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42 updates found
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01 Jun 2003

Colombia
Venezuela's Chavez proposes wide debate on armed intervention in Colombia

Report
— Agence France-Presse
CARACAS, June 1 (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Sunday called for a "continental debate" on a proposal to place a UN force in Colombia.

Chavez, speaking on his radio program "Hello President", said the proposal made at a Rio Group summit last month in Peru threatens Latin America with "interventionism."

"I want to open a continental debate, since, because the press was not present" the content of the accord reached among presidents to find a UN solution to the conflict was not widely broadcast, Chavez said.

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

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31 May 2003

Afghanistan + 7 others
The role of protection in ending displacement

Report
— Brookings Institution
Forced Migration Review, May 2003
Roberta Cohen, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies

Violence erupted in Tajikistan in 1993 when tens of thousands of IDPs and refugees began returning to their homes. In many villages, newly returned people found their homes occupied by others or they became victim of physical assaults incited by ethnic animosity. Scores of murders and disappearances were reported. The signing of a cease-fire agreement in 1994 did not by itself create an environment safe for return. There was need for the international community and the local authorities

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30 May 2003

Bosnia and Herzegovina + 8 others
JRS Dispatches No. 133

Report
— Jesuit Refugee Service
(Extracted from JRS Dispatches No. 133)
Twice monthly news bulletin from the Jesuit Refugee Service International Office

REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS

VIOLENCE AND DISPLACEMENT REACH HIGH LEVELS IN ACEH, INDONESIA

The Indonesian army has stepped up its military operations against the separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Since Monday 19 May, a large-scale military operation has been ongoing, following the breakdown of peace negotiations between the two sides. A five-month-old peace deal was signed last December,

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30 May 2003

Colombia + 3 others
UNHCR briefing notes: Tibetans in Nepal, Colombia, Uganda / DR Congo

Report
— UN High Commissioner for Refugees
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR website, www.unhcr.ch, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.
Media Advisory: The High Commissioner will be meeting with UK Home Secretary David Blunkett, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and German Interior Minister Otto Schily today at Geneva Airport. The meeting is being held at the ministers' initiative
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30 May 2003

Colombia
ALNAP Global study on beneficiary consultation and participation: the case of Colombia

Report
— ALNAP
Download PDF (268.3 KB)
Executive Summary

The participation and consultation of affected populations in humanitarian action now seems widely accepted as crucial to effective social targeting, resource utilisation, accountability, sustainability and impact. Beyond operational considerations, for some, participation is a fundamental right of citizenship, essential to survival, self-protection and self-actualisation in humanitarian emergencies. It is also a means through which humanitarian actors can demonstrate their respect for disaster-affected populations. As such the participation of

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29 May 2003

Colombia
Secretary-General welcomes regional leaders' support for his efforts to achieve solution to Colombia's conflict

Report
— UN Secretary-General
The following statement was issued by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General notes with interest the declaration of the Rio Group calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict through open and transparent dialogue among the parties in Colombia. He welcomes regional leaders' support for his continuing good offices, which aim to achieve a negotiated solution to Colombia's conflict.
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28 May 2003

Colombia
AI Annual Report 2003: Americas update - Selected events in the Americas region from January to April 2003

Report
— Amnesty
Extract from Amnesty International Annual Report 2003 Updates - Selected events covering the period from January to April 2003
In Colombia, the government of President Álvaro Uribe in February extended, for a further three months, the state of emergency, first declared in August 2002. The administration is also proceeding with a number of measures that are likely to exacerbate the already serious problem of impunity in the country. In January it issued Decree 128 which will effectively allow the government to grant amnesties
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28 May 2003

Colombia
Colombian rebels abandon arms

Report
— Christian Science Monitor
Under President Uribe, a government program reintegrates fighters from the left and the right.

By Rachel Van Dongen | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

PEREIRA, COLOMBIA - Before fleeing Colombia's biggest rebel group, Gregorio Ramos had a mission: to kill the governor of the state of Caquetá.

Mr. Ramos went undercover as a civilian, pleading for a job with the governor. He said his grandmother had died and he needed money for her funeral. But after receiving work and getting to know the governor, Ramos couldn't go through with his macabre assignment.

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27 May 2003

Colombia
Report on Colombia conflict attracting wide attention

Report
— UN Development Programme
A report examining the roots of conflict in Colombia, its impact on human development and ways that it can be overcome, due for release in August, is already gaining wide attention around the country.
The conflict, which began nearly four decades ago, has forced two million Colombians from their homes, denied millions of children access to education and claimed thousands of lives each year. More than 250 mayors and 100 Congressional deputies face death threats, and vast productive assets have been squandered.

Work on the Colombia National Human Development

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27 May 2003

Colombia
Colombia: Protecting the pipeline - The U.S. military mission expands

Report
— Washington Office on Latin America
Download PDF (300.75 KB)
Beginning in August 2002, U.S. military assistance to Colombia, which until then had been limited to combating the illegal drug trade, has included money to protect an oil pipeline used by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum. U.S. Special Forces are currently training Colombian soldiers in counter-insurgency tactics in order to defend the pipeline from guerrilla bombings.
This issue of WOLA's Colombia Monitor explains how Arauca province, the center of Occidental's installations and increasingly the focus of U.S. and Colombian military operations, has
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25 May 2003

Colombia
FARC awaiting Colombian government's reply on prisoner swap

Report
— Agence France-Presse
BOGOTA, May 26 (AFP) - Leftist guerrillas said they were awaiting a reply from the Colombian government on a proposed prisoner exchange -- kidnap victims for jailed rebels -- in a statement seen here Sunday.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) "unhurriedly awaits the government's reply to its proposal for a prisoner exchange," the Marxist group said in the statement, dated Saturday and posted on the Internet.

