OCHA presents strategy to address the humanitarian crisis in Colombia

This Tuesday, April 19, humanitarian actors from Colombia presented the Humanitarian Response Plan 2022 through which they seek to serve 1.6 million people in the country, especially those who are most vulnerable, giving priority to regions such as the Colombian Pacific and the departments border with Venezuela.

This strategy, which was consolidated by the Humanitarian Advisory Team of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Colombia, seeks to articulate a response to meet the acute needs of the people most affected by the humanitarian crisis in the country, which has exceeded the response capacity of the National Government because it would affect about 7.7 million people who would have needs in this area.

“Despite the progress made by the national Government in terms of socio-economic growth and the implementation of the Final Agreement, Colombia has been experiencing a deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the past year due to different factors: the impact of covid-19, the escalation in various factors of violence, the persistence in the the flow of migrants of various nationalities and the increase in the impact of climate change and disasters”, states the Response Plan.

Among the main objectives of this strategy are the protection of the lives of community members through humanitarian assistance and access to rights for people in situations of vulnerability and at risk from humanitarian emergencies linked to violence, climate change and flows with differential protection approaches.

It also seeks to contribute to the planning of durable solutions in order to restore the social and economic rights and stabilization of communities that have seen their rights violated by the different factors identified, with the aim of providing relief to these populations that are concentrated in Pacific, where 62 per cent of humanitarian emergencies occurred, and in the border territories.

“Increase in humanitarian emergencies due to mass displacement and lockdowns due to reconfiguration and clashes between non-State armed groups, a situation that will place great pressure on the response capacity of both Government entities and humanitarian actors. as well as increasing limitations on humanitarian access. As well as factors of violence related to the electoral process, in addition to possible protests and social demonstrations, situations that could trigger restrictions on humanitarian access,” Ocha pointed out as possible scenarios.

Similarly, it established that there may be a significant increase in the need for protection of the civilian population through territorial control of illegal armed groups and the increase in dynamics of double, triple and multiple humanitarian effects in the migrant and refugee population, while there is continuity in humanitarian consequences of natural disasters.

“Due to the dynamics caused by broad factors of violence, a strategy of protection by presence in the most affected territories will be prioritized, through the proactive presence of protection partners who build together with communities, protection interventions to mitigate threats, as well as with the aim of reduce vulnerabilities, strengthen the capacities of national and local authorities, increase the capacities of communities in self-protection mechanisms and improve living conditions”, concluded Ocha.

KEEP READING;