Bogota, Oct 6 (EFE)
The Ombudsman’s Office denounced that the clashes between armed groups in a rural area of the Colombian municipality of Arauquita prevent 150 children from going to school and keep a confined community, for which it demanded that the civilian population be left out of the conflict.
“This is very worrying for the Ombudsman’s Office given that minors are persons of special protection and their rights to education, integrity and life must be guaranteed,” said the Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, in a statement. this Thursday.
The clashes, in which unconventional weapons are allegedly used, have been reported for days in the Cañas Bravas hamlet, an area that compromises several villages in the department of Arauca, one of the hardest hit by the conflict and with the highest rates of country violence.
The Ombudsman’s Office indicated that the peasant and indigenous communities of this region remain “at imminent risk” due to the actions of the ELN and the FARC dissidents, something that translates into the risk of forced displacement and the recruitment of children.
“Damage to real estate has been reported (…), there are risks from antipersonnel mines, which has led them to be confined. The children are not going to school and food is running out,” warned the Ombudsman.
Camargo, after expressing his “concern and total rejection” of the hostilities, reiterated the call to the armed groups to “leave the entire civilian population out of the conflict, particularly children and adolescents, and to show gestures that allow progress in the dialogues for the construction of peace that the National Government has been promoting.
In addition, it demanded that the competent authorities be present in this territory and carry out actions following the recommendations issued by the Ombudsman’s Office in relation to the early warnings that exist in the area. EFE.
