ABSTRACT
In the armed conflict and security problems experienced in Colombia, which have lasted for 50 years, both guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries have victimized countless peasants and others, displacing them, often recruiting them into their ranks and dispossessing them of their property, seizing their lands. It is explored whether international human rights law provides any specific protection to those victims, to respond to their concrwete needs. The answer is a resounding yes: in its caselaw, the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights has developed specific standards on the basis of the recognition that displacement constitutes a de facto violation of several human rights that is continuous. Furthermore, the Colombian Constitutional Court has likewise held displacement to be a situation contrary to the Constitution. To respond to such violations, international and domestic standards have been developed, including those related to reparations and its component of restitution, which demand the return of the property to the displaced and the specific protection of their rights. Moreover, in the recent peace process provisions to satisfy those guarantees have been envisaged. Altogether, it is argued that the State has both due diligence duties of protection towards the displaced while also having a duty to ensure at least a minimum level of protection, which would be a result duty; while non-state agents of persecution have a duty to cease ongoing violations and to repair their victims.
