The director of the Victims Unit and the five missionary directors of the entity, held a virtual talk with the delegates of the victims in this department in the "Great dialogue in times of COVID-19", to listen to concerns, doubts and proposals related to care in the midst of the national emergency.

In the framework of the health emergency decreed by the national government, this Friday, the director general of the Victims Unit, Ramón Rodríguez, and the management team of the entity, met with the delegates of the Departmental Table of Effective Participation of the Victims of Nariño, to address the challenges of care and reparation in times of pandemic.

The general director of the Unit, Ramón Rodríguez, reiterated that the entity, in this period of health emergency, has delivered more than 62,000 administrative indemnities throughout the country, of which 3,811 have benefited victims in Nariño, for a value that exceeds the 27.239 million pesos.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been reaching the victims in Nariño with humanitarian aid, food packages and all the support of other social programs that include them as Families and Youth in Action, plus the compensation that we have never stopped delivering ", I note.

The official also indicated that the Unit has delivered "15.621 food aid to the victim population throughout the country, which does not receive any type of financial aid from other social programs", he stressed.

Rodríguez added that one of the Unit's goals is to bankarize the victims, for which the Agrarian Bank has been working. "In this emergency period, we have managed to bank around 18,000 victims, to facilitate their payments, and we guarantee that money orders will be available until August 31 for victims who will not be able to collect in the coming days," he said.

“It has not been easy to enter this new stage, we are dissatisfied with some delays in the payment of compensation and the cause of the delays is the pandemic. Previously we could deliver 600 letters in a single day, now we must coordinate the shipment with company 4-72 in a safe way for everyone”, he argued.

The director promised that "before the end of 2020, we will open the general route of compensation, with 10 percent of the budget, because so far we have advanced, especially in older people".

The delegates of the Table of Victims of Nariño expressed their concerns to the missionary directors of the entity. Ángel María Fuelagan, thanked "the effort of the national government and the Unit in the department to deliver humanitarian aid".

"But we do ask for a solution to speed up the delivery of check letters, also an alternative to support families with more aid, because the compensation must be to prosper, for productive projects and not to eat it in the pandemic," he said.

The representative of victims, Ruby Jael Landázuri, reiterated the call to state entities for the difficult situation the department is going through, especially on the Pacific coast and in the Telembí Triangle subregion: “We want to know what the specific measures are for this region and that these measures bring real solutions”. And she added that "the work of the municipal tables has been difficult, we do not have the tools to carry out the work".

For his part, Francisco Bamba, delegate of the Mesa, requested a greater offer and access to education through scholarships that can reach more young people in the region”.

Álvaro Ortiz, also a delegate, asked to expand state support for agricultural projects for victims in Nariño.

In turn, the Unit's deputy director general, Lorena Mesa, explained to the victims' delegates what was related to the constitutional decision to extend Law 1448. “The Constitutional Court has already defined the extension of the Victims Law, and The Unit is supporting the Government's project to comply with what has been ordered to Congress in this regard”.

"In Nariño we have 16 PDET municipalities (with Development Programs with a Territorial Approach), in which we have been making progress on 27 subjects of collective reparation," said the official.

Mesa announced that the Unit will implement a reconciliation strategy for these targeted municipalities: "This year there are actions planned in humanitarian care, compensation, and the “Participaz” strategy with legality, which is a course on human rights, victim policy and on the Peace Agreement, which we will begin in a virtual first phase”.

The deputy director clarified that the Unit works equally in the reparation to the victims in municipalities with PDET and in those that are not in the group of prioritized. “In the PDET municipalities, the initiatives have focused on collectives, on returns and relocations, and on psychosocial support. The other actions individually are handled in the same way for all municipalities", she explained.

Inter-institutional Management

Aura Helena Acevedo, director of Interinstitutional Management, indicated that the Unit has been accompanying participation tables throughout the country so that they can effectively influence the plans, programs and projects of territorial entities, so that victims can benefit from all actions focused on territory.

“We will continue supporting victims despite COVID-19 and we are committed to find solutions to their needs. In this sense, we will carry out, as you are requesting, a second training for the ombudsmen in the territory, to advance effectively in the care of the survivors of conflict”, Acevedo pointed out.

The official ratified the commitment of the director of the Unit, before holding a plenary session of the Participation table in Nariño: “We are going to support, through the concurrence mechanism, a two-day plenary session that the tables may request from the territorial entity, for the approval of the Territorial Action Plan”.

