HOME   | E-MAIL  | ESPAÑOL

Rebuilding the fabric of society and the friendly solutions

As part of the undertaking of safeguarding justice, a significance which goes beyond the merely judicial has been attached to the right to full redress in cases involving Human Rights violations. Great efforts are devoted to ensuring that the situation is restored in the best possible way to the condition in which it was previous to the commission of Human Rights crimes. Although in many cases the damage inflicted is beyond repair, the situation can be substantially improved. The purpose is to reconstruct the social fabric of communities wrecked by violations of great proportions. The occurrence of these violations harms not just the victims and their relatives, but also the social group to which they belong. This should redress economic imbalance and enable victims’ families to live with dignity and be better prepared to face life’s uncertainties. The Colombian government is making progress in the task of strengthening this dimension of justice. Existing mechanisms are being refined and new strategies developed, according to the circumstances surrounding each case and the state’s capacities. Examples of these mechanisms are friendly solutions, through which a number of international agreements are fulfilled, and the keeping up of the memory of victims, a mechanism which is currently being discussed with petitioners, notably the Patriotic Union. These mechanisms confirm Colombia’s leading position as regards the concept of full recovery in cases of Human Rights violations in critical situations.

Friendly solutions, promoted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, allow the efforts of victims’ representatives, the state’s investigative bodies and, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights itself, to combine efforts for the clarification of particularly serious cases of violation of Human Rights.

The Colombian government signed agreements in connection with the cases of Trujillo (department of Valle del Cauca, October 1988 to May 1991), Caloto (department of Cauca, 16 December 1991), Los Uvos (La Vega, department of Cauca, 7 April 1991), and Villatina (Medellín, 15 November 1992). The signing of these agreements was prompted by violent events that took place in these communities, including homicides, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and torture.

On the recommendation of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Colombian government drew up a social investment plan which, among other purposes, is aimed at strengthening the social fabric of communities through programs designed to mitigate the consequences of violence and eliminate all forms of social exclusion. In addition, special assistance was given to the victims’ relatives, including counselling and educational advice, housing and land.
Action taken by the Office of the Vice President of the Republic ensured the allocation, through administrative agreements signed by the Administrative Department of the Office of the President of the Republic, of Col.$5.223.032.000. This amount was approved by the 1999 National Budget Law under the heading Assistance to special projects for the fulfillment of international commitments made to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights”. In addition to this, over $450 million Colombian pesos were contributed by departmental and municipal bodies.

A total of Col.$1,949,043,991.50 was allocated to Trujillo for the carrying out of 15 projects as follows: Improvement of the La Sonora - El Crucero and Crucero - Venecia roads. Completion and equipment of the Santa Cruz hospital. Equipment of the Huasanó Health Center; construction of the Alto Cáceres rural district school. Completion of eight multiple sports-fields. Identification of profitable economic projects - Support for the Agrimora Blackberry Products Association. Strengthening of the Tecnocampo cooperative. Strengthening of the Coovestir cooperative. Strengthening of the Coomanual cooperative. Training for the setting up of, and provision of equipment for, a textile products workshop. Completion of urban development works for 17 urban homes. Completion of basic sewage works and improvement of 61 rural homes. Equipment and running of 16 self-sufficient, training community farms.

The allocation for Los Uvos amounted to Col.$1,546,805,281 for the equipment of the health center, the construction of power supply lines for eight rural districts, the improvement of the Piedra Sentada road, the extension and refurbishment of the school premises to accomodate a new basic primary and technical secondary education school, and a rural employment scheme based on the improvement of agricultural production.

To help rebuild the social fabric of Villatina, Col.$1,140,000,000 were allocated for the following projects: Increasing the educational capacity of the San Francisco de Asís school. Construction of the projected Primavera monument. Establishment of a materials gathering facility linked to the projected setting up of a brick-making business. An employment generation scheme. Provision of educational services for the training of members of the community who intend to take part in the establishment of the materials gathering facility mentioned above.

With regard to Caloto, an allocation of Col.$587,182,000 will be spent in the following projects: Implementation of a food security program, Páez Phase 2. Implementation of a health service program for indigenous people, linked to an ethno-health school, and setting up of a bicultural local and area information system in the upper area of northern Cauca, Phase 2. Establishment of ethno-botanical farms and construction of a fish farming pool in Indian reservation lands in the north of the department of Cauca.