Peru’s internal armed struggle between the Shining Path Maoist group and the leftist Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) on the one side and government armed forces and self-defence groups on the other came to an end in 2000 after 20 years of conflict.  During the hostilities around 69,000 people disappeared or were killed, while between 500,000 and 1 million people were internally displaced. 

The conflict first emerging as a campaign for greater land reform and broader social and economic rights, in response to one of the most unequal systems of land distribution in Latin America, extreme poverty and social exclusion.  Nonetheless, this initial cause gave way to an oppressive Maoist Ideology that instigated a campaign of terror against the civilian population, resulting in widespread Human Rights violations.  In addition, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR), which published its final report in 2003, noted that the use of marshal law in nine provinces during hostilities saw government forces also commit systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, committing 28% of all violations.

Recommendations emerging from the CVR included the registry of all people forcedly displaced during the conflict as victims and consequently eligible for compensation, regardless of their large numbers and the resulting financial implications.  In addition, compensation programs where recommended for both individuals and communities in areas of mental and physical health, education, economic support, and the provision of identification documents.  In the realisation of these objectives, the State has successfully integrated the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement into national law, nonetheless the National Reparation Council, the government body established to over see reparations has been marred by poor coordination, training of enumerators and a lack of IDP participation.  Consequently, despite the promising mechanisms in place to date only 3,000 of the remaining 150,000 have been officially registered and earmarked for assistance.  (Ombudsman’s Officer, February 2007)

In the absence of assistance from national authorities, I have been working to improve the organisational capacities of Organización de Afectados Tarinakuy who represent displaced families who settled in Villa el Salvador, one of the many slum regions on the outskirts of Lima on behalf of the human rights NGO APRODEH.  Having been displaced from across the departments of Junin, Ayacucho, Apurimac, Ucayali and Huancavelica they are amongst the 200,000 IDPs who subsequently settled in Lima. 

Although the majority of displacements took place over 15 years there remains problems of integration, a consequence of social, political, and economic and cultural exclusion.  In spite of the absence of the most basic social service provision, they have, live the majority of IDPs decided to settle in the urban areas, due to the perception of better employment and education opportunities for their children, the lack of infrastructure in rural, the loss of assets and the psychological trauma associated with their original regions of displacement.

My key contribution to the organisation has been the development of their systems of communications to complement their ongoing negotiations with the State and the development of a microfinance project to develop the livelihood strategies of the organisations members.   Deriving from rural areas many of the IDP are traditionally farmers and in many cases have a limited knowledge of Spanish beyond their native Quechua.