PROJECTS: COLOMBIA: Internally Displaced

With an estimated 4 million displaced people, Colombia holds the highest number of IDPs (internally displaced persons) in the western hemisphere. Displacement has often been used as a tactic rather than just a consequence of this ongoing conflict. Both leftist guerrillas (FARC and ELN) and right wing paramilitaries (AUC) have depopulated rural areas and appropriated the land for political, economic, and strategic benefits.