EU Presidency Statement - The situation in Central America

Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia , the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Liechtenstein, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

We discuss today the ninth and final report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Guatemalan peace agreements. In addition to summarizing political developments during the past year, the report aims to assess the overall progress in consolidating the peace.

The evaluation comes at a critical juncture for Guatemala. The United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) will close after 10 years in which its presence has been essential to the implementation of the accords. The departure of MINUGUA will thus mark the beginning of a new and necessary phase of the peace process. It will now be completely upon national actors to assume responsibility for the unequivocal implementation of the peace accords and to ensure adequate funding.

Over the past two years, MINUGUA already phased down its operations and carried out a transition strategy designed to build national capacity. The efforts were not only directed at key State institutions, such as the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, but also at civil society organisations likely to remain engaged in peace-building efforts in the future.

The strategy also sought to guarantee adequate follow-up on priorities of the peace accords by the United Nations system in Guatemala. In that light, the EU would be in favour of a further presence of the UN to strengthen the government in their efforts to improve the human rights situation. In this respect, the establishment of an office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights would make an important contribution. The impunity and threats to Human rights activists by clandestine and illegal groups also need special attention.

Mr. President,

As is stipulated in the report, MINUGUA used the final period to reinforce the peace agenda with the new authorities who took office in January 2004. The Mission produced a comprehensive set of policy recommendations and reviewed them with senior government officials, governors, mayors, legislators, justice officials and leaders in civil society. During his visit to Guatemala in May 2004, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Sir Kieran Prendergast, underscored to those actors that the peace accords should remain Guatemala's basic blueprint for development. The European Union would like to add its voice to that message.

Meanwhile, continued support by the donor community is important. The contributions made over the years by the Group of Friends to the Peace Process and by the members of the Dialogue Group have been invaluable. While expressing gratitude for those contributions and for the support for MINUGUA over the years, the EU hopes that we will all remain engaged with peace accords-related projects and remain in a close political dialogue with the Guatemalan Government.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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