The Victims Unit accompanies 64 initiatives that favor victims and communities, in PDET municipalities of Antioquia, Chocó and Córdoba
This was announced by the director of the Victims Unit in a hearing of the Commission for Monitoring the Law on Victims of Congress, aimed at the municipalities focused on these three departments.
The director of the Victims Unit, Ramón Rodríguez Andrade, participated in the virtual hearing convened by the Legal Commission for Monitoring the Victims Law of the Congress of the Republic, focused on the initiatives of the Development Programs with a Territorial Approach (PDET) in Antioquia, Chocó and Córdoba, where the Unit supports 64 projects, framed in pillar eight of Reconciliation and Peace, as indicated by the official.
In the session, in which municipal mayors participated, the presidential advisor for Stabilization and Consolidation, Emilio Archila; the representative to the House John Jairo Hoyos, president of the Monitoring Commission; directors and technical delegates of the entities of the national order; and representatives of the victims' tables; the director of the Victims Unit presented a balance of the actions implemented by the entity in the targeted municipalities.
According to Rodríguez, to date 9.031.048 victims of conflict are included in the Single Victims Registry. Around 2.5 are located in the 170 municipalities with Development Programs with a Territorial Approach (PDET), a figure that corresponds to almost a third of the total registered victims. In addition, the departments of Antioquia, Chocó and Córdoba make up five PDET subregions and in these there are at least 697.340 victims.
“The purpose of the PDETs is the articulated work of the institutions and territorial entities to implement the initiatives. The role of the Victims Unit focuses on the psychosocial components, collective reparation, return and relocation processes, social and community infrastructure, which not only benefit the victims, but also all the inhabitants of the municipalities”, stated the director of the Unit.
In this sense, there are 4.248 initiatives proposed by the victims in PDET municipalities, 838 of these, contained in pillar 8, called Reconciliation, coexistence and peacebuilding. Thus, the Unit for Victims has identified 64 initiatives within this pillar for the departments of Antioquia, Chocó and Córdoba, which will accelerate the implementation of Law 1448 of 2011.
According to Rodríguez, at the end of the implementation of all the initiatives, which are planned for 15 years, "the victims will have been able to access basic rights and overcome vulnerability". "Another goal is to minimize the factors of violence and reduce the risks of forced recruitment, such as restoring their trust in the State and improving people's quality of life, thanks to the institutional presence", he added. On average, 12% of the initiatives identified are expected to be achieved between 2020 and 2021.
For his part, the presidential advisor for Stabilization and Consolidation, Emilio Archila, stated that the PDET programs give victims something they have long sought "and that is to have their own voice to build their initiatives from their needs and realities." "The entities want to unite the voices of the victims of 170 targeted municipalities, adopting long-term policies".
Local voices
The leaders of the municipalities present at the meeting agreed on the crucial importance of the State's support to overcome the context of conflict and to be able to declare their populations as territories of peace.
Juan Camilo Piedrahíta, mayor of Anorí (Antioquia), affirmed that the Administration has achieved a joint work with the Victims Participation Table and that in the PDET projects they find an opportunity to be visible to the country: “We have strengthened that space for participation, in a municipality hit by the conflict and we bet on peace. In this commitment to emerge and be visible, we have a project with a differential approach with 150 new homes and maintenance of rural roads to carry out the marketing activities of our products”.
The mayor of Tierralta (Córdoba), Daniel Montero, indicated: “We want the institutions to help us carry out the initiatives for the 264.000 victims that live in this municipality; we need tertiary roads, rural aqueducts, bridges, for social development”.
In the session, the municipal leaders also ratified their call to the Government to strengthen productive initiatives, especially in areas still affected by conflict and activity It is from illegal groups.
(End/LMY)