[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 11, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H7609-H7614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING 2007 AS THE YEAR OF THE RIGHTS OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED 
                          PERSONS IN COLOMBIA

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 426) recognizing 2007 as the Year 
of the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Colombia, and offering 
support for efforts to ensure that the internally displaced people of 
Colombia receive the assistance and protection they need to rebuild 
their lives successfully, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 426

       Whereas Colombia has experienced the internal displacement 
     of more than 3,800,000 people over the past 20 years, 
     representing approximately 8 percent of Colombia's 
     population;
       Whereas Colombia's internally displaced population is one 
     of the worst humanitarian crises in the Americas, and the 
     second largest internally displaced population in the world, 
     after Sudan;
       Whereas more than 200,000 people continue to be displaced 
     internally every year;
       Whereas Colombia's internally displaced people are often 
     forced from their homes multiple times, and fear 
     repercussions if they identify their attackers;
       Whereas the International Committee of the Red Cross and 
     the World Food Program have found internally displaced people 
     in Colombia to be poorer and more disenfranchised than the 
     general population, with 70 percent suffering from food 
     insecurity, inadequate shelter, or limited health care 
     services;
       Whereas Afro-Colombian and indigenous peoples are 
     disproportionately affected by displacement, representing 
     almost one-third of the internally displaced;
       Whereas women and children also comprise a large majority 
     of the internally displaced;
       Whereas very few internally displaced Colombians have been 
     able to return to their original homes due to ongoing 
     conflict throughout the country, and when returns take place 
     they should be carried out voluntarily, in safety and with 
     dignity;
       Whereas, in 1997, the Government of Colombia passed 
     landmark legislation, known as Law 387, to guarantee rights 
     and assistance to its internally displaced population;
       Whereas the Government of Colombia has expanded its ability 
     to assist internally displaced people through its own 
     agencies, and with the financial, technical, and operational 
     support of the international community;
       Whereas the Constitutional Court of Colombia has handed 
     down multiple decisions recognizing the insufficient nature 
     of the government's efforts to meet the basic needs of 
     internally displaced persons and upheld the importance of 
     implementing law 387 in light of the United Nations Guiding 
     Principles on Internal Displacement;
       Whereas the Constitutional Court of Colombia, in 
     consultation with the Government of Colombia, civil society, 
     and the United Nations, has developed an extensive set of 
     measurements to ensure government compliance with Law 387;
       Whereas the Government of Colombia, the international 
     community, and civil society are engaged in the London-
     Cartagena Process to develop coordinated responses to 
     domestic problems, including humanitarian assistance and 
     internal displacement;
       Whereas the Government of the United States provides 
     valuable, but limited, humanitarian assistance through Plan 
     Colombia, and has programs targeted specifically for 
     internally displaced people; and
       Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 
     Antonio Guterres, on a visit to Colombia in March 2007, urged 
     greater attention to the issue, stating that it should be a 
     ``national priority'' and asked for ``greater coherence'' in 
     programs to address the needs of the internally displaced: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved,  That it is the sense of the House of 
     Representatives that--
       (1) the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the 
     Colombian Catholic Church, and the Consultancy for Human 
     Rights and Internal Displacement should be commended for 
     their initiative to declare the Year of the Rights of the 
     Internally Displaced People in Colombia;
       (2) the Government of Colombia and the international donor 
     community should be encouraged to prioritize discussion of 
     humanitarian assistance and internal displacement with the 
     international donor community, especially within the context 
     of the London-Cartagena Process; and
       (3) the Government of the United States should increase the 
     resources it makes available to provide emergency 
     humanitarian assistance and protection through international 
     and civilian government agencies, and assist Colombia's 
     internally displaced people in rebuilding their lives in a 
     dignified, safe, and sustainable manner.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this 
legislation and yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I would first like to express our appreciation to our colleagues, 
Congressman Jim McGovern and Congressman Joe Pitts, for introducing 
this important legislation. Let me also thank the Chair of the Western 
Hemisphere Subcommittee, Mr. Eliot Engel, and the Chair and ranking 
member of the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee, Mr. Payne and Mr. 
Smith, for bringing this issue to our attention. For those who have 
recently visited Colombia, I can assure the sponsors of this 
legislation that this is a timely and important and constructive 
addition to the assistance of displaced persons in Colombia.
  The McGovern resolution brings long overdue attention to the 
continuing plight of Colombia's internally displaced people. Ongoing 
violence over the last 20 years among paramilitary groups, guerillas 
and government security forces has forced millions of civilians to 
leave their homes, wander the streets and the countryside and simply 
struggle to survive. It has to be a miserable existence.
  Colombia's internally displaced population represents one of the 
worst humanitarian crises in the hemisphere and the second largest 
population of internally displaced in the world after Sudan. While the 
entire world knows about the hardships facing the people of Sudan, 
Colombia's internally displaced suffer in great silence.
  For this reason, the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees 
has deemed it the greatest hidden humanitarian crisis in the world. 
Over the past two decades, approximately 3.8 million Colombians, or 
about 8 percent of Colombia's entire population, have been displaced 
from their homes due to violence and conflict and through no fault of 
their own.
  President Uribe is a solid ally of the United States in South 
America. He has made enormous strides in protecting his own people, but 
clearly he faces an uphill battle. In our conversations, in my visit to 
Colombia, along with several Members, including Congressman Greg Meeks, 
we made this a very strong point, meeting with some of the internally 
displaced persons and recognize that this is an enormous challenge that 
this Congress must confront and provide assistance to these people and 
to the government to do what is right.
  Sadly, an estimated 200,000 people are forced to flee their homes or 
places of refuge each year. For these people, Colombia is home, but 
Colombia has no

