We stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples of Colombia

Written on 24 July 2018. Posted in Colombia

IWGIA fully supports the press release published by the Indigenous Peoples Major Group that strongly condemns the persistent and gross human rights violations committed in Colombia and express solidarity with the indigenous peoples in the country.

"The Indigenous Peoples Major Group on the Sustainable Development Goals stands in solidarity with the indigenous peoples of Colombia and strongly condemns the persistent and gross human rights violations committed against them in the country.

While Colombia presented its Voluntary National Report (VNR) on its implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at the current session of the HLPF session in New York, the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) issued a statement denouncing the continuous and systematic violation of the rights of indigenous peoples in Colombia which is pushing them further behind.

According to the information provided by Higinio Obispo, President of ONIC, who is currently participating in the HLPF session, the much-awaited peace agreements signed in 2016 between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas, aiming at putting an end to more than 50 years of civil war, have not put an end to the violence and the systematic violation of the rights of the indigenous peoples in the country. On the contrary, the number of attacks and murders are increasing on a nearly daily basis.

According to the statement issued by ONIC last week, since the signing of the peace accords in 2016, 68 indigenous leaders and community members have been killed. The horrendous figures provided by ONIC of human rights violations committed against Indigenous leaders and community members provide evidence of the danger of extinction and extermination that indigenous peoples are currently suffering in Colombia.

The legal and illegal armed groups that perpetrate these crimes are dissidents from the guerrilla armed groups, paramilitaries and military forces and impunity is around 90%, according to the Colombian Commission of Jurists. In addition, recruitment and use of indigenous children, adolescents and young people by legal and illegal armed groups, is still a common practice in peacetime said Higinio Obispo in New York and denounced the Colombian Government for criminalizing indigenous peoples’ mobilization to silence their protest.

The Indigenous Peoples Major Group on the SDG’s strongly condemns the human rights violations against indigenous peoples in Colombia and urges the government of Colombia to:

• Urgently put in place the necessary measures to prevent and protect indigenous peoples from human rights violations and to effectively address the crisis of violence against Indigenous peoples in the country.
• End impunity for crimes committed against indigenous peoples’ leaders and community members
• Stop the unjust criminalization and judicialization of indigenous leaders."

The Indigenous Peoples Major Group's activities are being implemented with support from the European Union.

Read more about the group here >>

Read more about indigenous peoples in Colombia here >>

Tags: Global governance, Human rights