Fernando Medellín, Director of the Social Solidarity Network, discusses five key factors determining the character of displacement and the nature of related public policies in Colombia, in “Displaced Children: Basing Public Policies on Local Realities”. Firstly, a global diagnosis produces global figures. However, when one applies demographic criteria, for example age or gender, the results are quite different, and may be very useful in designing public policies. Secondly, behind displacement there is a territorial planning issue. Thirdly, displacement gives rise to positive discrimination in terms of population policies, for example when displaced persons, and not others, are favored by certain measures. Fourthly, in Colombia there is no such thing as a monolithic, uniform State that is neutral and has leadership capacity. Lastly, there is a great challenge in making concrete proposals and designing specific operations. One example illustrates some of the se points. Global figures suggest that 75% of the displaced population go to 31 municipalities. However, 75% of displaced children go to not more than ten municipalities. This means that when displaced families include children, they prefer large cities as places of destination. Mr. Medellín further proposes two hypotheses on displacement: (1) Children have a greater capacity to adapt to change and to a new culture. (2) Displaced families with children will stay in places that offer them better standards of life. This suggests that the migration of population has the same character today as it had 30 or 40 years ago, although the reasons for migrating are different.

In her paper, “Children and Forced Displacement: A Legislative Approach”, Senator Claudia Blum examines the legislation specifically relating to this issue. International regulations on human rights, the rights of the child, and international humanitarian law, provide the basic framework for Colombian laws on displaced children. Congress approved the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. Enacted in 1989, the Minors’ Code prescribes general rules for the protection of children, although it fails to include specific regulations on children who are victims of the armed conflict or take direct part in it. Law 418 of 1997 prohibits the recruitment of minors under 18 years of age for military service, and imposes criminal sanctions on anyone who recruits children for insurgent or self-defense groups. Law 387 of 1997, on forced displacement, provides that special attention should be given to children. Senator Blum concludes that the issue of children forcibly displaced has as yet received insufficient legislative attention. As regards the application of the law, she finds that action taken tends to focus on emergency assistance only, and the social and economic integration of families is overlooked. An action plan specifically targeted at children is still wanting. Although the law ordered the setting up of an Information and Registry System, no such thing existed for several years; hence the figures relating to displaced children are underestimated. There is a lack of financial resources, and investment in humanitarian care is still insufficient. The government needs to take the issue of child displacement to the negotiations with the guerrillas. Finally, displaced persons suffer social discrimination. Senator Blum’s recommendations are based on these observations.

With the title “An opinion that counts. Presentation of a Survey into ‘Children and Forced Displacement in Colombia’”, Clara Teresa Cárdenas de Arbeláez, Director of the Rafael Pombo Foundation, shares the results of a survey of 676 displaced children and 502 non-displaced children, all of them between 8 and 14 years of age, conducted in 8 cities with the assistance of Save the Children - Sweden. To begin with, Ms. Cárdenas notes that answers were similar in both groups, as regards the children’s views on their country and the cities in which they live. Most children like their cities (91.7%), and 59.5% would continue to live there if they had an opportunity to choose. As regards their vision of their country’s future, 54% said that harmony and peaceful coexistence would prevail. This is the feeling among 61% of displaced children. The interviewers concluded that, despite violence and war, children dream of a better country and a better future, although 80% of them are worried about their right to life. As regards education and play, 68.5% of children said that they spend their time studying, while only 8.7% accepted that they devote time to play. This suggested a title for the results of the survey: “Looking for a place to play”. While 87% said that they have knew about forced displacement, and are aware that it is caused by violence, 92% think that the government should provide assistance, although skepticism prevails. Up to 66% have never heard of measures taken to solve this problem. Finally, most children thought that displaced persons should return to their places of origin.

Harvey Suárez-Morales, Assistant Director of CODHES, Advisory Office for Human Rights and Displacement in Colombia, discusses the results of research carried out by a National University group between 1997 and 1998, in “Comprehensive Work with the Displaced Population: A Basis for the Reconstruction of the Fabric of Society”. Linking the research project with CODHES’ work with displaced persons over the past nine years, and placing special emphasis on methodological issues, Mr. Suárez describes at length the effects of displacement on the family, children and the community. He concludes that displacement produces (1) A complex and continuous violation of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the displaced populations, particularly children, women, the elderly and the disabled. (2) Destabilization of family and community units. (3) Deterioration of personal, family and community networks, and rupture of community and social processes. (4) A substantial decline in the quality of life of those affected. (5) A breakdown of family and community networks. (6) Isolation, loneliness, neglect, stress, anxiety, hopelessness, loss of self-esteem, loss of confidence in the future. (7) A breakdown of solidarity and help ties. (8) Deterioration of public welfare systems. (9) A tendency to fall ill among those who lose their family, community and support networks. (10) A progressive deterioration of relationships that constitute the fabric of society, and a perpetuation of discrimination, social injustice and conflicts. (11) The more complex and diversified family networks are more cohesive and creative, and offer greater possibilities of self-generated resources and options. Therefore, they are better suited to adapt to and survive the effects of forced displacement and the armed conflict (12). Consequently, public policies and strategies relating to the care of displaced populations should promote the reconfiguration of existing and new networks, to allow the reconstruction of the fabric of society and communities.

