Displacement in Colombia

With more than four million internally displaced Colombians- an average of more than a quarter of a million people annually in recent years- and a million more forced to flee across national borders in search of safety, Colombia now ranks just behind Sudan in the numbers of people displaced by the conflict. The conflict has had a differential impact on the population, however. Women, youth, Afro-Colombians, and indigenous communities have been disproportionately affected by the conflict and by the displacement it causes.

This panel looed at the gendered dimensions of Colombia's internal armed conflict and the specific impacts that conflict violence has had on Colombian women. Panelists analyzed the efforts of civil society organizations to secure legal protections for the displaced population and to work for their implementation. They discussed the Colombian Constitutional Court's landmark decisions that charged the government with responsibility to protect the rights of the displaced (2004), and to guarantee displaced women the right to justice and assistance (2008). They evaluated the Colombian government's efforts on a number of specific issues, including land tenure, sexual violece, security, humanitarian needs, and differentiated socio-economic needs for Afro-Colombian and indigenous women.

Speakers

• Dr. Maria Emma Wills
  Chair, Gender Research Unit, Historical Memory Commission
  Associate Professor of Political Science, University of the Andes
• Alejandra Vega Rodriguez
  Lawyer, Colombian Commission of Jurists
• Ruby Castaño
  Coordinator, National Women's Department, National Coordinating Body for the Displaced
• Mr. Andrea Lari
  Senior Advocate, Refugees International
• Melanie Teff
  Advocate, Refugees International
• Dr. Virginia (Ginny) Bouvier, Moderator
  U.S. Institute of Peace

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