Migrations forced by violence: The Colombian case

Abstract

The human migrations have been one of the motors in the history of humanity. During the twentieth century, internal forced displacement has been an important component of the migration processes in the world. Colombia, a paradigm for this phenomenon, is a country with more than three and a half million people displaced over the last 25 years by force of the violence resulting from an internal armed conflict. Besides the socio-demographic effects in the reconfiguration of the cities, this problem affects the human condition of the victims deteriorating their health and quality of life. This article aims to show the general panorama of migrations forced by violence in the world and to analyze the peculiarities of this phenomenon in the Colombian case. We conclude that forced displacement is a serious violation of human rights producing a human drama by exposing the affected individuals and communities to vulnerability and a deep deterioration of their quality of life and health.