Tasks to be assumed by the first woman in Colombia to lead the Ombudsman’s Office

The Colombian president, Gustavo Petroswore office this Friday Iris Marin Ortiz as The new Ombudsman, the first woman to hold that positionwho pledged to work for the defense of human rights, peace and to advance the elimination of gender-based violence.

“I renew the commitment to peace based on equality, through the joint agreement of all authorities to comply with the 2016 peace agreement, as well as to continue seeking an end to the violence caused by the ongoing conflicts and organized crime,” said Marín at the ceremony held in the town of Nuquí, department of Chocó.

Marín has worked in human rights organizations such as the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), the Justice Think Tank or in the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (Codhes) and also in state organizations such as the Victims Unit. The defender, who will have a mandate that will end in 2028stressed that the entity under his charge that was created 33 years ago must be “an institution with a moral and ethical character that does not belong to any sector, any political party, any power group.”

He also added that he will continue working “with the people who have been building it for 33 years”including Community Defenders. “I promise that the Ombudsman’s Office will be led by a management team with experience and training in human rights, diverse and mostly made up of women who carry out their work independently of sectors of power, who are incorruptible and who have a vocation for service to the community.“, he said.

He also stressed that he will work in the territories to renew the commitment to peace based on equality. “Equality in the real enjoyment of the rights of all people would be the true realization of peace.“, stressed the new Ombudsman. She also said that she will work from the regions, in order to listen to all communities: “To be a channel of understanding, of relief, and a bridge in the face of differences that should not separate us but unite us.”

At the ceremony Marín received from the hands of female leaders a bookwhich represents the voices of the victims; a purple mapwhich represents the fight for the rights of women and girls, and a clockbecause “It is time to defend human rights.” For his part, President Petro assured that Marín has the responsibility of managing an entity “that one cannot remain silent in the face of injustice.

Marín, chosen from a shortlist proposed by President Petro, replaces Carlos Camargoelected under the mandate of then-President Iván Duque (2018-2022), who resigned in May from the position of this human rights organization when there were less than three months left to finish his four-year term.

EFE