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Tuesday, December 17, 1998
Moderator: Kathleen Newland, Senior Associate and Co-Director, International Migration Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Panelists: John Fredriksson, Associate Executive Director, Immigration and Refugee Services of America; Barbara Gerlach, Co-chair, Colombia Human Rights Committee; Hiram Ruiz, Senior Policy Analyst, US Committee for Refugees; Marc Sommers, Consultant and Technical Advisor on Refugee Children, Women's Commission on Refugee Women and Children
On Thursday, December 17, the International Migration Policy Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace convened another in its series of migration policy briefings to discuss the ongoing violence in Colombia that has driven more than one million people from their homes since the mid-1980s. Despite the magnitude and duration of this crisis, the world community has been remarkably silent about this humanitarian emergency. There has been a general lack of international media attention to these problems and the conflict is little known and even less understood in the United States and other countries. Bringing this issue to the forefront, the panelists examined the causes and nature of the displacement and discussed strategies for constructing peace.
John Fredriksson of Immigration and Refugee Services of America characterized the crisis in Colombia as both complex and simple. On one hand, understanding the political violence in Colombia is difficult because it results from multiple conflicts between left-wing guerilla groups, right-wing paramilitary organizations, and the Colombian armed forces. In addition, the causes of the conflict are deep-rooted and closely associated with institutionalized human rights abuses, private efforts to expand economic power, and overall lawlessness. Yet, the situation in Colombia is also simple in that it is easy to distinguish between the perpetrators and the victims of human rights abuses. Paramilitary and guerilla groups rarely engage in direct confrontations with each other, but routinely target unarmed civilians. They often torture individuals they suspect (with or without cause) of sympathizing with oppositional forces and threaten to do the same to others if they refuse to leave the area. All armed actors share the blame for the violence.
Fredriksson noted, however, that recent events indicate that the situation in Colombia has reached a critical juncture. With a sharp decline in available assistance in 1998, the conditions faced by the uprooted have deteriorated making meaningful action on the part of the Colombian government and the world community all the more necessary. Over the last year UNHCR has been involved in a campaign to raise awareness about the plight of internally displaced Colombians and to mobilize a response to their needs. As part of the effort, it has sponsored roundtables and provided a forum for discussing the conditions of the displaced. These efforts, however, have met with more failures than successes and have fallen short of the overwhelming need.
Similarly, the needs of the displaced have not been adequately addressed by the Colombian or U.S. governments. The Colombian government has only openly acknowledged the existence of a large population of displaced persons since 1992 and has yet to make a comprehensive effort to confront its fundamental causes. Similarly, the United States has provided little if any assistance to the displaced Colombians and the crisis remains virtually unknown to the U.S. public. Indeed, U.S. efforts to combat drug trafficking the United States has exacerbated the problem by tripling its military assistance to the Colombian armed forces to $289 million. While these resources supposedly are not used in the civil conflict, at the very least they free Colombian funds for such use. The amount of money the U.S. government provides for aid to those displaced by the conflict is only about 1/150th the amount of military aid. Fredriksson suggested that solving the fundamental causes of violence and displacement in Colombia will require significant effort on the part of both the U.S and the Colombian governments. The United States must become actively engaged in the effort to end Colombia's crisis and should stop all antinarcotics aid until the Colombian government demonstrates that it no longer supports or tolerates the paramilitaries. On the other hand, Colombia's government must be held accountable for the human rights conditions of its citizens and must actively work to restore peace. Peace, however, cannot be restored without addressing the humanitarian issues. The Colombian government has a responsibility to incorporate the displaced population in its peace-building agenda.
Hiram Ruiz, Senior Policy Analyst at the US Committee for Refugees, noted that Colombia's situation has deteriorated on many levels. By no means a localized phenomenon, violence has spread largely unhindered to all areas, penetrating the core of Colombian society. Only three of Colombia's twenty-four territorial departments are unaffected. Massacres occur daily and the displaced population continues to live in constant fear of the paramilitary and guerilla groups, both of which are well armed and funded. The Colombian military has offered little protection and has itself been an actor, both directly through its support of paramilitaries and indirectly through its inaction. Ruiz observed that during most incidents of violence, the military and police have either not been present or have come only after the violence had occurred.
There has been considerable debate over the actual number of displaced Colombians—largely because the Colombian government has classified many of the displaced as "rural poor" after they have been displaced for nine months. Ruiz argued, however, that in reality their situation is unique. The displaced population cannot return home and they are particularly vulnerable because they live in hiding and are not part of local support networks. While most displaced Colombians live in conditions ranging from modest to insufferable, the vast majority of the displaced receive no assistance. A minority receives food assistance during the first three months but after such time, like most of the displaced population, they must fend for themselves. Those residing in more obscure places have even less of a chance of receiving any assistance at all.
Because the rural regions of Colombia remain extremely poor, many of the displaced move to bigger towns in search of better opportunities. Over 250,000 of Colombia's displaced live in or around Bogotá alone. Ironically, areas that are more economically prosperous are largely controlled by the paramilitary and many have found they have fled from their homes in fear of the paramilitaries only to end up in an area very much dominated by them. Even after being forced from their homes, they continue to be terrorized. Often human rights workers, political figures, and NGO personnel are targeted as well. A number of them have been killed, arrested, harassed or threatened and some have had to seek protection abroad.
