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Violence is taking over Colombia again, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which called for action by 2022, in a situation considered “worrying”. The number of internally displaced people, injured or killed by violence and the ongoing armed conflict, has reached its highest level in five years, as the country prepares to elect its next president.
Victims of anti-personnel mines, missing persons, displaced populations… Colombia is experiencing its worst humanitarian situation since the 2016 peace accords. This is how the ICRC estimated it this Wednesday, March 23.
With 486 victims of explosive devices, the sad record of 2020, which was 392, has been broken.
This is the “highest figure in the last five years,” said Lorenzo Caraffi, head of the ICRC delegation in the South American country, at a press conference in Bogotá.
As Colombia continued to focus on countering the health, economic, and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the humanitarian consequences in the country worsened.
Check and download our humanitarian balance here 👉 https://t.co/XWlwC8K6Z6 pic.twitter.com/Q08I2DLF5d
— ICRC Colombia (@ICRC_co) March 23, 2022
More than half of these victims, 50 of whom have died, are civilians and some are minors.
Antipersonnel mines are one of the weapons used by drug traffickers to protect coca crops, with Colombia being the largest producer of cocaine in the world. But they are also used as weapons in the various internal conflicts that persist in the country despite the 2016 peace agreement, signed between the then Government and the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The armed conflicts between the police and the army and the guerrillas (ex-FARC that reject the peace agreement or the National Liberation Army – ELN), the paramilitary forces and the drug traffickers, have forced 53,000 people to displace, “an increase in 148% compared to the year 2020,” warns the ICRC.
In remote villages caught in the crossfire, some 45,000 farmers are trapped and forced into confinement, an increase of 60% from 2020.
The ICRC also found “an average of one disappearance every two days”, also the worst count since 2016.
The departments most affected by armed conflict and violence are Antioquia, Arauca, Bolívar, Cauca, Córdoba, Chocó, Norte de Santander, Nariño and Valle del Cauca, as well as Caquetá, Putumayo and Guaviare.
A still painful situation despite the hope unleashed by the peace agreements
In half a century of armed conflict, some 120,000 people have disappeared in Colombia, almost four times the total registered under the dictatorships of Argentina, Brazil and Chile combined at the end of the 20th century.
“These figures are painful, but they do not reflect the fear, uncertainty and despair that thousands of people experience as a result of these armed conflicts,” Caraffi lamented.
He warned that “in 2022, the outlook could be even darker”, since in the first two months of the year a quarter of the victims of antipersonnel mines registered in 2021 have already been reached.
The ICRC’s warnings come at a time when Colombia is just weeks away from electing its next president. The Committee has called on the candidates to prioritize the protection of people affected by violence and armed conflict.
“Today we nobodies who have not had a voice have to occupy the State and write our own history, to live in dignity, and turn the page of violence, of the armed conflict.” @FranciaMarquezM vice presidential candidate https://t.co/qTYvESfDeE
— Democracy Now! in Spanish (@DemocracyNowEs) March 24, 2022
“We urge the next government and the congressmen elected in 2022 to prioritize the care and protection of victims and communities affected by armed conflict and violence on their political agenda,” the Committee urged in its statement.
The South American nation had witnessed a peace process in 2016 that led to the signing of historic agreements on September 26 of this year. At the time, it was one of the most ambitious peace agreements in contemporary history, earning then-Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos international consideration and the Nobel Peace Prize.
The pact was supposed to end a conflict that had lasted more than 50 years, generating great optimism, fueled by the promise of a better life for the victims, the first of whom were people living in areas rural.
But the calm did not last and, five years later, reports of the deteriorating situation continue to mount.
AFP, EFE
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