[[Page H7610]]

home for them. One-third of the internally displaced are from the Afro-
Colombian and indigenous peoples communities, a percentage likely to 
increase this year. This type of ethically based displacement is 
particularly abhorrent. It is important to note as well that the people 
continue to be displaced, and they continue to be without a place to 
go.
  Like many refugees around the world, the overwhelming majority of 
Colombia's internally displaced are also women and children. Few of 
these millions of people have been able to return to their homes. 
Tragically, these refugees often are misplaced multiple times. They are 
poor and more disenfranchised than the general population, and they are 
more fearful of repercussions should they attempt to identify their 
attackers. The World Food Programme and the UNHCR estimate that more 
than 70 percent suffer from food insecurity and inadequate shelter or 
limited health care services.
  I am grateful to acknowledge the Mickey Leland Center, which my 
friend and colleague, Mr. McGovern, serves on, as do I, and the efforts 
they have made in providing food for persons like those displaced in 
Colombia.
  With passage of this important measure, the United States Congress 
will encourage the United States, the international donor community, 
and the Colombian Government to create coordinated responses that 
address this humanitarian crisis, provide increased resources and 
protection for this highly vulnerable population and help them to 
successfully build their lives.
  Bringing attention to the humanitarian crisis of Colombia's 
internally displaced people and assisting them to live in safety with 
dignity are priorities that every Member of Congress can and should 
embrace.
  It is a call to our shared humanity, and I urge all Members to 
support H. Res. 426.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, over the past 20 years, more than 3 million people have 
been internally displaced in Colombia, and each year 200,000 more are 
internally displaced.
  This massive displacement is a little-known fact about the long and 
tragic conflict that goes on in Colombia. One of the goals of Plan 
Colombia was to help end the violence, violence from that conflict and, 
in turn, stop the ongoing displacement. Plan Colombia has, indeed, 
reduced the violence, and the numbers of newly displaced people are 
down.
  For example, according to the Colombian Government, from the years 
2002 through 2005, incidents of terrorism are down 63 percent; and for 
the same time frame, homicides are down 37 percent, along with an 80 
percent decrease in kidnappings.
  In turn, the number of displaced people is down 64 percent from a 
high of 424,193 in the year 2002 when our aid program of Plan Colombia 
started to kick in and to help the situation on the ground. Now things 
are much better. Seventy percent of these displaced people still suffer 
from food insecurities, from inadequate shelters, and limited health 
care facilities.
  In 1997, the Government of Colombia passed legislation known as Law 
387, to guarantee rights and assistance to its internally displaced 
population. Since then, the Government of Colombia has expanded its 
ability to assist internally displaced people, but the constitutional 
court of Colombia has called the government's efforts to meet the basic 
needs of internally displaced persons insufficient. This resolution 
commends the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the 
Colombian Catholic Church, and the Coalition for Human Rights and 
Internal Displacement for their initiatives in declaring the Year of 
the Rights of the Internally Displaced People in Colombia.
  It also encourages the Government of Colombia and international donor 
communities to prioritize the discussions of humanitarian assistance 
and internal displacement with the international donor community, 
especially within the context of the London-Cartagena Process, which 
set the scene for an international cooperation, in addition to 
guidelines and a mandate for working on bringing peace and stability 
finally to Colombia.
  House Resolution 426 also calls on the United States to increase 
emergency humanitarian assistance and to assist Colombia's internally 
displaced people in rebuilding their lives in a dignified, safe and 
sustainable manner.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of our time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 8 minutes to the 
distinguished member of the Rules Committee, Mr. McGovern, the author 
of the legislation, and a strong and dedicated and committed advocate 
for the displaced persons of Colombia, indigenous Afro-Colombians and 
others in need.
  Mr. McGOVERN. I want to thank my colleague from Texas (Ms. Jackson-
Lee) for her generous words and for yielding me the time and for all of 
her work on behalf of human rights.
  I want to thank the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, Mr. Lantos, for his leadership throughout the years on 
behalf of those who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their 
land through violence or natural disaster.
  I would also like to recognize the ranking member for her work in 
educating Members of Congress about the suffering of refugees and the 
internally displaced.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 426, which shines a 
light on Colombia's more than 3 million internally displaced people, or 
IDPs, a number second only to Sudan.

