In Medellín this year 154 people have already been displaced according to the Personería - Medellín - Colombia

Only in the month of January of this year, the Personería de Medellín registered that 154 people live the scourge of forced displacement.

This figure, compared to the same period in 2021, shows a decrease of 426 people, since during January of the previous year there were 580 reports of displaced people.

According to this agency of the Public Ministry, in total 45 municipalities with origin of these victims have been reported during January 2022among which are the municipalities of Bello, Quibdó, Apartadó, Turbo, Sabanalarga, Bagadó, Dipurdú, Arauca, Dabeiba, Ituango, Caucasia, San Rafael, Chigorodó, among others.

The population that has most reported being affected is men, up to now with 79 cases, followed by women with 75. Among the main reasons for this scourge reported to the Ombudsman of the capital of Antioquia, forced displacement is in the first place, followed by for threats, homicide, crimes against freedom and sexual integrity and forced disappearance.

William Yeffer Vivas Lloreda, representative of Medellín, explained that this decrease both in the declarations and in the total number of victims of forced displacement for January 2022, may be related to the lack of personnel of the Permanent Unit for Human Rights -UPDH- Who handles these types of complaints?

Due to this situation, the Regional Attorney’s Office reports care as of January 31, 2022, 71 declarations and 254 people affected, while the Ombudsman’s Office reports that it has dealt with 171 statements.

“We have carried out an analysis and we have identified that the phenomenon of displacement in the city of Medellín does not stop, it is increasing, we have collected the figures from the Personería, what the Attorney General’s Office and the Ombudsman’s Office have done and we found that there is an increase worrying about the displacement to the city of Medellín, an increase of 22% in relation to January 2021, “explained the personero.

Intra-urban displacement

Regarding intra-urban forced displacement in Medellín, a decrease of 128 people has been registered for January 2022 compared to the same month of the previous year, due to the fact that for January 2021, there were 155 cases of people victims of this fact, while for January of this year was 27 people, which represents a decrease of 82.58%; which revealed motives such as threats, forced displacement, forced disappearance and homicide.

The communes that present the most cases are; Commune 12 – La América, Commune 13 – San Javier, Commune 4 – Aranjuez, Commune 8 – Villa Hermosa and Commune 7 – Robledo.

The most affected population in this displacement have been women, so far 14 have denounced while 13 men go. Likewise, those involved in this situation, according to the victims, are neighborhood criminal organizations, the public force, a paramilitary group and unidentified groups.

MEDELLIN

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.