The Dutch government, through its Ministry for Development Cooperation, will donate over $1.5 million to the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Mission to Support the Peace Process (MAPP) in Colombia, which aims to help the peace process in the conflict-ravaged country, and to support victims of violence.
OAS Secretary Jose Miguel Insulza and Ambassador of the Netherlands to the U.S. and Permanent Representative to the OAS Renee Jones-Bos signed an agreement sealing the deal at OAS headquarters in Washington on Tuesday afternoon.
Insulza praised the OAS mission in Colombia, saying it had contributed to immobilization, disarmament and verification of the disarmament of illegal armed groups in the Latin nation. The OAS secretary also thanked the Netherlands for their continued support in this process, calling the European nation one of the program’s “big donors.”
“This could not have been done without the support of the government of the Netherlands and that is something we have to recognize,” Insulza said.
“We still have a lot of challenges in Colombia and violence is still there,” Insulza said, adding that the issue of illegal armed groups is now “more of a criminal problem than a political one.”
Jones-Bos said her nation looked forward to future cooperation with the OAS.
The agreement states that the Netherlands will contribute no more than $1.55 million to the OAS project by the end of April 2011.