In the framework of the budget harmonization exercises for the 2020 period, the Unit sent a letter to the territorial entities to make the adjustments they deemed necessary to their Territorial Action Plans (PAT) for the implementation of the victims policy, with in order to secure the financial resources to be able to attend to the vulnerable victim population, in the current state of emergency.

Social and Humanitarian Management

The director of Social and Humanitarian Management of the Unit, Héctor Gabriel Camelo, specified that, during the emergency by COVID-19, in Nariño the entity has delivered 30.048 turns of humanitarian attention for a value of 19.477 million pesos, to attend to victims of forced displacement with deficiencies in food and accommodation components, in order to contribute to guaranteeing the vital minimum of the homes that need it most.

In the same period, in this department, the entity has learned of the occurrence of 22 massive humanitarian emergencies, corresponding to 17 forced displacements and 5 confinements, in which 2.167 families and approximately 8.738 people were affected.

María Cristina Carreño, deputy director of Prevention and Attention of Emergencies, affirmed that the Unit has been articulating with the territorial entities, the necessary actions to attend and prepare the municipalities against humanitarian emergencies.

"In the department of Nariño, we delivered aid to 20 households to the value of $38.548.729 (Pasto, Leiva and Tumaco) through the money mechanism. In humanitarian deliveries in kind, in this department we have reached more than 543 homes with a value of $616.463.258 (Olaya Herrera, Francisco Pizarro, Magüí Payán, Santa Barbada de Iscuandé and Tumaco)” explained the official.

Repair

The Director of Reparation, Enrique Ardila, reiterated that the Unit continues to meet its schedule for delivering compensation letters. "Deliveries are being made in the estimated times, personally to the victim, they are delivering the check letter, through the courier company 4-72, complying with all care measures," said Ardila.

Faced with some doubts raised by the delegates, the director clarified that the victims' resources "are not being diverted to attend to another population, or to address issues of the pandemic". He assured that the resources of the victims of conflict are only for the measures and actions directed towards them. "In the Directorate of Reparation we also continue advancing the agreements with the groups that have a reparation process, and we continue with the survey of the profiles of the returned or relocated families that will be beneficiaries of special family support schemes”, added the director.

Ardila also announced that the Unit is advancing in an alliance for an upcoming call for scholarships for the victim population, to pursue higher studies in both public and private institutions. The official undertook with the delegates to review those specific cases or pending questions, in the course of the next week, so as not to leave any concern unanswered.

Ethnic affairs

For her part, Luz Patricia Correa, director of Ethnic Affairs of the Unit, ratified the commitments with the collective subjects of reparation, whose rights are derived from the decree Law.

Correa highlighted the Unit's management to ensure that the territorial entities are linked in the implementation of the Law decrees: "We are providing technical assistance so that the Territorial Development plans include decided actions with plans, programs and projects for ethnic communities".

"We are also working on a new project called Livelihoods and specific plans with some community councils," he added.

Registry

Emilio Alberto Hernández, director of Registration and Information Management, referred to the entity's progress in including victims in the RUV and the processing of news during the health emergency. "In this time of pandemic, the history of news increased, we have included 56,559 victims (individual and mass type), in the department of Nariño, 7.415 people".

Territorial Direction

The territorial director of the Victims Unit in Nariño, William Pinzón Fernández, highlighted the bankarization strategy and asked the delegates of the Participation Table to help disseminate the strategy: “We continue to deliver compensation letters throughout the department, I ask you to support us in spreading this strategy, which is that people will receive their compensation in a bank account and do not need to go directly to collect. The Unit will contact people and we inform them what day they will be in the municipality with all the security measures”.

Pinzón also highlighted the commitment of the delegates: "It is very pleasant to know that the majority of members attend this dialogue to resolve the concerns of the entire community, and in the best way gave their contributions, and resolved their concerns and requirements in front of the executive team".

At the end of the round of dialogue, which lasted around five hours, Alicia Herrera, coordinator of the Departmental Table, expressed that "the day was excellent, the doubts we had were cleared of us, it was enriching because we expanded our knowledge in the different processes of the Unity and the best thing is that the willingness to articulate and support the plenary that we as Board need is noted".

The sessions that take place over two days include the tables of Effective Participation of the 32 departments and that of the Capital District.

(End/LMY-LNB)