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Colombia's humanitarian
problems worst in region: UNICEF
Colombian women and children
suffered the worst humanitarian
crises in Latin America and the
Caribbean region, the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
said in a report published on
Monday.
The report said that together
with Haiti, Colombia has the
worst humanitarian problems in
the region and received most of
UNICEF aid.
Colombia's internal conflict
"continues to cause serious
human rights violations and has
a deep impact on the
humanitarian situation of
Colombians," causing high levels
of internal refugees, said
Daniel Toole, head of Colombia's
humanitarian crises office.
He added that the conflict had
triggered "enormous humanitarian
need" and had tested survival
mechanisms in affected
communities and the response
capabilities of the country and
other humanitarian agencies.
Besides the conflict, Colombia
had a large number of
humanitarian catastrophes in
2005, the UNICEF report added.
UNICEF works to solve
humanitarian crises in 29
countries, withan annual budget
of 805 million U.S. dollars.
Colombia has been suffering from
an internal armed conflict since
the mid-1960s that led to about
5,000 deaths each year and left
hundreds of families displaced.
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