A delegate for women displaced by violence in Colombia’s inspector general’s office Thursday said the government is failing to provide protection especially for women and also alleged corruption.
According to El Tiempo, the Inspector General’s infancy and childhood delegate, Ilva Miryam Hoyos criticized the government’s program for the protection of forcibly displaced women claiming, “The agents assigned to us for our protection aligned with ‘Los Urabeños’. We don’t trust them. They don’t protect us, instead they monitor what we’re doing and take our provisions, including elements they had given us to improve our projects.”
The claim that Los Urabeños are somehow connected to the government’s aid program for displaced persons is significant because Los Urabeños are a neo-paramilitary organization that was born out of the demobilization of the former umbrella paramilitary organization AUC; which had a history of displacing and abusing Colombian citizens.
The Inspector General is reportedly responsible for receiving complaints from displaced persons, informing them of their rights under the Constitution, directing them to organizations that can help and following up on the cases to ensure they were conducted in a timely manner. They also have the responsibility of monitoring the public institutions that aid displaced persons.
FACTSHEET: Displacement