Internal displacement in Colombia

Overall objectives

In 1997, the Government enacted a law³ (Law 387/97) that established a framework for the national response to internal displacement. Both the Victims Unit (UARIV) and the National Statistics Office (DANE) have a workplan to improve IDP statistics which include implementation of the International Recommendations on IDP Statistics (IRIS).

Activity description

First, UARIV, with the support of DANE’s Administrative Records Strengthening Program, will bring its registration database and related processes into greater alignment with international statistical standards. Among other substantive improvements, this might present an opportunity to work towards further disaggregation of the historical victims’ figure into the different population sub-stocks defined by IRIS.

Second, DANE and UARIV will link data in the IDP registration system with data in the 2018 census, the labor force survey, the quality of life survey as well as the coexistence and citizen security survey; in order to produce rich socioeconomic statistics on IDPs using existing data sources.

Third, analytical work will be undertaken to better understand the complex vulnerability and poverty patterns among IDPs. Building on the existing four-step vulnerability categorization applied for targeting humanitarian assistance, complementarity characterizations of poverty will be explored, including concepts originating from the SDGs and those originating from national social protection mechanisms.

Finally, building on the insights from the preceding activities, a policy brief will be developed to explore opportunities to strengthen IDP identification and data production in national surveys for the indicators developed by the Constitutional Court.

Engagement with partners

The two key governmental stakeholders of this activity, apart from DANE and UARIV, will be the National Planning Department and the Constitutional Court.

Background and Context

Having claimed over 9.2 million victims since 1985, the conflict in Colombia is one of the largest, most protracted, humanitarian disasters in the world. Despite the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, armed conflict persists. The Government estimates that over 8.3 million people have been internally displaced as a result of the conflict. In 1997, the Government enacted a law³ (Law 387/97) that established a framework for the national response to internal displacement. The 2011 Victims Law furthered this aim by creating a Unique Registry of Victims which recognizes victims, produces statistics and help track assistance and reparations to victims of the conflict.