Corporación Vínculos, two decades committed to alleviating the emotional suffering caused by war

By: José Darío Puentes Ramos*

The list of human rights violations that the more than 9.5 million victims of the Colombian armed conflict have experienced, according to the Victims Unit, is long and painful. Rights such as access to health services, a life free of gender-based violence, land, decent housing, education, truth, justice, and reparation, to name just a few, were and continue to be violated, thus swelling that regrettable inventory.

It’s clear that war leaves an enormous mark on the quality of life and health of direct or indirect victims. But it also generates emotional suffering that in Colombia “has not been sufficiently addressed and that is reproduced intergenerationally because it has not been processed, as it remains alive in the lives of people, families, and society,” says psychologist Mariana Sáenz Uribe, director of the Corporación Vínculos.

Since 2003, this Corporation has been carrying out psychosocial, emotional, and care processes with communities, organizations, and victims of sociopolitical violence in a country that, although in the last two decades it has created programs and mechanisms to alleviate the suffering left by the armed conflict – such as the Victims Law (1448 of 2011) and the Psychosocial Care and Comprehensive Health Program for Victims (PAPSIVI) of the Ministry of Health – are still insufficient. “The dimension of the victims of war and sociopolitical violence is so great that the needs for psychosocial care are high, and in Colombia, we have coverage difficulties,” adds Sáenz.

But that care, in the opinion of the director of Vínculos, must have a rights-based approach. That is, that the victims receive comprehensive reparation or rehabilitation: in addition to psychosocial care and emotional care, they are guaranteed access to basic rights, such as housing, health, or justice, to rebuild their lives.

Given the insufficient psychosocial care for victims of the armed conflict in Colombia, Corporación Vínculos offers them accompaniment to alleviate the suffering left by the war. / Photo: Corporación Vínculos.

The barriers to full psychosocial care

When it began its work 20 years ago, Corporación Vínculos found a complex scenario. “It was formed by a team of professionals, mostly psychologists, who had a great interest in caring for victims, since at that time there was not even talk of armed conflict or victims were not recognized,” says Sáenz.

Since then, the Corporation began a permanent accompaniment with a psychosocial approach for different populations affected by the armed conflict and other sociopolitical violence: women, human rights leaders, young people, older adults, demobilized members of armed groups, among others. In 2022, for example, Vínculos carried out psychosocial processes with more than 1,400 victims. In the midst of that work, as explained by Karen Urueña, a psychologist and coordinator of Knowledge Management, a series of barriers have been detected for this type of care in the country.

The first of the barriers is coverage. “What we see in the rehabilitation and reparation measures is that they do not reach the communities, the most remote municipalities. Psychosocial care has been focused on urban areas. In addition, due to the contracting processes of the programs, care is provided for a few months in the territories and does not achieve long-term coverage,” says Urueña.

Precisely, the lack of continuity in psychosocial care is the second barrier. For this psychologist, it is key that the families of victims of serious human rights violations, for example, forced disappearances or massacres, have constant accompaniment to alleviate suffering, since emotional effects in these cases can last for years, decades, or a lifetime. If the care programs only last a few months or years as the director of Vínculos says, the pain will remain there, embedded in the individual and the collective.

Karen Urueña, Knowledge Management coordinator, and Mariana Sáenz Uribe, director of the Corporation. / Photo: José Puentes.

Other barriers are related to the lack of budget and the lack of psychosocial focus on the part of the General Health System in Colombia. “Traumatic events are somatized in the body, often through illnesses. So, it is necessary to address them from the emotional side. That is why a program like PAPSIVI is important. But reality has shown us that we are still far from getting the psychosocial approach incorporated into the health system,” says Urueña, adding that on paper the programs are well-designed and structured, but in practice, difficulties are encountered.

Precisely in the evaluation of the rehabilitation component – which includes psychosocial care – of the Victims Law, carried out by the Attorney General’s Office in 2020 and in which Sáenz participated, these barriers are stated, and among the recommendations made are the expansion of coverage, comprehensive reparation, articulation between psychosocial programs and the health system, and the training of specialized human talent in this type of care for victims.

Prevention and construction of cultures of peace

One of the rights that victims of the armed conflict have is the guarantee of the non-repetition of the events that caused them suffering. That is why Vínculos also bets on the construction of cultures of peace as a mechanism for the prevention of violence in complex territories. “There are values, practices, or imaginaries that legitimize violence. For example, we seek with this strategy that children and young people in contexts affected by the armed conflict do not build a ‘warrior’ identity. The idea is that they have a critical vision of violence,” says the director of the Corporation.

Corporación Vínculos works with civil society organizations for the prevention of violence and the strengthening of the demand for rights. / Photo: Corporación Vínculos.

These cultures of peace are built by the entire society: parents, teachers, officials, social organizations, among other actors in the territories. In 2022, 107 minors participated in this strategy, and 858 professionals who accompany victims were linked to emotional awareness and care processes, as well as training for the demand for rights such as comprehensive reparation.

Also, as part of prevention, Corporación Vínculos trains members of civil society organizations and social leaders in psychosocial care so that they are the first to listen to the emotional needs of victims of the armed conflict and political violence. Having someone present and available to listen to them is vital because it helps them alleviate the pain left by more than 60 years of war.

(*) Human rights journalist and collaborator of Dejusticia.

This article is part of the special #TejidoVivo, a product of a journalistic alliance between the Dejusticia study center and El Espectador.