An agreement signed this week between IOM and the Office of the
Vice President of Colombia will allow increased cooperation to
provide assistance to victims of violence, promote the human rights
of migrants and other vulnerable populations, prevent recruitment
of minors into illegal armed groups and provide continued support
for reconciliation and peace-building efforts in the country.

The agreement places special emphasis on the protection of the
rights of victims of violence.  Within this context, a draft
law currently under consideration in the Colombian Congress aims to
develop a national policy to provide assistance, care, protection
and reparation to all those were directly affected by the actions
of illegal armed groups.

Once the draft law is approved, the Vice President's Office will
lead the efforts to assist victims of violence.

Vice President, Angelino Garzón, stressed the importance
of support from the international community in building peace in
Colombia.  "It is vital for the Government to be able to count
on the experience, knowledge and support of organizations such as
IOM that have worked for decades in other reparation processes
throughout the world.  We are confident that this support will
be invaluable in consolidating the important initiatives that will
benefit the most vulnerable communities," Garzón
stressed.

Under the terms of the new agreement, IOM will assist the Office
of the Vice-President in providing technical, administrative, and
financial resources over the next four years on projects
strengthening the capacity of the national government and local
governments, to ensure that the most vulnerable populations have
access to all of their rights.

Vice President Garzón noted the key role of IOM once the
draft law is approved:  "The Victims Law, as it is today, is a
valuable instrument, but could have ended up being a dead piece of
legislation without the support of international organizations such
as IOM, who will help create mechanisms to ensure the Law is
implemented."

For the past four decades, the violence perpetrated by illegal
armed groups in Colombia has impacted the lives of millions of
persons.  It is estimated that more than three million
Colombians are internally displaced.

Since 2005, some 331,000 victims have applied to the Colombian
Government for reparation, while 310,000 individuals have reported
war crimes to the Attorney General's Office.

Since 2006, IOM, with funding from the US Agency for
International Development, has been providing assistance to victims
of violence, including facilitating access to truth, justice,
reparation and reconciliation processes and advising and supporting
development of income generation projects.

At the same time, IOM, through its Community Focused
Reintegration Programme, is working with ex-combatants of illegal
armed groups in their process of reintegration into civilian life
and their reconciliation with society.  In the past four years
IOM has worked with the Colombian Government in the reintegration
of some 51,000 persons demobilized from illegal armed groups.

For more information, please contact:

Jorge Gallo

IOM Bogota

Tel: +57 1 639 7777

E-mail: "mailto:jgallo@iom.int">jgallo@iom.int