Building Enduring Peace in Colombia: How the EU Can Help

Colombia’s civil conflict – which lasted more than five decades, killed thousands and displaced more – officially ended with the November 2016 peace agreement between the state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. During the first years of the deal’s implementation, significant problems have emerged, with organized crime and terrorist networks expanding to rural areas and violence rising. These challenges affect not only Colombia but also the wider region and actually reverberate as far as Europe, due to drug trafficking. For this reason, it is necessary to identify how EU support could be more efficient in building peace in post-conflict Colombia.