“This Government has compensated 42.9 per cent of victims of anti-personnel mines”: Victims Unit

Within the framework of the International Day for Awareness against Antipersonnel Mines, which is celebrated every April 4, the director general of the Unit for Victims, Ramón Alberto Rodríguez Andrade, said Tuesday from Sonson (Antioquia) that Colombians affected by this victimizing event “are for their actions in their communities, starting from prevention and mine risk education, an example of resilience and country building”.

The director assured that the Colombian State has been ambitious in implementing a public policy with a human rights focus to assist, care for and redress the victims of this event, in accordance with international standards and defined by the Constitutional Court, which includes victims of antipersonnel mines (MAP), Unexploded Ordnance (MUSE), and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

In Colombia, according to the Directorate for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Mines (Action Against Mines), from 1990 to 2016, there have been 11,140 victims of anti-personnel mines, of which 6,870 are victims of the security forces and 4,270 are civilian victims. However, the Single Registry of Victims has a record of 6,347 victims of accidents involving anti-personnel mines in the context of the armed conflict in the country.

Regarding these latest figures, the director of the Unit for Victims highlighted that the Colombian State has compensated 624 people for events involving anti-personnel mines with a total of $12,871 million pesos invested in reparations: “Of this value, 42.9% was laid during the current presidential period and it is necessary to noteworthy that 2020 was the year in which the highest number of spins were delivered with 139 ″, said the official.

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The period of time in which anti-personnel landmines occurred the most was between 2002 and 2010, that is, during the deployment of the Democratic Security policy and paramilitary disarmament. 98% of the attacks were in rural areas of Colombia. According to the Action Against Mines, Antioquia is the department with the greatest impact (20.2%) by this type of accident.

In general terms, the departments in which more than 50% of events have been concentrated due to this event are: Antioquia (20.2%), Meta (9.9%), Nariño (9%), Caqueta (7.7%) and Norte de Santander (7.6%).

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It should be noted that last Monday, April 4, Juan Camilo Restrepo Gómez, high commissioner of peace, said that, “Colombia is a benchmark when it comes to humanitarian demining, more than 78% of Colombian territory is declared free of suspicion of anti-personnel mines. This government is the one that has done the most for this humanitarian demining. We are also a benchmark in risk education, we train farmers, agricultural producers, children, adolescents, to prevent them from becoming victims.”

Currently, there are 107 municipalities in the process of demining and historically more than 31,000 prevention activities have been carried out. So far this year, 22 civilians have already been attacked with these devices and two members of the security forces for these events.

At the end of his speech, the director of the Unit for Victims acknowledged the work carried out by the High Commission for Peace “for the leadership in humanitarian demining operations with the support of international agencies, as well as the work of local communities, which have been organized and actions of reconstruction of the social fabric”, he said.

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