WHEATON-A delegation of like-minded humanitarians, including Franciscan Sister Sheila Kinsey and representatives from Schools of America Watch and the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, were successful in gaining the backing of Wheaton’s congressional representative, Republican Peter Roskam, who voted in favor of a statement recognizing the dire circumstances of refugees in Colombia.

The proposal so far has yet to find support in the U.S. Senate. However, on July 11 HR 426 did clear the U.S. House. Having gained bipartisan support, the resolution sponsored by Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., sends a clear message that the U.S. government is concerned about human rights in Latin America. Reflecting on one particular passage in the resolution, Lisa Haugaard, executive director of Latin America Working Group in Washington, D.C., noted, “It expresses support for the initiative to declare 2007 the Year of the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Colombia.” The campaign, which was initiated by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was intent on unveiling the plight of Colombian residents trapped in a web of military conflicts between guerilla warfare and paramilitary regiments and forced to flee their homes for safety in the country’s cities and shantytowns.” She estimated that violent forces impact some “200,000 people” each year. Over the past two decades, “some 3.8 million” people, mostly women and children, have been displaced. The consequence of crisis evacuations has left residents without the basic necessities of life.

Left without clothing, food, shelter or a consistent means to survive, these people rely on the Catholic Church, which has joined with several Protestant denominations in tending to the needs of a displaced population, said Haugaard. And in light of the Colombian government’s failure to provide adequate emergency care, the churches continue to shoulder the responsibility for offering long-term care and aid to the disenfranchised, she added. The Colombian Council of Catholic Bishops threw their support behind the measure, drawing further attention within the international community to the previously “invisible” pattern of human rights infringements carried out in Colombia.

The House of Representatives resolved that “the UNHCR, the Colombian Catholic Church, and the Coalition for Human Rights and Internal Displacement should be commended for their initiative to declare the Year of the Rights of the Internally Displaced People in Colombia.”

For additional insights, visit http://www.lawg.org/countries/colombia/intro.htm.