The delegations of the government and the FARC-EP has summed up the results of the 12th round of peace talks taking place in the Cuban capital, Havana with a joint press release.

In it the government and FARC-EP Peace Delegation underline that "After discussing and exchanging views, positions and proposals related to the second point of the Agenda for Talks on Political Participation, we began working on agreements on "Rights and guarantees for the exercise of the political opposition in general and in particular for new movements arising after the signing of the Final Agreement. Media access".

The press release also stated that "As part of the debate on these issues, we heard the contribution of four prominent professors and scholars from the Colombian Thought for Peace Centre of the National University of Colombia and the University of the Andes, as agreed in the General Agreement.

We met with representatives of the governments of Chile and Venezuela, countries which are accompanying this process, to inform them about the course and progress of talks".

A new round of talks will begin on August 19.

BACKGROUND

The Peace Delegation FARC-EP website offers a good history of the peace process so far.
After almost one-and-a-half year of exploratory meetings between the two parties, in August 2012, the government and FARC-EP agreed on an agenda for the peace talks: the General Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace. The Agenda consists of a preamble, in which the two parts establish criteria according to which the discussions should be held: “The construction of peace as an issue of the society as a whole that requires the participation of everybody, the respect for human rights is an end of the State that should be promoted, the economic development with social justice and in harmony with the environment is a guarantee of peace and progress, social development with equality and well-being, including the great majorities, allows us to grow as a country, a Colombia in peace will play an active and sovereign role in regional and global peace and development, the amplification of democracy as a condition to achieve solid bases for peace”.  

After the preamble, there’s a list of issues, enumerated from one to six, which are the topics about which the peace talks should be developed, always keeping in mind the criteria of the preamble that should illuminate and inspire the discussions and the agreements between the two parts. These six issues are: 1) Integral agricultural development policy 2) political participation 3) end of the conflict 4) solution to the problem of illicit drugs 5) victims and 6) Implementation, verification and countersignature.Each of these six points consists of several sub-points.