Colombia - During April and May, IOM supported Colombia’s Victims Unit and Ombudspersons’ Offices in the election of 33 municipal Victims Roundtables in regions prioritized by the country’s Victims Institutional Strengthening Program.

Colombia´s landmark Victims and Land Restitution Law recognizes the need to rehabilitate victims of the country’s armed conflict. The Law also establishes that in order to do this, their active participation is essential.

One of the mechanisms to achieve this is Victims Participation Roundtables at the local, regional and national level, in which victims representing different violations of human rights are elected from different affected groups to implement policies for their benefit.

Prior to these elections, trainings were conducted with victims on guidelines and procedures established by the Victims Participation Protocol, produced and published with IOM support. Clearing up doubts and explaining procedural changes, these sessions ensured that victims had the tools to actively participate in elections.

VIVANTO, an information system developed with IOM support, was used to guarantee transparency by validating that candidates were effectively registered as victims in the Victims Single Registry (RUV).

The next step will be to elect departmental level roundtables, which will be completed by the end of May. This will be followed by the election of a national roundtable.

As of April 2015, 7,337,667 victims were registered with the government, primarily victims of internal displacement (84 per cent). The government’s goal is to help 580,000 victims in 2015, and to help around 5.2 million victims by 2021, when the Victims Law’s execution period expires. According to official sources, 503,618 victims (of over seven million registered) have already been rehabilitated by the government.

Since 2012, IOM, with USAID support, has implemented the Victims Institutional Strengthening Program to provide technical support to the government for the effective implementation of the Victims Law.

For further information please contact Nicolás Cárdenas at IOM Bogotá, Tel: +571 639 7777, Email: ncardenas@iom.int