McCain Urged to Press Colombia President on Indigenous Rights, Environmental Protection | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

McCain Urged to Press Colombia President on Indigenous Rights, Environmental Protection

US Presidential Candidate Must Insist on Respect for Human Rights, Environment and Rule of Law during Cartagena Visit, Groups Warn

July 2, 2008 | For Immediate Release


Amazon Watch

For more information, contact:

presslist@amazonwatch.org or +1.510.281.9020

Washington D.C. — As he travels to Cartagena today, John McCain was urged to press Colombia President Alvaro Uribe to guarantee respect for indigenous rights and the environment.

Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, was due to arrive in the South American country this evening to promote a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the US and Colombia which human rights and environmental groups fear could lead to an escalation of violence in Colombia’s decades old civil war.

In a letter to Mr. McCain, Amazon Watch, a San Francisco-based environmental and human rights organization, calls on him to insist that President Uribe’s administration uphold and enforce existing environmental and indigenous rights legislation rather than relax it, and withdraw troops from the territories of the U’wa people of northeast Colombia.

The Uwa, currently caught in the crossfire between the Colombian military and the FARC, are demanding the withdrawal of all armed actors from their territory. Additionally, they reject any oil drilling on their lands, including by Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state-owned oil company which wants to begin drilling on Uwa land, against the communities’ wishes.

The letter states: “Since the beginning of this year, U’wa territories have been increasingly militarized, both by illegal armed actors such as the FARC, and by the Colombian army. Responding to this dangerous militarization, which will likely increase violence and human rights violations committed against U’wa communities, the U’wa themselves have made a public request that all armed actors, whether legal or illegal, immediately leave their territory.”

It adds: “We echo the grave concern of the U’wa that oil projects are a magnet and a catalyst for political violence, and often place innocent local communities in the crossfire. This is a historical fact in Colombia. The plight of the U’wa is reflected throughout Colombia, with the nexus of armed conflict and resource extraction directly threatening the wellbeing of indigenous and other rural communities.”

The Amazon Watch letter follows another letter, from more than 90 environmental and human rights groups in Colombia and abroad, to President Uribe, urging him to heed the Uwa request for demilitarization. In the joint letter, the groups describe how the Uwa have already had their crops stolen, homes occupied and been threatened by the armed groups now intruding on their traditional lands.

Amazon Watch also warned that President Uribe’s administration is already pushing through a series of key reforms ahead of ratification of the FTA, aimed at weakening environmental and other safeguards. The reforms include the National Development Plan, Rural Development Statue and the Forestry Law. Colombia’s constitutional court has already ruled the Forestry Law in violation of national and international standards of due prior consultation with affected communities.

The Uwa’s principled stand against oil operations on their traditional cloud-forest homelands has been taking place for more than 15 years. In 2002, the Uwa celebrated a major victory when Occidental Petroleum gave up on its attempts to begin drilling on Uwa land in the face of community opposition and a well-organized international solidarity campaign supporting the Uwa.

For background on the Uwas’ struggle to protect their land from oil drilling, visit www.amazonwatch.org.

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