National March for Life Gains Support and Momentum
March 29, 2019, National March for Life.
For three weeks, Colombia's Indigenous and Campesino
National March For Life has been growing in numbers and momentum.
The march, organized by the National Indigenous Organization of
Colombia (ONIC) and the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca
(CRIC), is gaining support as other land and human rights
organizations from the departments of Cauca, Nariño, Antioquia,
Choco and Putumayo demand the full implementation of the
country's 2016 Peace Accords signed between the government and
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
 The Peace and Reconciliation
Foundation (Pares) reports
that
the Indigenous Unit of the Awa People (UNIPA), the Ingas
Indigenous of Putumayo, and Kamentza communities from Nariño are
all joining the march that has shut down major highways south of
Cali and affected traffic and transportation as far south as the
border with Ecuador.
The activists are demanding that the Peace Accords
signed in
Havana, Cuba be fully implemented. This includes the protection
of the leaders of the Campesino and Indigenous social movement
whose lives are continually threatened by paramilitary groups and
hired gunmen for their land.
"More than 420 Awa Indigenous people have been killed
in
recent years, more than 800 displaced between 2016 and 2019 and
64 have been threatened," UNIPA said in a statement. "Our
children suffer from malnutrition and our young people are
threatened by armed groups present in the area," the Awa
communique read.
Between November 2016 and 2018 over 420 activists were
murdered, according to the Colombian government. The Colombian
army said on March 26 that it had found a total of four bodies
that day in Buenaventura where the march is taking place. Since
the march began three weeks ago the Colombian military has
attacked demonstrators several times. On March 19 the Mobile
Anti-Disturbances Squadron (ESMAD) and the National Army opened
fire on protesters in La Augustina, south of Cali injuring at
least three people, the CRIC informed. The organization says
security forces have fired tear gas, grenades, bullets and short
and long range weapons at the march participants.
Colombian President Iván Duque is currently
trying to amend
and weaken the Peace Accords through a legislative process. He
said he will not meet with the representatives of the now more
than 5,000 marchers until they reopen the highway. CRIC leader
Aida Quilcue responded saying, "We have been clear. If you tell
us when the president will arrive, we'll consider opening the
road."
"To date, more 35 criminal reports have been made,
including
against the detainment of 13 marchers," said CRIC in a
communique. At least 10 Indigenous community members have been
murdered by the state forces that have injured another 15.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
claimed in her recently published annual report that Colombia saw
an upsurge in violence last year.
March 24, 2019 in Alto Putumayo.
According to national police statistics, in 2018, 49.5
per
cent of municipalities reported an increase in homicide rates
with respect to 2017. For example, in the municipalities of San
Jose de Ure in the department of Cordoba and Barrancas in the
department of La Guajira, the homicide rates rose by 1,473 per
cent and 880 per cent respectively. The UN Commissioner observed
that in 2018, the number of massacres increased by 164 per cent
with respect to 2017, going from 11 to 29 cases. In 2018, such
cases were concentrated in Antioquia, Cauca, Norte de Santander
and Caquetá. More cases of murder of human rights defenders were
noted in the first three of those departments.
Defense Minister Guillermo Botero challenged the Human
Rights
Commissioner's report. According to Botero, the UN claim that 29
massacres took place in 2018, representing a 164 per cent
increase from the previous year, is false. The Defense
ministry reported that 78 people were killed in massacres in
2018, a 37 per cent increase compared to the year before, but
never revealed December's statistics.
The UN report identified a wide range of structural
problems
within Colombian society that are causing violence and called on
Duque's administration to do more. In particular, the
government is called on to address its neglect of certain areas and
its failure to implement many aspects of the peace process, which
the UN is responsible for monitoring.
"OHCHR observes that 93 per cent of the cases it
monitored
were in regions with structural causes linked to a persistent
lack of access to rights by the population -- primarily to
justice and to economic, social, cultural and environmental
rights," read the report.
The above-mentioned structural causes derive largely
from the
weak or even lack of state presence in certain rural areas, as
recognized by President Duque in his inaugural speech. They also
stem from substantial delays in the implementation of the peace
agreement, especially regarding comprehensive rural reform and
the substitution of illicit crops. In order to mitigate the risks
for human rights defenders, the state should maintain its
presence, including through civilian authorities, recognize and
promote the participation of civil society with full guarantees
of association, assembly and expression, and accelerate
implementation of the peace agreement in the regions concerned,
which would support the work of defenders by expanding civic
space.
In particular, the report criticized the current
administration for its ongoing resistance to the establishment of
the Special Jurisdiction of Peace (JEP), which aims to try those
guilty of war crimes over the course of more than half a century
of armed conflict.
Duque's party, the Democratic Centre that is led by
former
President Alvaro Uribe, is opposed to the peace process.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 11 - March 30, 2019
Article Link:
National March for Life Gains Support and Momentum
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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