Vice President Angelino Garzon on Thursday asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to appeal to armed groups in Colombia to release hostages and stop using landmines.
Colombia is the country with the second-highest number of landmines in the world, and 677 people died last year as a result of these devices.
“They have told us that they’re going to study [the request], but we believe that such an appeal which conforms with the mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross would be extremely useful,” Garzon said.
In April the ICRC issued a statement saying that Colombia’s armed conflict has not ended, but has been pushed into rural areas where violence goes unreported, and that the FARC remain a threat.
The ICRC announced in August that it would intervene to try to halt gang violence in the city of Medellin, stating that it considered that “the humanitarian consequences” made it “an obligation to make a contribution from the humanitarian perspective, framed within the principles of neutrality and independence.”
