Event to promote the ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance by Colombia

Bogotá, June 30, 2016. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (the Institute) held a public event in the city of Bogotá with the objective of promoting advocacy efforts aimed at the swift ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance by the Colombian State. Representatives of ethnic organizations, government entities, NGOs and the international community present in Colombia attended. The views expressed by the attendees coincide with the Institute’s position: the urgent need to coordinate advocacy efforts in order to encourage the Colombian State to ratify the Convention.

Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of the Institute, gave a presentation which afforded attendees insights into the process that led up to the adoption of the Convention by the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly in June 2013 and the dynamics that have influenced the Convention’s signature and ratification by several countries in the region. His assessment of these processes confirms the importance of the role that civil society organizations must continue to play to push executive and legislative actors to advance the ratification process.

In Colombia, legal regulations already in place have set up instruments to combat discrimination and provide for an environment that will enable the ratification process. Diego Grueso, Coordinator of the Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento (Consultancy on Human Rights and Displacement – CODHES), clearly explained this evaluation of Colombia’s legal structure in his presentation and in the policy paper he has prepared for the Institute, which provides a detailed analysis of the “normative elements to motivate and promote [the Convention’s] ratification in Colombia.”

Pastor Murillo, who attended the event in representation of the Ministry of the Interior, proposed that submitting a formal request to the Colombian government in order to activate the ratification process would be a desirable step forward. This proposal reflects part of the advocacy route that civil society organizations must follow. Another path on this route must be the creation of mobilization campaigns that incorporate an intensive educational component, so that citizens are familiarized with the Convention. Representatives of organizations such as the Asociación Nacional de Afrocolombianos Desplazados (National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians – AFRODES), the Proceso de Comunidades Negras (Black Communities Process – PCN), the Consejo Laboral Afrocolombiano (Afro-Colombian Labor Council – CLAF), and the Sindicato de Trabajadores Públicos y Privados, Afrodescendientes, Palenqueros y Raizales de Colombia (Union of Afro-descendant, Palenquero and Raizal Public and Private Employees of Colombia – SINAFROCOL) highlighted these ideas.

The support of these advocacy efforts by international community actors in Colombia is also of great importance. Many of them have incorporated the promotion and protection of groups most vulnerable and prone to racial discrimination into their missions and agendas. Likewise, these actors have contributed to strengthening the understanding of the human rights perspective that guides the Convention by different organizations and institutions. Comments by Gabriel Muyuy of the Office in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Alejandro Garcia from The National Democratic Institute (NDI) confirmed these contributions, and their commitment to support advocacy efforts.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, through its representative in Colombia, Pedro L. Cortes-Ruiz, will continue to push for actions aimed at strengthening advocacy processes to drive the ratification of the Convention by the Colombian State. Specifically, efforts will be made so that ethnic organizations (Afro-Colombian and Indigenous) and LBGTI groups can coordinate advocacy initiatives directed at the legislative and executive powers.

The policy paper on promoting the ratification of the Convention by Colombia can be read in its entirety here (Spanish-only).

Representatives of Colombia’s Ethnic Groups to be Welcomed in Havana by Peace Negotiators: A Balanced Analysis

Bogota, June 3, 2016.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights celebrates the joint statement #73 published on June 2 by the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas, where they announced that on June 21 and 22 they will welcome in Havana representatives of Colombia’s ethnic groups, “with the objective of helping to ensure the ethnic, territorial and differential approach in the implementation of the agreements about the different points of the agenda and in this dimension consolidate the respect and protection of ethnic and cultural diversity.” Given the delay in facilitating such a dialogue and the imminent signing of the Accords, an analysis of the implications of the opening of such a space is crucial. Specifically, an assessment should be made regarding how this might contribute to an effective implementation of the Accords that guarantees the protection, promotion and restitution of the ethnic communities affected by the armed conflict.

