93 circumstances of special vulnerability and defenselessness in which those displaced usually find themselves, their situation can be understood as a de facto situation of lack of protection. In the terms of the American Convention, this situation obliges the States to grant the displaced preferential treatment and to adopt positive measures to reverse the effects of this situation of vulnerability and defenselessness, including vis-à-vis acts and practices of individual third parties.200 211. The Colombian Constitutional Court has referred to this situation of vulnerability of the displaced as follows: [��] Owing to the circumstances that surround internal displacement, the persons […] who are obliged “suddenly to abandon their place of residence and their usual economic activities, being forced to migrate to another place within national territory” to escape from the violence caused by the internal armed conflict and the systematic disregard for human rights or international humanitarian law, are exposed to a much higher level of vulnerability, which entails a grave, massive and systematic violation of their fundamental rights and, thus, merits that the authorities should grant them special care and attention. Those displaced due the violence are in a state of vulnerability that makes them deserve special treatment by the State.201 212. The accentuated vulnerability of the displaced is increased by the fact that they come from rural areas and that women are usually more affected, since they are the household heads and represent more than half the displaced population. The internal displacement crisis leads, in turn, to a security crisis, since the groups of internally displaced persons become a new resource or a new source of recruitment for the paramilitary, drug-trafficking and guerrilla groups.202 213. Other major negative effects of internal forced displacement include the loss of land and housing, marginalization, serious psychological repercussions, unemployment, increased poverty and the deterioration in living conditions, an increase in illnesses and mortality, loss of access to communal property, lack of food security, and social disintegration.203 214. The Court should emphasize that, to confront this problem of internal displacement, Colombia has adopted a series of measures at the legislative, administrative and judicial levels, including many laws, decrees, documents of the National Economic and Social Policy Council (CONPES), resolutions and presidential directives (supra para. 125(108) and 125(109)). For example, Act 37 of July 18, 1997, established mechanisms for registration and emergency care for the displaced population.204 However, the Court agrees with the opinion of the Colombian 200 Cf. Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre”, supra note 8, para. 179. 201 Cf. judgment T025 of January 22, 2004, issued by the Third Review Chamber of the Constitutional Court (file of attachments to the brief answering the application, tome III, Appendix 30, ff. 4363 to 4747hh). 202 Cf. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, E/CN.4/2005/48, of March 3, 2005, para. 38. Also, cf. Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre”, supra note 8, para. 175. 203 Cf. Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre”, supra note 8, para. 175 204 Cf. Act 387 of July 18, 1997, Official gazette No. 43091 of July 24, 1997 (http://www.secretariasenado.gov. co/leyes/L0387_97.HTM).