IOM and its partners are using music to
promote peace, understanding and reconciliation. Singing for
Reconciliation or Reconcíliate Cantando brought together
famous Colombian singers and bands.

The concert, held this past weekend in Bogota,
was sponsored by IOM, the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare
(ICBF by its Spanish acronym), and the Mayor's Office.

"Music works wonders when it comes to
promoting peace, understanding and reconciliation. We especially
want young people to be aware of the risks they run when they are
forcibly recruited into illegal armed groups," explains Diego
Beltrand, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia.

Concert messages also promoted children's
rights and raised awareness on the need for reconciliation and
forgiveness in order to achieve the successful reintegration of the
youth who manage to leave the armed groups and return to a normal
life.

Donations to the concert will be used to help
six ex-combatant children to travel to Canada to participate in
vocational training.

IOM and its partners have created other tools
to assist the ex combatant minors. Some of these include: a bank
account managed by Tejido Humano, a Colombian NGO, and the creation
of the civil society organization, Conexión Colombia ( class="paragraph-link-underlined" href=
"http://www.conexioncolombia.com" target="_blank" title=
"">www.conexioncolombia.com.) in order to channel all the
assistance received through these two institutions.

The concert, funded by USAID, the Italian
Cooperation and the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA), was part of planned festivities as IOM celebrates its 50th
anniversary in Colombia this year.

According to Colombia's Office of the
Ombudsperson, there are 6,000 minors engaged in illegal armed
groups in the country. According to Human Rights Watch, the figure
could reach 11,000. One in every four combatant associated with
illegal groups is under 18 years of age; thousands of them are
under 15.

For more information, please contact:

Rocio Sanz

IOM Colombia

Tel: 57.311 5619495 or 57.1.622 77 74 ext. 114

E-mail: "mailto:rsanz@oim.org.co" target="_blank" title=
"">rsanz@oim.org.co