Bogota, August 30, 2022. @MinInterior. The Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Prada, together with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Justice, filed the amendment to Bill 418 or Public Order before Congress.

The head of the policy communicated the terms that modify, add and extend Law 478 of 1997, which seeks a true commitment to total peace through Human Security, generating a policy of peace.  “Today we raise peace to state status; we propose to Congress to raise it to the status of a State,” Minister Prada added.

The proposal includes:

1. Make the Peace Policy a State policy, binding so that it is not interrupted. 

2. Link them to territorial development plans, crop substitution plans and national sectoral plans.

3. Incorporate the concept of Human Security as a path to total peace.

4. Open the door to partial and total agreements with the different actors in the conflict. 

5. A joint effort among the Government ministries to fully implement a lasting peace.

6. Establish a Social Service for Peace, an alternative service to compulsory military service, with the possibility for young people to serve in the FMM or in literacy, environmental protection, promotion of human rights or protection of victims of the conflict. 

7. Cancel four existing funds with the creation of a Peace Fund that articulates and coordinates investment and enables better citizen accountability and oversight. 

The Minister of the Interior affirmed that this “is a different and bold peace process that will lead us to total peace”, and he invited the actors of the conflict to join in the transformation of peace through social dialogue.  “We have asked you to give a nod to all the violent actors who want to pave the way towards dialogue for peace, and the Government is ready to create the conditions for it,” said the head of the policy.