Thirty-four Colombian tribes face extinction, says UN report

[Judi Lynn]

Source: United Nations

Thirty-four Colombian tribes face extinction, says UN report
6 September

A report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that more than thirty-four Colombian tribes face extinction due to continuing violence on their lands.

The report found that, ‘In spite of new efforts by the state… the risk of physical or cultural disappearance remains, and in some cases has risen.’

An increase in murders, death-threats, and the forced recruitment of indigenous youth into armed groups are just some of the dangers reportedly facing Colombia’s Indians. Internal displacement is also cited as a major issue that disproportionately affects Colombia’s tribal peoples. Of the country’s four million internal refugees, Indians make up 15% of the total, despite the fact that they represent just 2% of the national population.

Just two weeks before the report was released, leader Luis Socarrás Pimienta of the Wayúu tribe was shot-dead by an alleged paramilitary outside his home in the northern Colombian province of la Guajira. According to the report, murders of indigenous Colombians rose by 63% between 2008 and 2009, and thirty-three members of Colombia’s Awa tribe were killed in 2009 alone.

Read more: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6440

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http://www.cbc.ca.nyud.net:8090/gfx/images/news/photos/2007/03/11/bush-colombia-cp-161514.jpg

You've been doing a heck of a job, Alvaro.

[sulphurdunn]

1. These people need lots of guns.