                              {time}  1800

  In 2005, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees described 
the IDP situation in Colombia as one of the most invisible humanitarian 
crises in the world. This is a crisis that the government of Colombia 
cannot handle alone.
  Earlier this year, the UNHCR, the Colombian Catholic Church, and the 
Consultancy for Human Rights and Internal Displacement jointly declared 
2007 as the Year of the Rights of the Internally Displaced People in 
Colombia. This resolution commends this initiative and encourages the 
United States and the Colombian governments and other donor nations to 
place greater priority on providing the necessary resources to aid and 
protect Colombia's internally displaced so that they might rebuild 
their lives.
  Mr. Speaker, an estimated 3.8 million people have been displaced 
inside Colombia over the past two decades. This is approximately 8 
percent of Colombia's total population. Currently, 200,000 people 
continue to be internally displaced every year. Almost one-third of 
these people are Afro-Colombian and indigenous peoples, and with 
conflict escalating in the regions of Narino and Choco, this number is 
likely to increase. A large majority, like displaced people all around 
the world, are women and children. Very few can return to their 
original homes. Many are displaced multiple times, finding no safety 
anywhere. It comes as no surprise then that Colombia's IDPs are poorer 
and more disenfranchised than the general population. Around three-
quarters suffer from lack of food, inadequate shelter, and limited 
health care and other services. And, sadly, the harsh realities of life 
faced by the internally displaced are invisible even to most 
Colombians. They are a forgotten people, a marginalized people.
  Mr. Speaker, I have traveled to Colombia several times, and on each 
trip, I have included a trip to internally displaced communities. On my 
very first trip in 2001, I went to Barrio Kennedy in the slums of 
Bogota. The majority of these families are from Tolima. They had been 
violently displaced by attacks mainly from FARC guerillas. They were 
rural families used to growing their own food and making a living by 
farming. In the capital, they were lost. They had no jobs. They 
couldn't grow their own food. They would get up early in the morning 
and hang around the trucks that brought in produce for the markets and 
gather up the food that fell off the trucks into the mud. They picked 
through the garbage looking for food to eat or items to barter. 
Alcoholism and domestic violence were rising. They lived in horrible 
conditions with a growing sense of hopelessness.
  In 2003, I traveled north to the Department of Sucre. In Sincelejo, I 
visited the community of Cristo Viene. These families had been 
violently displaced by paramilitaries from their

[[Page H7611]]

communities in the mountains of Maria. They had small shacks for 
shelter. They had organized their teenagers into a group making 
bracelets and other items to sell in order to give purpose to the young 
people and generate some income for their community. All the youngest 
children had the rusty colored hair indicative of malnutrition. Nearly 
all the infants and toddlers had serious eye disorders or were already 
blind from vitamin deficiency. They could get access to rudimentary 
electricity and water, but only if they sold their vote to a corrupt 
local politician.
  The Colombian Catholic Church and the Mennonite churches had joined 
together in their first ecumenical initiative to provide schools of 
basic humanitarian aid for these people.
  In 2001 and 2007, I visited IDP communities perched precariously on 
barren hills next to the municipality of Soacha, on the outskirts of 
Bogota. On my first visit, I saw a school and a school feeding program, 
both funded by the United States and carried out by World Vision and 
the World Food Programme. For these children, these programs were the 
only stability in an insecure world. Paramilitary and FARC agents 
roamed freely trying to recruit children into their ranks. A mother 
came up to me and thanked the United States for supporting the school 
and free meals. She told me that if these programs didn't exist, her 
11-year-old son would have gone into one of the armed groups just so he 
could get something to eat.
  When I returned to Soacha this March, little had changed. If 
anything, things were worse. Over the past 6 years, violence has forced 
hundreds of thousands out of the countryside. Many ended up in Bogota, 
settling in the Soacha slum. They were from all over the country. So-
called landlords are charging them outrageous rents when IDPs build 
themselves a shack. Children can't walk to school without fear of being 
assaulted, robbed or raped. The price of water was several times higher 
than that of regular Bogota residents. IDP community leaders working 
with Colombian and international NGOs were doing their best to address 
the community's problems but lacked the necessary resources. And the 
local officials of Soacha were struggling to meet basic needs.
  Madam Speaker, I am proud that the United States has always targeted 
resources for IDP communities, and the recent House-passed Foreign 
Operations appropriations bill increases that funding.
  Madam Speaker, H. Res. 426 is a bipartisan bill, and I want to thank 
my colleague, Congressman Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, for joining me in 
introducing this legislation. It is supported by Refugees 
International, Catholic Relief Services, the Mennonite Central 
Committee, Jesuit Refugee Services USA, the Jesuit Conference of the 
United States, Lutheran World Relief, the International Rescue 
Committee, Mercy Corps and several other national organizations.
  Madam Speaker, I commend the UNHCR, the Colombian Catholic Church and 
CODHES for bringing attention to this humanitarian crisis facing 
Colombia's internally displaced. I hope that there will be a renewed 
effort by the United States and the world community to help these 
people.
  I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 426.

