Church-backed report documents miseries of internally displaced

Published: 2006-02-15

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- Every day, more than 800 Colombians leave behind their houses, jobs, belongings, friends, family and culture. They flee their homes seeking protection from death threats, massacres, mass arrests, economic blockades and other violence generated by the country's 40-year-old civil conflict. Half of them own at least a small plot of land. The majority have not finished grade school. Many of them are mothers raising their children alone. Half of them are younger than 15 years of age. Colombia's internally displaced people numbered 2.9 million between 1995 and 2005, according to a 10-year analysis prepared by the Colombian bishops' conference, Caritas Colombia and the local Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement, known by its Spanish acronym, CODHES. Government figures put the 10-year displacement figures at 1.8 million. The analysis, "Challenges for Building a Nation, the Country in the Face of Displacement, Armed Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis, 1995-2005," documented the emergency situation facing Colombia's displaced population.

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