UNHCR warmly congratulates President Manuel Santos of Colombia on his receipt of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize

“On behalf of the UN refugee agency, I extend my sincere congratulations to President Santos for being awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. I witnessed during a recent trip to Colombia his extraordinary commitment to bringing his country’s 52-year conflict to an end and to finding solutions for the millions of people displaced by the war. I trust that President Santos, his Government and his fellow actors in the peace process will stay the course and overcome the current impasse”, said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The peace negotiations, headed by President Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have brought the country substantially closer to ending one of the world’s oldest conflicts and finding solutions for almost 7.5 million people uprooted inside and outside their country.  The violence in Colombia has displaced some 6.9 million people inside the Andean nation - around 13 per cent of the entire population – and caused around 360,000 refugees to flee abroad, most to Ecuador and Venezuela.

‘We will continue to support the Government and people of Colombia in restoring the rights of Colombian internally displaced people and returning refugees, and addressing their protection and solutions needs,” said Mr. Grandi.