Colombia: Forced Displacement Climbs in the Choco Department

On Sunday, Colombia's Integral System for Peace called for attention to "the grave humanitarian situation"  in the Choco department, where armed conflicts had pushed communities to displace.

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From October 5 until October 7, Human rights activists from the Integral System conducted hearings to assess the situation in the department where inhabitants demanded a Humanitarian Agreement.

Complaints were raised over forced recruitment of children, sexual violence, precarious state presence, and deficiencies in the implementation of the 2016 Peace Accord.

There were also reports of confinement and displacement of Afro and Indigenous communities due to territorial control disputes between illegal armed groups.

Between August and October of this year, the team of Attention and Reparation to Victims of the Mayor's Office of Medellin offered shelter to 75 Indigenous families, 42 of which came from the "Carmen de Atrato" municipality in the Choco department. 

Massacres and assassinations of social leaders in the South American nation also persist with the displacements. The Institute for Development and Peace (INDEPAZ) reported 136 murders of social leaders so far this year.

The Integral System for Peace is made up of officials from the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Repetition (CEV), the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), and the Unit for the Search for Missing Persons (UBPD).