Papers - Conference 2009 - Institute of Latin American Studies

of the forced migration more than risking exclusion from the benefits he couldachieve as a displaced person.According to Corte Constitucional, this is in direct violation of the fundamentalright to be recognised as a displaced person as stipulated in law 387 of 1997 and aviolation of the principle of equality. For the displaced person, this experience is abitter one, given he/she is left without any possibility of government assistance.This means that urban integration constitutes not only the dominant strategy forquick economic and social reconstruction, but also the most realistic one(although it is still not fully recognised by public institutions), anyway thisperspective of reconstruction of a new life is not always guaranteed for severalreasons.7. Expectations of Colombian displaced people7a. The advanced ad hoc legal system of protection of displaced people andreduced expectations from the public policiesThe Colombian State is responsible for providing assistance to internallydisplaced persons. The basic framework for government policy is still law 387 of1997 “by means of which measures are adopted for the prevention of forceddisplacement, and for assistance, protection, socio-economic consolidation andstabilisation of persons internally displaced by violence in the Republic ofColombia”.Law 387 of 1997 establishes the overall parameters for the National System forIntegrated Assistance to displaced people and outlines which entities willparticipate and the ways in which the system will be co-ordinated. Theinterpretation and application of this law is guided by the following fundamentalprinciples: the right to request and receive international and humanitarian16