The rebels repeated that they were "in a position to guarantee the physical integrity of the prisoners in their

Agence France-Presse:

©AFP: The information provided in this product is for personal use only. None of it may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express permission of Agence France-Presse.

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23 May 2003

Afghanistan + 30 others
WFP Emergency Report No. 21 of 2003

Report
— World Food Programme


This report includes:
A) Middle East and Central Asia: (1) Iraq, (2) Iran, (3) Afghanistan

B) East and Central Africa: (1) DR Congo, (2) Burundi, (3) Rwanda, (4) Uganda, (5) Kenya, (6) Eritrea, (7) Djibouti, (8) Ethiopia

C) West Africa: (1) Côte d'Ivoire (2) Liberia (3) Sierra Leone (4) Guinea

D) Southern Africa: (1) Namibia, (2) Angola, (3) Zambia, (4) Malawi, (5) Zimbabwe, (6) Mozambique, (7) Swaziland, (8) Lesotho, (9) Madagascar

E) Asia: (1) DPR Korea

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20 May 2003

Colombia
Colombia: Press conference by Indigenous Peoples Caucus

Report
— UN Department of Public Information
Press Briefing
Indigenous peoples, who were symbiotically and spiritually related to the lands they inhabited, were being displaced at alarming rates, Leonor Zalabata, Human Rights Commissioner of the Tairona Indigenous Federation of Colombia, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

Highlighting the progress of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, currently in its second week of meetings at the United Nations, the press conference, chaired by Elsa Stamatopoulou, Acting Chief of the Forum's secretariat, also featured the following speakers:

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20 May 2003

Colombia
Colombia: Human rights seriously undermined as judicial police powers to the military come one step closer

Report
— Amnesty
Amnesty International expressed dismay at yesterday's vote by the Colombian House of Representatives (lower house of Congress) in favour of reforming the Constitution to grant judicial police powers to the armed forces. The vote is the second of eight required before the bill becomes law.
"This measure will have a disastrous impact on human rights. It will allow the armed forces to carry out raids, tap telephones, and make arrests without judicial authority on the basis of military accusations, rather than on the basis of evidence gathered
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20 May 2003

Ecuador + 4 others
ODM-WFP Emergency Situation Report on Latin America and the Caribbean 20 May 2003

Report
— World Food Programme
1. Colombia
a. Significant Events

Renewed roadblocks in the municipalities of eastern Antioquía by illegal armed groups have prevented WFP access to these municipalities. A joint WFP/UNHCR/HCHR UN mission to the Catatumbo region in the Department of Norte de Santander is being planned for next week, due to the continuous displacements currently taking place there.

b. Implementation

This week, WFP delivered 239 MT of food rations to Nutritional Recovery projects in twelve departments, benefiting some 9,900 persons; 40 MT to 270 pre-school projects benefiting 19,832

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19 May 2003

Colombia
Colombia: Retorno o traslado? El drama del Catatumbo

Report
— Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento
Un año y medio de éxodo y desventuras fueron suficientes para que más de 500 personas (108) familias que fueron expulsadas de la zona rural de convención en Enero 11 de 2002 decidieran su regresar. Hoy con el apoyo de la Red de Solidaridad Social la gobernación de Norte de Santander y la veeduría y acompañamiento de diversas organizaciones nacionales e internacionales estos campesinos buscan dejar atrás y para siempre la pesadilla que los convirtió contra su voluntad de campesinos en desplazados.
Sin embargo a pesar de la emoción que
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16 May 2003

Colombia + 7 others
UNHCR briefing notes: West Africa, DRC/Uganda, Colombia, Iraq

Report
— UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Kris Janowski - Media Relations
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR website, www.unhcr.ch, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.

1) HIGH COMMISSIONER IN WEST AFRICA

The High Commissioner today is in Sierra Leone. On Thursday, he met Sierra Leone's president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. They both expressed concern about the situation in neighbouring Liberia

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16 May 2003

Colombia + 1 other
LWR news release 16 May 2003

Report
— Lutheran World Relief
Extract from LWR news release 16 May 2003
Results now visible from aid work in Iraq

Baltimore, May 16, 2003 -- Even though conditions in Iraq remain unstable, first-hand assessment of humanitarian needs and activities there is now possible. Lutheran World Relief-related partner organizations in greater Baghdad are currently helping mothers and infants who are at risk from communicable diseases, assisting children with special health problems and hospitals that are short of medicine and food, and supporting a center for street children that was looted after

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16 May 2003

Afghanistan + 33 others
WFP Emergency Report No. 20 of 2003

Report
— World Food Programme


This report includes:
A) Middle East and Central Asia: (1) Iraq, (2) Iran, (3) Afghanistan, (4) Palestinian Territories

B) East and Central Africa: (1) DR Congo, (2) Burundi, (3) Rwanda, (4) Uganda, (5) Kenya, (6) Sudan, (7) Eritrea, (8) Ethiopia, (9) Somalia

C) West Africa: (1) Côte d'Ivoire, (2) Guinea-Bissau

D) Southern Africa: (1) Namibia, (2) Angola, (3) Zambia, (4) Malawi, (5) Zimbabwe, (6) Mozambique, (7) Swaziland, (8) Lesotho, (9) Madagascar

E) Asia: (1) DPR Korea, (2) Indonesia

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15 May 2003

Colombia
Colombia IDP crisis worsens

Report
— Global IDP Project
The number of internally displaced people in Colombia has soared, and their plight has worsened as the new government pursues military solutions to the country's conflict, allowing armed groups to deliberately displace civilians. The IDP crisis was already one of the world's worst, disproportionately affecting Colombia's black and indigenous populations, hitting border areas and cities like never before. Many of the victims have been denied government services simply because they lack documents. Focusing on unsafe returns, government policy has failed to

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