The opening of this space responds to the requests for participation that have been made by sectors within these groups since negotiations began, including the National Afro-Colombian Council for Peace (CONPA) and the Ethnic Commission for Peace and the Defense of Territorial Rights, coalitions that group hundreds of thousands of Afro-Colombians and indigenous impacted by the armed conflict. In an advocacy campaign based on a rigorous analysis of the Accords, these groups have offered specific proposals to correct omissions regarding an adequate differential ethnic approach. Unfortunately, despite having received CONPA’s and the Ethnic Commission’s proposals, the Negotiating Table has not formally responded to their requests to be invited to Havana. In today’s statement, neither CONPA nor the Ethnic Commission are explicitly named as participants in the delegations that will travel to Cuba. Having closely followed these groups’ work and attesting to their broad legitimacy with grassroots and community organizations, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights expresses its hope that the Negotiating Table will guarantee their participation in the delegation.

Regardless of which representatives attend, to ensure the adoption of a differential ethnic approach in the implementation of the peace accords, the agreement must include clauses in the final texts that specifically protect the ethnic-territorial rights of Afro-Colombians and indigenous people—a request repeatedly made by CONPA and the Ethnic Commission. If the government and FARC limit themselves to merely listening to the analysis and proposals of Afro-Colombian and indigenous representatives without an explicit commitment to improve the the language in the Accords from an ethnic perspective, then the effort will remain a symbolic one and the Accords’ deficiencies will remain in place.

However, while the inclusion of specific clauses to safeguard ethnic-territorial rights will help to ensure that these rights are respected during the implementation of the Accords, it is no guarantee that this will happen. Institutional processes by which the Accords will be implemented will be the determining factor in guaranteeing the rights of ethnic communities. The drafting and passage of laws that will “ground” the Accords and lay the foundation for State institutions to design and execute specific policies and programs should be the primary focus of the government and civil society to correct that which is left out by the Accords. For example: producing an adequate analysis on the differential impact of the conflict on ethnic communities and the corresponding measures to be taken to provide restitution.

The signing of the Peace Accords will not be the end to the conflicts that have contributed to the structural exclusion of Colombia’s ethnic communities—conflicts that have been exacerbated by the country’s civil war. Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples have the hope that the cessation of military hostilities between the FARC and the government will bring about a reduction of violence in their communities. But the signing of the Accords represents a mere starting point in building peace. More than a post-conflict, ethnic communities will face a post-accord scenario wherein the majority of conflicts will continue. Even more worrisome, other conflicts may emerge as a consequence of implementing peace agreements that do not included an adequate ethnic differential approach. The proposals made by CONPA and the Ethnic Commission, as well as those made by other sectors in the ethnic communities, offer a path toward ensuring the protection of their hard-fought rights and ensuring a sustainable peace for the entire country. In order to ensure that the work carried out this June 21-22 contributes to this end and does not merely end up a symbolic gesture, the government and FARC should guarantee the inclusion of CONPA and the Ethnic Commission in the delegation to Havana and heed their well-thought proposals.

To read the joint statement #73 (in Spanish) click here.

Afro-Colombian Day 2016: an acknowledgment the Afro-Colombian communities affected by the armed conflict

On May 21, on the occasion of “Afro-Colombian Day 2016”, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights wishes to express its appreciation and admiration to Afro-Colombian communities that despite facing exclusion, racial discrimination and violence, are able to maintain their collective historical endeavor to defend lives and the autonomy. Today, both in remote rural areas and urban contexts, these communities continue offering society as a whole the best of their productive, cultural and political efforts.

Unfortunately, the battle to protect the rights of ethnic territories which they’ve won, and were formally recognized in the 1991 Constitution, has proven to be very costly. On this Afro-Colombian Day 2016, we must pay tribute to the thousands of Afro-Colombians who have been killed for defending these rights; to the more than one million victims that have been expelled from their ancestral homelands, and pushed onto marginalized conditions of urban context; to the thousands of Afro-Colombian women victims of sexual violence, and to all Afro-Colombians who have been deeply excluded from society as a result of the impact of the Colombian armed conflict.

