======================================
The study showed the number of persons
displaced between the years 1985 and
1996 was close to 900,000 --three
percent of Colombia's total population.
More recent studies indicate that the
number of displaced may now exceed one
million.
======================================
INTER PRESS SERVICE

Sunday, 3 May 1998

EU helps Colombians displaced by violence 
----------------------------------------- 

By Yadira Ferrer


BOGOTA -- The European Union is putting up close to five million dollars 
this year to support programs designed to help families displaced by 
violence in Colombia.

The programs, to be directed by 14 national and international non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), are handled though the European 
Community's Department of Humanitarian Aid (ECHO). The five million 
dollars is a 30 percent increase on last year's contribution -- the first 
granted to Colombia.

According to ECHO director Alberto Navarro, the organization aims to 
provide humanitarian aid in a "quick, efficient and direct manner to victims 
and their beneficiaries, avoiding bureaucracy, foot-dragging, and 
intermediaries."

Navarro says ECHO manages approximately one quarter of all humanitarian 
aid provided by the European Union throughout the world. The Colombian 
program is similar to those previously conducted by the organization in El 
Salvador and Guatemala --Latin American countries also affected by 
internal conflicts.

ECHO's global plan for those displaced by violence in Colombia helped 
60,000 persons in 1997. This year aid will reach 160,000 persons, a figure 
representing 80 percent of the population affected by displacement last 
year.

According to Jaime Cavanillas, director of the European Commission 
delegation -- the executive arm of the EU --for Colombia and Ecuador, the 
object of the aid is "not only to preserve and save lives, but also to 
contribute to the restoration of the social fabric" in areas that have been 
affected by the armed conflict.

The program begins this month and will continue continue until January 
1999. It will initiate emergency actions as well as promote the 
development of preventive measures in areas where the armed conflict may 
potentially cause massive displacements in the future. 

In the first stage of the plan, NGO's will attend to the needs of the 
displaced immediately following their mobilization in a reception area by 
providing food, provisional housing, health services, psycho-social 
counseling, rehabilitation, and community integration. 

In the second stage, NGO's will promote and assist in the return of families 
to their places of origin. They will also support the resettlement process. 
Such experienced humanitarian agencies as the Spanish and French Red 
Cross, Caritas, Save the Children (United Kingdom), and Diakonia of Denmark 
have been chosen to assist in the resettlement. 

ECHO defines two types of actions for the development of its programs, 
Navarro explains. There are those aimed at urban areas, where the largest 
number of displaced persons are concentrated, and those which will focus 
on rural regions.

ECHO's global plan in Colombia was based on the findings of a study made by 
the Episcopal Conference of Catholic Bishops with the support of the 
community. According to Navarro, the study reflected the "alarming 
situation that confronts a population victimized by armed conflict." 

The study showed the number of persons displaced between the years 1985 
and 1996 was close to 900,000 --three percent of Colombia's total 
population. More recent studies indicate that the number of displaced may 
now exceed one million.

The Episcopal Conference study also indicates that for every 10 displaced 
families three were headed by women. Fifty five percent of the displaced 
population was aged 18 years or younger, and 13 percent of this group was 
under five-years-old.

The study also revealed that 61 percent of displaced Colombians had 
received no resettlement support. Only 20 percent received assistance from 
public or private institutions and another 20 percent relied on family 
support.

In 1997, the Colombian government formally initiated a plan consisting of 
emergency and preventive actions to assist displaced persons. According to 
the Department for the Displaced, as a result of the plan 7,902 families 
were re-settled either in their places of origins or in other areas during the 
past year.

Copyright 1998 Inter Press Service