The GW Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program, the Latin America Working Group, the U.S. Office on Colombia, the Center for International Policy, and the Washington Office on Latin America present:

The Humanitarian Crisis in Colombia: Realities On the Ground and How the United States Can Play a More Constructive Role

Colombia is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis in which internal displacement, human rights violations, and paramilitary and insurgency violence stubbornly persist in many areas outside of the country’s major cities. The United States plays a key role in Colombia through its provision of military aid, its massive aid program, Plan Colombia, and its continued effort to fight a militarized supply-side drug war. Join an esteemed delegation of human rights experts for a panel briefing and town hall discussion on the humanitarian crisis in Colombia.

No RSVP necessary. This event is free and open to the public. It will be conducted in Spanish with consecutive English interpretation.

Esteemed guests include:

Eduardo Zuñiga Eraso, Governor of Nariño province, Colombia. Mr. Zuñiga has governed Nariño, a province currently at the epicenter of Colombian conflict, since January 2004. Governor Zuñiga previously was rector and professor of anthropology of the University of Nariño, and has received the national prize for anthropology applied to indigenous communities.

Father Maurizio Pontin, coordinator, Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees (Movilidad Humana) section, Pastoral Social. Father Maurizio coordinates programs and policy for IDPs and refugees carried out by the Colombian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He will describe the problem of violent land takeovers by armed groups, the needs of displaced communities, and the church’s response to the crisis.

Marco Alberto Romero, President of CODHES, the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement. Mr. Romero is a political science professor affiliated with the National University of Colombia, where he has held posts as director of political science, vice dean and director of the political science journal. He has been an investigator affiliated with CODHES since 1995.