Refugees International (RI) has launched a mission to Colombia to generate greater support for the largest internally displaced population in the Western Hemisphere.  At least 2 million Colombians have been displaced by internal armed conflict and are living in impoverished conditions in urban centers or are trapped in rural settings where they face continued threats from illegal armed actors and, at times, government authorities.  

RI Advocates Andrea Lari and Mamie Mutchler will survey conditions of displacement and meet with UN and national authorities, agencies providing humanitarian aid,  human rights monitors and the displaced themselves.  They will look for solutions that would enable displaced persons to return safely to their homes.

While there is general awareness of the US-sponsored Plan Colombia, which is designed to eradicate drug production and trafficking, fewer people are aware of the impact on the rural population of a long civil war plus fighting with drug lords and their militias. In Colombia, both the right wing paramilitary and the left wing guerillas use terror tactics against the local population to achieve strategic control of key areas of the country. Tactics include forced recruitment of child soldiers into illegal armies, massacres of the civilian population, kidnappings, and assassinations of local authorities such as judges, human rights monitors, journalists and trade unionists.

The government in its own efforts to gain control of the country, has been accused of using tactics that do not distinguish between civilians and armed combatants.  There are suspected links between the Colombian military and the paramilitary death squads which involve the provision of equipment, and the sharing of strategic information. Civilians are frequently rounded up and detained en masse under charges of treason, only to be released weeks or months later due to lack of evidence.

Despite the dire conditions for many of Colombia’s internally displaced, Refugees International is convinced, based on previous work in Colombia, that there are solutions to the conflict and that conditions for safe return can be achieved. Currently the government is involved in demobilizing the paramilitary units. This process must occur in a safe and transparent manner with respect for the rule of law, and punishment for perpetrators of human rights abuses.