International Organization for Migration - More than 100 families that had been forced to abandon their lands because of threats and violence from illegal armed groups, are this week receiving official deeds for their plots as part of a pilot project for land restitution.The pilot project, led by the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation (NCRR) and implemented by IOM with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), began in Turbo, an area 477 kilometres northwest of the capital, Bogota.
The deeds are being handed over to the first 105 families after studies were carried out to determine the current status of the plots and how the victims lost their property.
As part of the pilot phase for 2009, and working with local chambers of commerce, 100 displaced families from the municipality of Chengue (Department of Sucre) and 280 from Mampuján (Department of Bolívar) will receive deeds in the coming months.
In January 2001, 28 farmers were murdered and 32 houses were burnt down in the municipality of Chengue, in a massacre carried out by a paramilitary group. Chengue was at the time a small village composed of 75 houses.
According to the NCRR, between 1997 and 2005, the paramilitaries carried out more than 20 massacres in the region of Mampuján, with the aim of defeating a Martín Caballero, FARC guerrilla boss and leader of Frente 35, who was operating in the area. Caballero met with residents of Mampuján and gave them 24 hours to evacuate the town.
Lessons learnt from the pilot projects in Turbo, Chengue and Mampuján will be systematized and used by the Technical Committee for the Restitution of Lands and 12 Regional Commissions for the Restitution of Property that will be set up throughout the country. The first Commission was set up in early July in the city of Medellin.
The Commissions, set up to settle ownership claims, are part of the integral reparation system for victims of illegal armed groups established under Law 975, also known as the Law of Justice and Peace.
According to official figures of 30 June 2009, there are 3,115,266 persons declared internally displaced in Colombia. Antioquia with 508,537 and Bolívar with 264,253 are the departments with the largest number of displaced.
