Indigenous in southwest Colombia “at imminent risk of extermination”
Representatives of the Nasa people from southwestern Colombia declared a humanitarian emergency, claiming their communities are at imminent risk of “physical and cultural extermination.”
In a press release, the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) said the alert is due to violence caused by guerrilla group EMC and its attempt to take over territories in the Northern Cauca region that were abandoned by guerrillas after the demobilization of the FARC in 2017.
Since the signing of a peace deal between the FARC and the national government, 374 members of indigenous communities in Northern Cauca have been assassinated, said the CRIC.
The escalation of violence perpetrated by FARC dissidents in recent years in northern Cauca resulted in 374 murders against Kiwe The, Kiwe Thegnas, indigenous authorities and community members, in addition to dozens of wounded and disabled, they have installed 42 explosives to affect civilians, not counting the devices that have affected dozens of homes and roads, have made 225 threats to community members and representatives of the communities, have recruited 785 minors, have forcibly disappeared at least 25 people and have extorted almost all the families in the territory, amounting to at least 1,777 actions against the indigenous communities of Northern Cauca.
Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca
The regional indigenous authority ordered its guards in the Northern Cauca region to increase security operations in and around indigenous reserves.
The CRIC also urged national authorities to comply with the dozens of judicial orders and recommendations made by the Ombudsman’s Office to protect indigenous communities in the war-torn region.
The Constitutional Court ruled 20 years ago already that the State abandonment of indigenous communities in regions affected by Colombia’s armed conflict constituted a mass violation of their constitutional rights.
Indigenous communities in the Northern Cauca region have been particularly affected by the rise of the EMC because the FARC dissidents’ attempted conquest of the region coincided with indigenous authorities’ attempts to reclaim territories that had come under control of the FARC.
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