Fifty-first session
Agenda item 40
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 45/15 of 20 November 1990, 46/109 A of
17 December 1991, 47/118 of 18 December 1992, 48/161 of 20 December 1993 and
48/267 of 19 September 1994, in which it decided to establish the Mission for
the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Commitments of the
Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala, and its resolutions
49/137 of 19 December 1994, 49/236 A of 31 March 1995, 49/236 B of
14 September 1995, 50/220 of 3 April 1996 and, in particular, 51/198 of
17 December 1996, in which it decided to authorize the renewal of the mandate
of the Mission for a further period of three months, that is, until
31 March 1997, and requested the Secretary-General to submit recommendations
on how the structure and staffing of the Mission should be redesigned to
enable it to fulfil its new responsibilities after the signing at Guatemala
City on 29 December 1996 by the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad
Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca of the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting
Peace,
Recalling also the Framework Agreement for the Resumption of the
Negotiating Process between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad
Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca of 10 January 1994 and all subsequent
agreements, in which the parties agreed to request the United Nations to carry
out international verification of the peace accords,
Welcoming the agreements between the Government of Guatemala and the
Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca signed at Guatemala City on
29 December 1996, which, together with the overall package of peace accords
signed previously at Madrid, Mexico City, Oslo and Stockholm, put a definitive
end to the internal Guatemalan conflict and will foster national
reconciliation and economic development,
Encouraged by progress made in the verification of the ceasefire, the
separation of forces and the disarmament and demobilization of combatants of
the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca by the group of military
observers whose attachment to the Mission was authorized by the Security
Council in its resolution 1094 (1997) of 20 January 1997,
Encouraged also by the establishment of the Follow-up Commission, which
will oversee implementation of the agreements, and by the preparatory work
carried out with a view to the establishment of the historical clarification
commission,
Taking into account the note by the Secretary-General transmitting the
sixth report of the Director of the Mission,
Acknowledging the support given to the Mission by the Government of
Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria National Guatemalteca,
Acknowledging also the efforts of the Secretary-General, the Group of
Friends of the Guatemala peace process, the United Nations system and other
international agencies throughout the process that culminated in the signing
of the peace agreements,
Recalling the request of the parties that the United Nations verify all
the agreements signed by them as reflected in the Framework Agreement and
stressed in the Agreement on the Implementation, Compliance and Verification
Timetable for the Peace Agreements,
Recalling also the letter of the Secretary-General to the President of
the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council proposing that
a new mission, to be called the United Nations Verification Mission in
Guatemala, subsume the functions currently performed by the United Nations
Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the
Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala,
Having considered the recommendations of the Secretary-General regarding
the restructuring of the Mission to enable it to fulfil its new
responsibilities and the renewal of its mandate, as contained in his report on
the Mission,
1. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations
Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the
Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala;10
2. Takes note with satisfaction of the sixth report of the Director
of the Mission;