Servindi, May 11th 2006.- In a report the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) calls the national and international attention to the serious human rights situation of the indigenous peoples Nukak Makú, Guayabero, Sikuani and Tucano. The organisation points out that the indigenous peoples´ rights as a community are violated. The right to exist as a people means the same to the indigenous peoples as it does to others.
The violence against the Nukak people is not new. Their first contact with other communities occurred in 1988. Malaria and the flue caused devastation among the population. In 1985 they numbered 1,200 but 20 years later the population has been reduced by 60% with less than 500 persons left. At present, 255 individuals of the Nukak Makú people are located in four areas near the urban population of Guaviare and they are at risk of disappearing. In December 2005 the murder of a member of the Nukak community forced the other members to abandon their territory.
The region which the indigenous peoples had to leave, is dominated by the war of drugs, by coca farmers, the guerillas, the right wing paramilitary and the Colombian army who occupies the indigenous peoples' territory and uses it for the development of the execution of war plans, such as the Plan Colombia and the Plan Patriota. In this war context, an incessant violence of the human rights is evident and it is about to become a permanent genocide against the Guayabero, Sikuani and Tucano peoples, who are forced to leave their territories and their homes, the report states.
Situated between the Guaviare and the Inírida rivers, from the Fuga plains to the western boundaries of the Guainía department, the Nukak live in small nomadic groups with a variety of between six and thirty persons, united through relations of consanguinity, affinity and alliance. They use about one million hectares of territory for hunting, fishing and gathering wild products. The situation of the Nukak people is especially harmful to the children. Many of them are orphans, without protection and they are starving. The changes in their nutritional habits disturb their cycle of life.
In the report, the indigenous peoples said that the displacements they are subdued to are consequences of the big changes that are occurring in the world and that it has to do with the international politics as well as economic and political aspects, such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Free Trade Treaty and their components for our country (Colombia), such as the Plan Puebla Panama, Plan Colombia and the Initiative of the Americas. Then there are also issues like intellectual property, biodiversity, the riches of nature, the fight against terrorism and the drug traffic that all affect the security, the autonomy and the willingness by the government to remove us, by means of force, from our territories to hand them over to the interests of the big multinationals and their mega projects.
The indigenous peoples also accuse the Colombian government´s policies towards the indigenous peoples because they violate the commitments approved with the international community and because they weaken the culture and spoil the environment, the ecosystem and the lives of the peoples of the Amazon and Orinoco Basin. To fight against these violations, the indigenous peoples have convened national and international human rights organisations to promote, disseminate and defend the rights of the indigenous peoples located in the Amazon and Orinoco Basin.
Furthermore, they ask for letters to be sent to the presidency of the republic, calling for peace and breaking of the armed confrontation in the territories of the Nukak Makú. They also ask for a committee to be formed to analyse the situation and work for immediate return of the Nukak Makú to their territories. Finally, they demand the Colombian government to respect international recommendations of protection of indigenous peoples' rights within the constitutional and legal framework.