From protection to rejection?

‘From Protection to Rejection?’
Colombian Refugees in Costa Rica; policy, practice and consequences

By Natascha Korvinus

In November 2004 various Latin American countries gathered together in Mexico City, using
the twentieth anniversary of the so called Cartagena Declaration on Refugees as an
opportunity to reaffirm and discuss the topic of refugee protection in their region. Although the total number of refugees in the region has been in decline and is relatively small compared to refugee numbers in some African and Middle Eastern countries , refugee protection is still a subject of great importance in Latin America. Moreover, the total number of refugees in the region may be in decline, the
internal situation in one specific country still causes a significant flow of asylum-seekers and
refugees that deserved attention: Colombia. During the 1990s the ongoing internal conflict
between guerrillas and paramilitary groups intensified severely and in the years that followed
approximately 500 thousand Colombians have moved out of the country in seek of security
 While trying to escape from the violence in their country, many Colombians crossed international borders and applied for asylum in neighboring countries like Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela, or even further away; to Costa Rica. Those who were not willing, or unable, to cross any borders have tried to find security in other areas inside the country, resulting in Colombia currently having one of the
largest populations of internally displaced persons in the world.

from protection to rejection.pdf