International Verification Mission of the Humanitarian and Human Rights Situation of the Embera Katio Indigenous Peoples in Tierra Alta, Córdoba
Introduction
As past of the International Verification Mission, a group of seven international delegates, representatives of NGOs from Spain, France, Belgium, Canada, and the United States visited the municipality of Tierra Alta (Córdoba) between September 20th and 23rd with the purpose of verifying the human rights and humanitarian situation and the level of implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples. The Mission met with the Cabildo Mayor Leaders Council of the Embera Katio of the Verde and Sinu Rivers; with the Cabildo Menor Leaders Council of the Embera Katio of the Esmeralda River; with civil and military authorities of Córdoba department; and with the office of the Defender of the People.
Findings
I. Impunity in Cases of Murdered and Disappeared Leaders
The Mission found that there exists near complete impunity in the cases of murdered and disappeared Embera Katio leaders. The Embera Katio prefer to present such cases to the Human Rights Unit of the National Prosecutor’s office (Fiscalía Nacional) rather than the regional Prosecutor’s office (Fiscalía Regional), due to fears of the lack of independence of the regional prosecutor. In addition to the emblematic case of the disappearance of the leader Kimy Pernía Domicó, we have annexed a list of selected cases of other Embera Katio indigenous leaders who have been recently murdered and/or disappeared by armed groups but remain unresolved.
In the case of Kimy Pernia, who disappeared on June 2, 2001, there has been no advance on the part of the office of the Fiscalía, which even claimed at one point that the files of the case had been lost. The Fiscalía has repeatedly directed their investigations towards the family and neighbors of the victim, rather than looking for information in the sectors close to paramilitary groups, even though it is widely believed that this armed group bears responsibility for the forced disappearance of Kimy Pernia. These investigative practices are felt as a form of harassment in the community, which increase the suffering of the family of the victim at the same time that they demonstrate the lack of will of the investigative authorities to clarify these cases. It is hoped that the application of Law 975, the Law of Justice and Peace, to the paramilitary commanders will lead to a conclusion to this case and bring justice to the family and the Embera Katio community, who suffered the loss of this outstanding leader.
The Mission would also like to call attention to the situation of high vulnerability of the leaders of the Alianza Cabildo Menor, who, like the leaders of the Cabildo Mayor, have been pressured by all of the actors in the conflict, but suffer from a lack of the same level of organization as the Cabildo Mayor. Faced with this situation, the Mission recommends and encourages that the state entities—the Defender of the People, the Procuraduría and the municipal authorities of Tierralta—should exercise special care in their duty to monitor and protect the rights of these leaders.
II. Landmines
In addition to the murder and disappearance of the leaders and members of the Embera Katio communities, as mentioned above, the armed groups have shown a total lack of respect of the indigenous territory by planting landmines inside this area. On September 22, 2005, a 15-year-old Embera Katío boy, Luis Javier Domicó, stepped on one of these mines and suffered serious burns on his body. After this incident, a de-mining activity was carried out by members of the Colombian Armed Forces, in a manner that provoked fear in the population, due to the fact that these military officials entered the territory without the prior consent or consultation with the community. In addition, the de-mining activity was conducted in a manner which involved the civilians in the process by requesting their assistance.
III. Retention of Food and Medical Supplies and Targeting of Motorized Canoe Operators
The Embera Katio peoples of the Alto Sinu River are currently being subjected to the restriction of food supplies by the Armed Forces 11th Brigade, in a flagrant violation of their human rights and international humanitarian law. The retention of supplies such as medicines and fuel which are destined for the indigenous communities from Puerto Frasquillo is practiced when the value of such supplies surpasses a given amount, which in the case of foodstuffs has been between 50,000 and 100,000 Colombian pesos.