                                                    July 10, 2007.
       Dear Honorable Members of Congress: As organizations 
     concerned with refugees and internally displaced persons 
     around the globe, we write to express our support for House 
     Resolution 426 regarding the situation of internally 
     displaced persons in Colombia.
       More than 3.8 million people have been internally displaced 
     over the past twenty years, and high levels of displacement 
     continue to occur. Despite efforts by the international 
     community and the Colombian government, internally displaced 
     persons lack access to basic health care, shelter, adequate 
     nutrition, secure employment, and educational opportunities. 
     In many cases, they also lack basic protection from human 
     rights violations and continued displacement.
       The Colombian Catholic Church, United Nations High 
     Commissioner for Refugees, and Colombian nongovernmental 
     organization established an initiative to declare 2007 the 
     Year of the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in 
     Colombia in order to call attention to a dire humanitarian 
     situation which has been largely invisible both 
     internationally and within Colombia. This resolution 
     expresses support for this initiative and recognizes certain 
     advances by the Colombian government such as establishing 
     landmark legislation. The resolution calls for the 
     international community, U.S. and Colombian governments to 
     prioritize attention to help Colombia's internally displaced 
     persons to ``rebuild their lives in a dignified, safe, and 
     sustainable manner.''
       We encourage you to help bring attention to this pressing 
     problem of internal displacement in Colombia by supporting 
     House Resolution 426.
         Kenneth H. Bacon, President, Refugees International; Rev. 
           Kenneth Gavin, S.J., National Director, Jesuit Refugee 
           Service/USA; Sean Callahan, Executive Vice President, 
           Overseas Operations, Catholic Relief Services; Gimena 
           Sanchez-Garzoli, Senior Associate for Colombia and 
           Haiti, Washington Office on Latin America; Rebecca 
           Phares, Director, Public Policy and Advocacy Lutheran 
           World Relief; Adam Isacson, Director of Programs, 
           Center for International Policy.
         Marino Cordoba, Charo Mina Rojas, AFRODES USA; Theo 
           Sitther, Legislative Associate for International 
           Affairs, Mennonite Central Committee, U.S., Washington 
           Office; Lisa Haugaard, Executive Director, Latin 
           America Working Group; Kimberly Stanton, Country 
           Representative, Colombia, Project Counselling Services; 
           Barbara Gerlach, Colombia Liaison, United Church of 
           Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries.
                                  ____


  Colombia: Increasing Violence Requires More Security, Humanitarian 
                                Services

       Refugees International (RI) teams visited Narino and Choco 
     departments in June 2006 and February 2007 and found that 
     security conditions have seriously worsened. As a result, 
     increased civilian displacement in the coming months is 
     likely and Government authorities are unprepared to respond 
     adequately.


                Growing Violence Increases Displacement

       Civilians continue to flee their homes due to newly formed 
     narco-paramilitary groups entering their lands and ordering 
     people to leave. The displaced are also subject to violence 
     upon return. Since the June 2006 displacement from the 
     Remolino demonstration in Narino (see: http://
www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/8952/), 
     and the subsequent return of these communities to areas north 
     of the provincial capital, Pasto, 70 people have been 
     assassinated and 17 have disappeared, confirming threats made 
     by paramilitaries in the area to those accompanying the 
     returning convoys. In February 2007, the RI team visited the 
     municipality of Samaniego, south of Pasto, and found that 8 
     people had been killed over the course of one weekend. These 
     deaths were attributed to a new paramilitary group, 80 
     members strong, who are in the process of establishing 
     themselves in the town.
       In addition to conflict due to resurgent paramilitary 
     groups, fighting has intensified for control of strategic 
     territory used for cultivating, harvesting, processing and 
     transporting coca to international markets. Samaniego, Narino 
     is the site of fighting between two left-wing guerilla 
     groups--the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia) and 
     the ELN (National Liberation Army) over drug resources. The 
     Bajo Baudo region of Choco is the scene of drug-related 
     fighting between the FARC and the ERG (Guevarista 
     Revolutionary Army). Fighting for similar reasons is also 
     occurring between the FARC and paramilitary groups throughout 
     Narino and Choco. Multiple reports indicate that combatants 
     are driving entire indigenous and Afro-descendant communities 
     out of contested areas, a tactic that crowds nearby villages 
     and towns. In these contested areas used for growing coca, 
     the national army has also begun to bomb and fumigate as part 
     of its eradication program. These actions are also causing 
     displacement as farmers are driven from spoiled lands.
       According to official figures, violent crimes increased 13% 
     in Narino in 2006 in comparison to 2005. Multiple officials 
     reported to RI that these are very conservative figures, and 
     they estimate that the real death toll could be up to 
     six times higher. Additionally, the alarming spread of new 
     paramilitary groups seems to have benefited from army and 
     police complacency, both of which are avoiding 
     confrontation. Crimes committed by these new armed actors 
     remain uninvestigated and the perpetrators impugn.


