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Colombia: Thousands fleeing in Nariño region

Briefing Notes, 10 April 2007

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 10 April 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Thousands of people are fleeing their homes to escape fighting and generalized insecurity in the Nariño region of southern Colombia. Over the past two weeks, more than 6,000 people took refuge in the small towns of El Charco and La Tola, in the north of Nariño. Local authorities opened schools and other public places to house the displaced, who are fleeing fighting further to the south between the army and an irregular armed group.

Local authorities, the church and international organizations have joined their efforts to those of the government to provide food and medical attention. Despite their work, there is a shortage of clean water and basic health supplies. Only one out of every 30 persons who arrived in El Charco last week has a mattress to sleep on.

As of yesterday, there remained a total of 3,000 displaced in El Charco, but the figures are changing all the time. Over the weekend, several hundred families chose to return to their homes, despite uncertainties about security conditions. They returned in boats provided by the local authorities. The rivers are the only means of transportation in this part of the country.

At the same time, more people are still arriving from communities further downriver. Three hundred people reached El Charco on Sunday after being caught up for several days behind the front line. They said hundreds more are still stuck and that food supplies are getting low. UNHCR is extremely concerned about their safety, as well as for the protection of those people who returned to their communities along the Tapaje River at the weekend.

In the rest of Nariño, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. In the mountainous region around the municipality of Policarpa, dozens of small villages are emptying because residents fear more violence. Along the border with Ecuador in the south, conditions remain volatile, notably around La Victoria and Tallambi. Since the start of the year, there have been two instances of mass crossings into Ecuador, one of them from Tallambi on February 23 in which some 400 Colombians fled to Chical, Ecuador. The emergence and deployment of new irregular armed groups in several parts of the region contributes to the degradation of the situation.

The conflict in Nariño has been intense for over a year, and UNHCR is extremely worried that civilians continue to suffer in large numbers. We will send a mission this week to the worst-affected areas. But the presence of humanitarian staff cannot in itself guarantee security and provide solutions to the thousands of people at risk.

We are calling on all armed actors to respect the civilian population. We are also calling on the government to have contingency plans in place to provide medium and long-term protection as well as emergency assistance to the population in order to mitigate, to the extent possible, unnecessary suffering.

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Colombia: Life in the Barrios

After more than forty years of internal armed conflict, Colombia has one of the largest populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world. Well over two million people have been forced to flee their homes; many of them have left remote rural areas to take refuge in the relative safety of the cities.

Displaced families often end up living in slum areas on the outskirts of the big cities, where they lack even the most basic services. Just outside Bogota, tens of thousands of displaced people live in the shantytowns of Altos de Cazuca and Altos de Florida, with little access to health, education or decent housing. Security is a problem too, with irregular armed groups and gangs controlling the shantytowns, often targeting young people.

UNHCR is working with the authorities in ten locations across Colombia to ensure that the rights of internally displaced people are fully respected – including the rights to basic services, health and education, as well as security.

Colombia: Life in the Barrios

Indigenous people in Colombia

There are about a million indigenous people in Colombia. They belong to 80 different groups and make up one of the world's most diverse indigenous heritages. But the internal armed conflict is taking its toll on them.

Like many Colombians, indigenous people often have no choice but to flee their lands to escape violence. Forced displacement is especially tragic for them because they have extremely strong links to their ancestral lands. Often their economic, social and cultural survival depends on keeping these links alive.

According to Colombia's national indigenous association ONIC, 18 of the smaller groups are at risk of disappearing. UNHCR is working with them to support their struggle to stay on their territories or to rebuild their lives when they are forced to flee.

UNHCR also assists indigenous refugees in neighbouring countries like Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela and Brazil. UNHCR is developing a regional strategy to better address the specific needs of indigenous people during exile.

Indigenous people in Colombia

Panama's Hidden Refugees

Colombia's armed conflict has forced millions of people to flee their homes, including hundreds of thousands who have sought refuge in other countries in the region.

Along the border with Colombia, Panama's Darien region is a thick and inhospitable jungle accessible only by boat. Yet many Colombians have taken refuge here after fleeing the irregular armed groups who control large parts of jungle territory on the other side of the border.

Many of the families sheltering in the Darien are from Colombia's ethnic minorities – indigenous or Afro-Colombians – who have been particularly badly hit by the conflict and forcibly displaced in large numbers. In recent years, there has also been an increase in the numbers of Colombians arriving in the capital, Panama City.

There are an estimated 12,500 Colombians of concern to UNHCR in Panama, but many prefer not to make themselves known to authorities and remain in hiding. This "hidden population" is one of the biggest challenges facing UNHCR not only in Panama but also in Ecuador and Venezuela.

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