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August
2001
Page 1 of 5
Whole
towns abandoned, buildings in decay, fields gone fallow—it
is a not unusual sight in the terrorized Colombian hinterlands.
The war between leftist guerrillas and rightwing paramilitaries
is the direct cause of massive internal displacement,
a humanitarian crisis that was all but hidden until
the year 2000 when Plan Colombia attracted a new wave
of media attention to the region.
According to the U.S. Committee for Refugees, in 2000
alone more than 315,000 persons became newly displaced,
bringing the total since 1985 to 2.1 million. Violence
and displacement are not limited to any one area of
Colombia. Civilians have been displaced from (or within)
27 of Colombia's 32 departments (states).
Most of those who become internally displaced or who
flee overland to neighboring countries are farmers and
inhabitants of villages and small towns that have been
attacked by the paramilitaries. A disproportionate number
are Afro-Colombians and indigenous people. Some 32 percent
of all displaced families are headed by women, and an
estimated 45 percent of the displaced are children aged
14 or younger.
They flee to mushrooming shantytowns on the outskirts
of Colombia’s large cities, or cobble together
settlements in the countryside, where they live in poverty
and continue to fear for their lives. The cities are
overcrowded; competition for jobs is fierce; local services
have been strained to the breaking point; tension and
conflict build.
The
work available to displaced persons is hard, poorly
paid, and usually temporary--for example, on construction
or road building crews, which hire by the day. Driven
to desperation, many individuals labor for even less
than the standard low wage, which generates resentment
on the part of other local poor people. Others turn
to the informal economy, buying fruit and vegetables,
cigarettes, or other products from markets and wholesalers
and then selling them on street corners or house to
house. Some prepare food to sell on the streets. Still
others take in washing.
Displaced persons tend to lack for proper documentation.
Individuals from remote rural areas have never had the
documents that city dwellers routinely receive. People
fleeing suddenly often leave their documents behind.
Lacking official papers, it is impossible to vote, work
in the formal sector, own property, drive, send children
to public schools, or receive treatment at public hospitals.
The psychological consequences are severe. According
to the Colombian Catholic Bishops’ Conference,
the experience of displacement is one of "suffering,
tears, and self-doubt...[accompanied by] feelings of
impotence, vulnerability, and victimization."
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Displaced
Colombians Occupying the ICRC
Bogota,
June 2000
Bogota,
Colombia
At an NGO psychologists provide dolls to help children
who are survivors of violence and sexual abuse relate
what has happened to them and work therapuetically to
restore their self-confidence.
Photo Copyright © Donna DeCesare.
2001
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