A total of 962,815 compensations with an investment that exceeds 5.9 billion pesos, have been delivered by the Victims Unit as of December 31, 2018, to survivors of armed conflict.
The figure was announced by the entity’s director, Ramón Rodríguez Andrade, who noted that “Colombia’s administrative reparation program is the only program in the world that has compensated the victims of armed conflict with economic resources.”
According to the Unit director, the figure, close to one million compensations (962,815), of which 502,000 were delivered in the four-year period 2014-2018, plus the accumulated one, shows a historical amount in the world, in terms of reparation or compensation for the damage that the armed conflict has left to the victims.
“No country in the world has managed to compensate almost one million people and in that sense, it is necessary to highlight the budgetary effort made by the National Government. At the same time, we managed to exceed the target budgeted in the National Development Plan 2014-2018 (952,399 compensations), “said Ramón Rodríguez Andrade.
Likewise, the Unit director said that as a challenge for 2019, the entity plans to compensate 78,000 victims with resources of around 560 billion pesos, “for which we want to have a more expeditious and clear procedure that allows to the victims to know when they will receive their administrative compensation, with a prioritization in that population with greater vulnerability “, said the Unit director.
Other challenges foreseen for 2019 by the entity are related to advance in the implementation of the bets of the policy of victims of the National Development Plan 2018 – 2022, strengthen the right to reparation for victims without neglecting existing commitments in subject of attention and assistance to this population, present strategies to make feasible and accelerate the implementation of the victims policy and make integral reparation more efficient and equitable, promoting interventions that are connected with the vision of territorial development.
Ramón Rodríguez Andrade concluded by indicating that by 2019 it is also necessary to continue working so that the current Regional Centers become Centers for Social Inclusion, in which the victims find more and better services, and continue with the attention to the victims and the delivery effective humanitarian assistance to victims of forced displacement, in accordance with the parameters established in Decree 1084 of 2015.