                    ``A Time Bomb About to Explode''

       Humanitarian aid workers in Colombia are now referring to 
     multiple crises in the country as time bombs. Contrary to 
     official government statements, multiple conflicts are raging 
     throughout the country. The roots of these conflicts are 
     expanding, and do not represent only battle between 
     government forces and guerrilla rebel groups. Rather, there 
     is growing violence among left-wing guerrilla groups, 
     additional fighting between guerrilla groups and resurgent 
     paramilitary groups, and additional conflict involving the 
     army. As a result, civilians are being caught between quickly 
     changing actors--and being put at increasing risk as 
     different armed groups enter and leave their communities.
       In Narino, 30 massive displacements [massive meaning 
     displacement of more than 50 people] happened last year with 
     additional 8 massive displacements in the first two months of 
     2007, bringing the total number of registered IDPs in the 
     department to more than 54.000.

[[Page H7612]]

       On February 15 fighting between FARC and ELN affected 
     communities of around 2.000 people living in rural areas 
     northwest of the municipality of Samaniego. ``This is the 
     second time we have been displaced this year. People are 
     terrorized by the fighting and some 46 families have fled 
     their homes to seek sanctuary in school buildings in a nearby 
     town'' said an indigenous leader. During their stay in 
     schools, the local municipality and the church provided food 
     and essential items. However, five days later, assistance 
     from Accion Social, the government agency mandated to 
     coordinate humanitarian response to the needs of displaced 
     people, had not arrived, and reports indicated that many 
     families had decided to return home for lack of assistance. 
     These returnees found that landmines were laid down around 
     their village and that fighting could erupt at any time. In 
     the two weeks that proceeded RI's visit to Samaniego, 7 
     people had been injured or killed by a landmine or unexploded 
     ordinance.
       A similar situation of mounting tensions and violence also 
     afflict communities in the San Juan and Baudo River Valleys, 
     and along the tributaries of the Atrato River in the 
     department of Choco.
       On April 6, 2006 more than 700 members of 5 Wounan 
     indigenous communities from the Medio San Juan river basin 
     fled their villages to seek security in the town of Istmina. 
     The FARC accused 14 community leaders and teachers of being 
     informants for the army and killed three people. The 
     remaining people under threat, along with their families, 
     were evacuated by United Nations agencies to Panama. In this 
     instance, both local authorities and Accion Social failed to 
     provide minimum levels of assistance, forcing the Church and 
     international agencies to intervene in order to avert a 
     humanitarian disaster. ``Four children died during those two 
     months because of epidemic diseases. We had to live crammed 
     into four small makeshift shelters, and were forced to bathe 
     in and cook with the polluted water of the river'' said an 
     indigenous leader. The group finally decided that living 
     conditions were intolerable and opted to return to their 
     villages. Since returning, the FARC has enforced tight social 
     control over the group, and access to them has been cut off.
       Throughout the month of February, more displacement to 
     Istmina occurred from the Sipi river basin, caused by new 
     paramilitary group activity, which has included multiple 
     orders to villagers that they leave their houses within 8 
     hours. One family that was part of a group of more than 300 
     Afro-Colombians who arrived in Istmina on January 4, 2007 
     told RI: ``We received some food, but only after 11 days, and 
     it is not enough. No housing has been provided for us, and we 
     don't feel like we have access to medical services, education 
     or any way to support ourselves.''
       Based on solid evidence of increasing violence throughout 
     Colombia, Refugees International recommends that:
       The government of Colombia:
       Increase its efforts to protect civilians from attacks 
     from, and displacement caused by, illegal armed groups. Its 
     security forces should do so in full respect of international 
     humanitarian law.
       Investigate the lack of criminal proceedings in Narino and 
     hold those who commit crimes against civilians accountable. 
     Alleged links between the Colombian army, the police and 
     paramilitary groups should be investigated immediately, and 
     arrest and prosecution should follow where investigation 
     warrant.
       Provide additional resources to departmental and municipal 
     authorities to strengthen their capacity to respond to the 
     housing, health and education needs of displaced families.
       Accion Social:
       Preposition food and non-food items in the cities of 
     Istmina and Pasto in order to allow for a quickly accessible 
     supply of goods for newly displaced groups. Closely monitor 
     the provision of basic services to beneficiaries by its 
     partners and local authorities.
       Departmental and municipal authorities:
       Prepare contingency plans to respond to new displacement. 
     Plans should include the creation of dignified temporary 
     housing, identification of cultivable lands for displaced 
     households, and increase the response capability of local 
     providers of basic services.
       Create safety networks for particularly vulnerable 
     displaced households such as women-headed households, orphans 
     and the elderly, including sustained psychological services.
       Allocate resources for the implementation of these plans 
     and execute them when needed.
                                  ____


  Colombia: Flaws in Registering Displaced People Leads to Denial of 
                                Services

