Colombia - A total of 2,489 demobilized Colombians (2,020 men and 469 women) completed their reintegration process in 2013, almost three times the number who did so in 2012, when 832 finished.

“Today we have fulfilled our debt to the country and we are people like everyone else in society.  The only thing we want is for the victims to one day forgive us, because the process of reintegration ends, but peace and reconciliation processes continue,” said “Maria” (not her real name), one of the demobilized combatants who completed the reintegration process in November 2013.

There are currently 56,171 demobilized ex-combatants in Colombia; 28,418 are actively participating in the government’s reintegration process, carried out by the Colombian Reintegration Agency (ACR). IOM, with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been supporting the process since 2006 through the Community-Oriented Reintegration of Ex-Combatants program.

Seventy-four percent of graduates received IOM support – 1,895 were assisted with the creation of a personal profile to identify and apply to employment opportunities; 1,157 received human development training to strengthen their attitudes and ability to coexist with their families and society as a whole; 1,109 participated in job training programs; 827 received financial support for the creation or strengthening of small businesses; 338 completed non-paid community service in their community; and 161 accessed formal education programs.

“IOM provides support to the Colombian Government so that it can successfully implement the reintegration process, and so that a greater number of demobilized persons can fulfill the requirements and access the benefits to which they are entitled,” said Marcelo Pisani, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia.

Of the total number of graduates, 77 per cent demobilized from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (1,920), 19 per cent from the FARC (466) and 3.5 per cent from the ELN (88).  Some 71 per cent have jobs either in the informal sector (1,202) or the formal sector (563).

“With the support I received from the government and international organizations, I am going to grow sweet peppers on my land.  The reintegration process was not easy.  I had two options – the good one and the bad one – and I chose the good one because it means I can be free and start again with my family,” said Gustavo (not his real name), another successful graduate, referring to the judicial benefit of non-incarceration to which demobilized persons have a right.

This benefit is granted in exchange for providing information on their participation in illegal armed groups to the National Center for Historical Memory, conducting community service for reconciliation and reparation, committing to non-recidivism, and fulfilling all other processes established by the government. 

“Those who finish the reintegration process make many sacrifices and overcome challenges that once seemed difficult, but today are concrete realities thanks to their efforts to maintain their legal status. That is how we build our country,” affirmed Alejandro Éder, General Director of the Colombian Reintegration Agency (ACR).

Over the last 50 years, Colombia has endured an internal armed conflict with guerrilla and paramilitary groups that has left more than 220,000 people dead (including 180,000 civilians) according to the National Center for Historical Memory. As a result, the national government has been negotiating and establishing transitional justice mechanisms since 2003, with the aim of achieving lasting peace. These mechanisms include provisions for the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of different illegal armed groups.

For more information please contact

Jadin Vergara
IOM Colombia
Tel: 571 639 7777 Ext. 1715
Email: jvergara@iom.int