Accion Social, Colombia’s government agency for displacement, is againstbuilding refugee camps to shelter the ongoing flow of people beingdisplaced by the violent conflict in the country.
Bogota Health Secretary Hector Zambrano had called for such camps because the city is not able to deal with the large number of displaced coming to the capital after they have been forced to leave their homes and land because of violence.
Zambrano accused the national government of not wanting to see the gravity of the problem of displacement and not taking the necessary action to deal with it. The Health Secretary urged the government to consider what othercountries in war are doing, to recognize the problem of displacementand to create refugee camps.
Accion Social director Luis Alfonso Hoyos disagrees. He called the creation of refugee camps inhumane and says the solution must be found in housing.
“This is putting people in inhumane conditions. What we are looking for is that [refugees] can have decent temporary accomodation while we discuss solutions for housing with the city, department and national government,” the official told Caracol Radio.
According to Hoyos, the government offers the displaced population, estimated between three and four million people, everything concerning health, education and vaccination.
Hoyos will soon appear before the Constitutional Court, having been accused by the Court of downplaying the problem of displacement and not taking enough action to register and address the problem.
Bogota this weekend is expecting to receive approximately 1200 displaced families and says that it does not have the capacity to shelter or feed them.