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

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Of the proposed recommendations, Vice President Santos highlighted the
importance of creating incentives for greater Afro-Colombian political participation and
to raise the numbers of Afro-Colombians in institutions of higher education. He
underlined his commitment to further inclusiveness within Colombian society and his
intent to better enforce existing laws on encouraging diversity. Among other initiatives,
he wants to make Afro-Colombian history a mandatory subject in Colombian schools.
To monitor the government‘s progress in fulfilling its recommendations, the Commission
recommended creating a Technical Follow-up Committee, comprised of representatives
from the pertinent ministries and agencies.
In addition to the work of the Commission, in 2009, the Colombian government‘s
Directorate of Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquera Communities within the
MOI&J followed up on actions recommended by Congress related to:
Decree Project for Law 1182 of 2008;
Technical Committee on Border Development (―Comité Téchnico Desarrollo
Fronteras‖ – CIDF);
Concept Project for Law 334 of 2008 on mining code; and
Concept Project for Law 073 of 2007 regarding legal penalties for racial or ethnic
discrimination.
The government has also begun a nationwide campaign to end racism. It celebrated
National Afro-Colombian Day on May 21, 2009, with 181 Afro-Colombian-focused
events throughout the country.
In March 2009, the MOI&J formed a Permanent Working Group to follow-up on
Constitutional Court Order 005 from 2009 regarding prior consultations on protection
plans and policies related to Afro-Colombians. The group has met nine times and has
developed a methodology for prior consultations on the 62 such protection and policy
plans. To aid in the design of the Plan to Characterize the Collective and Ancestral
Lands, the group has identified those entities responsible for each related issue, and has
made progress to unify criteria on ancestral territory.
Furthermore, the MOI&J‘s Directorate of Black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal and
Palenquera Communities has adopted the proposal by the Association of Displaced Afro-
Colombians (AFRODES) to create a National Working Group on Forced Displacement
and Confinement Among the Afro-Colombian Population (―Mesa Nacional Temática de
Población Afrocolombiana en Situaciones de Desplazamiento Forzado y
Confinamiento‖). This proposal contains a plan for dialogue with Afro-Colombian
communities and organizations regarding Constitutional Court decisions 200 from 2007,
092 from 2008, and 005 from 2009. For this project, the Ministry used as a reference the
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