This Afro-Colombian Day 2016 should have coincided with institutional changes that ensure the effective participation of communities and organizations in the historical process of the end of the armed conflict and the beginning of building a sustainable peace. But the manner in which these communities have been excluded from negotiations of a conflict in which they, alongside indigenous communities, have been the biggest victims and that will affect their ancestral rights, is keeping those mechanisms of marginalization and exclusion in place. These mechanisms of marginalization and exclusion began precisely with the very historical act with which we officially celebrate.

The law issued on May 21, 1851 which abolished slavery, essentially provided financial compensation to slave owners without offering any measure of reparation or adequate condition for slaves “freed” to exercise their citizenship. The legislative path that reinforced this exclusion for more than a century seemed to have changed with the 1991 Constitution and Law #70 of 1993; as a result of community mobilization, the laws forced the Colombian government to formally recognize ethnic and territorial rights. But today on Afro-Colombian Day 2016, instead of celebrating the full implementation of these laws, we are reiterating our frustration that in 23 years the Colombian government has not regulated key aspects of the law that are critical to the full implementation of recognized rights. These aspects also relate to environmental rights, mining, and an autonomy to plan their own development, could be adversely affected by the implementation of the Peace Accords between the government and the The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FACR-EP).

Afro-Colombia Day 2016 should be celebrating the inclusion of a differential ethnic focus on the Peace Accords texts, and should also respond to the failure of the Negotiating Table guaranteeing spaces of dialogue to the representatives of the communities most affected by the armed conflict. To date, however, many requests from organizations to do so have received no formal response from the Table. Afro-Colombian communities, which have supported the negotiation process since its inception have been ignored despite analysis and proposals which offer specific alternatives, not only to guarantee their rights acquired in the post-agreement but to strengthen the conditions for sustainable peace for the whole country.

What we can celebrate with certainty is that Afro-Colombian Day 2016 is that the libertarian spirit of Afro-Colombian communities will continue to guide Colombian society for the foreseeable future.

Discussion on “The Role of Afro-Descendants in Dialogues and Peacebuilding in Colombia”

Bogotá, May 18, 2016. On 17 May 2016, the Afro-Colombian National Peace Council (CONPA) conducted a discussion on the role of Afro-Colombians in the dialogue and peacebuilding efforts in Colombia. About 100 individuals from Afro-Colombian organizations, officials from government agencies, and representatives of agencies involved national and international cooperation participated in the event. The list of speakers included Mr. Todd Howland (Representative in Colombia of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights).

Speakers and participants reiterated in their proposals and analysis about the importance, for the sustainability of peace, that the negotiating table includes a delegation of ethnic peoples before the signing of the agreements, with the aim that they incorporate clauses to safeguard the territorial rights of ethnic communities during implementation in the final text. Alternatives were also identified to address obstacles and conflicts that may arise during implementation as a result of the agreements having failed to incorporate an ethnic approach.

The representative for Colombia for the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Pedro L. Cortes-Ruiz), who attended the event, highlighted some of the approaches that are most relevant to the prospect of guaranteeing the rights of ethnic communities in the context the post-agreement.

A structural and institutionalized racism is behind the exclusion of ethnic communities in the dialogue and the absence of a suitable differential ethnic approach within the agreements. This explanatory argument can be derived from analysis as proposed by Carlos Rosero form the Process of Black Communities (Proceso de Comunidades Negras, PCN) and CONPA. In his presentation, Carlos expressed that the lack of adoption for mechanisms of “special, differential and proportional” participation does not correspond with the consensus held about the differential impacts of conflict on ethnic communities. In the same perspective, Francia Marquez of the Association of Community Councils of Northern Cauca (Asociación de Consejos Comunitarios del Norte del Cauca, ACONC) considers as an absurd claim that the government has made it clear that “the rights of ethnic communities are not going to be mentioned at the table” as justification for rejecting the adoption of special participation mechanisms for ethnic communities. Francia highlighted the contradiction in this argument, considering that the implementation of the Agreements will be largely made in ethnic territories.

