From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

CHAPTER 1 Assessing National Approaches to Internal Displacement: Findings from 15 Countries
of a national policy has been recommended. Two countries
currently have such policies in draft form: Kenya
and Yemen. The policies of Georgia, Kenya, Iraq, Nepal,
Yemen, Sudan and Uganda explicitly indicate that they
are based not only on national legislation but also on
relevant international standards, including the Guiding
Principles.
In Colombia, recognition by the government of its
responsibilities toward the internally displaced has
been reflected in a number of policy documents since
1995, which form part of its sophisticated legal and
policy framework on IDPs. The government has made
remarkable progress in addressing internal displacement,
especially since 1994 when Representative of
the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons
(RSG) Francis Deng undertook his first mission to
Colombia and found the government to be lacking
any “collective willingness” to deal with the problem.
However, it has fallen short in implementation. The
government’s shortcomings in implementation have
been noted to varying degrees by RSG Deng and RSG
Walter Kälin following their missions to Colombia in
1999 and 2006, respectively. 1
An executive branch body, the National Council for
Economic and Social Policy (Consejo Nacional de
Política Económica y Social, CONPES) adopted in 1995
the National Program for Comprehensive Assistance
to the Population Displaced by Violence. However,
various structural problems hampered its effectiveness,
prompting CONPES to develop a second policy
1 UN Commission on Human Rights, Internally Displaced
Persons: Report of the Representative of the Secretary-
General, Mr. Francis Deng, Submitted Pursuant to
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1993/95–
Addendum: Profiles in Displacement: Colombia, E/
CN.4/1995/50/Add.1, 3 October 1994, p. 33 (http://
ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=71); UN Human
Rights Council, Report of the Representative of the
Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally
Displaced Persons, Walter Kälin–Addendum: Mission to
Colombia, A/HRC/4/38/Add.3, 24 January 2007 (http://
ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?m=71).
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in May 1997, the National System for Comprehensive
Assistance to the Population Displaced by Violence,
which was adopted by the Ministry of the Interior, the
Presidential Adviser for the Displaced, the Presidential
Adviser on Human Rights, the Presidential Adviser for
Social Policy and the National Department of Planning.
The national “system” was to address the problem of
internal displacement and set forth a strategy of prevention,
immediate assistance, and “consolidation and
socioeconomic stabilization.” These two CONPES initiatives
together with other policy initiatives outlined
in various decrees were formalized and consolidated in
the National Plan for Comprehensive Assistance to the
Population Displaced by Violence, outlined in Law 387
and adopted by Congress on 18 July 1997. The plan was
to be designed within six months. 2
As envisioned, in January 1998, Colombia adopted by
decree the National Plan for Comprehensive Assistance
to the Population Displaced by Violence to implement
Law 387. 3 The plan established strategies to address
internal displacement, including provisions for prevention,
humanitarian assistance, “socioeconomic consolidation
and stabilization,” and durable solutions. It identified
authorities responsible for implementing the plan,
2 Government of Colombia, National Department of
Planning, Documento CONPES 2804: Programa Nacional
de Atención Integral a la Población Desplazada por la
Violencia, 13 September 1995; citation from Government
of Colombia, National Department of Planning,
Documento CONPES 2924: Sistema Nacional de Atención
Integral a la Población Desplazada por la Violencia, 28
May 1997. See also: UN Commission on Human Rights,
Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General on
Internally Displaced Persons Submitted in accordance
with Commission Resolution 1999/47–Addendum: Profiles
in Displacement: Follow-up Mission to Colombia, E/
CN.4/2000/83/Add.1, 11 January 2000, paras. 40-41, p. 11
(www.brookings.edu/projects/idp.aspx).
3 Decree 173 of 26 January 1998 adopting the National
Plan for Comprehensive Assistance to the Population
Displaced by Violence, available at Brookings-LSE Project
on Internal Displacement, “National and Regional Laws
and Policies on Internal Displacement: Colombia” (www.
brookings.edu/projects/idp/Laws-and-Policies/colombia.
aspx).