Early this month, CODHES, an internationally recognized human rights group that focus on displacement in Colombia, announced that according to their statistics and findings, 220,000 people were displaced in 2006. This number was siginificantly lower than that of 2005 which saw 310,200 people displaced. Overall, this is a significant drop from the 412,500 people that were displaced in the war for 2002. That year was the most intense year for the war in the last 10 years as the most people were also killed directly in the war that year. The year is also key because on December 1, the paramilitary organization known as the AUC declared a ceasefire as part of their peace talks with the government. The group had been put onthe United States' list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations on September 10, 2001, and 2002 showed the world just why the paramilitary group could no longer be ignored as such.
As is typical with the number of displaced each year in Colombia, the government's branch that covers the humanitarian aspects of the country, Accion Social (Social Action), stated that there were about 172,700 displaced persons in Colombia in 2006. They argue that they are more accurate because people register as displaced with them and they verify the information provided during the registration process. While CODHES' numbers may not be 100% dead on, as this work is incredibly difficult, Accion Social's numbers are definately low. Many displaced do not register out of fear for reprisals. They can just show up and build a house wherever an remain under the radar but the registration process involves people walking from they live, to the office where people register. It's not that people are lazy, the problem lies in that going into the office makes it very obvious who they are. For example, in Altos de Cazuca the UN opened a "House of Rights." 
People do not only register to be displaced there, but can denounce threats or things they have seen.
The problem is that the steps a to the office are visible from very far away, along with the road that passes along the front of the building. While the original intent in this was that the office would be visible for anyone searching for it, it has backfired that the office is now too visible. People fear going there because they know they will be seen by people doing intelligence for armed groups in the area. This is not a maybe, as less than 200 yards from the UN office, on the same road it lies on, one could easily new, bright green AUC graffitti. AUC was again visible on yards from the first spot, more AUC graffitti was clear on the side of a building during my visit to Soacha in August 2006. With the increased violence in Soacha, fear is clearly a factor in whether people register themselves as displaced or not. Seconldy, Accion Social does not register those displaced by fumigations or because of the effects of the fumigations.
Does the decrease in the number of displaced persons mean that the conflict is winding down permanently, and that someone is winning it? In the long run, neither is accurate. While I was able to travel throughout Putumayo in August 2006, an area historically known as a war-gripped region, it seems like the conflict in the area, compared to previous years, had calmed down a bit in the area. It is important to point out that while August may have been a "safer" month, one campesino told me that it can be safe for one month and then very dangerous the next month, then back to safe. His description of the situation is consistant with what one can see from outside of Colombia, when keeping track of violence in various areas. After all, this is a guerrilla war. For example, earlier in the year, there was a large amount of guerrilla violence rocking all parts of Colombia, while the last week or so has been relatively quiet. In Putumayo, the displaced do show us that the war is still raging. While in Orito, a camp of displaced had been set up earlier in the year, and people actually were arriving as our group left the camp. 
The squalor and utterly atrocious conditions that people have been forced to live under shows us just how strong the conflict still rages in rural Putumayo. The fact that people felt it necessary to live in such conditions tells us that the situation under which they would have to live had they not left their village are actually worse than the conditions which they currently live under. For 220,000 people, this observation can be made. Not all displaced live in tents but because they are forced to leave often last minute, with nowhere to go, find themselves living in squalor. Those in Soacha, for example, may arrive without enough money to buy a house, no job skills for a city environment, and know nobody. Because of this, we see houses like this one or this.
So while the number of Colombian refugees may have dropped to 220,000 this year, we can see that the conflict is still raging on very strongly. Those also looking to escape the conflict are forced to live through worse conditions, though sometimes safer, in order to survive. Often they find that they cannot escape the war as those in Soacha come to find guerrillas and new paramilitary groups, and those in Orito face threats as evidenced by their request that our group not publish photos with faces. Also, the international community has barely come to the aid of these people, despite their ranking at #2 for Internally Displaced Persons. Perhaps sometime soon the media, international community and countless activists will come together to help those forced to leave their homes because of war.
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