Event Summary
Political violence in Colombia has caused one of the world's worst internal displacement crises, with an estimated 4 million people uprooted over the past 20 years. The Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, in collaboration with the Washington Office on Latin America and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council, hosted a panel discussion on how to solve the challenges of the displacement crisis in Colombia.
Event Information
When
Monday, March 10, 2008
2:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Where
Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Map
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Roberta Cohen, The Brookings Institution, September 2008
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to
Friday, February 20, 2004
Mexico City, Mexico
Research and Commentary
Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, Refugees International, 3-Jun-03
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On March 10, the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, in collaboration with the Washington Office on Latin America and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council, hosted a panel discussion on how to solve the challenges of the displacement crisis in Colombia. A distinguished panel of experts discussed the impact of the Constitutional Court's decisions on Internally Displaced Persons and the relationship between commercial activity and the internal displacement crisis, with a particular focus on the African palm oil industry. Additionally, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and the Washington Office on Latin America presented the results of their new study on palm oil activities in Afro-Colombian communities in the Pacific region of Colombia as a possible solution to the crisis.
After each panel, participants took audience questions.
Transcript
Anne-Sophie Lois: It is evident that in Colombia as elsewhere, the displaced population, they are not consulted prior to displacement. Nobody asks them if they have any options or invites them to participate in any decisions regarding their future. To survive, they just have to flee without asking any questions. Nobody is interested to see what the people think, what they say. You just become a victim, and you lose control over your life, and your rights are violated.
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Participants
Moderator
Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli
Senior Associate for Colombia and Haiti, Washington Office on Latin America
Panel One: Efforts to Have IDP Voices Heard And the Constitutional Court
Geiler Romaña
Asociación de Afrocolombianos Desplazados/Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians
Marco Romero
Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento
Anne-Sophie Lois
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Geneva
Panel Two: Palm-Oil Cultivation As a Solution for Colombia's IDP Crisis
Danilo Rueda
Inter-Ecclesstial Commission of Justice and Peace
Arild Birkenes
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Geneva