UN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OFFICE ANNOUNCES FUNDING NEEDS FOR DISPLACED PERSONS IN COLOMBIA

UN HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS OFFICE ANNOUNCES FUNDING NEEDS

FOR DISPLACED PERSONS IN COLOMBIA

NEW YORK, 24 February (OCHA) -- In an effort to assist more than 2 million persons displaced by the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia, the United Nations last week presented donors with a Humanitarian Action Plan with a total budget of $79.4 million for one year.  Of this amount, $48.9 million is still to be raised.

During 2002 alone, more than 250,000 persons were forced to flee from their homes by the armed conflict, whose intensity has escalated during the past months.  Indigenous people have been particularly affected, to the extent that most of Colombia’s indigenous population has been or is displaced, or is at risk of being so.  The Afro-Colombian communities are also severely affected by displacement.  Almost half of the total population of displaced persons are children.  Between

30 per cent to 50 per cent of those displaced gravitate to urban areas, where they receive limited attention and experience difficulties in adapting to the urban environment.

The Action Plan aims to ensure respect for and access to enjoyment of human rights by the population affected by the humanitarian crisis, as well as strengthen the State institutions, the rule of law, and the application of the guiding principles for internally displaced persons.

The Action Plan is a joint effort undertaken in the field by the United Nations under the leadership of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).  The appealing agencies are:  Food and Agriculture Organization, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations Development Fund for Women, World Food Programme, World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization, International Organization for Migration and OCHA.

      For further information, please contact:  Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53; Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York, Tel. 917 892 1679.

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