of what was stated on 24 August of this year, the parties
signed a Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace; that
the people were consulted on the said agreement by means of a plebiscite accepted by the
parties at the relevant time, on a date established for that purpose (2 October) and, by means of
a ruling handed down by the Constitutional Court, which informed the country of the terms and
conditions of the chosen path;
Recognising that in the ballot boxes NO prevailed over YES, although that does not mean a
rejection of the right to peace or of fundamental rights;
Emphasising that the ruling itself of the Constitutional Court referred to above set out guidelines
to be followed in the event that NO was the majority response in the plebiscite; the said ruling
by the Court indicates that the President of the Republic retains the power to maintain public
order "even by negotiating with illegal armed groups in order to achieve other peace
agreements";
Asserting the decision of the parties to continue with the search for peace by first listening to
those who expressed their reservations on the contents of the Final Agreement first signed, with
a desire to reach a new agreement with a greater consensus; that what was thereby achieved
was an enrichment and amendment of the previous Agreement, taking into account the specific
concerns, proposals, clarifications, and definitions put forward by a wide range of social groups
and organisations, sectors of opinion and political movements and parties; that, after carefully
examining with an open mind all the matters put forward by the interested parties for
consideration by the negotiating parties, a large number of substantial changes and amendments
were made to the old texts, converting the previous Peace Agreement into a new Final
Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace;
Emphasising that the new Final Agreement signed on said date is the free manifestation of the
wishes of the Colombian government and of the FARC-EP, after having responded to a number
of initiatives by sectors of the people of Colombia, acting in good faith and with the full intention
of fulfilling the agreement;
Bearing in mind that Article 22 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Colombia
establishes peace as a right and as a mandatory duty; that Article 95 states that the exercising of
the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution implies responsibilities, which include
striving towards the achievement and maintenance of peace; always and at every stage, have
upheld the spirit and scope of the rules of the National Constitution, the principles of
international law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law (its
conventions and protocols), the stipulations of the Rome Statute (international criminal law), the
decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerning conflicts and conflict
termination, and other resolutions of universally recognized jurisdictions and authoritative pronouncements relating to the subject matters agreed upon;
Emphasising that the rights and duties enshrined in the Charter are interpreted in accordance
with international treaties on human rights ratified by Colombia and their enjoyment or exercise
may not be subject to any limitation;
Recalling that Article 94 states that “the declaration of the rights and guarantees enshrined in
the Constitution and in current international conventions must not be understood as the
negation of others that, intrinsic to the human individual, are not expressly mentioned therein”;
Emphasising that peace has come to be universally described as a superior human right and as a
prerequisite for the exercising of all other rights and duties incumbent upon individuals and
citizens;
Bearing in mind the fact that the new Final Agreement encompasses each and every one of the
accords reached in developing the Agenda of the General Agreement signed in Havana in August 2012; and that in order to achieve that, the parties
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Considering that the sum of the accords of which the new Final Agreement is composed,
contributes to the fulfilment of fundamental rights, such as political, social, economic and cultural
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rights; the rights of the victims of conflict to truth, justice and reparations, the rights of boys, girls
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Emphasising that the new Final Agreement places special emphasis on the fundamental rights of
women, of vulnerable social groups such as indigenous peoples, girls, boys and adolescents,
communities of African descent and other ethnically differentiated groups; the fundamental
rights of the small-scale farmers, both male and female, and the essential rights of persons with
disabilities and of those displaced by the conflict; and the fundamental rights of the elderly and
of the LGBTI community;
Emphasising that, further to what is underlined above,
but as values that must be applied and defended as a prerequisite for bringing about
peace and economic and social progress for all peoples, and emphasising that tolerance consists
of "harmony in difference";
Noticing that, in the opinion of the National Government, the transformations that must be
achieved when implementing this Agreement must play a part in reversing the effects of the
conflict and in changing the conditions that have led to the persistence of violence across the
country; and, in the opinion of the FARC-EP, such transformations must contribute to resolving
the historical causes of the conflict, such as the unresolved issue of land ownership and, in
particular, the concentration thereof, the exclusion of the rural population, and the
underdevelopment of rural communities, which especially affects women, girls and boys.