The legitimacy of the agreements also depends on the differentiated and effective participation guaranteed to ethnic communities, not only by the mechanisms that the Table recently proposed for its protection. The first step towards this kind of participation should be to “be heard” as directed by Richard Moreno of the Interethnic Solidarity Forum for Choco (FISCH). In the same way, Mr. Todd Howland recalled that the participation should be protected by the Colombian State under the obligations the State has in having ratified international treaties such as the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the 1969 Convention of the International Labor Organization (ILO). The absence of participation from the ethnic communities, both in the process of negotiating agreements and their implementation, is a violation of these obligations.

The proposal by Afro-Colombian organizations is for the Final Agreement to incorporate a clause to safeguard the ethnic-territorial rights, raising principles that can correct the absence of an adequate differential approach so far. In his speech, Silvio Garces (An Afro-Colombian leader and government official who has contributed significantly to the process of collective titling for more than 20 years) offered an analysis and proposal containing core assumptions of the CONPA Agenda. Five arguments should be incorporated into the agreements: (1) safeguarding rights acquired as a general principle in terms that the implementation of agreements will not affect acquired rights, (2) guarantee to continue the titling processes, (3) ensuring coordination with communities where “concentration zones” of former FARC fighters coincide with collective territories, (4) commitment to stop the repopulation of territories, and (5) guarantee that autonomous forms of governance are respected.

Institutional adaptation for the implementation of Agreements, which already started, must now incorporate the participation of ethnic communities. In his speech, Deputy Minister of Culture and leader of the Afro-Colombian movement Zulia Mena described the process she has begun to energize within the Ministry of Culture to integrate members of ethnic organizations in discussions and develop according to the adequacy to be done to implement the agreements. This type of leadership that enhance the participation of communities in terms of peacebuilding is also significant to advance the dimensions of “Law 70” of 1993 that have not yet been adequately implemented so far.

Guaranteeing the right of ethnic communities to participate in the implementation of the agreements is threatened if the FARC continue to restrict the communities’ autonomy. Some regional leaders expressed concern about the continuity of practices by FARC that have violated the right of communities to make their own decisions. The murder of Genaro Garcia, president of the Community Council “Alto Mira” in Tumaco, committed by the FARC, was brought up. Since the Afro-Colombian territories will be a priority for the implementation of the agreements zones, and the perspective is that former combatants of the FARC to join political life in these territories, the surrender of weapons must also mean the abandonment of any practice that continues to restrict the right of communities to govern autonomously.

The priority of human rights organizations at the moment, and in the post-agreement context, should be to safeguard these communities. Direct follow-up should be the priority of human rights organizations in their strategies to protect the rights of ethnic communities in the post-agreement context, in order to stop violations and restriction of rights that communities continue to suffer. The complex institutional designs that have occupied the bulk of the negotiations, and are required for the implementation of the agreements, seem to have shifted this urgency. “There is a lot of despair in the territories” Francia Marquez expressed in a very heartfelt way. This expression reflects the emotional state that has continued to live within ethnic communities during the negotiation process, all the while maintaining a proactive attitude of resistance.

Discussion on “The Role of African descent in Dialogues and Peacebuilding in Colombia”

Erlendy Cuero Bravo, Afro-Colombian Human Rights Activist at Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 19, 2016 | Washington, DC

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights expresses alarm at the lack of protective measures being afforded to Erlendy Cuero Bravo, noted Afro-Colombian human rights defender and Vice-president of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (Afrodes).

