where she led institutional strengthening through the creation of twelve sectorial committees, including the South American Defense Council, to address the most relevant issues among its Member States. In 2014 President Juan Manuel Santos appointed her as Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. Mejía Vélez was vice-president of the Economic and Social Council, one of the vice-presidents of the 70th session of the General Assembly and also the chairperson of the 71st session of the Third Committee on Social, Humanitarian and Cultural affairs. Additionally, Mejía Velez championed women's rights by creating the Group of Friends for Gender Parity and United Nations which as of March 2020 was integrated by 149 Member States. Permanent representative of the Colombian Mission to the United Nations in New York Mejía Vélez was appointed by former President Juan Manuel Santos as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations in February 2014. She finalized her term on October 1, 2018 During the course of her more than four years in the diplomatic post, she was involved with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (Addis Ababa Action Agenda), the reform of the selection and appointment process criteria of the United Nations Secretary-General, the establishment of a first Special Political Mission in Colombia and its Verification Mission, as a result of the peace agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, among many other achievements in a context of a cycle of reforms of the organization. Group of Friends for Gender Parity The Group of Friends in Favor of a Woman Candidate for Secretary-General of the United Nations was a cross-regional initiative consisting of 56 United Nations Member States promoting the idea that the time for a woman to hold the highest position at the United Nations had come. Mejía Vélez, in her capacity as Permanent Representative of Colombia, led in the spring of 2015 a group of like-minded countries to form a "group of friends" who would pursue to update the terms of reference for the selection and appointment of the secretary-general. This goal was achieved through negotiations within the Ad Hoc Working Group for the Revitalization of the General Assembly and its landmark resolution 69/321 "Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly." Adopted by consensus on 11 September 2015, operatives paragraphs 32