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COLOMBIA: Local Candidates Sign Agreement with Civil Society in Slum

Helda Martínez*

SOACHA, Colombia, Sep 25 2007 (IPS) - In Soacha, a violence-wracked slum on the outskirts of the Colombian capital, civil society groups persuaded six of the eight candidates for mayor of the municipality to sign an agreement on governance and transparency, ahead of the Oct. 28 local and regional elections.

Soacha’s cramped shacks are home to tens of thousands of Colombians displaced by the country’s decades old civil war. But when they arrive here, they find they have not escaped human rights violations and violence, while they are also plagued by high levels of unemployment, pollution, corruption, and a lack of basic utilities like piped water and electricity.

But despite the threats faced by activists, the Mesa Humanitaria y Social, a network of governmental and social organisations in Soacha, drew up a 20-point agreement to be honoured by whoever is elected mayor in October.

The idea is to work on aspects like the transparent use of public funds, democratic participation in the design and implementation of a municipal development plan, the creation of spaces for the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and the creation of oversight and follow-up committees.

Solutions to problems faced in the municipality should be reached "through ongoing dialogue and the implementation of actions coordinated by the municipal administration, the public prosecutor’s office and civil society, with international cooperation," says the agreement.

It was signed last week by candidates José Martínez of the Liberal Party, Manuel Suescún of the Indigenous Social Alliance, Ángela Donoso of Democratic Colombia, Fernando Ramírez of Radical Change and Juan Carlos Nemocón of Alas Equipo Colombia (Wings Team Colombia).

The candidate for the leftist Alternative Democratic Pole, Oswaldo Córdoba, excused himself and sent a representative of his party instead, and the candidates of the Conservative Party and the pro-government Citizen Convergence party did not attend the signing ceremony.

The agreement also states that the new administration will "foment the presence of industries with social responsibility," strengthen the functioning of the Human Rights Committee, increase transparency, and expand assistance programmes for children and young people.

Signing the agreement as witnesses were Bruno Moro, the resident United Nations representative in Colombia; Merete Hansen, country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council; Bishop Daniel Caro of the diocese of Soacha; Mauricio Vesga, ombudsman for the region of Cundinamarca, where the municipality is located; and Fernando Enciso of the Colombian Federation of Municipalities.

Two years ago, the complexity of problems in Soacha prompted the creation of the Mesa Humanitaria y Social, a network made up of 40 governmental, non-governmental, community and private bodies, as well as the Catholic Church.

The Mesa is subdivided into working areas on youth, health, economic transition and education, and has the support of 13 U.N. agencies and the international NGOs Diakonia, Norwegian Refugee Council and Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.

The insecurity especially affects young people in Soacha, who are frequently the targets of selective killings by illegal armed groups present in the neighbourhood.

"Three years ago we experienced a difficult period, during which 120 young people were killed. Most of them were murdered by the (far-right) paramilitaries using fear as a strategy to prevent the situation here from coming to light, and to favour impunity," a local resident who asked not to be identified told IPS.

An agreement reached with the government for the paramilitary militias to demobilise has eased the crisis, he said. "But we know that serious incidents happened again two or three weeks ago. In election time, the situation gets worse, which is why we have to be more careful."

Killings are a problem, as is forced or semi-forced recruitment, with young people drawn into armed groups due to the lack of educational or employment opportunities.

According to statistics from the Mesa Humanitaria, based partly on a survey that was carried out, the average number of formal school years in the municipality is 5.3 years, and only 1.4 percent of local residents have completed one year or more of secondary school.

Unemployment stands at 20 percent, and 52 percent of the employed have no formal labour contract. While the minimum monthly salary in Colombia is 217 dollars, the average monthly income of workers in Soacha is 96 dollars.

More than 74 percent of local residents have no sanitation and only 12.4 percent have piped water. Most people depend on rubber hoses that run along the dusty paths that serve as streets, and which are filled by water trucks once a week. The hoses run into small water tanks sitting atop nearly every house.

In addition, 56 percent of families live in areas at high risk of landslides or collapse, because of mining operations or due to their location in mountainous areas unfit for construction.

To that is added the insecurity and crime, seen as a pressing problem by 44 percent of those surveyed, and widespread mistrust of the neighbours, which 68 percent of respondents said they felt.

According to the statistics compiled by the Mesa Humanitaria, 17.5 percent of households in the municipality have been affected by forced displacement.

The National Department of Statistics (DANE) reported a radical increase in the local population, from 170,000 people in 1990 to 400,000 in 2005. From 1993 to 2003, the local population grew 4.8 percent, compared to a national average of 1.7 percent, DANE statistics show.

By 2003, Soacha was the 14th most populous municipality in the country.

"Six or seven displaced families arrive in Soacha every day," José Figuereido, the municipal official in charge of human rights questions, told IPS.

The coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) local development and peace programme, Marta Ruiz, told IPS that "it is difficult to confirm with precision the statistics because many displaced people do not register with any institution or government body. But it is true that a large number of people arrive on a daily basis."

Many of the displaced end up in two specific areas of Soacha, Ruiz pointed out. "In those two districts, there are displaced people from 25 of the country’s 32 departments (provinces), especially Tolima (in central Colombia) and Meta (in the southeast), as well as afro-Colombians from the western region along the Pacific Ocean. The displaced make up 12 percent of the local inhabitants here."

Nicolás López, an activist with the Mesa Humanitaria’s working group on youth, told IPS that the first such agreement was signed three years ago, and although "it was not completely implemented, it represented an important step forward for local development."

"Processes of change are very slow, but we will continue encouraging them, with the commitment as well as the participation of the local people of the community," said López.

* With additional reporting from Constanza Vieira.