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COLOMBIA: International Mission Hears Indigenous Cry for Help

Helda Martínez

BOGOTA, Oct 2 2006 (IPS) - Indigenous people’s organisations in Colombia presented an international mission with a document protesting human rights violations and urging that they be supported as an especially vulnerable group in the armed conflict that has been going on for over four decades.

There are 94 different indigenous groups accounting for 750,000 people in Colombia, where they represent less than one percent of the total population of 43 million. Twenty-eight of these communities have less than 500 people, and four of them have less than 60.

Indigenous organisations’ statistics for 2006, up to August, record 18 homicides, 28 forced disappearances, two deaths from anti-personnel mines, 279 irregular arrests carried out without due process, 10,800 death threats, 12 kidnappings, 75 wounded and 5,731 people forced to flee their ancestral lands.

There were 104 murders of indigenous people in 2005, 189 in 2004, and 175 in 2003, most of which remain unpunished.

However, these figures are considered to be incomplete, as many communities live in remote jungle areas with little communication with the outside, and respond to the attacks of armed groups with fear and silence.

The statistics were included in the document handed by the National Indigenous Peace Council (CONIP) to the International Verification Mission (MIV) which visited the country Sep. 19-30 to assess the humanitarian situation and human rights of the indigenous people of Colombia.

The mission was made up of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Belgium, Britain, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

The MIV was the initiative of the CONIP, which consists of the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia, the Indigenous Association of Colombia, the Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon and the Tairona Indigenous Confederation. CONIP was created at the Indigenous Peoples’ Congress in 2001.

The international mission was accompanied by members of prominent Colombian human rights groups like the Colombian Commission of Jurists and the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective, as well as observers from the United Nations and the Swiss and German embassies, and a delegation from the European Commission.

The MIV toured the provinces of Cauca in the southwest, Arauca and Guaviare in the east, and Córdoba in the northwest, and visited the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in the north.

The indigenous communities live in these regions of enormous natural wealth and resources that have drawn the interest of foreign companies.

The report prepared by the indigenous organisations states that due to “the persecution and murder of our authorities, invasion of our territories for exploiting and extracting hydrocarbons and timber, and aerial spraying (of coca crops) and bombings, (the indigenous people) see their mobility constrained or are obliged to move away, fall sick and have no food security.”

After the visits to the regions, the MIV issued a document on Friday with 10 recommendations, announced by Charlie Roberts, coordinator of the Colombia Human Rights Committee, based in Washington, D.C.

They include an urgent call to the Colombian government to respect international humanitarian law, treat indigenous reserves as neutral no-fire zones, take into account the unanimous demand of the indigenous communities not to be dragged into the civil war, and provide special protection for indigenous groups that are in danger of dying out.

In addition, the European Union and the G-24 (a group of international donors to Colombia) are asked to closely monitor the situation of indigenous peoples, in the context of agreements signed by the international donor community in London in 2003 and in Cartagena, Colombia in 2005.

The United States was also asked to respect indigenous peoples’ territories and property when planning “democratic security policies” implemented by Bogotá with financial support from Washington.

The MIV urged illegal armed groups to respect the rights of indigenous people to their territory, life and autonomy, and international humanitarian law.

Furthermore, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples was asked to make another visit soon, to evaluate compliance with his earlier recommendations to the Colombian state.

The MIV itself arose out of recommendations made in 2004 by the Special Rapporteur, Rodolfo Stavenhagen.

The mission also organised the National Forum for Life, which brought together in Bogotá on Thursday representatives of indigenous communities from different parts of the country.

An Indigenous Women’s Forum was also held, which called for respect for their life, honour and personal safety. In confidence, 23 women told of acts of violence against themselves and their families, and later issued a document of conclusions named “Indigenous Women and their Voices of Resistance.”

“We are living in a very complex situation that affects every indigenous community in the country. However, we want to make progress in recovering what is ours, in winning recognition for what belongs to us, while remaining outside the war,” Feliciano Valencia of the Nasa people, who live in the western province of Cauca and are known for their peace activism, told IPS.

“We need international support, and support from people in general,” said Valencia, who survived a grenade attack.

The MIV announced the launch of a permanent information network on the situation of indigenous people in Colombia.

“This is a job we all must do. Monitoring should be done by journalists, the communities, and representatives of international aid agencies in Colombia,” Roberts, spokesman for the MIV, told IPS.

The mission met with representatives of the ministries of Education, Agriculture and the Environment, and the Social Action Administrative Department.

They were not received by the vice president, nor by the ministries of the Interior and Justice, or Mines and Energy, which are essential to the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights, Roberts said.