Fernando Jiovani-Arias, and Sandra Ruiz-Ceballos, from the Dos Mundos Foundation, presented an essay on the “Psychosocial Effects of Forced Displacement on Children”. The psychosocial effects of the war and political violence on children, the authors say, “are as diverse as the forms of violence that we have invented. Children are witnesses, they suffer, and they are victims to all the forms of violence that exist in the Colombian armed conflict. They, as well as their families, are part of events that take place during confrontations between the armed parties, including massacres, forced displacement, kidnappings rumors, threats, patrolling, disappearances, persecution, attacks on towns, and in some cases torture, recruitment in armed groups, and so on”. The scars of each of these events leave their mark. The speakers describe in detail the effects of a number of situations on children, with particular emphasis on forced displacement. For example, when forced displacement is triggered by a massacre, the individual feels that he or she was not allowed to participate in the decision to leave. In this case, “control has been exercised by the aggressor, and the victim permanently remembers the events, experiences intense fear, suffers from sleeplessness, has nightmares, suffers from somatization disorders, has a feeling of danger and a fear losing his or her life, etc. Relations in the child’s family deteriorate, and it becomes increasingly more difficult to reach compromise. Mistreatment tends to be more frequent”. Other psychosocial effects include getting used to abnormal situations, adopting symbols relating to war, and solving problems through the use of force. These effects are increased further when the child takes direct part in the conflict, in which case the child tends to find it increasingly more difficult to establish emotional ties outside his or her group, loses his or her autonomy with respect to their own life, experiences learning difficulties, and his or her values are determined by a warring mentality.

In his presentation, “Internal Forced Displacement: A Challenge to Colombia and the International Community”, Peter Janssen, Protection Officer at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, provides an insight into international attention to displacement in Colombia. He particularly refers to the work carried out by agencies of the United Nations, and starts by mentioning the Thematic Group on Displacement (TGO), created early in 1999. Its main aim is to ensure that the efforts of the agencies of the UN System with regard to displacement are effective and consistent. The UN agencies’ contribution includes prevention, protection, and care of displaced persons. Their intervention focuses on emergency humanitarian assistance, information systems, reintegration of displaced persons into society, and the strengthening of the State bodies responsible for the design and implementation of public policies on displacement. Among the challenges for the year 2001 with respect to displacement, according to the UN, Mr. Janssen mentions the need to reinforce prevention and protection mechanisms, improve emergency assistance, pay particular attention to the phenomenon of forced displacement in urban areas, improve information on displacement and displaced population, and make progress in the development of reintegration programs.

Elsa Bardalez is the Regional Coordinator for South America of Save the Children - Sweden, based in Lima. In her presentation, “Giving Children the Place they Deserve in the National Agenda”, she describes Save the Children - Sweden’s contribution. An organization devoted to working for children’s rights around the world, for several years it has provided support to the Rafael Pombo Foundation in conducting and publishing surveys of children’s opinions. The survey mentioned earlier has given fresh impetus to the discussion on displacement, driving it to focus on children. “That is part of our mission”, Ms. Bardalez says. “Giving Children the Place they deserve in the National Agenda, as part of national issues, in order to ensure that public policies and civil society’s action take account of children’s problems in all the programs they carry out”.

Francisco Cobos, Children’s’ Psychiatrist, spoke on the “Psycho-emotional Effects of Forced Displacement on Colombian Children”. ¿What happens to a displaced child on a psychological level? Dr. Cobos asks himself. A child, he explains, “is an organized biological system; an open system submerged in a vast network, which is the main system”. All open systems require elements from the outside in order to remain organized. Otherwise, they get disorganized, and the lack of organization in the human being means illness or death. Nature has developed a remarkable system to prevent us from losing the external elements we require. That system is called “aggression”, a total response of the organism to avoid real or imaginary loss. What happens to a displaced child, like in a nightmare, is that he suffers all possible human losses, including, sometimes, his or her parents and the environment where they have grown. They lose their objects of love, and experience the worst conceivable illness. They must feel as much fear as the most incurable of schizophrenics. Naturally, we could think that all problems are of a political, social or economic nature. But in the last analysis, all problems develop inside the individual. It is inside the soul of a child where we must operate, with all the knowledge science can provide. If an individual is forced to move from one place to another, it has to be with as much of his or her personal environment as possible. His or her parents must be present. His or her culture must be present. The destruction of all these systems surrounding the child is irreparable. There is no return from displacement, and this is a national illness, which is made worst by the banishment of our children.

The final paper in the book is “Children: The Main Victims of the Armed Conflict in Colombia”, by Reinaldo Botero-Bedoya, Director of the Presidential Program for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Office of the Vice President of Colombia. By way of conclusion, Mr. Botero summarizes the principal issues surrounding the impact of the Colombian armed conflict on children, including the basic facts, the legislation, both national and international, relating to the protection of children in times of conflict, and the government’s concrete action. “The internal armed conflict that Colombia has faced for many years”, Mr. Botero remarks, “has left countless victims, the worst affected among them being, perhaps, the 17 million Colombian children who, in one way or another, have been involved in violent acts in our country”. Nearly three million children have been directly affected by the war, whether as combatants, displaced persons, or individuals demobilized from the ranks of the armed parties. According to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, 5 children are murdered every day. 70% of the displaced population are children. In the year 2000, approximately 267 children were kidnapped, and 600 died in the conflict. Four out of ten subversives killed in Colombia are children. “Despite the existence of an extensive legal framework, both national and international, for the protection of children”, Mr. Botero adds, “the situation of Colombian children is dramatically aggravated by an internal conflict in which the rules of international humanitarian law are not observed, and human rights are constantly violated”. The Colombian government is fully aware of its obligation to honor its commitments relating to international treaties that seek to protect the rights of the child in times of conflict. Therefore, it has implemented programs to prevent the participation of children in the war, detach children from the ranks, and take care of those that have directly participated in the war or suffer its consequences.