Ms. Cuero Bravo, who coordinates Afrodes’ activities in Cali, Colombia, has received repeated death threats since 2008 because of her human rights advocacy and community organizing work. She is the survivor of several assassination attempts. The most recent of these took place on March 24, 2016, which also targeted Ms. Cuero Bravo’s 18-year old son. In this instance, a member of the Buenaventura-based “Tureños” paramilitary group attacked Ms. Cuero Bravo’s son and attempted to shoot him, before he was luckily able to escape.

Ms. Cuero Bravo has submitted formal requests for risks assessments of her situation and that of her family members to Colombian authorities on numerous occasions. However, their response has consistently been that she and her family members are not suffering from an elevated level of risk. Ms. Cuero Bravo has not been provided with any explanation as to how Colombian authorities have reached this conclusion. Given the well-documented series of threats against Ms. Cuero Bravo’s life, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights calls upon the Colombian authorities to reconsider Ms. Cuero Bravo’s case and provide her with appropriate protective measures to ensure her safety and that of her family.

CAPREE Meeting: Officials from the US and Colombia Reiterate Importance of Ethnic Groups’ Participation in Peace Negotiations to Achieve a Sustainable Peace

Bogota, April 19, 2016 On April 7 and 8 the first plenary session for civil society of the US-Colombia Action Plan on Racial and Ethnic Equality (CAPREE) was held in Cali, Colombia. Pedro L. Cortes-Ruiz, the Institute’s representative in Colombia, participated in the meeting as part of the delegation of civil society organizations from the United States. Nearly 200 indigenous and Afro-Colombian organizations from Colombia participated, as well as representatives from the US Embassy, USAID and officials from Colombia’s Interior Ministry.

CAPREE is a joint plan agreed to by both governments in 2010 whose objective is to share experiences and implement programs that help overcome obstacles in order to achieve full inclusion for Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples in both countries. The meeting in Cali was the first meeting since the Plan has begun.

In both the opening and closing remarks, representatives from the Colombian and US governments underscored ethnic groups’ participation in the peace process as vital to a sustainable peace. Juan Fernando Cristo, Colombian Minister of the Interior, affirmed in his remarks that in the following days an official announcement would be made regarding the delegation of Afro-Colombian and indigenous that will go to Havana. Carmen Inés Vásquez, the Vice-Minister for Participation and Equal Rights, reiterated the announcement during the closing remarks.

Kevin Whitaker, US Ambassador to Colombia, affirmed that priority will continue to be given to issues related to racial discrimination in US post-conflict programs. During closing remarks, US Assistant Under Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Alex Lee reiterated this commitment and affirmed the importance of the participation of ethnic organizations such as the National Afro-Colombian Peace Council (Consejo Nacional de Paz Afrocolombiano, CONPA) and the Ethnic Commission for Peace and Territorial Rights (Comisión Étnica para la Paz y los Derechos Territoriales).

The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights recognizes the importance of these political declarations in the context of the CAPREE meeting. In preparation for the meeting, together with the Washington Office on Latin America, the Institute sent a letter to the US State Department expressing concern that CAPREE, one of the principle instruments for bilateral cooperation to eliminate racial discrimination, had not included as a priority the principal problem affecting millions of Afro-Colombians: the impact of the armed conflict on ethnic groups and the vulnerability of these communities in the post-accord context.

The support that CAPREE can continue to provide to strengthen the participation of ethnic communities in peace-building will be of great importance. In the short term, this support will be conditioned by how well the commitment expressed by US and Colombian authorities is translated into concrete actions.

During the meeting, Colombian ethnic organizations were able to make constructive assessments of CAPREE initiatives as well as provide proposals for the future. At the same time, organizations from the US also provided their perspectives and proposals. For its part, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights publicly insisted that CAPREE should prioritize initiatives that support the participation of ethnic communities in the peace process.

