Arauca: balance of homicides and displaced persons in January 2022 - Other Cities - Colombia

Since January 2, when 23 bodies of alleged dissidents were found in various municipalities of Araucathey have not had a single day of peace there.

This beginning of the year has been one of the most violent in recent times in the department due to a war between the FARC dissidents and the guerrilla The n. This confrontation even has four of the seven municipalities under curfew.

(In context: What is behind the attacks of the Eln and the dissidences to the Public Force)

Among the latest acts of violence is the murder this Thursday of a soldier, soldier Edilson Yovany Roncancio, who died after being the victim of an explosive device in Fortul. Two other soldiers were injured in this act attributed to the ELN. Also, on Wednesday night he was murdered Herman Naranjo Quintero, a communal leader who had been kidnapped the day before.

That same night, the FARC dissidents kidnapped five workers from the Tecnioriente company in Arauquita, who were released this Thursday.

Everyone would like the armed actors of the groups in confrontation to sit down at a table and, as has happened on other occasions, to come to an agreement on their differences.

According to the authorities, 66 people have been murdered there so far this year, including several social leaders. Three in the last week.

(Also: The escalation of violence threatens the political campaign)

This has caused fear in the population, who denounced that before the authorities decreed a curfew in Tame, Saravena, Arauquita and Fortul, the illegals had already filed one and after 6 in the afternoon no one walked through these towns.

Faced with this, the community has come together and has taken to the streets to ask the illegals to get them out of their war. But the violence does not stop and many, out of fear, have been displaced.

figures of the Ombudsman They point out that 1,284 people out of 424 have left their homes, either from rural areas to urban centers or other municipalities. There are those who have fled to other departments such as Norte de Santander and Casanare.

(Also read: Social leader and his wife murdered in Arauca had no threats)

Among the displaced are 51 former FARC guerrillas, who were advancing their reincorporation process in this territory, but are at risk because the armed groups want to recruit them.

We reject the murder of our professional soldier Edilson Yovany Roncancio Carrillo, who while protecting the population of Fortul #arauca was the victim of an explosive charge installed by the organized armed group ELN, a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law #HeroForever (one) pic.twitter.com/L568zHCx85

– Colombian National Army (@COL_EJERCITO) February 3, 2022

This scenario has generated concern among human rights defenders in the country, as well as in entities such as the United Nations Organization (UN), which asked the State two weeks ago to strengthen its comprehensive presence.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), for its part, sees the humanitarian situation in Arauca as worrying. This organization, which has had an office in Saravena for 30 years, issued a statement to guarantee the rights of the communities.

(You may be interested in: Herman Naranjo, kidnapped community leader in Arauca, is assassinated)

“We call on all armed actors to respect humanitarian norms and take precautionary measures to protect the population and civilian objects from the effects of hostilities. It is important to guarantee the life and integrity of civilians and preserve community spaces,” said Nicolás Ferminet, head of the ICRC office in Saravena.

The Catholic Church, which since the beginning of the year has called for peace in this region, calling on the illegals not to affect the civilian population, as well as the State to make an integral presence, also spoke in the last hours .

This Thursday it was learned that Father Darío Echeverri, general secretary of the National Conciliation Commission of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, met a few weeks ago with leaders of Arauca, who told him that they are afraid.

(Keep reading: Arauca: Church calls on the Government to listen to the population)

“Everyone would like the armed actors of the groups in confrontation to sit at a table and, just as has happened on other occasions, to be able to agree on their differences and solve their problems. That is the first thing, the constant of all those present”, said Echeverri.

State Department Releases Annual Trafficking in Persons Report

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated human trafficking, the U.S. State Department said in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report released Tuesday.

“This year’s Trafficking in Persons Report sends a strong message to the world that global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and enduring discriminatory policies and practices, have a disproportionate effect on individuals already oppressed by other injustices,” U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the report’s introduction.

“These challenges further compound existing vulnerabilities to exploitation, including human trafficking,” he said.

In the report, Blinken calls for other countries to join the United States to improve “our collective efforts to comprehensively address human trafficking.”

He said doing so requires mitigating “harmful practices and policies that cause socioeconomic or political vulnerabilities that traffickers often prey on.”

The report said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought “unprecedented repercussions for human rights and economic development globally, including in human trafficking.”

“Governments across the world diverted resources toward the pandemic, often at the expense of anti-trafficking efforts, resulting in decreased protection measures and service provision for victims, reduction of preventative efforts, and hindrances to investigations and prosecutions of traffickers,” the report said.

The report explained that those involved in anti-trafficking efforts “found ways to adapt and forged new relationships to overcome the challenges.” It added that traffickers were also adept in altering their methods.

Some specific cases mentioned in the report include examples in India and Nepal in which young poor girls left school to help support their families due to the pandemic’s economic impact. Some, the report said, were forced into marriage for money.

The report cites incidents in the United States, the United Kingdom and Uruguay in which landlords forced female tenants who were economically hurt by the pandemic to have sex with them when the tenant could not pay rent.

In Haiti, Niger and Mali, “gangs” working in camps for displaced people used lax security caused by the pandemic to force residents into sex-for-money acts.

In Myanmar (formerly Burma), which has been roiled by COVID-19 and political unrest, the report said 94% of households saw a decline in income, leaving some members vulnerable to sex trafficking.

“If there is one thing we have learned in the last year, it is that human trafficking does not stop during a pandemic,” Kari Johnstone, senior official and principal deputy director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said in the report’s introduction.

“The concurrence of the increased number of individuals at risk, traffickers’ ability to capitalize on competing crises, and the diversion of resources to pandemic response efforts has resulted in an ideal environment for human trafficking to flourish and evolve,” Johnstone said.