ITEM 8 | Panel discussion on the rights of Indigenous Peoples in post-conflict situations and peace negotiations, agreements, and accords.
17th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Statement by Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI)
Monday 8 July, 2024
IPRI would like to congratulate EMRIP for organizing a panel discussion on the issue of the rights of Indigenous Peoples in post-conflict situations and peace negotiations, agreements, and accords. We believe it is important to provide opportunities for the follow up and monitoring of the expert advice and recommendations provided by EMRIP in its 2022 report. As an Indigenous-led organization working to prevent and put an end to violence and criminalization against Indigenous Peoples, IPRI supports Indigenous Peoples and their organizations in several countries in such contexts, such as Colombia and Mexico. Most of these countries have been identified as some of the most dangerous for Indigenous human rights defenders, showing the persistence of violence against Indigenous Peoples in post-conflict situations.
In Colombia, the 2016 Peace Accord included an Ethnic Chapter with specific measures to address the rights of Indigenous Peoples.[1] Unfortunately, progress in the implementation of those measures has been slow. The IEANPE (High Level Special Body of Ethnic Peoples of Colombia) that assesses implementation of the Ethnic Chapter reports that the 38% of the implementation indicators show no progress at all.[2] The institution also expresses concern for the humanitarian situation of Indigenous Peoples in different regions of the country due to the deployment of different armed groups.
International and regional human rights bodies have also echoed their concern on the ongoing violence against Indigenous Peoples in Colombia. The IAComHR has stressed the differentiated impacts of the ongoing violence on Indigenous Peoples, and the massive displacements and confinements affecting them in the departments of Antioquía, Cauca, César, Chocó, La Guajira, Magdalena, Nariño, Putumayo and Valle del Cauca.[3] The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples in his statement after his visit to the country earlier this year, states that in spite of existing good practices, such as the institutional development of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, the Victims Unit or the recognition of Indigenous territories as victims of the conflict, he received alarming reports on the continuing aggressions suffered by Indigenous Peoples in many regions in the country.[4]
IPRI has recently denounced cases showing the increasing violence in Cauca, including the killing of Nasa Indigenous leader Carmelina Yule Pavi in Toribío on March 17.[5] According to ONIC's annual report, in 2023, more than 58,000 Indigenous men and women were victims of harassment, confinement, and forced displacement. Indepaz also estimates that at least 37 Indigenous leaders have lost their lives in Colombia during that period. IPRI's 2022 report indicates that armed groups continue to operate within Indigenous Peoples' territories, assassinating Indigenous guards and authorities, forcibly recruiting Indigenous children and adolescents, imposing forced confinements and displacement.[6]
The 2022 EMRIP report recognizes the potential benefits of the internationalization of agreements, as was the case of the Colombia Peace Accord, and suggest external monitoring could be an enabling factor for the actual implementation of such agreements.[7] We feel it is urgent that the international community cooperates for the full implementation, in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, of the Ethnic Chapter of the Peace Accord. Upcoming CBD COP16, to be held in Cali, has as its theme Peace with Nature. We hope this can contribute to the overall peace efforts in the country, including extending peace to Indigenous lands and territories.
EMRIP’s 2022 report does also refer to the San Andrés Agreements in Mexico. As observed in the report, key aspects of the agreement have not been implemented, including adequate recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the Constitution, a pending claim reiterated by Indigenous Peoples’ organizations for the last UPR of Mexico, whose final report is being adopted by the HRC in its present session. The current constitutional text, as pointed out by Special Rapporteurs Stavenhagen and Tauli-Corpuz does actually make the exercise of Indigenous self-determination impossible.[8] We hope that the new government meets this long-standing commitment, as well as other unresolved demands of the San Andres Agreements, working together with Indigenous Peoples. At the same time, measures are needed to address the impacts of militarization in Indigenous lands and territories and for the affective protection of Indigenous human rights defenders, as reflected in IPRI’s research and reports.[9]
Guatemala’s 1995 Agreement on Indigenous Peoples’ Identity and Rights was an effort to build a new relationship between the Guatemalan State and Indigenous Peoples in the country. [10] The Agreement has never been fully implemented, in spite of ulterior decisions of Guatemalan Courts recognizing some of the massacres, forced slavery, systematic violations of human rights and genocide suffered by Indigenous Peoples during the long conflict. New efforts have to be undertaken to move forward in the recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the country, including putting an end to the violence and criminalization they are suffering and to the impunity of the perpetrators.
As shown in the above mention examples, violence against Indigenous Peoples and gross violations of their human rights continue in post- conflict situations, and positive measures incorporated in peace agreements are not being implemented. In its 2022 report, EMRIP advices the creation of international mechanisms which can focus on the implementation of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements with Indigenous Peoples, including peace agreements. Until such mechanisms are established in the relevant cases, we hope that EMRIP will continue paying particular attention to the implementation of peace agreements to ensure full compliance with the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including adequate remedy.
[1] Acuerdo Final para la terminación del conflicto y la construcción de una paz estable y duradera, firmado en 2016 entre el Gobeirno de Colombia y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)
[2] https://ieanpe.com/2024/06/06/ieanpe-presenta-iii-informe-de-balance-sobre-la-implementacion-del-capitulo-etnicodel-acuerdo-final-de-paz/, 6 June, 2024
[3] CIDH, Observaicones Preliminares. Visita in loco a Colombia. 15 al 19 de abril de 2024
[4] https://www.hchr.org.co/historias_destacadas/declaracion-final-del-relator-especial-de-las-naciones-unidas-sobre-los-derechos-de-los-pueblos-indigenas-francisco-cali-tzay-al-concluir-su-visita-oficial-a-colombia/
[5] https://iprights.org/index.php/en/all-statements/colombia-emergency-in-cauca-urgent-action-urged-in-the-face-of-escalating-armed-violence-against-Indigenous-Peoples
[6] https://iprights.org/index.php/en/component/content/article/violence-impunity-and-criminalization-against-Indigenous-Peoples-in-colombia?catid=9&Itemid=102
[7] A/HRC/51/50, para. 80
[8] A/HRC/39/17/Add.2 (2018) and E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.2 (2003)
[9] See https://iprights.org/index.php/en/component/content/article/las-cicatrices-son-memoria-la-militarizacion-en-pueblos-indigenas-de-mexico?catid=9&Itemid=102 and https://iprights.org/images/articles/resources/Annual%20Criminalization%20Report%202022/IPRI%20Annual%20Criminalization%20Report%202022.pdf
[10] Acuerdo sobre Identidad y Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas. (1995). Available at https://memoriavirtualguatemala.org/producto/acuerdo-sobre-identidad-y-derechos-de-los-pueblos-indigenas/