       The government of Colombia should take immediate steps to 
     ensure that people displaced as the result of the internal 
     conflict are included in the Registry and provided the 
     services guaranteed by law.
       Colombian Law 387, which defines the government's 
     obligations to IDPs, sets forth the following criteria for 
     inclusion in the Registry: a person must be displaced because 
     of violence or the threat of violence due to internal 
     conflict, generalized violence, massive violations of human 
     rights, or violations of International Humanitarian Law. Once 
     people are forcibly displaced they must declare what happened 
     to the Public Ministry, which then remits the declarations to 
     the Presidential Agency for Social Action and International 
     Cooperation (known as Accion Social) for review.
       The Colombian non-governmental organization Consultoria 
     para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento (CODHES) and 
     the Catholic Church keep independent databases of displaced 
     people. The CODHES figures suggest that the government is 
     greatly under-estimating the scale of displacement in the 
     country. It gives a figure of 2.9 million people internally 
     displaced from 1995 to 2006, while the government of Colombia 
     cites 1.9 million for the same time period. Differences over 
     cumulative statistic-keeping aside, displacement continues 
     throughout Colombia on a massive scale; government figures 
     indicate that more than 200,000 people are still displaced 
     annually.
       Refugees International is concerned that a very narrow 
     interpretation of the law governing IDP registration results 
     in the failure to recognize many of the causes of 
     displacement, leading directly to undercounting and lack of 
     response to the needs of the displaced. The restrictiveness 
     of the law is evident in 2006 statistics from Narino, where 
     only 43% of applications were accepted into the Register. In 
     speaking with IDPs, RI identified a number of problems with 
     the criteria used to add individuals to the Register:
       Displacement must be caused by conflict, but operations 
     conducted by the army or police against civilian populations 
     that do not involve other armed actors are not defined as 
     conflict. For example, people displaced by police suppression 
     of demonstrations in Remolino, Narino in June of 2006 have 
     not been included in the Register.
       Civilians displaced by anti-narcotic fumigations, which are 
     often preceded by military operations, and the subsequent 
     ruining of crops, are not eligible.
       Displaced households traumatized by violence often fail to 
     identify perpetrators and detail the circumstances that 
     forced them to flee due to fear of reprisals. These 
     applications are often rejected because they are considered 
     incomplete.
       Despite legal clarifications that allow IDPs to register 
     after the first year of displacement and forgo emergency aid, 
     found in Decree 2569/2000, the government continues to reject 
     people who did not register within one year of their 
     displacement.
       The Register is used as the definitive list of people 
     eligible for government services. Failure to be included on 
     the Register denies the displaced a long list of services, 
     including access to emergency assistance immediately after 
     displacement, access to health, education and housing 
     services, participation in training and income generation 
     programs, and other forms of social support.
       The government claims that once registered every individual 
     remains on the list, but Refugees International documented 
     dozens of cases in which the displaced have found themselves 
     removed from the Register with no explanation. In town 
     hall meetings with IDP communities in the departments of 
     Cordoba, Choco, and Narino, RI found that as many as a 
     third of the meeting's participants were told that their 
     names could no longer be found on the registry by service 
     providers. ``Even when I presented the letter the 
     government gave me saying I am in the Register, I was told 
     that if I didn't show up in the computer, my letter was 
     worthless,'' said one Afro-Colombian person displaced in 
     Choco.
       The director of Accion Social in Cordoba told RI that these 
     problems are due to the transfer of data in the Register from 
     one database to another in the course of attempts to improve 
     the system. Every time the data get transferred, names are 
     dropped off by accident. But officials are either unable or 
     unwilling to correct the resulting errors. A community leader 
     from the Tierra Alta region of Cordoba told RI, ``We gathered 
     up all of the documentation from families in our community 
     that had been dropped off the Register. We took these papers 
     to the capital and presented them to Accion Social. That was 
     six months ago, and no one has been put back on the list 
     yet.''
       Additional problems with database management have the 
     effect of excluding children and spouses from the Register, 
     leaving some with access to services and others without. 
     Currently, an entire family is put on the Register under the 
     name of the head of household, but sometimes other family 
     members are not included in the documentation. Accion Social 
     staff explained these problems to RI as data entry errors, 
     and maintained that these people could quickly get their 
     family members reinstated. Despite this claim, the families 
     RI spoke with had not succeeded in getting their loved ones 
     on the Register.
       Although Accion Social maintains the master Registry of all 
     internally displaced people eligible for social services, 
     this is not necessarily the database used for their actual 
     provision. The database informs all agencies that participate 
     in the Sistema Nacional de Atencion Integral a la Poblacion 
     Desplazada (SNAIPD) or the National System for Unified 
     Attention to the Displaced Population. Many of the agencies 
     that participate in the SNAIPD maintain their own databases 
     to determine who is actually eligible. RI received repeated 
     complaints from displaced people that despite their inclusion 
     on the Accion Social Register, they were not in the database 
     for specific services.

