01/30/2008

Located at the southern end of Colombia’s Pacific coast, the city of Tumaco is currently experiencing some of the worst violence in the country. As a port town, armed actors are fighting for control of this geographically strategic point, especially as a transport route for drug trafficking. Tumaco remains isolated from the rest of the country, and is seriously underdeveloped. Over 20,000 displaced people have sought refuge in Tumaco, fleeing intense fighting all along the Pacific Coast of Nariño.

• Tumaco is the epicenter of violence in Nariño. With a population of 160,000, Tumaco has one of the highest murder rates in Colombia – largely due to fighting between illegal armed groups. In 2007, Tumaco was poised to have a death rate approaching 200 murders/100,000 residents. The average murder rate across Colombia is 38 murders/100,000 people.
  
  The department of Nariño experienced at least 27 massive displacements in 2007, affecting over 15,000 people. Tumaco’s displaced community continues to grow as a result.



• Living conditions for the displaced are disastrous. Tumaco is located on a series of islands that hug the Colombian coast. The islands are predominantly low-lying mangrove swamp, and are already densely populated. Displaced communities are pushed to the most undesirable land in tidal areas. Homes must be built on stilts to avoid regular flooding, but exceptional rains still cause frequent flooding. Homes are built from scrapwood that displaced people must scavenge or barter for. There are no sanitation systems, water systems or other basic services in these communities, and current living conditions in these areas represent a severe public health threat.



• Local and national government structures are failing displaced people. The outgoing mayor of Tumaco, had made repeated public statements that there is no displacement problem in his city. Rather, displaced people fleeing violence are considered as economic migrants looking for jobs. As a result, immediate emergency assistance (the responsibility of the host municipality) is not provided to IDPs. There is no indication what the position of the new mayor, Nectalí Correa, who took office on January 1, 2008, will be.
  
  Tumaco does not have a functioning UAO (Unidad de Atención y Orientación, or Center for Attention and Orientation), which is responsible for registering displaced people and connecting them with service providers. Currently, Tumaco officials, working out of the Casa de la Mujer building, only have the capacity to register four displaced people per day, ensuring that the vast majority of IDPs in Tumaco have no access to legally guaranteed services.
  
  Acción Social, the presidential agency responsible for providing services to displaced people only has one full time staff person based in Tumaco, who must cover not only Tumaco, but all 10 municipalities on the Pacific Coast of Nariño. IDPs report being treated badly or being denied services outright by Acción Social.
  
  The closest distribution center for emergency supplies to Tumaco is in Cali – over 500 kilometers over bad roads away. Food and other emergency supplies often arrive late, and there have been multiple reports of food spoiling before it can be distributed.



• The international community has almost no presence in Tumaco. The International Organization for Migration has one staff person present, but RI was not told of any other international NGO currently with a permanent presence in Tumaco. However, some organizations have minor operations remote controlled from Pasto, the department capital. Despite general acknowledgement that Tumaco needs help from many agencies RI spoke with, few had plans to actively address the growing crisis.