The first regional seminar on internal displacement in the Americas was held in Mexico City on 18-20 February 2004, hosted by the Government of Mexico and co-sponsored by the Brookings-SAIS Project and the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons. The seminar was convened to examine current trends in internal displacement in the Americas and strengthen the national, regional, and international response.
There are an estimated 3.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Americas, the majority in Colombia, which now has the third largest IDP population in the world. Numbers are much fewer in Mexico, but their situation remains precarious and only recently has it begun to receive attention. In Guatemala and Peru, many IDPs continue to lack sustainable solutions even though the conflicts ended several years back. Most IDPs in the Americas are in need of humanitarian aid, protection, and support for reintegration. Disproportionately affected by displacement are Afro-Colombians and indigenous populations.
Among the more than sixty participants were representatives of the Governments of Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, national human rights institutions, local and international non-governmental organizations, leaders of internally displaced communities, representatives of the United Nations, the Organization of American States (OAS), the World Bank, and experts from research institutions.