[[Page H7613]]

       The majority of complaints focused on the health care 
     system. One man recently displaced to Pasto, Narino told RI, 
     ``I am registered as an IDP and received my emergency food 
     aid. But I am losing vision in one eye. I have not been able 
     to get any treatment or medicine because I am told that I do 
     not appear in the health system's database. I am afraid I 
     will go blind.''
       Failure to be registered with Accion Social does not just 
     impede access to government-provided services. Many 
     international service provision agencies are working in 
     partnership with Accion Social to target and implement their 
     projects. Most notable in this category are contractors that 
     use U.S. government funds, such as the Pan-American 
     Development Foundation (PADF). Staff from a local partner of 
     PADF in Choco told RI of a project under development to 
     improve or rebuild 200 houses for IDP and other local poor 
     households. In the selection of displaced recipients, they 
     were required to limit eligibility only to people included on 
     the Register. In the first round of applications for 
     participation in the project, almost half of the families had 
     to be turned away because they were not on the Register, 
     despite valid claims of need. Similarly, in Monteria, 
     Cordoba, a community-based organization that received funds 
     from the Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF), which in turn 
     received its funding from the U.S. government, had to limit 
     its emergency assistance to individuals that were referred by 
     Accion Social.
       Refugees International Recommends:
       The Government of Colombia:
       Amend regulatory Decree 2567/2000 of Law 387 in order to 
     expand the eligibility criteria for IDP status.
       Accion Social:
       Instruct regional offices to validate incomplete 
     declarations from displaced people whenever there is a lack 
     of contradictory information regarding the cause of 
     displacement.
       Instruct regional offices to allow IDPs who did not 
     register within the first year of their displacement to be 
     included in the Register and provide them access to the full 
     range of services offered to long-term IDPs.
       Fix database problems that cause people to be deleted from 
     the Register, and choose one final database program that can 
     manage Accion Social's needs.
       Institute a transparent process to allow individuals who 
     have been dropped from the Register to apply for 
     reinstitution. Implement reasonable deadlines for placing a 
     dropped individual back into the system.
       Revise the operating procedures of the SNAIPD to require 
     that all governmental service provision agencies have access 
     to the Accion Social Register, and that the Register be the 
     only database used to determine eligibility for services.
       Donor governments:
       Use independent means of determining IDP eligibility other 
     than the Accion Social Register when providing services to 
     displaced beneficiaries.

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I recognize Mr. Pitts of 
Pennsylvania for such time as he may consume, the cosponsor of this 
resolution.
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman for his 
leadership on this issue, and I would like to thank the gentlelady for 
yielding time and thank her for her leadership in bringing this issue 
to the attention of the House.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 426, which 
recognizes 2007 as the Year of the Rights of Internally Displaced 
Persons in Colombia, and offer support for efforts to ensure that the 
internally displaced people of Colombia receive the assistance and 
protection they need to rebuild their lives successfully.
  I have worked with internally displaced persons around the world. 
These people are not refugees. They do not flee or leave their country; 
they are within their country displaced internally. And their stories 
are similar. People love their countries. They do not want to flee. 
But, because of circumstances, they are forced to leave their homes or 
their towns.
  According to the United Nations, at the beginning of the year 2006, 
there were estimated to be 23.7 million IDPs, internally displaced 
people, around the world. That is a little over the size of the 
population of the entire State of Texas.
  IDPs in Colombia frequently get caught in the conflict between the 
guerillas, the paramilitaries, and government troops. It is important 
that this body support and encourage IDPs around the world and today, 
in particular, in Colombia. IDPs deserve recognition. They deserve the 
assistance and resources as they seek to rebuild their lives.
  If you travel to these countries and meet with IDPs, many times you 
will find them despondent, despairing, saying, ``Why don't we get the 
assistance that the U.N. and the U.S. give to refugees''? We need to 
recognize their plights, and I commend my colleagues, Mr. Lantos and 
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, for their leadership on bringing this issue to the 
attention of the House. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the 
resolution.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 
minutes to the distinguished gentlelady from California, Congresswoman 
Barbara Lee, a member of the Committee on Appropriations and a Member 
with a long history of advocating for those unempowered persons around 
the world.
  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, let me first thank the gentlelady for 
yielding and for her leadership on this issue and on so many issues 
that affect those who have no voice in our own country and throughout 
the world.
  I rise in strong support of this resolution, which calls on the 
United States, the United Nations and the government of Colombia to 
recognize 2007 as the Year of the Rights of the Internally Displaced 
Persons in Colombia.
  And let me thank my colleague, Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts, for 
being such a leader on this issue and on his tireless work to end human 
rights abuses around the world, particularly in Latin America, now as a 
Member of Congress but also in his prior life as a staff member. He is 
truly committed to ending human rights abuses, and his life's work is 
about that. So I thank him, and congratulations on this resolution.
  Madam Speaker, after Sudan, Colombia has the largest number of 
internally displaced persons. Estimates range from 2 million to 3.6 
million persons. Less than one-third of IDPs receive emergency 
assistance, and many have to wait months to receive that emergency aid.
  Of those IDPs, traditionally marginalized, and I mean marginalized, 
Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities have been disproportionately 
affected.
  In 1993, the National Development Plan for the Afro-Colombian 
population awarded land titles to protect ancestral property rights. 
Madam Speaker, in recent years Afro-Colombians have been forcibly 
displaced from more than half of their land. The April 2001 massacre of 
Afro-Colombians in the Naya region brought international attention to 
the plight of these communities. This resolution takes a very important 
step towards ending the violence and terror that Colombia's internally 
displaced persons have faced.
  I hope all of us support this resolution. I am very delighted that 
this is a bipartisan resolution. I want to commend again Mr. McGovern 
for this. We must end this grave injustice.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member 
for her leadership on this issue and the chairman of the full 
committee, Mr. Lantos. Again, my appreciation and the committee's 
appreciation to Mr. McGovern and Mr. Pitts for their joint 
collaboration on a very instructive and important lifesaving measure.
  As someone who has recently returned, let me again say that the 
voices of these individuals have to be heard through the humanitarian 
efforts of this Congress.
  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, as Chairman of the Western Hemisphere 
Subcommittee, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 426 and I 
want to thank my colleagues, Congressmen Jim McGovern and Joe Pitts for 
introducing this important resolution.
  As my colleagues have said, Colombia's internally displaced 
population represents one of the worst humanitarian crises in the 
hemisphere, and the second largest population of internally displaced 
in the world.
  Many estimate that Colombia has the highest number of displaced 
persons in the world after only Sudan--up to 3 million people.
  According to Amnesty International, over 60 percent of these 
displaced persons have been forced off areas of mineral, agricultural 
or other economic importance.
  In fact, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has deemed 
it the ``greatest hidden humanitarian crisis in the world.''
  This problem is particularly severe among Afro-Colombians and the 
indigenous. I hope that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the Bush 
administration can concentrate on this during the next phase of Plan 
Colombia.
  The Colombian government's proposal for the second phase of Plan 
Colombia--the Strategy for Strengthening Democracy and Social 
Development--focuses greater attention on socioeconomic aid. However, 
the President's FY 2008 budget for Colombia did not reflect this 
change.

