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Editor's
note | Opinion | Brief Reports
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DIALOGO
Brief Reports and Calendar
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Two-monthly Information
· Nº1 ·May 1999 · English Version
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1998 balance sheet: A year
of displacements and harassment
In 1998, according to Codhes,
a total of 308,000 people were violently displaced. Every hour, eight households
were forced to abandon their lands. This represented a 19.94% increase
compared to the number of displaced people in 1997. One of the most serious
facts was the displacement of some 10.000 in the Sur de Bolivar,
as they instigated an exodus of 10,000 people provoked in large part by
the self defense groups toward urban centers. This does not count the 3,000
people who were forced by the guerrilla to abandon the areas of Rioblanco
and Planadas in the department of Tolima. The landscape is critical considering
that displacement continues to be a war strategy used by the various armed
groups to occupy new territories or recover those lost in previous confrontations,
without there being any credible tendency to adhere to International Humanitarian
Law.
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Violents actions have increased
in 1999
The beginning of this year was
dark for human rights. In the first two weeks of January alone more than
180 people, primarily peasants, were murdered by self-defense groups. This
instigated an exodus of approximately 10,000 people. Attacks against social
organizations intensified as well. This year, five Embera indigenous
people who belonged to the indigenous organization of Antioquia (OIA) were
murdered. In the last four years, 15 members of OIA have been murdered
by self-defense groups and another six disappeared. In the meantime, the
guerrilla killed another 20. Other actions were perpetrated against NGOs,
as well as threats against the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor’s Office.
All of the above took place within a strategy of harassment and terror
by the United Self-defense groups of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de
Colombia, AUC) to achieve political recognition as a belligerent group
and by the guerrilla through indiscriminate attacks to maintain their position
in the peace negotiations. The government has not taken sufficient measures
to deal with this situation. In a press release in February of this year,
the People’s Ombudsman’s Office (la Defensoria del Pueblo) said
that several of the massacres and violent actions that have taken place
this year had been previously announced. The 1999 figure regarding areas
of displacement shows that the phenomenon occurs nationwide. Breakdown
of Displacement by Area, 1999 (some sample cases). |
BREAKDOWN OF DISPLACEMENT BY
AREA, 1999 (some sample cases)
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Montes de Maria. This
is an area of confluence between of departments of Sucre and Bolivar. On
March 10, 1999, a self-defense group murdered 6 people and disappeared
another 7. According to Codhes Informa #19, "…The decision of the paramilitaries
to recover this territory has resulted in a large number of deaths and
displacements.
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Southern and Central Bolivar.
Inhabitants of the municipalities of Simiti and San Pablo (Bolivar) and
hamlets nearby have had to become displaced since April 12, as a result
of the military operations of the Army and of the Colombian Air Force against
the ELN after the retention of 32 passengers of an Avianca plane. This
exodus is additional to the one that started in June of 1998 when the Self-defense
groups of Cordoba and Uraba (Autodefensas de Cordoba y Uraba, ACCU) penetrated
the area. Today there is talk of more than 20,000 displaced people. Since
then, on the average, 14 citizens have been murdered each month. There
were also 11 incursions of the self-defense groups against the population
and several combats between the groups and the guerrilla (Vanguardia Liberal,
3/29/99). In addition, El Colombiano (3/18/99) indicates that it is possible
to conclude that the presence of self-defense groups in this region is
related not only to the persecution of the guerrilla but to the aim of
controlling the illicit drug business in the area.
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Middle Magdalena. On
February 28th a massacre was registered in the city of Barrancabermeja
(Santander), where 8 people were murdered and one was disappeared, apparently
by self-defense groups. This kind of direct attack against the civilian
population makes one of the most important centers of reception for the
civilian population, in southern Bolivar, vulnerable and weak. These events
are happening almost one year after the massacre on May 16th that left
25 people dead. Local NGOs announced that on May 16th, 1998, in Barrancabermeja,
an International Opinion Tribunal (Tribunal Internacional de Opinion) will
pronounce a condemnatory sentence against the State as a result of the
impunity that has surrounded these events.
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The Antioquia and Choco areas
of Uraba. On April 4th, three members of the Community of Peace in
San Jose de Apartado (in the Antioquia region of Uraba) lost their lives
and another 3 were wounded. Since March 1997, when this community declare
itself neutral with respect to the armed conflict, 52 people have been
murdered, the majority by the self-defense group and 8 by the guerrilla.
On the other hand, an incursion by self-defense groups into the community
of peace of San Francisco de Asis, between April 5th and 7th resulted in
the murders of 11 people. Another 7 were retained for 15 days. Settlements:
The 17,000 displaced people of the rivers Cacarica and Curvarado (Chocó)
have now passed 27 months in the settlements of Bocas del Atrato, the Turbo
Coliseum and Cupica Bay (Chocó). DIAL is part of the Inter-Institutional
Commission of Verification (which is formed by the Government, the communities
themselves and national and international NGOs) which have been working
since early last year in a process of return and relocation.
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Low Putumayo. On January
10th, a massacre of 22 peasant was registered in the hamlet of El Tigre
in the municipality of La Hormiga. This provoked a massive displacement
of approximately 6,000 peasants. This case has been thoroughly documented
in the GAD’s Bulletin #40, in the Codhes report #17 and in Actualidad Colombiana
#225.
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CALENDAR
Francis Deng’s representatives
of the United Nation’s General Secretary for Internal Displacement will
visit Colombia (May 19th-29th). He will reexamine the application
of the Guiding Principles for Internal Displacement in the national context.
This will be done through a seminar about "Guiding Principles in the Internal
Displacement" on May 27th –29th, and through visits to different areas
of the country.
In addition, between May
30th and June 4th, Mr. Olara Otunnu (Children in the Armed Conflict)
will conduct a series of meetings, these have to do with the protection
of children in the armed conflict, displaced children, and kidnapping and
disappearance of children. |
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Editor's
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