Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI), a global organization that protects indigenous rights and amplifies the voices of victims in the face of criminalization and impunity, and the Elders' Collective Camino de los Ancestros express our deep concern over the significant increase in attacks against the indigenous peoples of Cauca. We ask the Colombian State to take decisive action to guarantee their life and integrity in the face of attacks that also violate their autonomy and collective rights.
According to information provided directly to us, the indigenous communities in the Department of Cauca remain in a state of alarm due to the escalation of violence and the intensified humanitarian emergency. Despite the issuance of early warnings by the Ombudsman's Office, in recent weeks there have been a series of events that have had a profound impact on the indigenous population in the area.
Some of these violent acts are the killing of Nasa indigenous leader Carmelina Yule Pavi in Toribío on March 17; an armed attack on the Pan-American Highway between Piendamó and Tunía on April 5, which left one police officer dead and four people injured; the detonation of a car bomb in Miranda, which resulted in injuries to four people; the activation of an explosive device on the Pan-American Highway between Popayán and Cali on April 13; the armed confrontation in the urban area of Jambaló on April 16; and the retention of community members Luis Ángel Liz and the minor Estiven Quinto of the San Andrés de Pisimbalá Indigenous Resguardo on April 21, who were later rescued by the indigenous guard and the community.
This situation is part of the armed violence that continues to affect Indigenous Peoples after the signing of the Peace Accords. According to ONIC's annual report, in 2023, more than 58,000 men and women belonging to various indigenous peoples 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 reports 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 displacing indigenous people from their territories.
Unfortunately, impunity prevails in more than 90% of these cases, encouraging these attacks against the life and integrity of indigenous persons and peoples to continue to be perpetrated.
The brothers and sisters of Cauca's indigenous peoples - elders, children, and the territory itself - are not actors in the conflict, but victims of it and, as such, deserve special protection.
In the face of these threats to the existence of indigenous peoples, both at the physical level and at the level of collective entities with specific ways of life and rights, we demand immediate and decisive action by the State to:
- That aggressions and killings against indigenous peoples cease.
- That the norms of International Humanitarian Law be fully respected by all actors present in the territories of indigenous peoples.
- That the functioning of the indigenous peoples' systems of government be guaranteed.
- That the autonomy of the peoples of Cauca be respected.
- That dialogues leading to the end of armed violence against indigenous peoples be re-established.
IPRI and the Elders Collective Camino de los Ancestros will remain attentive to the serious situation of violence that our indigenous brothers and sisters continue to experience in Cauca. Peace is not peace if it does not reach the territories of the indigenous peoples.
