82
370.
With respect to displaced persons, the Inter-American Court has established that to
comply with the obligation of non-discrimination, the States must refrain from taking action that in any way
is designed directly or indirectly to create situations of discrimination de jure or de facto, as well as to
adopt positive measures to reverse or change current discriminatory situations in their countries. This
implies a special duty of protection on the part of the State with respect to the actions and practices of
third parties which, through tolerance or acquiescence, create, perpetuate or favor discriminatory
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situations, and that the differentiated situation the displaced persons are in requires the States to grant
special treatment in their favor and to adopt measures of a positive character to reverse the effects of
their said condition of weakness, vulnerability and defenselessness, including vis-à-vis the actions and
practices of individual third parties.
371.
Finally, with respect to the Afro-descendant women victims of the displacement, and
within this, that of the women head of household living in Turbo, the Commission takes into consideration
the disproportionate impact of their change of roles and family structures. In this respect, the Commission
has established that among the most tangible consequences on these women have been: (i) the change
in the dynamic of family and spousal roles and in the responsibilities caused by the death or loss of a
spouse or partner, (ii) the physical and psychological trauma produced by violent acts and the threats
suffered, (iii) the necessity for social and economic adaptation to a new community and its potential
rejection of them; changes generally associated with the necessity of guaranteeing basic family needs
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and that the opportunities these women had to achieve this.
372.
In Order 005-2009, the Constitutional Court recognized the disproportionate impact, in
quantative and qualitative terms, of the internal forced displacement on the Afro-Colombian communities,
and on the protection of their individual and collective rights; that a disproportionate impact was mainly
suffered by children, women, the disabled, senior citizens, and members of communities; and on the
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possibility for Afro-Colombian cultural survival.
373.
In the same way, in order 092 of 2008, the Constitutional Court recognized that the
situation of women displaced by the armed conflict constitutes one of the most serious forms of the
unconstitutional state of affairs declared by judgment T-025 of 2004. Their rights are being violated in a
systematic, prolonged and massive way throughout the country and that the State's response to this
situation has been patently insufficient to address its constitutional duties. Similarly, it declared that the
authorities at every level were under an international and constitutional obligation to act determinedly to
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prevent the disproportionate impact of the displacement on women.
374.
For its part, the Constitutional Court has also recognized that the international
agreements of the State of Colombia in matters of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,
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Cf. I/A Court H.R. Legal Status and Rights of Undocumented Migrants. Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, and Case of the
“Mapiripán Massacre” v. Colombia. Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C No. 134, para. 178.
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Annex 105. IACHR. Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia,
OEA/Ser.L/V/II.Doc. 67, October 18, 2006, para. 76. Cited: UN Fund for the Development of Women, Report on the Situation of
Women in Colombia, September 2005, p. 22 and Colombian Women in Search of Peace: Close Analysis of their Initiatives and
Proposals, 2004, pp. 23-24. At: http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/ColombiaMujeres06eng/TOC.htm.
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The Constitutional Court considered that the forced displacement and loss of ancestral lands caused by the violence of
illegal armed actors or from the same social and economic conditions, placed these populations in situations which diminished their
cultural identity, heightened their situation of equality, marginalization and finally a violation of the individual, economic, social,
cultural and collective rights. To the trauma itself of the displacement crisis, can be added the uncertainty of having to integrate into
a social, spatial and cultural area different from what they majority were used to and which generally rejected them due to their racial
origin. Constitutional Court. Annex 62. Order 005-2009. Protection of fundamental rights of the Afro-descendant population victims
of forced displacement, in the framework of the unconstitutional state of affairs declared in Judgment T-025 of 2004. At:
http://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/relatoria/Autos/2009/A005-09.htm.
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Annex 62. Constitutional Court. Order 005-2009. Protection of fundamental rights of the Afro-descendant population
victims of forced displacement, in the framework of the unconstitutional state of affairs declared in Judgment T-025 of 2004. At:
http://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/relatoria/Autos/2009/A005-09.htm. Annex 92. Constitutional Court. Order No. 092 of April 14,
2008 on the protection of the fundamental rights of women victim of displacement caused by the armed conflict. At:
http://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/relatoria/Autos/2008/A092-08.htm.