The Humanitarian Tragedy of Forced Displacement in Colombia: An in-depth conversation with Colombia’s leading experts on internal displacement with

The US Office on Colombia (USOC), the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Oxfam America cordially invite you to:

*The event will begin at 8:30 AM on March 11.*

The Humanitarian Tragedy of Forced Displacement in Colombia:
An in-depth conversation with Colombia’s leading experts on internal displacement
with

Dr. Luis Jorge Garay

Fernando Barberi

Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao, Director, National Social Pastoral Secretariat, Colombian Conference of Catholic Bishops

Followed by Commentary From:

Kelly Nicholls, U.S Office on Colombia

Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, Washington Office on Latin America

Erin Williams, Brookings Institution-Bern Project on Internal Displacement
Dr. Luis Jorge Garay and Fernando Barberi lead the Public Policy Review Commission on Forced Displacement that reported directly to the Constitutional Court about the Colombian government’s compliance with Court Order T-025 of April 2004 on Colombia’s implementation of national and international laws including the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement to assist and protect internally displaced people. In this role they have lead several national surveys of the internally displaced population, as well as in-depth research on different issues affecting IDPs. Their findings are clear: The vast majority of Colombia’s internally displaced persons (who they calculate to account for 10% of the population) live in poverty or indigence and may be described as the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. Monsignor Henao, the Catholic Church’s leading expert on IDPs, will brief us on the church’s perspective of the current situation of IDPs in Colombia. Their presentations will be followed by commentary from USOC, WOLA and the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement.

Thursday, March 11, 2010, 8:30 to 10:00 AM

Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

1666 Connecticut Ave, 4th Floor conference room
Washington, DC

Please RSVP to Diana Arango of USOC, at (202) 232-8090 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (202) 232-8090      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, diana@usofficeoncolombia.org or

Anthony Dest of WOLA, at (202) 797-2171 or adest@wola.org