Internal displacement in Colombia
Support for the National Statistics Office (DANE) and Victims Unit (UARIV) in Colombia to improve statistics on internally displaced persons by implementing international standards, linking IDP data with other government sources, and carrying out additional analysis and policy work.
In this section
Overall objectives
In 1997, the Government enacted a law3 (Law 387/97) that established a framework for the national response to internal displacement. Both the Victims Unit (UARIV) and the National Statistics Office (DANE) have a workplan to improve IDP statistics which include implementation of the International Recommendations on IDP Statistics (IRIS).
Activity description
First, UARIV, with the support of DANE’s Administrative Records Strengthening Program, will bring its registration database and related processes into greater alignment with international statistical standards. Among other substantive improvements, this might present an opportunity to work towards further disaggregation of the historical victims’ figure into the different population sub-stocks defined by IRIS.
Second, DANE and UARIV will link data in the IDP registration system with data in the 2018 census, the labor force survey, the quality of life survey as well as the coexistence and citizen security survey; in order to produce rich socioeconomic statistics on IDPs using existing data sources.
Third, analytical work will be undertaken to better understand the complex vulnerability and poverty patterns among IDPs. Building on the existing four-step vulnerability categorization applied for targeting humanitarian assistance, complementarity characterizations of poverty will be explored, including concepts originating from the SDGs and those originating from national social protection mechanisms.
Finally, building on the insights from the preceding activities, a policy brief will be developed to explore opportunities to strengthen IDP identification and data production in national surveys for the indicators developed by the Constitutional Court.
Engagement with partners
The two key governmental stakeholders of this activity, apart from DANE and UARIV, will be the National Planning Department and the Constitutional Court.
Background and Context
Having claimed over 9.2 million victims since 1985, the conflict in Colombia is one of the largest, most protracted, humanitarian disasters in the world. Despite the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, armed conflict persists. The Government estimates that over 8.3 million people have been internally displaced as a result of the conflict. In 1997, the Government enacted a law3 (Law 387/97) that established a framework for the national response to internal displacement. The 2011 Victims Law furthered this aim by creating a Unique Registry of Victims which recognizes victims, produces statistics and help track assistance and reparations to victims of the conflict.
Additional resources
International Recommendations on IDP Statistics
More activities
Statistical standards on refugees & IDPs
Support to the Expert Group on Refugee, Internally Displaced Persons and Stateless Persons Statistics (EGRISS) through a range of activities including advocacy, reporting, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and capacity building.
Internally displaced people in the national household survey in Central African Republic
Developing a new module for internally displaced people in the national Harmonized Household Living Conditions Survey, increasing the sample size of respondents in camps, building the capacity of national entities and analyzing the data.
Venezuelans in Chile, Colombia, Peru & Ecuador
This series of related projects collects and analyzes primary data on the well-being of Venezuelans Displaced Abroad (VDAs) in separate efforts in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and uses a common instrument to collect data on receptivity toward VDAs among the national populations in those countries.