COLOMBIA ROUNDTABLE

 EXPANDING CRISIS OF DISPLACEMENT IN COLOMBIA

Impact of US Military Aid and War on Terrorism and Policies of President Uribe

Carolina Aldana, MINGA, Association for Alternative Social Policy

Eder Sanchez, National Association of Small Farmers, Putumayo

3:00- 5:00 PM, October 15, 2002

Conference Room, US Committee on Refugees

1717 Massachusetts Ave. NW - 2nd Floor

Washington, DC

204,000 people displaced in the first six months of 2002

2.7 million internally displaced in Colombia since 1985 - CODHES

You are invited to hear testimony of the massacres of rural communities and the persecution of civilians by paramilitary groups, often with links to the Colombian military, and by guerrilla forces. The Roundtable will focus on how US policies are contributing to the displacement— including the fumigation of large areas of southern Colombia and US-supported protection of oil pipelines in northern Colombia. The panelist will also address how polices of the new Uribe administration — including the state of emergency, restrictions on travel to zones of public order, formation of network of civilian informants, and plans to organize a millions civilians to assist the Colombia military in gathering intelligence— are contributing to the displacement and limiting the capacity of international organizations and churches to provide humanitarian assistance, protection to displaced communities, and monitor human rights violations.Carolina Aldana works for MINGA, a leading human rights organization in Colombia. She is responsible for research and communications for projects in northwestern Colombia, and leads programs on the peace process and ‘civil society strengthening'. She previously worked in the Colombian Defensoría del Pueblo researching children's rights.

Eder Jair Sanchez is a lawyer and social leader of the National Association of Peasant Farmers (ANUC). For the period spanning 2001-2003, he is serving as a delegate to the Departmental Assembly of Putumayo. Between 1995 and 2001, he headed a team that developed proposals for manual eradication of illicit crops in Putumayo. At present, he is the promoter of the Association for Social Pacts for Voluntary Manual Eradication of Illicit Crops in Putumayo.

Sponsored by US Office on Colombia, Colombia Human Rights Committee, US Committee on Refugees, Catholic Relief Service, Jesuit Refugee Service, World Vision, Lutheran World Relief,, American Friends Service Committee, Maryknoll Office for Global Concern, Franciscan Washington Office for Latin America, Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Refugee Policy Forum

For more information contact Hiram Ruis, USCR, hruiz@irsa-uscr.org, 202-347-3507