Colombian farmers face displacement, disappearances and disputes over land | Catalina Ballesteros Rodriguez | Global development | guardian.co.uk
▻http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/jul/18/colombian-farmers-disputes-land
The events in Catatumbo are all too typical of Colombia’s conflict over land, which has left the country with the world’s highest number of internally displaced people and a rising death toll.
Concentration of land ownership has increased, fuelled by the forced displacement of rural communities, which has affected an estimated 10% of the population.
More than 16,000 people have “disappeared” in land disputes and there have been an estimated 1,600 extrajudicial executions. Many of the disputes centre on claims to land that communities were forced to abandon, which subsequently fell into the hands of businesses.
Unequal land ownership deprives rural farmers of a livelihood and perpetuates income inequality. Additionally, by reducing the land available for small-scale farmers to produce food for subsistence, unequal land ownership contributes to food insecurity, resulting in malnutrition, anaemia, calcium deficiencies and hunger.
#Colombie #terres #foncier #coca #agriculture