In the first two months of the year, 9,244 victims of the armed conflict arrived in Bogotá

In recent years, violence in the territories has been increasing significantly due to the growth and emergence of new armed structures that dispute the control of drug trafficking routes and illegal rents in areas historically abandoned by the State. One of the most common violence that has left thousands of victims in Colombia is forced displacement, which occurs due to different factors such as: intimidation, theft of land, not accepting deals with agents of the conflict and so on.

Alluding to this topic, the High Council for Peace, Victims and Reconciliation of Bogotá presented a report on the situation of victims in the capital, as well as the routes of care. The document made it clear that, between January and February 2022, 9,244 victims of the armed conflict arrived in the city.

In a disaggregated manner, the District showed that 50.3% of the total number of victims residing in Bogotá are located in six locations in the city: Kennedy (11%), Ciudad Bolivar (10.2%), Bosa (0.2%), Suba (8.2%), Usme (5.3%) and Engativa (5.1%).

One of the concerns that is beginning to be a red alert for the authorities is that in the last two years the displacement to Bogotá grew by 11% and that more than 80% of the victims are from ethnic and minority groups such as black or Afro-Colombian communities, gypsies or ROMs, palenqueras among others, according to the District Administration.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in 2021, 73,900 displaced persons were registered in the country. “Between January and December 2021, the Colombian Pacific experienced a protection crisis associated with the presence of more than five non-state armed actors who dispute territorial and social control in many of the municipalities that reported the highest number of people affected by armed violence.”

The report detailed that the most affected areas in the country were Chocó, Cauca and Nariño. These departments accounted for more than 75% of emergencies due to mass displacement and confinement. The OCHA investigation also showed that the main causes of forced displacement in Colombia are the actions of illegal armed groups against the civilian population. Among the crimes that trigger this crisis, 32% are direct threats through telephone calls, pamphlets, messages, among others, while the other 32% are due to confrontation and harassment.

Another warning point is the revictimization to which civilians are exposed. OCHA reports that several displaced families in 2021 had already been in this situation in previous years. “In several of the displacements reported in 2021, people were identified who had previously been forcibly displaced by the same causes (presence and direct actions of non-state armed groups in the communities' territories, especially within Indigenous Reserves and Community Councils.”

The OCHA report further indicates that of last year's displaced persons, only 11,700 have been able to return to their territories. This means that more than 61,600 people remain displaced in host communities, where they generally do not have the resources to meet the intersectoral needs of the displaced. The main needs of the displaced population are based on lack of protection and access to temporary accommodation, food, health services, education and access to safe water.

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