From October 3 to November 10, 2023, the Group of Inter-American Humanitarian Demining Monitors in Colombia (GMI-CO), which represents the Inter-American Defense Board in managing the quality of activity in the country, supported the Organization of American States (OAS), deploying officers to accredit personnel from the civil humanitarian demining organization Humanity & Inclusion (HI).
Founded in 1982, HI is an international humanitarian organization that since 2016 has been involved in humanitarian demining and mine risk education operations in Colombia. The operational evaluations occurred at the organization's bases in the cities of Chaparral (Tolima) and Carepa (Antioquia), certifying 17 officials for actions against antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices.
The evaluations carried out by the GMI-CO used officers from the Brazilian Navy, Brazilian Army and Mexican Army. For Mexican Army Colonel Vicente Geronimo Gamboa Escobar, “through the evaluations of deminers from the HI organization, we can see the great effort being made to have a mine-free Colombia, with very professional and dedicated people.”
Since 2006, the GMI-CO has supported the efforts of the OAS and Colombian authorities to reduce the effects of antipersonnel mines and improvised devices, which have penalized the country's population for six decades.