[[Page H7614]]

  Therefore, I was particularly pleased that my friend and colleague 
from the neighboring district to my own Chairwoman Nita Lowey made 
welcome changes to our foreign assistance to Colombia in the FY 2008 
House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
  In particular, I appreciate Chairwoman Lowey's report language that 
indicates that U.S. foreign assistance to Colombia should be increased 
for organizations working with internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 
municipalities and departments with high IDP populations.
  I was also pleased that funds in the FY 2008 Foreign Ops bill were 
targeted specifically towards Afro-Colombians who as I noted are among 
the chief victims in Colombia's civil conflict.
  I would be remiss not to mention that I have been impressed by the 
significant progress made by President Uribe in reducing kidnappings, 
homicides and massacres in his country. No one can deny these results.
  But I believe that we must now build on this success by working 
together in improving social conditions in Colombia, chief among them 
the plight of Colombia's internally displaced.
  Mr. HONDA. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 426, 
recognizing 2007 as the Year of the Rights of Internally Displaced 
Persons in Colombia, and offering support for efforts to ensure that 
the internally displaced people of Colombia receive the assistance and 
protection they need to rebuild their lives successfully.
  This resolution recognizes the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' 
finding that Colombia's estimated 2-3 million internally displaced 
persons (IDP) ranks only second to Sudan as the world's largest 
internally displaced population. As a close ally and strategic partner 
in Latin America, it is in the deep interest of the United States to 
assist Colombia's IDPs in rebuilding their lives in a dignified, safe, 
and sustainable manner.
  The violence and poor economic situation in the country has 
disproportionately affected the Afro-Colombian community. Between 1995 
and 2005, an estimated 61 percent of Afro-Colombians who received land 
titles through ``Law 70'' were forcibly displaced from their homes in a 
deliberate strategy of war by armed groups, many of whom are 
paramilitaries. In April of this year, my colleagues and I sent a 
letter to Secretary Rice urging her to ensure that the needs of Afro-
Colombians and IDPs are a prime focus of American policy and 
assistance. It remains our recommendation that initiatives that help 
develop the capacity of Afro-Colombian communities, including 
technology transfers, management expertise, global distribution, and 
economic growth opportunities, and foreign investment that respects the 
collective land rights of Afro-Colombian communities, would best 
stabilize the living condition for the impoverished communities.
  Furthermore, there must be a concerted effort to provide diplomatic 
and technical support to help secure the return of land to Afro-
Colombians and indigenous communities internally displaced by violence, 
and to increase aid to protection programs. As a newly appointed member 
of the House Appropriations Committee, I am very pleased to report that 
the recent State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for FY2008 
includes important language in assisting Colombian IDPs through 
stronger economic aid. It is our hope that the leadership of the United 
States through the implementation of progressive programs will finally 
help heal this open wound on universal human rights.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 426 as we help 
internally displaced persons of our close ally Colombia rebuild their 
lives safely and swiftly.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. DeGette). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 426, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________