9th FORUM ON MINORITY ISSUES “MINORITIES IN SITUATIONS OF HUMANITARIAN CRISES” November 24th and 25th, 2016 KEY MESSAGES OF COLOMBIA Panel 1: LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND KEY CONCEPTS (Thursday 24th, 11:00) Thank your Mr President, Colombia has designed effective answers for the two types of humanitarian crises emergencies that it faces: those derived from the armed conflict and those produced by the risk of disaster. In these responses, the Colombian state has ensured to guarantee the protection of minorities’ human rights and ensure that their needs are met during the assistance and redress for victims and during the delivery of humanitarian aid. On this occasion, I would like to share some essential characteristics of Colombian institutional frameworks and operatives to face the crises related to natural disasters and those cause by a conflict. The first one is information management. The gathering and systematisation data on victims and those who are in living in vulnerability incorporate the differential approach. In second place, Colombia has a legal and normative framework based on principles of equality, participation and diversity, and incorporates the international human rights and international humanitarian law obligations. This is the case of the ‘Victims and Land Restitution Law’ and the ‘Risk of Disaster Management Law’ with the national plans for preventing and responding the local, regional, and national level. The third element refers to the existence of a strong institutional system, as well as the development of public policies which incorporate a differential and gender approach. Moreover, it is important to highlight that the entities responsible of coordinating both systems (Victims Unit and Risk Management Unit) and other institutions have spaces of dialogue with representatives of the victims in order to listen and consider their needs. In fourth place, attention and assistance, as well as the full compensation, which objective is to guarantee the recovery of conditions of victims which allows them to live a decent life and re-incorporate them to social, political, and economic life, which allow their effective enjoyment of rights which have been abused. These measures consider also that victims belong to minority groups. Nevertheless, the rights of vulnerable people such as women, children, elderly, people living a disability, or LGBT people, are not neglected within the collective rights of groups. Furthermore,