Text only | Plan International Home | Sitemap | FAQ | Contact us

About Plan

What we do

Where we work


•	All Plan offices

•	Asia

•	Eastern and Southern Africa

•	Americas

•	West Africa

•	Virtual villages

You're here > > > > >

Colombian children heard in the Constitutional Court

Plan Programa Colombia

For the first time in Colombia, 30 internally displaced children came from all corners of the country to make their voices heard at the Constitutional Court.

With the aim of assessing how well the State is dealing with the internal displacement problem, three of the Court's magistrates, State officials and representatives of other organisations listened to what the children had to say.

They explained reasons to the High Court to demand that their rights be protected: "I am originally from Putumayo, but today I am coming from Tumaco"; "I am originally from Macayepo, but I am coming from Sincelejo"; this was how the stories began...

Children coming from one Cartagena district dreamed of proper food. When it rained, water came into their houses, that the streets were such a mess that they couldn't walk around.

"And what about education? " asked one girl... "The education is dire, without access to technology and we don't all have money to rent a computer". "Our parents should have jobs! If they don't, it is up to us to go out and work", exclaimed another participant.

Plan Programa Colombia

Gabriela Bucher, Plan Director in Colombia, which promoted the hearing, pointed out that children who have been internally displaced are invisible to the media, the public and the State.

"There are no disaggregated statistics which help us to understand the extent of the problem and follow it up. According to Pandi Agency, which monitored child rights in the newspapers in 2005, only five per cent of news dealt with children and of this only 0.6 per cent referred to internally displaced children.” She said.

Attending the hearing were several high-ranking government officials, and they spoke about their respective programmes for the displaced population.

However, the magistrate M. Cepeda heard few answers when asking if they had established specific programmes for the internally displaced opulation, especially for the children needs.

A drawing made by Sandy H. A 7 year-old Colombian girl

The answer was weak, like the situation: "It is complicated if we don't have the collaboration of local bodies both in the development of housing plans and in finance."

Figures of displacement

According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):

• In Colombia are three million displaced people, one million more than the number which is used officially, a 700 thousand families.
• 10 per cent of displaced households have children between five and 11 years-old, and at least one works.
• 44 per cent of households have children who are not in the education system.

According to a Vulnerability Study of the Episcopal Conference (2006):

• 63 per cent of displaced households live in inadequate housing.
• 48 per cent do not have access to sufficient services.
• 61 percent live in overcrowded accommodation.
• Afro-Colombians represent eight per cent of the Colombian population and 11 percent of the displaced population.
• Indigenous people represent two per cent of the country's total population and eight per cent of the displaced population. UNHCR (2004).

According to Fernando Gomez of the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Coalition against the involvement of children and young people in armed conflict:

• three years after the Constitutional Court had declared the situation of internally displaced people unconstitutional, nothing had improved.

According to Marco Romero, from the National Follow-up Commission:

• only 36 percent of the displaced population is receiving medical attention
• four percent of families are receiving housing subsidies.