COLOMBIA / DISPLACED (04:35)

12 December 2009

COLOMBIA / DISPLACED (04:35)

For decades, Colombia has been in the grips of a brutal conflict that has torn its social fabric apart. It's been called an, "invisible crisis", because it fails to make news and its victims prefer to remain anonymous. UNHCR

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Full Script

STORY: COLOMBIA / DISPLACED 
TRT : 4.35 
SOURCE: UNHCR 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: SPANISH / NATS

DATELINE: 12- 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 , COLOMBIA

SHOTLIST:

SEPTEMBER 2009, BOGOTA , COLOMBIA

1. Tilt down, from sky to city 
2. Wide shot, city

SEPTEMBER, SOACHA , COLOMBIA

3. Various shots, street scenes of the Barrio, outside Bogota 
4. Wide shot, Juan Sebastian Diaz with ‘Jose’ in his house 
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Juan Sebastian Diaz, UNHCR, Colombia 
“They come to these big cities first with the intention of protecting themselves with invisibility and second they think they can access services so they can re-establish themselves.”   
6. Close up, tooth brushes 
7. Various shots, ‘José’ and another member of the family in the bathroom brushing teeth 
8. Various shots, ‘Jose’s’ wife cooking 
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) José (not his real name), displaced: 
“My wife was always scared, very terrorized. She couldn’t even sleep. She was always worried. She said, “Let’s leave this place because at any moment we can get killed.” 
10. Wide shot, ‘El Barrio’, outside Bogota 
11. Various shots, town scenes 
12. Various shots, ‘Jose’ going towards a bus 
13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) José (not his real name), displaced: 
“Well for us it was a very radical change coming to a large city like this one without knowing anyone. It’s hard. Many things are different, the way of life, the climate. As you can see we only own these clothes and we don’t have a bed. We sleep on the floor.” 
14. Various shots, ‘José’ selling sweets on the plaza in the city 
15. Pan left, ‘Jose’ and Juan Diaz talking at ‘Jose’s’ home 
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Juan Sebastian Diaz, UNHCR, Colombia : 
“They come to these big cities first with the intention of protecting themselves with invisibility and second they think they can access services so they can re-establish themselves.”   
17. Various shots, ‘Jose’ walks his daughter to school 
18. Various shots, the school in ‘El Barrio’ with students 
19. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alberto Rodriguez, Teacher in the ‘El Barrio’ school: 
“With an education they may be able to forget this process of displacement that has made them suffer and has scarred their life and it’s possible they can succeed in another area, in a new city .” 
20. Various shots, of ‘ El barrio’ and ‘José’

STORYLINE:

For decades, Colombia has been in the grips of a brutal conflict that has torn its social fabric apart. It’s been called an invisible crisis, because it fails to make news and its victims prefer to remain anonymous.

Various illegal armed groups have forced more than 3.5 million people from their homes. They operate mostly in rural areas- pushing people off their land, forcibly recruiting children, and controlling illegal drug crops. The vast majority of those displaced stay within the borders of Colombia .

It’s estimated that about eighty percent of the displaced migrate to cities- in an attempt to find anonymity, safety, and a way to earn a living.

SOUNDBITE (English) Juan Sebastian Diaz, UNHCR, Colombia 
“They come to these big cities first with the intention of protecting themselves with invisibility and second they think they can access services so they can re-establish themselves.”

José and his family arrived two weeks ago from a small village where they farmed the land.  He asked that his identity be protected because he fears being targeted.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) José (not his real name), displaced: 
“My wife was always scared, very terrorized. She couldn’t even sleep. She was always worried. She said, “Let’s leave this place because at any moment we can get killed.”

The displaced often end up in barrios like this one, living in cramped squalid conditions. It is a difficult adaptation. The ways of the city are foreign to them. They arrive traumatized by what they witnessed and then are traumatized again by the brutality of city life.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) José (not his real name), displaced: 
“Well for us it was a very radical change coming to a large city like this one without knowing anyone. It’s hard. Many things are different, the way of life, the climate. As you can see we only own these clothes and we don’t have a bed. We sleep on the floor.”

José tries to make ends meet by selling sweets and cellphone airtime in the city center.  If he’s lucky he makes the equivalent of one dollar a day.

He is not able to pay the rent, and so the situation of this family and tens of thousands of others - is fragile at best.

The UN refugee agency is working with the Colombian government to make services more accessible.  But first they need to know where the displaced are.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Juan Sebastian Diaz, UNHCR, Colombia : 
“Our role is to make them visible so that local governments recognize their presence and take responsibility for these communities to help them regain their rights and also make sure the local population isn’t negatively impacted.”

Education for displaced youth is a priority for UNHCR.  Children need the routine and security that going to class brings.

But accessing schools can be difficult in cities especially without documents. A long-standing collaboration with the government has registered and given ID cards to more than three million displaced Colombians this is the fist step toward getting help- or attending school.

Despite all the other hardships of city life, José is happy that his daughters can attend class close to home.  Establishing a school in the barrio ensures that more needy children can get an education. In this school between sixty and seventy percent of the youngsters are displaced.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alberto Rodriguez, Teacher in the ‘El Barrio’ school: 
“With an education they may be able to forget this process of displacement that has made them suffer and has scarred their life and it’s possible they can succeed in another area, in a new city .”

Giving back rights to the displaced allows them to live a more normal life free of fear.

However, for many displaced people access to rights and security is still elusive and their future remains precarious.

Each year, more Colombians are uprooted and their growing numbers strain the country’s capacity to help them build a normal life- out of the shadows.

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