The registering and retention of these supplies is accompanied by the taking of pictures of the drivers of the motorized canoes, which aggravates the already difficult situation of insecurity in these indigenous communities. The Mission found that members of the Colombian Armed Forces associate all members of the indigenous community, and in particular the drivers of the motorized canoes, with collaborating with guerilla forces. This attitude, combined with the acceptance of civilians photographing the canoe drivers in the port, places the Embera Katío population in great risk. The Mission found that there is little will on the part of the security authorities to bring an end to this illegal practice. The Defender of the People, in spite of its constant dialogue with the police and military forces, has been unable to bring an end to these violations. Coronel Naranjo, of the 11th Brigade, in a meeting with the Mission and other departmental authorities, recognized this practice and raised the possibility of correcting them.
IV. Mixed Commission and Implementation of the Protection Measures (medidas cautelares)
The creation of the Mixed Commission to accompany the Embera Katio peoples has helped to open spaces of dialogue, coordination and compromise between the Embera Katio community leaders and the Colombian state to encourage the implementation of the precautionary measures decreed for the community by the Inter-American Court for Human Rights, including visits to the community and periodic meetings. Nevertheless, the Mission believes that the Mixed Commission has not been sufficient to assure respect for indigenous rights, and has not produced the results hoped for in terms of resolving the security problems and lack of protection of the Embera Katio. In this sense, the delays and lack of will of state institutions to fulfill these agreements constitute a lack of implementation of Recommendation 103 of the Special Rapporteur, which asks for “immediate compliance” with the protection measures.
V. Widows and Orphans of the Violence
The Mission encountered a situation which gravely affects widows and orphans whose husbands and fathers have been murdered due to the internal armed conflict. Indigenous families generally have a minimum of five children, which exaggerates the precarious economic situation faced by those children whose parents have been murdered. On repeated occasions, indigenous widows have been denied the payment of indemnities that they are entitled to, simply because their children lack the necessary identity documents and have not been registered. They are required to prove through a DNA test that they are the children of the father who has passed away. For indigenous families and especially widowed mothers, this process implies costs and processes which are unnecessary and almost impossible to complete. The Mission believes that the victims of the conflict should be entitled to efficient, quick, and differentiated mechanisms of attention that take into account the needs of the indigenous widows and orphaned children, who are unable to complete the processes required under normal conditions to verify their parentage. This is a situation that should be resolved in the quickest manner possible, by means of indigenous authorities who are authorized to verify the paternity of these indigenous children.
VI. Health and Education Services
The Mission affirms that the assistance of basic social services like health and education (in the case of the indigenous communities should combine the ethnic element) is deficient. In its visit to the Alto Sinu indigenous reserve and in meetings with government officials of the Department of Córdoba, the Mission did find that there exists government will to contract indigenous professors and develop programs of ethno-education in indigenous territories.
Nevertheless, this effort was unaccompanied by a plan to professionalize teachers. The contracting of teachers is a method absolutely insufficient to attend the educational emergency that confronts the communities of the Embera Katio. The infrastructure, which is almost inexistent, is precarious and deteriorating. Fathers of the students have been the ones who have constructed the majority of the local schools. On the other hand, the professors complain that they lack the didactic material to develop a program.
The Mission was not able to obtain information about the existence of literacy programs for adults, despite the fact that there are high levels of adult illiteracy especially among adult women.
Another problematic aspect is the poor coverage of educational programs. In 2006, close to 110 children of the community did not have access to education. A private educational entity of Tierra Alta has come out in favor of contracting professors for the zone of Alto Sinú, when it was clear that the community councils of Alto Sinú and Río Verde have the capability and judicial responsibility to directly contract professors. The situation appears to respond to what an official from the ministry of education, Señora Berta Quintero, said to the mission during a meeting on the 26th of September in Bogotá: “There is a type of politicking and corruption within the ministry, and this alarming situation necessitates a greater effort to understand the regional reality in order to be able to remedy this situation.”
Part of the educational emergency expressed to the mission includes the impossibility for the indigenous youth to achieve secondary education inside the Embera Katio community. This circumstance requires them to leave the municipality of Tierra Alta to continue their studies. The Mission received various testimonies indicating that indigenous youth confront a variety of pressures in these schools to abandon their traditional dress and language, a fact that should be corrected by the department’s secretary of education because these hostilities contradict the established right of indigenous peoples to protect their cultural diversity, as stipulated in the 1991 constitution.
