UNV has partnered with the Mayor’s Office in Cali, the host city of the event, to implement a strategy to mobilize volunteers for the event.   More than 1,200 people joined the training sessions in September to learn about how to volunteer for COP 16 and key topics such as biodiversity and sustainable development. Approximately 850 people will be selected to volunteer at this major event." Sandra Lino, UN Expert Volunteer for COP 16 volunteer mobilization. 

In Colombia, there are over 600 UN Volunteers supporting peace and providing humanitarian assistance. UN Volunteers assigned with IOM are now 15 percent of the total UNVs in the country. 

Leonardo Martínez is a UN Volunteer serving as Protection, Childhood and Humanitarian Action Specialist with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Colombia, which is the lead host country for Venezuelan migrants and refugees. These migrants and refugees face a hoard of humanitarian issues. The situation is worsened by internal armed conflict, as approximately 6.9 million people in rural areas are under the control or influence of non-state armed groups.

Of all the field missions that Camilo Gómez has participated in as a UN Volunteer, one truly left its mark on him. It was in a remote place in Colombia called Mandé, located deep in the jungle in the rural zone of the Urrao municipality, between the Antioquia and Chocó departments.

According to the United Nations, women make up 57 per cent of volunteers globally. In the case of Venezuela, at least 60 per cent of the UN Volunteers serving in the country are women. This figure is even higher in the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Venezuela, since the agency hosts 20 per cent of the total number of UN Volunteers serving in the country.

The diversity of cultures and identities is a stamp of the Latin America and Caribbean region. On United Nations Day, we recognize the efforts of the UN system, and the UN Volunteers who work therein, to implement solutions that are inclusive, innovative and respectful.

The main goal of the initiative is to facilitate the integration of those who have declared their intention to reject violence, stop fighting and join the social, economic and political life of the country, as well as to promote the understanding of the local population and the reparation of open wounds within the civil society.

The commitment of UN Member States to leaving no one behind requires mechanisms that will contribute to the creation and stabilization of peaceful, fair and equal societies. Over the next decade, such mechanisms will prove essential in the realization of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 16, which encompasses promoting the rule of law at national and international levels and ensuring equal access to justice for all.

"Sometimes just the simple act of listening to a person, listening to their case, is a light of hope [for them]," says Karen Uzcategui Mojica, a UN Volunteer since July 2019. Karen's dedication to the refugee community was evident throughout the interview for this article, as she explained the intricacies of her work.  As a UN Volunteer assigned to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Karen serves refugees, asylum seekers, persons in need of international protection, returnees, internally displaced persons and persons at risk of statelessness.

On November 24, 2016, after a confrontation lasting more than half a century, the National Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) agreed to definitively end the internal armed conflict, with the signature of the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace.