Political Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Colombia

Access to Representation, Rule of Law, and Public Services

Action Plan Concept Paper

PRESS

Overview- IDP Situation Report

Forty years of conflict between the Government and various rebel groups has produced between 2.96 million (USCRI) and 3.4 million (Global IDP Project) displaced persons. An additional 352,000 people have fled their homes since 2004, although the official government statistics are significantly lower due to problematic and impartial IDP registration. The Archdiocese of Cali states that the displaced population is "young, unproductive, composed of poor, small land-owning peasants forced to leave their places of work by multiple threats to their lives". The ranks of the displaced disproportionately include women, children, and indigenous people.[1]

IDPs are concentrated in the Northwestern departments of Cordoba and Choco. 210,000 IDPs live in the capital city of Bogotá, giving it the highest concentration of IDPs (UNHCR,). An estimated 230,000 Colombians are seeking refuge abroad, although UNHCR only counts some 30,000 official refugees. Refugees are found significantly in Canada (6,700), Costa Rica (8,000), Ecuador (6,000), United States (11,590).[2]

In 1996, a report produced by the Colombian Episcopal Conference research team, updated by CODHES apportions blame for displacement as follows:[3]

  • 33% to paramilitary organizations
  • 29% to guerrilla groups
  • 16% to Government Forces
  • 15% to unknowns or others
  • 6% to urban militias

As a result, nearly all of the displaced are Conflict Forced Migrants(CFMs) and the specific objects of the PRESS Project.

Political Framework for IDPs

Participation in government and in electoral processes in Colombia is a dangerous endeavor. According to a report prepared by the Ministry of the Interior, during the first eight months of 1997, 196 crimes were committed against local candidates for election and active mayors and city council members. These crimes included 78 kidnappings, 72 murders, 33 terrorist acts, 21 attacks and 4 disappearances.[4]Currently little official documentation is available in English. Recent elections were heavily influenced by FARC and ELN paramilitary groups through kidnappings, murder, and extortion of political officials.

Each Colombian citizen over the age of 18 possesses the right to vote. Citizens over 18 are automatically registered in the census and designated to a specific polling station based on their residential address. If a change of address occurs, voters must re-register and will be given a new polling location.

“Active duty members of the Armed Forces and police may not vote, and civilian public employees, although eligible to vote, are not allowed to participate in partisan politics; however, legislation passed in November will allow them, beginning in 2006, to participate in partisan politics (including the right to vote) during the 4 months immediately preceding a national election.”[5]

Colombia ratified that ICCPR in 1969, and therefore has an obligation to ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to vote in elections.[6]

Other issues are addressed in the table below

Item / Description
Suffrage / Universal for citizens over 18 years old
Institutions / President, Senate (102 seats), and Chamber of Representatives (166 seats). All elected for 4 year terms, President cannot be re-elected
Presidential Elections / Popular Vote
Parliamentary Elections / 102 seat Senate and 166 seat Chamber of Representatives, both elected by Proportional Representation

IDP Participation in 2002 Elections

Little data is available on the subject of IDP voting in the May 2002 elections. The elections were marred by guerrilla violence, murders, and intimidation. President Alvaro Uribe Velez was elected by a margin of 53 % to 31% over Horacio Serpa Uribe. Minor political parties were successful in legislative elections due to perceptions of establishment party corruption. Low voter turnout and an inordinately high number of blank and spoiled ballot papers raised concerns about the legitimacy of the elections. [7]

Global IDP Project reports low participation of the displaced in public affairs. Many displaced people’s voting rights were restricted due to lack of documentation. Others failed to exercise their right to vote out of fear and disappointment with the political system. CODHES documented testimonies of uprooted people being threatened to death if they did not vote for given candidates.

Many displaced people fail to register, since the lack of flexibility and the highly bureaucratic procedures make them view registration more as an obstacle to obtain benefits than as the way to gain access to them.[8]

Relevant Legislation Regarding IDPs:

A report by the Norwegian Refugee Council/Global IDP Project states, “Although Colombia has some of the most progressive IDP legislation; the government has undermined the existing legal framework through various amendments. The number of new displacements decreased in 2003, partly because many IDPs avoided to officially register for fear of reprisal attacks by armed groups[9].”

Law 387: adopts measures for the prevention of forced displacement, provides assistance, protection, consolidation, and socioeconomic stabilization of the displaced, and provides for a series of mechanisms for guaranteeing the rights of the displaced.[10]

According to the Global IDP Project, “Law 387 must be recognized as an important governmental effort to create an integrated policy on the issue of displacement. Unfortunately, like many other well-intentioned laws in Colombia, its effectiveness depends on the actual resources and the political will of many for it to be carried out and implemented. Interestingly, article 35 of the law sets forth the right of NGOs, state entities, and victims to use the newly regulated 'compliance action' to request the effective judicial implementation of what is promised by law."[11]

Presidential Decree 173: "Decree 173 of 1998 created the Plan for Integrated Attention to the Displaced Population in which the objective and general concepts of a national strategy are defined in a generic way. The plan lays out what needs to be done and to some degree designates the entities in charge of certain aspects of the problem. But it does not include guidance on how to go about this nor does it assure sufficient resources to meet its objectives.”10

Presidential Decree 2569: outlines the responsibilities of the Social Solidarity Network (RSS), the government agency coordinating the National System of Comprehensive Assistance to IDPs. Issues covered include government responsibility at local and national levels in regard to prevention, assistance, registration and durable solutions. Also outlines criteria for people classified as no longer in a state of displacement.

Government Policy Document CONPES 3057:It provides an analysis of the current (1999) IDP situation and the existing mechanisms to attend to IDPs. The document presents the activities foreseen in the field of prevention, protection, humanitarian assistance and return/resettlement. In the introduction to the document, the government explicitly states its commitment to “promote and respect the implementation of the Guiding Principles.”[12]

Reference the “Gaps” section of Global IDP Project’s Colombia Profile beginning on page 194 for a comprehensive overview of the differences between legislation and actual policy.

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Action Plan

The existence of a CFM population is a de-stabilizing factor in Colombian society. The PRESS project does not address the conflict issuesat the core of this problem; however,it does recognize that given the existence of a CFM community, it is important that issues concerning that community do not become conflictive in themselves. By addressing the representational, legal, and basic government services expectations of this community, CFMs remained engaged in Colombia civil society and the social fabric torn by their displacement can be mended.

One of the outputs from the Action Plan mission will include a situation report on the political, legal, and publicly serviceable circumstances of CFMs in Colombia against the backdrop of the current electoral process. Empowerment gaps will be identified where the interests of the displaced community must be more strongly advocated. A set of steps and processes will be described that can be employed to create a channel for greater empowerment for the displaced. These steps and processes could involve the following topics among others:

  • Legislation
  • Information Resources
  • Institutional Evolution
  • Security
  • Local Governance
  • Education
  • Technology
  • Justice

Data for the Action Plan will be collected from a desk study and a trip to Colombiato conduct personal interviews with Colombian stakeholders. It is anticipated that interviews will be conducted with CFM communities, legislators, government and security officials, political parties, civil society organizations, officers of the court, and media organizations. Where possible, notional roles for these sectors in enhancing the political rights of CFMs will be described in the Plan.

Since the desktop research to date has already revealed that the political and legal rights of Colombian CFMs are not consistently tracked or monitored, this Action Plan will also propose metrics by which progress and decline if access to political rights can be measured and compared. The purpose of these metricswill be to provide some quantification of improvements or declines in the political participation of CFMs, their access to justice, and the availability of government services to them. The methodology would be made available to international organizations, the government of Colombia, and non-governmental organization for potential use.

The audiences for the Action Plan include international organizations, bilateral assistance agencies, international and domestic NGOs. The points of the Action Plan are intended for implementation and the dissemination of the Action Plan should be considered as part of the implementation process for political rights improvements and organizations that could play roles in that process will be encouraged to do so.

Resources

Polity IV Country Report

Department Map of Colombia

Election Laws (Spanish):

1

Version 1 April 15, 2006

[1]

[2] UNHCR. 1 January 2004.

[3]

[4]

[5] USDOS Report on Human Rights Practices: Colombia 2004.

[6]

[7] Polity IV Country Report 2003: Colombia. 2004.

[8]

[9] pg. 7

[10]

[11] pg. 174

[12] pg. 174