The Sub-Directorate of Participation of the Victims Unit, works with the technical secretariats to strengthen these elections and ensure absolute cleanliness.

The Victims Unit carries out an articulated work with the municipal and district authorities to ensure that the election of Victims' effective participation tables “is as transparent as possible,” said Adriana Pinto, Deputy Director of Participation of the entity.

Pinto recalled that between August 20 and September 10 the elections of those who will form the municipal and district tables for the effective participation of Victims will be held, throughout the country.

According to the official, the Protocol of Effective Participation, provides that municipal and district officials must convene the process of election and conformation of municipal and district tables.

He also said that "the tables of participation in municipal and district will have a representative for each of the victimizing events such as forced displacement, sexual violence, physical and psychological integrity, antipersonnel mines and forced disappearance".

"They will include a representative for each of the differences approaches such as women, youth, LGTBI population, the elderly, people with disabilities and ethnic groups," he noted.

Those who choose

Pinto said that the legal representatives of the nearly 10,000 Organizations of Victims legally recognized and registered until March 31, are the ones who can choose the members that will have a seat at the municipal and district tables during the next two years.

Additionally, he reaffirmed that the election will take place in all the municipalities of country where there were registrations of victim organizations.

Regarding the above, Pinto pointed out that in the report of Valle del Cauca and Tolima Ombudsmen offices are consolidated as the departments with the highest number of registrations of organizations throughout the country with 2,013 and 1,258 registrations, respectively.

"They are followed by Guajira (821), Nariño (610), Magdalena (487), Norte de Santander (386), Atlántico (313), Casanare (314) and Antioquia (308)", he added.

In the same report, he pointed out that, among the capital cities with the highest number of registered victim organizations, Cali (1,704), Ibagué (1,173), Riohacha (637), Sincelejo (258), Pasto (230) and Yopal stand out with (189).

In Adriana Pinto's opinion, "the municipal and district tables are spaces for peace and reconciliation and are meeting points where victims and victims' representatives have the possibility of making an impact on public policy".

Pinto explained that the incidence of those who are part of the tables of Effective Participation of Victims is developed “through different spaces such as the Transitional Justice committees and with the proposals they can give to the new leaders and, to include them in the plans of development and operational plans”.

(End/AMA/LMY)