Efforts on the part of the international community and the Colombian government to ease the crisis have been insufficient. Hopes rose with the transition to a new government, but the government has neither identified which agency is going to be responsible for the conditions of the displaced nor implemented meaningful policies on their behalf. Although it is clearly moving in this direction, progress has been slow and has had little positive impact on the lives of the displaced. While the international community has recently begun to take note of and respond to the crisis, these efforts have also fallen short of the need. Ruiz noted, for example, that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has initiated a program in which it administered food aid to the displaced for the first three months of displacement. While these efforts are important and useful, the organization has not addressed the need for aid after the three-month time span, believing that after such time this issue must be looked at in the context of urban poverty. Much more must be done to adequately address the needs of this large displaced population.
Speaking from her experience in Bogotá in January through November of 1998, Barbara Gerlach of the Colombia Human Rights Committee noted that despite the fact that Colombia's situation is often described as an "internal conflict", in reality Colombia is at war. The human cost has been staggering and violence has left many widowed, orphaned, and uprooted. While the armed actors have many reasons for terrorizing and displacing people, much of this action is economically motivated. The paramilitaries, guerillas, and armed forces are said to deliberately depopulate areas that are economically rich and strategically important to benefit the interests of their wealthy patrons. The displaced receive no compensation for the loss of their land and most have had to shoulder the resulting economic hardship without outside assistance. Most of the displaced are on their second move and either cannot find work or can only find work that is temporary or poorly paid. Many of those who once grew their own food and owned their homes find they must suddenly pay for groceries and rent.
Gerlach pointed out that the new Colombian government has had little experience in dealing with the displaced and its present policies are both disorganized and ineffective. She argued, however, that the honeymoon period with the Pastrana government has ended and the time has come to pursue new policy directions and initiate a peace process. While the government must actively pursue peace, it must also integrate—whether from an NGO or government perspective—the issues of justice and human rights into its approach. Peace initiatives must also be broad in their scope, incorporating all of the political, social, and economic issues that are at the root of the civil unrest. This will require an open dialogue between the Colombian government and civil society, both of which must be supported in order to function during this turbulent time.
Gerlach further argued that the United States also has an important role in Colombia's peace process. The United States had provided $160 million in supplemental aid in addition to $124 million in appropriations for drug interdiction efforts— a tenfold increase in narcotics funding in a five-year time span. Much of this aid comes in the form of military equipment and has served to further fuel the civil conflict. In doing this, the U.S. government has sent a mixed message to Colombia. In addition, the U.S. embassy's attitude has been ambivalent toward the Colombian military. It does not want to get rid of the paramilitary because it does not know the ramifications of such an action. Gerlach argued that the Clinton Administration must send a strong message that it opposes the paramilitary's violation of human rights. On October 7, 1998, the Pastrana government signed an accord stating that it would make an effective effort to control the paramilitary. The United States must hold the Colombian government true to the accord while it still cares about its international image.
Marc Sommers of the Women's Committee on Refugee Women and Children noted that violence and displacement have been so pervasive and long-standing in Colombian society that it has become an accepted part of everyday life. As such, Colombia has become a humanitarian emergency without a humanitarian response. (Only Sudan has a larger displaced population.) The displacement of whole communities has left towns overcrowded, production significantly diminished, and much of Colombia's infrastructure abandoned and falling apart. These and a host of other long-term problems worsen by the minute. The cost of standing still is staggering.
Given that Colombian culture is patriarchal, violence and displacement have had a tremendous impact on Colombian society by tearing families apart. Paramilitaries and guerillas most often kill men realizing that such action will cause women and children to disperse. Women and children are also terrorized by the violence. Women are frequently targeted as collaborators and children suffer psychological damage from witnessing violence and from the trauma of displacement.
Sommers pointed out that there has been a great deal of controversy over the definition of an internally displaced person. Because there is no agreed-upon definition of an IDP, there are no guidelines for determining when a person is no longer internally displaced. Because of this dissention, the long-term needs of Colombia's displaced have largely gone unaddressed by both the Colombian government and the international community. Many organizations such as the Red Cross have classified the displaced as the urban poor after they have been displaced for three months. On the other hand, the United Nations has chosen to look at the problems facing Colombia in the framework of development. Sommers argued that the displaced have problems that cannot be addressed in this context. They also have limited access to education and higher rates of malnutrition and disease.
During the question and answer session, the panelists noted that there has been a great deal of "passing the buck" between governments and international aid organizations. Few are taking a comprehensive approach to Colombia's crisis and as a result the needs of the internally displaced have gone largely unmet. Efforts must be made to assist those who have been displaced for more then ninety days—the vast majority of Colombia's internally displaced. Efforts underway at the regional level could be very effective in addressing Colombia's long-term needs. Many worthwhile project proposals initiated by community and church groups with the potential for helping people to help themselves should be supported. These community groups stay for the long haul, long after the NGOs and aid organizations have left.
Suggested reading:
US Committee for Refugees, (March 1998). Colombia's Silent Crisis: One Million Displaced by violence. Washington, DC: Immigration and Refugee Services of America.
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