"The Government I represent is committed to a long-term struggle to gain respect for Human Rights, beginning with the most precious of those rights: the right to life. This commitment is sometimes confused with the Government's goals of gaining peace and reconciliation among all Colombians".

"...along the lines of the 1993 Vienna Conference, the Government is committed to agreeing on and putting into effect an integral governmental action plan on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law within Colombia. The intensification and growing degradation of this nation's internal armed conflict will force the inclusion and prioritization, at least in part, of programs and measures destined to defending the right to life, integrity, freedom and dignity. ...The actions should be channeled on various fronts. ...The objective then, is to achieve greater coordination and greater effectiveness and efficiency in fulfilling the different tasks of Human Rights, and to favor a greater and better cooperation on the part of the Government and the State with society".

"I understand that a fundamental part of my duties as a public servant is to strive to make each Colombian recognize and accept the fact that there are certain essential values which are the legacy of humanity and upon which societies are built which are democratic, open, pluralistic and supportive. I accept my responsibility to work towards the construction of civic ethics in which active tolerance and respect of differences are essential values. I believe that in doing this, we shall start to disarm those violent spirits, which is a first step towards discouraging violent behaviors".

Gustavo Bell-Lemus, Vice President of the Republic of Colombia, London, April 26, 1999.