Despite the peace policy, violence in the country remains rampant. Huila is no exception and while strategies are being carried out to maintain the tranquility of the territory, citizens deal with the weight of the ‘war’. This is demonstrated by the figures from the annual report on the humanitarian situation in Colombia, issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC.
Johan Eduardo Rojas López
A worrying panorama is evidenced by the figures recorded by the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, through the annual report on the humanitarian balance in the country, which reflects that during 2023, 444 alleged violations of international humanitarian law were documented in Colombia. .
Furthermore, it reports that the intensification of the territorial dispute between various armed actors generated changing dynamics in several regions of the country, which posed new humanitarian challenges.
Humanitarian balance
In 2023, according to official figures, at least 145 thousand people were displaced individually, which represents an increase of 18% compared to the previous year. In some departments the increase was higher.
The report determines the reality of victimizing events that citizens face. The massive and individual displacement, the confinement of communities, damage by explosive devices, new cases of disappearance that occurred and documented, in addition, violent acts against health care, show, according to the ICRC, the complexity of the current context.
And, despite the fact that, in the massive displacement, the affected population was reduced by 13%, the figure continues to be high, since around 50,236 people had to leave their home. Nariño, Bolívar, Cauca, Valle del Cauca and Chocó were the ones with the most cases with 26,014, 4,085, 3,909, 3,695 and 3,670, respectively, while Huila ranked ninth with 866 cases.
Regarding individual displacement during the previous period, there was a record of 145,049 affected people, which presents an increase of 18% compared to the previous year and there Huila does not appear within the top 10 of the departments with the most cases, being within the another 19 departments that together reached a figure of 15,073. Valle del Cauca, Nariño, Antioquia, Cauca and Bolívar, topped the list with 24,478, 17,519, 16,177, 13,220 and 12,245, in their order.
Confinement and explosive devices
Meanwhile, the confinement of communities due to the intensification of armed actions and the presence of explosive devices in the territories increased nationally by 19% compared to the previous year. Around 47,013 people were confined.
Likewise, the report records the registration of 380 direct victims of explosive devices such as antipersonnel mines, explosive remnants of war, launched devices and controlled detonation devices. Of the total registered victims, 54% are civilians, 40.5% members of the Public Force and the other 5.5% from non-state armed groups. 71% of the victims are in the department of Nariño, Cauca, Norte de Santander and Antioquia.
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Disappearances and sexual violence
In turn, 222 cases of disappearances during 2023 were documented in the report, which were related to violence. Of those, 168 are civilians (49 minors) and 54 members of the Public Force and armed groups.
“It is necessary for the Colombian State and armed groups to place humanitarian concerns at the center of peace dialogues,” emphasized Lorenzo Caraffi, head of ICRC delegation in Colombia, during the presentation of the annual report. Humanitarian Balance 2024.
Meanwhile, the phenomenon of sexual violence also remains current in the context of armed conflicts in Colombia, as corroborated by the 50 cases that occurred last year and that, according to the report, is only a small fraction of the victims and survivors. of this type of violence.
Attacks on health
Violent acts against health care, on the other hand, also generate concern, since the National Medical Mission Table reported 511 events, of which 27% are related to armed conflicts and showing an increase compared to the year 2022 where there were 426 cases, but a decrease with 2021 where there were 553 cases.
At this point, Huila is in sixth place among the most affected departments with 32 cases, below Antioquia (78), Cundinamarca (54), Tolima (53), Cauca (45) and Nariño (33); becoming the department with the most cases in the south of the country.
Intensification of the humanitarian crisis
This reality increased in the Colombian southeast and although in comparison with other departments of Colombia it seems that the numbers are not so high, the impacts on the communities are serious, because even with the low population density typical of these territories, the numbers and Especially the consequences that the ICRC has shown are worrying.
Oversaturation of humanitarian situations
Johana Elena Rojas Herrera, Ombudsman, Huila section, assured that all of these aspects discussed above fill them with concern and anguish given the increase in these situations of victimizing events.
“I have to note that there is an oversaturation of what has to do with the humanitarian situation in the departments of the southern region. “Eight out of ten citizens have a human rights difficulty where their life is compromised to make a somewhat a priori diagnosis,” she argued.
He specified that this humanitarian situation is systematically threatened due to the expansion of illegal groups that operate in the department; a situation that continues to be very expectant for the entities in charge and, therefore, draws the attention of the entities that must deal with it.
Taking the ‘temperature’ and ‘pulse’ of this generalized situation is difficult for the Ombudsman because Huila, due to its geographical position, is a road corridor that receives a ‘wake’ of violence, perhaps sometimes without being able to quantify it with accuracy of severity with respect to neighboring departments.
Finally, this cited report announces a new armed conflict in the country, adding the dispute between the Gulf Clan and the dissidence of the Central General Staff to the other seven confrontations that exist in the national context.
