Colombia’s indigenous communities face extinction, UN agency warns
A humanitarian emergency is looming among Colombia’s indigenous communities, with some threatened with extinction in the
South American country’s decades-long civil conflict, as irregular armed groups encroach upon their land, even torturing
and killing their leaders, the United Nations refugee agency warned today.
In the north-western region of Chocó, more than 1,700 Wounaan indigenous people are fleeing their traditional territory
following the murder last week of two of their leaders, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in the latest
of a long series of warnings it has issued over the past two years.
“We have repeatedly warned that some of the world’s oldest and smallest indigenous groups are at high risk not only of
displacement, but even of extinction because of the Colombian conflict,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told a news
briefing in Geneva. “All indigenous communities have close links to their ancestral land, on which their cultural
survival depends.”
More than 40 years of fighting between Government forces, leftist rebels and rightist paramilitaries, as well as other
violence, has already displaced 2 million Colombians, with the country’s 1 million indigenous people particularly
affected.
Indigenous associations and local authorities in Chocó are calling for help from the Government and the international
community, and the director of UNHCR’s bureau for the Americas is going to the regional town of Istmina tomorrow to meet
with the newly displaced and with local authorities.
Panic spread among the Wounaan after an irregular armed group killed two of their leaders in the space of 24 hours last
week. Last Thursday, armed men burst into a classroom in Unión Wounaan and left with the school’s 37-year-old teacher.
He was found dead a few hours later, his body showing signs of torture.
The following day, the leader of the Wounaan community was also found dead after being taken away by members of the same
irregular armed group. He too was a schoolteacher. There are fears that more assassinations could follow as other
leaders have received threats.
On the other side of the country in the south-eastern department of Guaviare, 77 Nukak indigenous people arrived last
week in the town of San José del Guaviare, having walked for four months after being forced to leave their ancestral
territory.
The Nukak are an indigenous group of very limited numbers that until 1988 was unknown to the outside world and lived a
nomadic existence of hunting and gathering. In recent years, they have become targets for irregular armed groups who
have taken over large parts of their territory. They appeared to be in poor health and clearly malnourished. However,
their long-term future remains uncertain. It is crucial to find a solution that will allow them to resume their way of
life and preserve their culture.
“UNHCR is working closely with indigenous associations to help them defend the rights of their people and our focus is
very much on preventing forced displacement through documentation, capacity-building and training,” Mr. Spindler said.