memorandum of justification concerning human ... - Just the Facts

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of 196 in 2002 to 163 in 2003, 85 in 2004, 49 in 2005, 45 in 2006, 40 in 2007. The
government reported a 77 percent increase in homicides of indigenous persons between
2007 and 2008, with 71 such homicides in 2008. This rate has increased alarmingly in
the first quarter of 2009, with 42 homicides of indigenous persons reported between
January and April 2009.
Since 2002, the Colombian government has provided protective measures to 323
indigenous persons belonging to 11 different communities. Beginning in 2004, the
Colombian government had operated a Committee for the Regulation and Evaluation of
Risk, specifically to attend to concerns of indigenous persons. Indigenous groups have a
seat on this committee, which provides recommendations on protection measures for
community members.
Human rights groups estimate that indigenous persons make up eight percent of
Colombia‘s displaced population, with 11,097 indigenous persons displaced in 2008
according to Acción Social. As of June 2009, the government reports that 2,259
indigenous were displaced so far this year. NGOs point out that many indigenous
persons cannot flee due to the activities of the armed groups and are thus forced into a
very precarious humanitarian situation known as ―confinement.‖ In such a situation,
indigenous persons do not have adequate access to food, medicines and other
commodities. On top of suffering the same fate as other IDPs, NGOs say that indigenous
peoples‘ social fabric is destroyed by internal displacement since these communities have
particular economic, cultural and social ties to their ancestral lands. For example, NGOs
report that internal displacement is jeopardizing the cultural survival of the indigenous
group Nukak Maku, a nomadic people in Guaviare. Out of a total remaining population
of 500, already 200 of this group are internally displaced.
In a January 2009 ruling, the Constitutional Court stated that indigenous peoples in
Colombia ―are at risk of cultural or physical extermination by the armed conflict, and
have been the victims of extremely grave violations of their individual and collective
fundamental rights and international humanitarian law.‖ The Court declared that 34 of
the country‘s 102 indigenous groups are facing a humanitarian emergency, and ordered
the government to adopt safeguards to protect them, as well as guarantees for all
indigenous communities.
UN Special Rapporteur Report
In his preliminary report, UN Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Indigenous
People, James Anaya, who completed his trip to Colombia in July 2009, said that
―Colombia‘s indigenous people find themselves in a serious, critical and profoundly
worrying human rights situation.‖ Anaya visited the southwestern provinces of Nariño
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