President Barack Obama with Sebastian Salgado
Distressed over reports of violence against Afro-Colombian communities, a UN expert panel has called on Colombian authorities to take concrete and urgent measures to protect the country’s people of African descent.
“We are concerned that many Afro-Colombians community leaders have faced repeated death threats following their call for their ancestral land rights and to prevent the exploitation of their territories by outside mining interests, including multinational mining companies,” UN human rights expert Ricardo A. Sunga III, who currently heads the Working Group of Experts of People of African Descent, said in a statement.
The call came at a time when several Afro-descendant leaders are being subjected to intimidation, including death threats, as they campaign for territorial rights.
Mr. Sunga stated: “We ask for protection of Afro-Colombians, especially those engaged in active campaign for land restitution including in the Cauca Department. The communities’ territorial rights must also be respected.
“We also urge the Colombian authorities to put an end to threats against human rights defenders and members of their families.”
While acknowledging ongoing efforts by the Colombian government, the human rights experts panel emphasized that much more work is required to address the situation, noting that, the Colombian government must take effective action to guarantee the safety of their communities, undertake full and impartial investigations into the threats and bring all those responsible to justice.
The panel also recalled its request for an official invitation in December 2014 and reiterated their willingness to visit the country to investigate the Afro-Colombian community’s human rights situation.
The Working Group’s appeal to the Colombian government was endorsed by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Mutuma Ruteere.
Photo credit: Fernando Llano
