NOREF - Land restitution as a key element in preventing forced displacement in Colombia

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Author

Felipe Gómez Isa

Felipe Gómez Isa is a lecturer in International Public Law and researcher for the human rights institute, Instituto de Derechos Humanos Pedro Arrupe at Deusto University, Bilbao, (Basque Country, Spain). He is National Director of the European Masters Degree in Human Rights and Democratization or...
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Land restitution as a key element in preventing forced displacement in Colombia

Felipe Gómez Isa , 8 September 2010

Summary

The armed conflict in Colombia, which has generated over three million internally displaced persons, has dramatic humanitarian consequences and raises serious issues regarding the protection of the displaced persons' rights. The underlying reasons for the displacement often lie in the dynamics associated with territorial control and land seizures undertaken for strategic, military or purely economic purposes. Domestic and international legal provisions have established the victims' right to the restitution of their homes and property as the "preferred remedy " in cases of displacement. However, policies dealing with displacement, both those of the Colombian government and of several international institutions, fail to take this sufficiently into account. An integral reparation policy for victims must necessarily entail the reversion of lands, territories and goods seized in Colombia under the pretext of the internal armed conflict.