Latest UN Report Reiterates the Benefits of the Participation of Ethnic Communities in the Peace Process

Bogota, March 23, 2016. Led by its Colombian Representative, Todd Howland, the Office of the UN High  Commissioner for Human Rights held a press conference to present its 2015 Annual Report. Ayda Quilcue from the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council and Francia Marquez from the Ethnic Commission for Peace and the Black Women’s Mobilization to Care for Life and Ancestral Land in the Cauca Valley were invited to attend the event and offer an appraisal of the human rights situation in their communities.

The conditions of the ethnic communities are a central topic of the analysis and recommendations of the report. Even in the general context of a de-escalation of the armed conflict, the systematic violation of these communities’ human rights has continued. Even more worrisome is the report’s conclusions that project a high level of vulnerability for ethnic communities in the post-accord scenario. The cessation of military confrontation in regions populated by ethnic communities will not necessarily end ongoing conflicts for territorial control involving armed groups associated with drug trafficking and illegal mining. Moreover, the accords reached to date,  that will significantly affect these regions have not adequately incorporated specific measures to safeguard ethnic communities’ constitutional rights.

Regarding this possible post-accord scenario, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights made the following recommendation:

To urge the parties in Havana to take the opportunity to converse with indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians in order to assure that the peace accords and their implementation maximize the enjoyment of their collective and individual rights. The final accord should include specific reference to the commitment of the negotiating parties to guarantee respect for the internationally and constitutionally recognized rights of indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians in all aspects of its implementation.

The analysis and recommendations by the United Nations add to those already made by the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which have reflected the autonomous proposals presented by organizations associated with the Ethnic Commission for Peace and Territorial Rights. The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights joins the voices of these organizations in proclaiming it necessary and urgent that the Colombian government and the FARC guerillas welcome a delegation of the Commission’s representatives.

Colombia’s Ethnic Commission for Peace and the Defense of Territorial Rights Visits Washington, D.C.

On March 18^th and 19^th, representatives of Colombia’s newly formed Ethnic Commission for Peace and the Defense of Territorial Rights visited Washington, D.C. to meet with policymakers, human rights advocates and the media. The activists sought to promote the inclusion of Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples in both the peace negotiations taking place in Havana, Cuba and the implementation of the forthcoming peace accords. Prior to the advocates’ arrival in Washington, the Ethnic Commission’s formation was officially announced on March 7^th, in Bogota, Colombia. It represents the joining of two umbrella organizations, the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) and the National Afro-Colombian Peace Council (CONPA), that together represent hundreds of grassroots groups throughout Colombia.

The leaders came together to speak to the public about the peace process and Colombia’s ethnic groups, and to talk about the Commission’s agenda in Washington, Havana and Colombia.

Representing the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, Arelis Uriana said that the United States and other countries that provide financial assistance to Colombia must demand that the Colombian government include the ethnic communities’ voices in the peace process. Uriana said that indigenous and Afro-Colombians should guide the process of implementation in their own territories because it is they who possess the knowledge needed to create a lasting peace. Uriana also underlined the importance of making the voices of Afro-Colombian and indigenous women’s voices heard. “It is women who have known the true pain of war,” Uriana said.

On behalf of CONPA and the Black Communities Process, Carlos Rocero explained the size of the challenge facing Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples, noting that together they held 38% of Colombia’s land and represented 12.5% of the population. Rocero said that the number of Afro-descendant and indigenous victims in the armed conflict reached not into the thousands, but into the millions. Rocero spoke of Commission’s apprehensions about the peace process, including fears about the lack of adequate formal mechanisms to ensure a differential approach for Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples, as well concerns about the primacy of a focus on individual victims rather than on the collective damage caused by the war. To address these concerns, he highlighted three concrete proposals put forth by the Commission: the addition to the peace accords of principles of interpretation and implementation for ethnic groups, concrete proposals as to the accords’ implementation and the creation of safeguards to protect the established rights of Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples.