In relation to the right to health care, the Mission expresses concern for the low coverage and quality of healthcare services for the community of Embera Katio. Healthcare centers demonstrate an evident level of discrimination, a fact which was corroborated by officials of the Secretary of Health, who explained that the staff that attends to indigenous people are contracted on a short-term basis, which limits the effective training that they receive. On the other hand, the authorities claim that the hospital is autonomous in its operation and dispersion of services; from official statements, government officials can only suggest changes when there is a formal complaint.
Despite the fact that indigenous peoples have the right to free healthcare, there are complaints that many of them have been required to cover the costs of their medicines and hospitalization. There is neither clear nor opportune information for indigenous persons. Those services available within the indigenous reserve are short staffed and lack the medicines and other supplies necessary to attend to the needs of the population.
This situation is aggravated by the effect of fumigations on the territory, and the pollution of the drinking water of the river by sedimentation.
VII. Aerial Fumigations and the lack of respect for indigenous territorial autonomy
The Mission confirmed that approximately 20 days before its visit, an aerial fumigation occurred in the territories surrounding the indigenous reserve of the Embera Katio of Alto Sinú. The mission received statements from the community about the fact that this occurred without prior consultation and that damage occurred within their territories; this was corroborated by officials of the Park Service in a meeting in Montería on September 22, 2006.
The failure to consult and inform the members of the community before the fumigation, violates the Colombian laws concerning aerial fumigations conducted close to or within a protected indigenous territory. Fumigation requires previous consultation with the affected community. The community and park service officials informed the mission that the chemicals sprayed during the fumigation fell upon the indigenous territory within the Embera Katio reserve, which produced the destruction of crops and contamination of the river which is used as the community’s principal water source.
It is important to highlight that the community and the Leaders Council informed the Mission that at this time illicit crops do not exist within their territory and that the community is against the cultivation of these crops in their territory. Unfortunately, the cultivation of coca is happening in the territories adjacent to the indigenous area, planted by the group “Los Traquetos” (who have been identified as demobilized paramilitaries involved in narcotrafficking). This situation of unlawful aerial fumigations produces a great deal of instability and insecurity for the indigenous community.
Park officials from the department of Córdoba reported to the mission that they sent a letter to the Minister of the Environment reporting these irregularities: the lack of prior consultation and the effects for the protected communities. However, at the date of their interview with the Mission, the park officials still had not received a response from any governmental agency.
VIII. Environmental and social impacts of the Urrá dam
The Mission found that the Embera Katio communities lost their food production autonomy with the construction of the Urrá hydroelectrical plant on the Sinú River. The water-level change produced by the dam significantly reduced the quantity of fish species that the Embera Katio people are accustomed to catching, which in turn affected the food supply and increased their dependency upon foodstuffs coming from the markets in Puerto Frasquillo, especially after the Urrá company began to pay indemnities to the community members. The fish species that actually reproduce in great quantities are now confined to an artificial reservoir isolated from the community. In order to reduce this problem and achieve a level of self-sufficiency, the Embera Katio people need technical and financial support to develop a fishing method which will permit them to recuperate the self-sufficiency they once had prior to the construction of the Urrá dam. The recommendation of the mission is that the Urrá company should assume responsibility for supporting the community in this effort.
When the Mission set off in canoe on the Sinu River, many tree trunks and debris were found in the river putting in danger those who choose to navigate the river. The debris also destabilizes the river banks and soil, which when combined with strong river currents, presents a serious hazard to travelers in boats and canoes. The Park Service officials agreed with this analysis and had previously emitted a report to this effect.
The Urrá Company is required to periodically clean the river, but it has evaded this responsibility and prefers to pay the fine that is levied on it by the Ministry of Environment because the fine is less expensive than the cost of cleaning the river. For the Mission, it is inconceivable that the state would not demand the Urra company, which gravely altered the daily life of this community, to fulfill the obligations which would guarantee life for the Embera Katio people. It was also brought to the attention of the Mission that no electrical services had been provided to the Embera Katio communtiies, despite the fact that their territory lies in the middle of a complex energy plant.
