For many years Colombia has suffered from an internal armed conflict, involving the Colombian Army, guerrilla groups and paramilitary forces, which has escalated steadily in recent years. Continual threats, kidnapping, selective murder, forced disappearances, recruitment of children, burning and destruction of houses cause the displacement of hundreds of thousand of people. Last year, with the commencement of the "Plan Colombia" - a huge military aid program from the US to the Colombian army to eradicate drugs - the displacement of the population in some areas of the country increased significantly.

The peace talks between the Government and the largest guerrilla group in the country - FARC- were disrupted at the beginning of 2002. This has led to intensification of the hostilities between the various groups all over the country and particularly in the zone controlled by the FARC (40,000 km²). With the break down of the peace talks the army started the "recovery" of the areas resulting in the population fleeing their homes in fear of the bombing campaign and the arrival of the paramilitary groups.

Although the official and NGO statistics differ quite substantially, clearly forced displacement is increasing dramatically. Between January and September 2001 it is estimated that 270,000 persons were displaced. These people are living in very precarious conditions. Furthermore, the fear of being identified by certain factions prevent many of the displaced from registering and consequently, they do not have access to services and assistance from official institutions.

ACT members in Colombia are proposing assistance that comprises the following:

Diakonisches Werk - Food Assistance, Seeds and Tools, Training.

The Lutheran Church of Colombia/LWF/DWS - Food, Health, Housing, Water and Sanitation and Training.

The Project Counselling Service (PCS) - Food, Emergency Kits, Income Generating, Legal assistance and Psychological support.

Project Completion Date:

DEA : June 2002

PCS: April 2003

LWF: April 2003

Signed by:
Thor-Arne Prois, ACT Director
Geneviève Jacques, Director, Cluster on Relations, World Council of Churches
Robert Granke, Director, Department for World Service, Lutheran World Federation

For full details of proposals and budgets, please click below to download a PDF file of the entire Appeal.

Colombia - Emergency Relief for Internally Displaced - LACO21 (file size: 786 Kb)

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