Marino Cordoba of CONPA and the National Association for Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) spoke of CONPA’s broad coalition of nine national networks that group together hundreds of grassroots organizations as a demonstration of the Commission’s unquestionable legitimacy. Cordoba told of the advocacy efforts made by CONPA and the Commission, including the message he personally delivered to President Juan Manuel Santos during President Santos’ most recent visit to the US: that Colombia’s ethnic communities must be invited to Havana to make their voices heard. Cordoba reiterated the importance of finding partners in the international community and spoke of the important alliances built in support of the Commission’s cause, including fruitful discussions and partnerships with the US Embassy in Colombia, the US Agency for International Development, the US Congressional Black Caucus, the US Special Envoy to Colombia and the international development organization ACDI-VOCA.

Facing the difficult challenge of gaining meaningful participation in the peace process, the Commission’s members reiterated the importance of international solidarity with their cause and gave a positive evaluation of the progress made on their US visit, promising to keep up their work upon returning to Colombia. “We will keep on until we are included. Will not grow tired,” Cordoba said.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human rights strongly supports the work of the Ethnic Commission and fully agrees with the most recent statements by the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in its concluding observations following its periodic review of Colombia, in which it recommends that the Colombian government guarantee that Afro-Colombians and indigenous are appropriately consulted during the peace negotiations and that their legitimate interests are taken into account.

Press Conference Introducing the Ethnic Commission for Peace and the Defense of Territorial Rights

Bogota, March 9, 2016. The National Afro-Colombian Peace Council (Consejo Nacional de Paz Afrocolombiano, CONPA) and the Colombian National Indigenous Organization (Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia, ONIC) held a press conference to publicly introduce the Ethnic Commission for Peace and the Defense of Territorial Rights (Comisión Étnica para la Paz y la Defensa de los Derechos Territoriales). The event was attended by diplomatic personnel, development agency staff and representatives from the United Nations, including Todd Howland from Colombian Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The primary objective of the Commission is to develop actions to protect the rights of Afro-Colombians and indigenous communities during both the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP, and in the implementation of the peace accords that will put and end to the Colombian armed conflict.

Pedro Cortes Ruiz, Colombian Consultant for the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, participated in a two-day conference in preparation for the launch of the Commission. The following are some ideas and analysis from those two days:

Why create the Commission? The Commission is an autonomous response by Colombia’s ethnic communities to their exclusion from the dialogue process between the government and the FARC-EP, despite their repeated requests for inclusion made to the peace negotiators as well to the government and the FARC-EP, separately. These requests have been made based on a solid analysis that demonstrates the importance of including these communities in the peace process as a means to guaranteeing a sustainable, stable and lasting peace. Not only have ethnic communities been the groups most affected by the conflict (making up over 30% of all victims), the implementation of the accords will largely take place in their territories.

What is the Commission asking for? In the short term, to be invited in the coming weeks by the peace negotiators to present their analysis and proposals. The ethnic organizations have supported the peace process, but they have become aware that the accords reached at this time do not adequately incorporate critical elements that will guarantee the rights they have achieved—rights recognized in national and international law. The Commission doesn’t seek to “renegotiate” what has already been agreed. It proposes the inclusion of clauses that explicitly protect the rights of the communities they represent. Without these clauses, the implementation of many aspects of the accords, for example the creation of peasant reserve areas, land funds, electoral “peace” districts, amongst others, could further threaten the rights of Colombia’s ethnic communities.

The Relevance of the Commission in Protecting the Rights of Ethnic Communities. The Commission strengthens a necessary condition for protecting the rights of ethnic communities: the existence of a broad, unified social movement with the capacity make its influence felt. An alliance between indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians is a bond that has been sought throughout Colombia’s history, and this union is now being revitalized. Moreover, the Commission responds to an important recommendation made by the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in its concluding observations to the periodic review of Colombia in August 2015, when it indicated the need for the inclusion Colombia’s ethnic communities in the peace process.