Appreciating and extolling the fact that the central pillar of peace is the promotion of the
presence and the effective operation of the state throughout the country, especially throughout
the many regions that are today afflicted by neglect, by the lack of an effective civil service and
by the effects of the internal armed conflict itself; that it is an essential goal of national
reconciliation to construct a new territorial-based welfare and development paradigm to the
benefit of broad sectors of the population that have hitherto been the victims of exclusion and
despair;
Acknowledging the right of society to comprehensive human security, with the participation of
the civil authorities;
and adolescents, the right to freedom of faith and its free exercise; the fundamental right of
individual and/or collective legal certainty and physical safety; and the fundamental right of each
individual and of society to non-recurrence of the tragedy of the internal armed conflict that this
Agreement proposes to finally end; the state, pursuant to Article 13 of the
Political Constitution of Colombia, must guarantee the various aspects of the right to equality
and non-discrimination, which must tend towards bringing about conditions that allow the
effective protection of persons who are clearly in a position of weakness and the punishment of
abuses committed against them;
Emphasising that Colombia has signed International treaties and declarations that enshrine
equality, non-discrimination against persons and tolerance as universal conduct, not only as principles,
Extolling and enshrining the justice that is to come inasmuch as it acknowledges essential
fundamental rights for new and future generations, such as the right to protected land, the right
to the conservation of the human species, the right to be aware of one’s origins and identity, the
right to know the truth with regard to events occurring before one’s birth, the right to exemption
from liability for acts committed by earlier generations, the right to the preservation of freedom
of choice, and other rights, notwithstanding the rights of victims of any age or generation to
truth, justice and reparations;
Having regard to the fact that the new vision of a Colombia at peace enables us to achieve a
sustainable society that is united in diversity and that is based not only on consideration for
human rights but on mutual tolerance, protection of the environment, respect for nature and its
renewable and non-renewable resources and biodiversity;
Recalling that on June 23 this year, the delegations from the National Government and from the
FARC-EP signed, in the Cuban capital, the agreements on the Bilateral and Definitive Ceasefire
and Cessation of Hostilities and Laying down of Arms and Security Guarantees, in the presence
of the President of the Councils of State and Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, the Secretary-
General of the United Nations, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the
President of the UN Security Council, Norway’s Foreign Minister, the heads of state of the
observer countries, heads of government of countries in the region, the United States Special
Envoy and the European Union Special Representative; that such cessation of hostilities has been
repeated from the date of the plebiscite of last 2 October;
Accepting that customary international legal standards will continue to govern issues relating to
fundamental rights not mentioned in the new Final Agreement, including the imperative whereby
“in those cases not provided for by current law, the individual will be safeguarded by
humanitarian principles and the demands of the public conscience”;
Admitting that the new Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting
Peace must be endorsed in accordance with Item 6 of the Agenda in the General Agreement; that
such endorsement takes place by means of systems for participation by citizens such as a
plebiscite, legislative initiatives, consultation, open local government councils and others, or by
public corporations elected by suffrage, whose members are responsible for exercising
representation with a mandate such as the Congress of the Republic, departmental assemblies
and municipal councils; that such endorsement is decided by the parties and must take place as
indicated in the relevant rules or judgments;
We, the Government of the Republic of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia - People’s Army, have agreed as follows:
Acknowledging all the foregoing and, in particular, the non-delegatable constitutional mandate
that states that the President of the Republic, as head of state, head of government and supreme
administrative authority, is responsible for agreeing upon and endorsing peace accords;
To sign this Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace, with
the substantial amendments that make it a new Agreement, the implementation of which will
put a definitive end to an armed conflict that has lasted over fifty years, and which is recorded in
writing below.
This Final Agreement to End the Armed Conflict and Build a Stable and Lasting Peace is signed by
the National Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army
(FARC-EP) as a Special Agreement pursuant to Article 3, common to the 1949 Geneva
Conventions, as per its international standing.
The National Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army
(FARC-EP) hereby sign seven originals, including the annexes thereto, one for each of the parties,
one for each of the guarantor countries and one for each of the observer countries. The seventh
original copy will be deposited, immediately after signature, with the Swiss Federal Council in
Bern, or with such body as might replace it at a future date as repository of the Geneva
Conventions.
