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

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displacement. Between July 14-18, 2009, per the recommendation (Auto 092) of the
Constitutional Court, the group convened to focus on the issue of displaced women.
Resolving Conflicts
The Colombian government also helped indigenous communities work toward
finding solutions to conflicts with other groups and with companies operating in the area.
For example, in La Guajira, the government helped the indigenous groups in the region
with the conflict they were having with Venezuelan Petroleum Company PDVSA. As
agreed to by Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador in 2003, PDVSA has been working
since October 2007 to construct the Trans Caribe Antonio Ricaurte pipeline, which would
run from Punta Ballenas (just northeast of La Guajira‘s capitol of Riohacha) to refineries
in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
Some indigenous communities complained that they were not included in the
consultation process (―consulta previa‖). As a result, the Colombian government
conducted an emergency evaluation study to determine whether these groups were
entitled to participate in the consultation process, which determined that some of the
communities in the ―impact zone‖ should have been included in the intial consultation.
In August 2009, an inter-institutional committee is scheduled to visit the area to view the
―impact zone‖ and to continue discussions with the communities in the area.
Program to Guarantee the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Affected by Displacement
In accordance with decisions by the Constitutional Court (Sentence T025, and
Auto 004 of 2009), the Colombian government has mobilized various state entities to
work together on the ―Program to Guarantee the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Affected
by Displacement.‖
To safeguard indigenous communities, the Colombian government has developed
mechanisms such as the Permanent Coordination Working Group (Mesa Permanente de
Concertación), the National Commission on Human Rights, and the Regional Amazonian
Working Group (Mesa Regional Amozónica). The Permanent Coordination Working
Group was formed in response to a request from the Constitutional Court (Auto 004) and
is aimed at identifying the resources – both financial and human – needed to meet the
needs to design 34 plans to safeguard indigenous communities. On May 22, 2009, the
Permanent Coordination Working Group met to develop a methodology for identifying
these resources. The group agreed to meet again June 4, 2009, to develop a timeline for
this effort, and again on June 12, 2009, to review the methodological process in order to
modify Decree 1397 of 1996, which is what created the working group.
On May 28 and 29, 2009, the Regional Amazonian Working Group met and agreed
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