Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (right), President of Colombia, gives Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a pen similar to the ones used to sign the Colombian Peace Agreement. The pens are made from recycled bullets and have inscriptions that read: "Bullets wrote our past. Education, our future." UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

7 October 2016 – Following the awarding of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Peace to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that the award is a timely message to all who have strived hard for peace, and that it provides needed hope and encouragement to all Colombians.

“It tells them to keep working until they have brought the peace process to a successful conclusion,” said Mr. Ban in a statement issued by his office.

“I commend the statements of all concerned that they are committed to peace, and I welcome the continuing commitment of the Parties to the cease-fire, if leaders conduct their dialogue with pragmatism, focused on the Colombian people's desire of for peace,” he added.

In today's statement, the UN chief also said that the results of the 2 October plebiscite should not divide the Colombian people who are working to build a peaceful country and that he hailed the dialogue that has started on the way forward.

He further commended the statements of all concerned actors in the country that they are committed to peace, and hailed the continuing commitment of the Parties to the cease-fire, if leaders conduct their dialogue with pragmatism, focused on the Colombian people's desire of for peace.

“This award says to them: you have come too far to turn back now. The peace process should inspire our world,” the Secretary-General said.

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