[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20993]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN COLOMBIA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, at a time when we are focused on the chaos 
in Iraq and the flood of Iraqis who have fled their homes and are 
living either as displaced persons in Iraq or as refugees in Jordan, 
Syria and elsewhere, I want to call attention to a humanitarian crisis 
in our own hemisphere.
  In Colombia, a country of roughly 44 million people, over 3 million 
have been internally displaced as a result of political and drug-
related violence and the aerial spraying of chemical herbicides to 
eradicate coca. They are the second largest displaced population in the 
world after Darfur, Sudan. An average of 18,000 Colombians are uprooted 
every month, with more than 1 million forced to flee in the past 5 
years alone, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees.
  To put that in perspective, if the same ratio were applied to the 
United States, a country of roughly 300 million people, there would be 
over 20 million internally displaced Americans. That is a staggering 
number when you consider the burden they would place on public services 
and the environment. Colombia by comparison is a relatively poor 
country, and many of these people, the majority of whom are women and 
children, lack access to basic health care, sanitation, education, 
adequate shelter, or employment.
  It is my understanding that Colombia has suitable laws for addressing 
the needs of the internally displaced, but the laws are too often 
ignored or poorly implemented. Insecurity and inadequate public 
services in isolated areas, where many of the displaced are located, 
hinder return to their homes and contribute to further displacement.
  Recently, the House of Representatives passed a resolution calling on 
the Colombian Government and the international community to prioritize 
the needs of displaced persons, and recommending that the United States 
increase funding for emergency and long-term assistance.
  The Senate version of the fiscal year 2008 State-Foreign Operations 
bill provides $40 million for assistance for displaced persons in 
Colombia. This is a $5 million increase above the President's budget 
request, which was woefully inadequate. As the White House urges 
Congress to continue funding aerial eradication programs which, despite 
billions of dollars, have failed to make an appreciable dent in the 
amount of coca under cultivation, one would like to think that at some 
point they will exhibit the same zeal for meeting the basic needs of 
Colombia's most vulnerable people.

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