The call was made by the director of the entity, after ensuring that the spaces for participation, which are a right of the victims, have been hampered in the context of the health emergency.

The director of the Unit for Comprehensive Attention and Reparation to Victims, Ramón Alberto Rodríguez Andrade, called on the control entities, especially the Attorney General's Office, to monitor whether the mayors and governors are guaranteeing the participation spaces of the victims in the territories, given the reports that reach the Unit about non-compliance in this regard.

“During the current health emergency, spaces that the victims had reached in different regions of the country have been lost; the Transitional Justice committees and other spaces that the victims had, but that the local leaders have not provided to guarantee effective participation”, affirmed Rodríguez.

"Nor have they been provided with the means so that they can participate effectively, such as access to the Internet and facilitating connectivity", added the director of the entity.

The manager urged the victims "not to allow these spaces to be taken away from them." "You cannot lose what they had already earned and the work that had been achieved with the Attorney General's Office and the Ombudsman's Office", he added.

Rodríguez said that, through directives and memoranda, “mayors and governors may be asked to comply with the effective participation of victims, so that those spaces that had been won are not lost in the framework of the pandemic, since that we cannot be regressive with the rights of the victims”.

Context

Participation is a right that victims have to make their proposals known in the implementation and monitoring of the Victims Law and influence the definition of public policies that act for their benefit.

The Victims Unit provides technical support to the Tables for the Effective Participation of Victims that operate at the municipal, departmental and national levels, so that these scenarios operate in accordance with the provisions of the Protocol for the Effective Participation of Victims issued through the Resolution 388 of 2013.

It is aimed at organized victims through their Victims' Organizations, unorganized victims, Organizations that Defend the Rights of Victims and the Tables for the Effective Participation of Victims at all territorial levels.

(End/DFM/LMY)