COLOMBIA,
A COUNTRY ON THE MOVE
Prepared by:
Coordinator for Internal Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
THE HEADLINES
• PRIZE FOR INGENUITY: 34 cinematographic
productions answered the public invitation on the part of the
National Council
for Art and Culture in Cinematography to submit projects. $1.24
billion Colombian pesos will be provided in the field of preparation
and production of full length films. The Council, which is made
up of representatives from diverse sectors of the industry and
is presided by the Ministry of Culture, evaluates the projects.
The results will be announced next June 17th. This initiative
to participate in the modality of Development Of Projects For
Feature-Length Films, aims to encourage new productions to be
undertaken by domestic producers or through international efforts,
and will be open until June 25th, 2004. For further information
go to: http://www.mincultura.gov.co/ y http://www.proimagenescolombia.com/.
• GRAND PRIZE AT OBERHAUSEN: The Grand Prize at the 50th
International Short Films Festival, at the German city of Oberhausen,
was awarded to the Colombian production Od- El Camino (The Path),
by director Martin Mejía, and to the French film La Tresse
de ma mère, made by Sarah Schiller. Mejía’s
film is a scientific journey through the memory of a man whose
daughter is gravely ill, showing "a unique sensitivity," that
perfectly combines extraordinary camerawork with an impoverished
acoustical landscape
SOCIAL JUSTICE
• ENLARGING EQUALITY: The Presidential
Advisory Council for Women's Equality, with support from the
United Nations Development
Program, the Canadian Agency for International Development and
the German Cooperation Agency, carried out the First Observatory
on Gender Issues in Colombia. This Office will support efforts,
both by the government as well as on the part of Colombian society,
aimed at progress towards social and gender equality in this
country. Its work will enable detection, as well as provide visibility,
of existing inequalities in social relations between women and
men. This initiative also arises from a policy commitment on
the part of the Government, set out in the National Agreement
for Equality Between Women and Men, signed by representatives
of the three branches of the government last year.
• WITH THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: The National Government
will provide $9.385 billion Colombian pesos this year in order
to finance subsidies for the Program for Assistance to the Aged,
which will be extended to 9,400 indigenous elderly, who until
now have not had access to this type of assistance due to lack
of coverage on the part of the Sisbén. The CONPES (National
Planning Document) authorized inclusion of this population segment
as a beneficiary of the subsidies, so that indigenous persons
above the age of 65 will now receive $83,200 pesos each per month.
• ON BEHALF OF A JOYOUS INFANCY: Approximately 8,000 children under the age of 6, living in
14 of the country's departments,
are improving their nutrition and quality of life through the
Food Program for Infancy, put into operation by the Colombian
Episcopal Conference and coordinated by the Presidential Council
for Special Programs, led by First Lady, Lina Maria Moreno de
Uribe. This program is financed by the National Government, UNICEF
and the International Migration Organization, and has received
more than $300 million over the last two years.
• EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES: Since the Uribe Administration
took office, almost 1,260,000 new jobs have been created as a
result of the diverse stimulants provided along with the economic
reactivation of this country's productive sectors. In accordance
with the National Planning Department, even though statistics
provided by the DANE (National Office of Statistics) show an
increase of 0.6% in the unemployment rate for the month of March,
the data also showed that the economy continues to generate a
significant number of jobs. Taking into account the dynamics
of the economy and last year’s 12.3% rate, the Government
estimates that unemployment could fall to 11.5% at the end of
this year. The Executive Branch’s goal is to reduce unemployment
to less than 10% at the end of 2006.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• GREATER GUARANTEES: The number
of labor activists murdered in the year to date is 25% less
than for the corresponding period
of last year. While 16 union organizers were killed in Colombia
from January to March of 2003, there were 12 such crimes in the
first quarter of this year. These figures are part of a decrease
over the last two years: 184 labor activists died in 2001, 120
in 2002, and 51 in 2003, a reduction of 57.5% as compared to
2002. 4,492 union organizers currently receive direct protection
from the State.
• A FAVORABLE BALANCE: The first
three months of 2004 showed a 45.9% reduction in the number
of kidnappings as compared
to the same period for the previous year, going from 586 to 317
cases. There was a 34.5% decrease in massacres, dropping from
29 to 19 cases, in comparison with 2003. The reduction in the
homicide rate for the same period was 13.6%, declining from 6,135
cases to 5,308. There was a 41.6% decrease in the number of attacks
on the civil population, with 7 cases in 2004 as opposed to 12
during the first quarter of 2003, the smallest number since 1996.
