22 December 2010

COLOMBIA: Flooding Disaster Reveals Bogota's Empty Promises Of Protection.

REUTERS/
      Hundreds of thousands of internally displaced refugees (IDPs) struggled daily for a living before recent damaging floods.
    “To get food for our children we have to beg at the traffic lights,” said one woman. “There are some women who have to sell their bodies to put food on the table,” she added.
    Now after the months of historic rains, flooding and mudslides that have cost almost $6 billion usd, their situation is even worse, and pressure is growing to make Bogota meet its obligations to provide IDPs with humanitarian aid, health care, education, housing and job opportunities, written in Colombia’s constitution.
   “We just need the government to ensure that what the law and constitution already says in terms of protecting displaced people is properly applied and implemented,” said community leader Alvaro Ortiz.