Representatives from Colombia's 32 Departmental governments and the
Mayors' Offices of major cities, have met to discuss challenges in
implementing a proposed reparation and assistance law to support
victims of violence.

The initiative, known as the "Victims' Law", is being debated by
the Colombian Congress and would establish a national policy to
provide reparation and assistance to victims of violence by armed
groups.

The gathering provided a platform for departmental and municipal
leaders to discuss with national authorities the institutional
changes proposed in the new bill including the responsibilities to
be taken on by state and local government.

IOM provided technical assistance and expertise to participants
of the meeting, convened by Colombia's Vice President, Angelino
Garzón and funded by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID).

Vice President Garzón emphasized the need for victims to
receive proper reparation. He also underscored the need for public
officials to be trained to provide assistance to these victims.

IOM International Reparations Programme Expert, Peter Van Der
Auweraert, identified challenges to a comprehensive reparation law
including issues of institutional and territorial coordination and
access to information. However, "Colombia has the opportunity to
make the most of the experiences and lessons learned from other
countries that have implemented similar policies such as Turkey,
Germany and Iraq," he explained.

The meeting is seen as an important step towards the
establishment of coordination mechanisms for the implementation of
a new reparations law. Recommendations from the meeting included a
proposal by state and local leaders for the creation of regional
specialist entities dedicated solely to victim assistance and
acknowledgement by national authorities of the need for further
workshops to promote victim assistance programmes.

Since 2005, more than 332,000 victims have sought administrative
reparation from the Colombian government and some 323,000 victims
have contacted the Attorney General's Office to file accusations
about crimes committed by illegal armed groups.

IOM has been providing assistance to victims of violence since
2006 with funding from USAID including facilitating access to
truth, justice, reparation and reconciliation processes, providing
counseling and support for income generation initiatives.

In the past four years IOM has assisted the Colombian government
with 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