Following a recent IOM assessment mission to Colombia, a report
released today on the political rights of internally displaced
Colombians outlines measures needed and the importance of including
this segment of the population in the electoral process.

The report, “Conflict, Displacement, and Elections: Action
Plan for Municipal Elections in Colombia”, reiterates that
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees around the world
face special challenges in realizing their rights to political
participation, and that their disenfranchisement violates
fundamental human rights norms and weakens the reconciliation value
of post-conflict elections.

Jeff Fischer, author of the report stresses, “There is a
clear need for cooperation between the international community and
national governmental and non-governmental agencies in order to
make the IDP enfranchisement the priority on the policy
agenda.”

Worldwide, there are an estimated 23.7 million men, women, and
children internally displaced by conflict, communal violence, and
civil strife.  An estimated 1.8 million to more than three
million Colombians have been forced from their homes over the past
several decades due to armed conflict, guerilla insurgency and
generalized violence.

The report warns of uneven domestic political will regarding the
enfranchisement of conflict forced IDPs.  It therefore calls
for leadership from the international community to strengthen its
relationships with national stakeholders – governmental,
political, and non-governmental – to tune their focus,
capacity, and commitment to support and empower IDP
communities.

Outlining the three kinds of municipal elections that will take
place in October 2007, the report offers worst-case scenarios if a
significant number of the population cannot exercise their right to
vote.  In the municipalities of origin, mostly in rural areas,
the elections will mean that significant groups of voters and
political leaders will be absent.  This can lead to coercion,
ballot fraud, and vote prevention by armed groups in order to
increase support for their candidates.  The absence of voters
will increase potential for voter impersonation to occur.

Elections in municipalities where the IDPs are now living, large
cities such as Bogotá, Medellin, Cartagena, and Cali, may be
marred by administrative delays and bureaucratic hurdles for IDP
registration, which have previously dampened their participation
rates.  The IDPs may also become issues in the municipal
campaigns because of the pressure on public services that their
presence exerts.  They may also be targets for vote-buying
schemes and intimidation.  Political manipulation of IDP
assistance may also be a concern in these municipalities.

The Action Plan suggests three phases of activity: 1) Consensus
Phase; 2) Planning Phase; and 3) Operational Phase.  It also
spells out a framework for assistance programs to be carried out by
the international community: 1) political party assistance; 2)
voter education; 3) electoral monitoring; 4) emergency government
capacity; and 5) civil society programming.

The Colombia assessment and action plan are part of IOM’s
Political Rights and Enfranchisement System Strengthening (PRESS)
project, which aims to address issues concerning the political
rights of persons displaced by conflict.  PRESS is funded by
the US Agency for International Development.

Since 1996, IOM has supported the enfranchisement of migrants in
over 74 countries through out-of-country voting programs for Bosnia
and Herzegovina, East Timor, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

The Colombia action plan and information on IOM’s PRESS
project can be found at href="http://www.geneseo.edu/~iompress" target="_blank" title=
"">www.geneseo.edu/~iompress or contact "paragraph-link-no-underline" href="mailto:iompressproject@iom.int"
target="_blank" title="">iompressproject@iom.int.