When suffering the damages of the armed conflict, you should go to the Public Minister and declare the fact suffered by which you have passed through, with your family. You can get closer to the Personeria offices, the Public Defender or the Public Ministry.
At the moment of doing the declaration before the Public Ministry, you can take the documents that help to probe the facts, in case you have them. You must take into account that are considered victims the people that individual or collectively have suffered the following damages of facts since January the 1st 1985, as a consequence of the Colombian armed conflict:
Abandon or forced displacement
Terrorist act / combats / battle / persecution
Threat
Crimes against freedom and sexual integrity in the framework of the armed conflict
Forced disappearance
Forced displacement
Homicide, massacre
Anti-personnel landmines
Kidnap
Torture
Recruitement of children by armed groups
Other physical wounds
Other psychological wounds
After having told the facts before the Public Ministry, the declaration will be evaluated by the Victims Unit. While this process takes place, for more or less 60 working days, the victim has the right to receive humanitarian immediate aid, from the territorial entities (mayor and department government).
After having told the decision of the Victims Unit about its declaration, the entity generates a resolution of the inclusion or not, to be delivered to the person who declared or a member of his/her family. This person will receive a phone call to make this notification face to face.
In case of being included in the Register, the public employee of the Unit that gives the person the notification, will explain him/her the route to follow, according to his situation. The victims reparation include not only an economic compensation but also a follow-up from the State to guarantee the victims’ rights.
If the Victims Unit informs you through the resolution that your petition to be included in the register is denied, you can put an appeal before the employee of the Victims Unit that takes the decision, in the 5 following days of having received the notification.
You can also make a second appeal before the director of the Victims Unit, in the five following days of the notification of the result of the first appeal.
If the personal contact with the declarant or any member of his family can’t be done, a document will be published, making an appointment with this person in a place defined by the Victims Unit. This document will be in a public place of the entity, in 5 working days.
If, after these working days the person doesn’t appear to receive his personal notification, a new notification by warning will be done. This is the document remitted to the declarant by certified mail announcing the notification.
If the information about the recipient is unknown or the sent letter has been returned by the correspondence enterprise, the notification will be made as a public warning that will be published in a place with public access from the Victims Unit, in 5 working days.
Menu
