Story Published: Nov 1, 2010
Advocates
warn that many indigenous peoples in Colombia still face the danger
of extinction due to an increase in homicides, threats and instances
of forced displacement.
The United Nations
High Commission for Refugees issued a report Aug. 9, the
International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, focusing on
these imminent and present dangers. The threats could result in the
physical or cultural disappearance of many peoples, and the warnings
about this emergency are not new.
In 2004, the United Nations Special Rapporteur Rodolfo Stavenhagen
issued an alert warning that 12 indigenous groups were facing
imminent extinction, and five years later in 2009, the Colombian
Constitutional Court petitioned the government to “design and put
into practice” special protections for 34 groups. In 2010, the
Colombian authorities enacted a plan and invited U.N. officials to
visit the country for further consultation.
The UNHCR report did note that in some regions of the country
violence against Native peoples is decreasing, but in several other
areas the problems are getting worse. Statistics from 2009 show that
there was a 63 percent increase in the number of reported homicides
of indigenous persons from 2008, with a notation of the effect the
violence was having on children and adolescents. For instance, in
the three massacres of Awa people in 2009, more than 11 percent of
the 33 killed were minors under the age of 18.
The agency listed the Awa, along with the Wounaan, Embera,
Eperara-Siapidara, Jiw, Nukak and Sicuani indigenous communities as
requiring special protection. They also expressed concern over more
problems affecting indigenous young people, such as the forced
recruitment of young indigenous Colombians by illegal armed groups
as well as sexual violence committed by these same armed groups in
the Guaviare and Chaco departments. Suspected suicides by young
indigenous women could be related to this sexual violence, the
report stated.
The refugee agency stated that despite new efforts by the Colombian
government, including the “special protections” for 34 indigenous
communities, concerns are growing due to – among other factors –
recent reports of the forced displacement of the Sicuani and Wounaan
peoples. Both of these communities are among the 34 groups who have
been granted protections. Figures for 2004 – 2009 show a total of
55,513 indigenous people were among the more than three million
internally displaced Colombians. The report asserted that 70 percent
of those displacements were due to violence, and that this same
violence has increased in indigenous communities in nine regions.
Among the displaced are the nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes such as
the Nukak, Sicuani, Jiw and Jitnu who are being forced to settle or
are forcibly confined by illegal armed groups, which prevents the
tribes from both accessing traditional sources of food and rituals
such as hunting and other social customs.
The UNHCR report also found that displaced indigenous people were
moving into urban centers and that these changes were also hindering
the preservation of cultural identity and traditional social
structures.
One of the indigenous people interviewed by the refugee agency was
Simon, a 40-year-old member of the Inga community. He told the UNHCR
about some of the consequences of his peoples displacement from the
mountains in Southern Colombia to the eastern city of Villavicencio.
“The children that were born in Villavicencio don’t speak Inga; if
they can they are embarrassed to. And that is not the young peoples
fault. If we were able to have meetings, if they were able to
continually participate in the meetings of us, the Inga, it would be
much easier to feel part of a community and be proud of it.”
The issue of prior consultation was also featured in the agency
report. The UNHCR asserted that “prior consultation on decisions
that affect economic and social development is the instrument that
allows indigenous people to exercise their rights to participate in
national and regional governance.”
While the government of new President Juan Manuel Santos was
commended for taking some steps toward protection of the indigenous
peoples of Colombia, the agency warns that more enforcement and
greater protections of all rights are needed to prevent the further
disappearance of indigenous Colombians.
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