Ruling T-025, 2004 on Displaced Persons
The intensification of the Colombian armed conflict generated a large population of foredly
displaced people, who were forced to leave their homes and migrate to urban centers with no
source of subsistence. Forcibly displaced persons filed tutela actions charging state and local
authorities with failing to protect their fundamental rights to human dignity and housing, among
others. Some of the plaintiffs had applied for access to housing aid or starting capital or training
for work projects, but received no response to their requests. Some received responses only after
the tutela actions had been filed. Others were told that budgetary allocations were insufficient to
fulfill their requests, and that their requests would be filled when resources became available,
without specifying how long the wait would be. Some plaintiffs waited up to two years for a
response to their requests.
2. Core issue(s)
Whether the following grievances constitute violations of plaintiffs’ fundamental constitutional
rights of petition, work, minimum subsistence income, dignified housing, healthcare, and access
to education:
- Inadequate handling of plaintiffs’ requests for aid by respondent authorities.
- Excessively long waiting time before receiving legally established aid.
- High number of tutela (claim of constitutional violation) actions filed by displaced
persons to obtain aid, to the point that these claims are being treated as part of the
ordinary procedure one must follow to obtain aid to which they are legally entitled.
- Lack of consistent policies across the country to provide aid and protection to displaced
populations.
3. What was the decision? Holding & Outline of the Court’s Decision
- Court held that, given the extreme vulnerability of the displaced population, as well as the
repeated omission by the different authorities in charge of their assistance to grant timely
and effective protection, the rights of the plaintiffs—and of the displaced population in
general—to a dignified life, personal integrity, equality, petition, work, health, social
security, education, minimum subsistence income and special protection for elderly
persons, women providers and children, have all been violated (p. 10 #2.2).
- Rights violations have been taking place on a massive scale and are not attributable to a
single authority, but are rather derived from structural problems that affect the State’s
entire assistance policy, on account of the insufficiency of the resources allocated to
finance such policy, and the precarious institutional capacity to implement it. This
situation gives rise to an officially-declared unconstitutional state of affairs. (p. 11
#2.2)
- State allocation of resources are not in accordance with the provisions of Law 387 of
1997, which established the constitutional rights of displaced persons. (p. 11 #2.2)
- Despite the existence of a State policy and social expenditures for assisting the
marginalized population, the authorities in charge of the distribution of these resources