66
conditions of vulnerability, due in the main to the precariousness of the institutions' ability to
312
implement State policies and assigning insufficient resources.
288.
The Commission recalls as well that the Inter-American Court has established that
[i]n view of the complexity of the phenomenon of internal displacement and of the broad range of
human rights affected or endangered by it, and bearing in mind said circumstances of special
weakness, vulnerability, and defenselessness in which the displaced population generally finds
itself, as subjects of human rights, their situation can be undertook as an individual de facto
situation of lack of protection with regard to the rest of those who are in similar situations. This
condition of vulnerability has a social dimension, in the specific historical context of the domestic
armed conflict in Colombia, and it leads to the establishment of differences in access of displaced
persons to public resources managed by the State. Said condition is reproduced by cultural
prejudices that hinder the integration of the displace population in society and that can lead to
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impunity regarding the human rights violations against them.
289.
Within these parameters and bearing in mind the complexity of the phenomenon of
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internal forced displacement and the wide range of human rights affected and endangered,
the
Commission will begin by considering whether the facts described involve the State's responsibility with
respect to a number of rights which are inextricably interlinked and affected by forced displacement and
its consequences under consideration in this analysis. In this way, the Commission will analyze the
impact on the right to free movement and residence, personal integrity, family protection, the rights of the
child, to property, and on the guarantee to respect rights free from discrimination.
Forced Displacement and the Restriction on the Right to Free Movement and Residence
290.
From the findings of fact it can be inferred that the Afro-descendants of the Cacarica
basin communities endured forced displacement for four years, away from their places of origin, from
February 1997 until March 2001.
291.
Article 22.1 of the American Convention establishes that "[e]vey person lawfully in the
territory of a State party has the right to move about in it, and to reside in it subject to the provisions of the
law." The exercise of this right may only be restricted pursuant to specific laws for reasons of public
interest. The Inter-American Court has stated that the right to free movement and residence is an
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essential condition for the free development of the person
and consists, inter alia, of the right of
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everyone lawfully within a State to move freely within it and to choose his place of residence.
292.
Taking account of the applicable rules of interpretation and in accordance with Article
29.b of the Convention, which prohibits a restrictive interpretation of these rights, the Inter-American
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Cf. Constitutional Court Judgment T-025/04 of January 22, 2004. I/A Court H.R. Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre” v.
Colombia. Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C No. 134, para. 182.
313
I/A Court H.R. Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre” v. Colombia. Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C No. 134,
para. 177.
314
Cf. Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre” v. Colombia. Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C No. 134, para. 186.
315
I/A Court H.R. Case of the Ituango Massacres. Judgment of July 1, 2006. Series C No. 148, para. 206; I/A Court H.R.,
Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre” v. Colombia. Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C No. 134, para. 168; I/A Court H.R.,
Case of the Moiwana Community. Judgment of June 15, 2005. Series C No. 124, para. 110; and I/A Court H.R., Case of Ricardo
Canese. Judgment of August 31, 2004. Series C No. 111, para. 115.
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I/A Court H.R., Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre” v. Colombia. Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C No. 134,
para. 168; I/A Court H.R., Case of the Moiwana Community. Judgment of June 15, 2005. Series C No. 124, para. 110; and I/A Court
H.R., Case of Ricardo Canese. Judgment of August 31, 2004. Series C No. 111, para. 115. See, in the same sense, Annex 94. UN
Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 27 of November 2, 1999, paras.1, 4, 5 and 19. At:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/6c76e1b8ee1710e380256824005a10a9.