On April 30, 2009, experts on Colombia's IDPs and refugees, U.S. NGOs, international institutions and affected governments came together to participate in a pioneering conference, entitled A Solution Oriented U.S. Policy to Address the Colombian Forced Displacement Crisis organized by Refugees International and the Washington Office on Latin America with the support of twenty one other U.S. non-governmental and faith-based organizations listed below. As a result, the participating organizations developed a collective declaration which includes policy recommendations that the US government should undertake in order to help its Colombian counterpart and host governments in the region to better protect and assist IDPs and refugees.
A Solution Oriented U.S. Policy To
Address the Colombian Forced Displacement Crisis
Conflict and violence in Colombia, often directed at civilians, continues to force more than 250,000 people every year to abandon their homes and land and seek sanctuary elsewhere, including neighboring countries. Colombia's forced displacement is the worst humanitarian crisis in the Americas, second only to Sudan worldwide.
On April 30, 2009, experts on Colombia's IDPs and refugees, U.S. NGOs, international institutions and affected governments came together to participate in a pioneering conference, entitled A Solution Oriented U.S. Policy to Address the Colombian Forced Displacement Crisis organized by Refugees International and the Washington Office on Latin America with the support of twenty one other U.S. non-governmental and faith-based organizations listed below. The participants discussed possible solutions to address this invisible crisis with a particular focus on how U.S. foreign policy and programs can best address the current dimensions of this crisis.
As a result, the participating organizations developed a collective declaration which includes policy recommendations that the US government should undertake in order to help its Colombian counterpart and host governments in the region to better protect and assist IDPs and refugees. Please follow this link to read the Declaration and Recommendations Of Humanitarian and Human Rights Advocacy Groups On the Forced Displacement Crisis in Colombia.
Please follow the links below to read the panelist's individual presentations.
Current Causes of Displacement and the Specific Concerns of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Communities
- Marco Romero, CODHES on Internal Displacement in Colombia and Colombian refugees in surrounding countries
- Marino Cordoba, AFRODES USA on Special Situation of Afro-Colombian IDPs
- Gimena Sanchez, WOLA, Special Concerns of Indigenous IDPs
En Espanol: Preocupaciones Acerca de las Comunidades Indígenas Internamente Desplazadas
Most Recent Efforts to Address Forced Internal Displacement
- Armando Escobar Sánchez, Acción Social – Colombian Government
- Kelly Nicholls, USOC, Response of Colombia's Constitutional Court and Public Ministry Institutions
- Lynn Vega, USAID IDP Program in Colombia
- Patrick Egloff, Office of the United Nations Special Representative on the Human Rights of the Internally Displaced Persons
Most Recent Efforts to Address the Refugee Crisis
- Jana Mason, UNHCR – Response within Colombia, in Ecuador and Panama
- Juan Carlos Castrillon, Deputy Chief of Mission, Ecuadorian Government
- Shaina Aber, JRS USA – Situation in Ecuador and Panama
- Adam Isacson, CIP – Ecuador's Humanitarian Emergency
Next Steps for Action
- Cindy Buhl, U.S. Congressional Response to IDPs and Refugees
- Carlos Quesada, Global Rights – Life in the Face of Adversity: The Human Rights Situation of Internally Displaced Afro-Colombian Women
En Espanol: Vidas ante la Adversidad: Informe sobre la situación de los Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres Afrocolombianas en Situación de Desplazamiento Forzado - Ben Beachy, Witness for Peace – Grassroots Efforts to Help IDPs
- Theo Sitther. Ecumenical Response to IDPs needs
Supporting Organizations
Association for Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) USA
Catholic Relief Services
Center for International Policy (CIP)
Colombia Human Rights Committee
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America
Church World Service /Immigration and Refugee Program
Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean (EPICA)
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Global Rights
Jesuit Refugee Service-USA
Latin America Working Group Education Fund (LAWGEF)
Lutheran World Relief
Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office
Pax Christi USA
Presbyterian Church, (USA), Washington Office
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Refugees International
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
TransAfrica Forum
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
U.S. Office on Colombia
Witness for Peace
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