IX Meeting with Department of Córdoba authorities
The Mission proposed to investigate the situation regarding the security and protection for the Embera Katio community, the right to compensation for widows and orphans, the right to healthcare and education, and the compliance of the Urrá Company with their contractual responsibilities. During the meeting the mission found that:
– An institutional weakness exists which does not guarantee the coherence or execution of policies (if there are any).
– This precarious institutional situation particularly affects indigenous communities because of discrimination against indigenous persons, culture, and practices.
– The military authorities present, lead by Colonel Narajo, Chief of the Estado
Mayor, accepted that there is a control of the food supply, medicines, and gasoline destined for the indigenous communities; and stated that “it is possible that there are mid-level authorities who lack tact and sensitivity when it comes to the treatment of indigenous peoples.” Colonel Fernandez, commander of the XI Brigade of the Armed Forces, has promoted the publication and distribution of a “Protocol respecting the rights of indigenous peoples.” This is now being discussed in the Mixed Commission.
– The park authorities verified the situation of aerial fumigations of the
indigenous territories without the prior consultation of the communities.
– Despite the efforts made by the officials present to explain institutional programs in the areas of health and education, specific questions asked by the mission went largely unanswered.
– In addition, the official campaigns to combat discrimination and the trainings for public officials in the proper treatment of indigenous peoples appear to have been largely unsuccessful in producing positive results.
Recommendations
– To the members of the Mixed Commission:
o Approve as quickly as possible the protocol for the treatment of the Embera Katio peoples by the Armed Forces, so that it can be displayed in public areas such as Puerto Frasqillo in both Spanish and the Embera language.
o Organize an independent international technical mission to evaluate the environmental, social and cultural impacts of the Urrá dam, and to evaluate follow-up on the agreements signed with the Embera Katio community. This mission should be financed by Urrá, although participants should be named independently.
– To the Armed Forces:
o That they respect at all times the human rights and territorial rights of the Embera Katio peoples, and comply with international humanitarian law, especially concerning the right to access food and medical supplies and that these supplies not be withheld in Puerto Frasquillo from reaching the communities.
o That the process of de-mining the indigenous territory occur only with the prior consultation and approval of the Leaders Council before entering the territory, and that this process should never endanger the civilian population by involving them in the technical aspects of de-mining.
o That the Armed Forces continue the practice of not recruiting indigenous people for service. The mission found no complaints since 2004 of forced recruiting by the Armed Forces.
– To the Procuraduría:
o Investigate the responsibility of the Army and security forces in taking pictures of members of the Embera Katio communities.
o Investigate the lack of coordination between state entities and the Colombian government in the aerial fumigations close to the Embera Katio community, which resulted in the fumigation of the indigenous territory without the prior consultation of the community.
– To the Prosecutor’s office (Fiscalía):
o Analyze the reports and complaints filed by the Embera Katio with relation to their struggle against the construction of Urrá 1, and within the context of the application of Law 975.
– To the illegal armed groups:
o That they respect the autonomy of the Embera Katio peoples and their territory, that they refrain from involving this community in their activities and that they comply with all the norms of international humanitarian law.
– To the international community:
o Maintain the financial support of the Defender of the People program, which is an important resource for the Embera Katio peoples.
o Assure that their respective government authorities monitor the situation of Colombia’s indigenous peoples to promote respect for human rights, territorial rights, autonomy and international humanitarian law.
APPENDIX
Unresolved cases of murdered or disappeared Embera Katio indigenous leaders
• Honorio Domicó, murdered August 30, 2006, presumably by the FARC.
• Augusto Lana Domicó, murdered April 18, 2003, presumably by the FARC-EP.
• William Domicó, murdered January 19, 2002, presumably by paramilitary groups.
• Chirlillo Enrique Domicó Domicó and the child Armando Domicó Domicó, murdered February 5, 2002, presumably by paramilitary groups.
• Sol Angel Arias Domicó, murdered February 21, 2002, presumably by the FARC-EP.
• Ludolfo Domicó Chara, April 25, 2002, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered, presumably by the FARC-EP.
• Kimy Pernía Domicó, disappeared and presumed dead as of June 2, 2001, presumably due to paramilitaries.
