The number of people displaced by Colombia’s armed conflict fell by 32% from 2012 to 2013, according to a joint report by the Colombian government and a local NGO released on Tuesday.
Ongoing violence in Colombia forced 142,181 people from their homes in 2013, which is 64,323 fewer than in 2012, reported UK international news source, Reuters.
This is the second subsequent fall in two years, said the official report, produced by human rights and displacement NGO, CODHES, and the Colombian government’s Victims’ Unit, which registers and compensates Colombia’s war victims.
The Victims’ Unit stated that, of the total registered number of Colombians forced to flee their homes due to violence, only 6.3% were displaced in the last two years, compared with 93.7% recorded between 1985 and 2011, when the Victim’s Land Restitution act was passed to restore land to those displaced.
Second largest displaced population
Half a century of war has uprooted a total of almost six million civilians to date, leaving Colombia home to one of the world’s largest displaced populations; a statistic which places the country second only to Syria with Nigeria being third, according to the latest data from the International Displacement Monitoring Center.
Negotiating peace
In a bid to end the conflict, Colombia’s government announced peace talks with the country’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2012. Agreements have already been made on topics of agriculture, illicit drugs, and political participation rights while negotiations are currently being focused on victims of the armed conflict.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced yesterday the initiation of peace talks with second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), to commence if Santos wins his re-election bid in the second round of national elections on Sunday.
MORE: Colombia govt, ELN rebels announce formal peace talks
Sources
- Number of Colombia’s displaced falls by 32 percent over year – govt (Reuters)
- Latest IDP numbers by country (International Displacement Monitoring Center)
- Corte Constitucional reconoce “avances” en la atención a población desplazada (Unidad para la Atencion y Reparacion Integral a las Victimas)
