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Overview
Colombia’s 40-year internal conflict between paramilitaries, guerilla groups and the Colombian army has created a massive number of internally displaced people (IDPs), with almost 4 million forced from their homes since 1985. Increasing numbers are fleeing their homes in several regions of the country at the rate of more than 200,000 a year and continue to face serious vulnerability. The Colombian Government must give greater priority to supporting IDP organizations and their leadership.
Current Humanitarian Situation
The Colombian government is pursuing increasingly aggressive counterinsurgent and counternarcotics policy, engaging illegal armed groups in more remote locations. New narco-groups composed of former paramilitary personnel and common criminals are competing with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and ELN (National Liberation Army) for the control of coca cultivation, harvesting and processing areas and strategic corridors to take the coca to international markets. These illegal groups assert territorial control by engaging in acts of terror, including the use of selective assassinations in order to maintain strict control over communities.
Refugees International has found that the large numbers of newly displaced people are overwhelming the capacity of the government and humanitarian agencies. Their ability to respond is widely varied, depending on the level of preparation, experience gained through previous displacements, and the availability of resources and political will to provide services. Local administrations already have enormously strained budgets and capacity, and the remoteness of the areas where displacements frequently occur also complicates the humanitarian response.
Returning home is ultimately the most desirable option for displaced Colombians, but it is rarely a safe or sustainable option given the deteriorating security conditions. With few exceptions, initiatives for returns are generally conducted in areas still contested by illegal armed groups and located near illicit crop cultivation. Violence and lack of government support plagues many returnees.
Actions Needed
Local administrations in areas of high risk of forced displacement should urgently increase their budgets for humanitarian assistance, train humanitarian personnel and develop prevention and protection plans with clear operational and implementation directives.
Colombia
Field Reports In-Depth Reports
Colombia’s 40-year internal conflict between paramilitaries, guerilla groups and the Colombian army has created a massive number of internally displaced people (IDPs), with almost 4 million forced from their homes since 1985. Increasing numbers are fleeing their homes in several regions of the country at the rate of more than 200,000 a year and continue to face serious vulnerability. The Colombian Government must give greater priority to supporting IDP organizations and their leadership.
Current Humanitarian Situation
The Colombian government is pursuing increasingly aggressive counterinsurgent and counternarcotics policy, engaging illegal armed groups in more remote locations. New narco-groups composed of former paramilitary personnel and common criminals are competing with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and ELN (National Liberation Army) for the control of coca cultivation, harvesting and processing areas and strategic corridors to take the coca to international markets. These illegal groups assert territorial control by engaging in acts of terror, including the use of selective assassinations in order to maintain strict control over communities.
Refugees International has found that the large numbers of newly displaced people are overwhelming the capacity of the government and humanitarian agencies. Their ability to respond is widely varied, depending on the level of preparation, experience gained through previous displacements, and the availability of resources and political will to provide services. Local administrations already have enormously strained budgets and capacity, and the remoteness of the areas where displacements frequently occur also complicates the humanitarian response.
Returning home is ultimately the most desirable option for displaced Colombians, but it is rarely a safe or sustainable option given the deteriorating security conditions. With few exceptions, initiatives for returns are generally conducted in areas still contested by illegal armed groups and located near illicit crop cultivation. Violence and lack of government support plagues many returnees.
Actions Needed
Local administrations in areas of high risk of forced displacement should urgently increase their budgets for humanitarian assistance, train humanitarian personnel and develop prevention and protection plans with clear operational and implementation directives.
Field Reports
07/29/2008
Increasing numbers of Colombians are fleeing their homes in several regions of the country and continue to face serious vulnerability. Despite greater security in urban centers and improvements in funding and the legal aspects of the government’s emergency response system for new displacements, the large numbers of newly displaced people are overwhelming the capacity of the government and humanitarian agencies.
07/29/2008
Se incrementa el número de colombianos que escapan de sus casas en varias regiones del país y siguen afrontando un alto grado de vulnerabilidad. A pesar que hay mayor seguridad en centros urbanos, más recursos financieros y un gran marco normativo que incluye un sistema de respuesta para la emergencia en caso de nuevos desplazamientos, la gran cantidad de personas recién desplazadas desborda la capacidad de las agencias de gobierno y humanitarias. Los presupuestos de las administraciones locales y sus infraestructuras afrontan esa enorme tensión y las distancias de las áreas donde ocurre el desplazamiento también complica la respuesta humanitaria.
In Depth Reports
11/28/2007
Being forcibly displaced because of violence and conflict is an experience that millions of Colombians have lived through for over four decades. While all Colombian society is permeated by this traumatic reality, displacement is mainly hitting those living in rural areas with devastating impact on the lives of campesino, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Towns and cities are often the final destinations of the displaced in search of safety through anonymity, facing the grim prospect of being unemployed and becoming dependents on outside assistance. The future is often destitution.
11/28/2007
El desplazamiento forzado producto de la violencia y el conflicto es
una experiencia que millones de colombianos han afrontado por más de
cuatro décadas. Aunque la sociedad colombiana en su totalidad se ha
visto perjudicada por esta traumática realidad, son aquellos viviendo
en las zonas rurales quienes se han sido mayormente afectados por el
desplazamiento, el cual ha tenido un impacto devastador en las vidas de
comunidades campesinas, indígenas y afrocolombianas. Pueblos y ciudades
son a menudo el destino final de desplazados en búsqueda de seguridad a
través del anonimato, quienes afrontan la nefasta posibilidad de
hallarse desempleados y dependientes de la asistencia externa. El
futuro es, muchas veces, la destitución.
Successes
In 2008, after Refugees International's ongoing calls for increased attention to the humanitarian crisis in Colombia, Congress increased emergency relief funding for the U.S. State Department's refugee bureau's programs in Colombia from $1.5 million to $5.6 million.
Refugees International · 2001 S Street NW · Suite 700 · Washington, DC 20009 Phone: 202-828-0110 Fax: 202-828-0819 Email: ri@refintl.org