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 Ms. Colombia 2001 Vanessa Mendoza and Ms. Choco 2002 Carolina Quintero
The resolution – the full text of which is below – is being supported by members of the Network for Advocacy in Solidarity with Grassroots Afro-Colombian Communities (NASGACC).
NASGACC – which includes activist organizations like TransAfrica Forum, Association for Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians USA (AFRODES USA), American Friends Service Committee, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Global Rights, Organizacion Un Día de Esperanza, Manuel Zapata Olivella Center for Human Development and Education, Afrocolombian Folkloric Group-Tangaré and others – has formally been lobbying members of Congress about the situation in Colombia since June of 2006, notes Charo Mina Rojas of AFRODES USA.
And one main result of their lobbying efforts is House Resolution 618, a resolution that recognizes the needs of Afro Colombian communities – and the fact that pressure from the United States can push the Colombian government to see to it those needs are met.
“What is important for us to remember is that the U.S. government has a heavy influence on Colombia,” says Nicole Lee, executive director of TransAfrica Forum. “So it is imperative that we speak out about the paramilitary and rebel activities – and the racial discrimination – that affects Afro Colombians. And which our government can do something about.”
In a letter sent to U.S. representatives this past Oct. 12, the human rights group Proceso de Comunidades Negras/ Black Communities Process (PCN) spoke about Black life in Colombia today:
“In general, the situation of Afro-Colombians is characterized by exclusion and marginalization that are a direct result of institutional racism and racial discrimination, the adverse affects of the internal armed conflict, the anti-narcotics policies that are being jointly implemented by the U.S. and Colombia through ‘Plan Colombia,’ the implementation of large scale development projects and an aggressive legislative reform effort that includes the formulation of a series of laws that seriously undermine the rights of Afro-Colombians. These laws include the forestry law, rural development law, and changes in the mining code. These laws that negatively impact the cultural integrity, territorial rights and resources belonging to Afro-Colombians were expedited without the required previous consultation process with our communities.
“In an effort to obtain the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., the Colombian government has taken some steps to show that it is addressing Afro-Colombian issues,” PCN noted. “Such steps include the naming of an Afro-Colombian minister and Afro-Colombian vice minister and visits with members of the Afro-Colombian Congressional Caucus to the U.S. These steps raise the following question: Has the situation of Afro-Colombians improved? The opinion of the Colombian government (and) some analysts, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, is that the situation for Afro-Colombians is improving. Our point of view is that it has not improved and that on the contrary there are indications that in many areas the situation of our communities is deteriorating.”
A U.S. resolution that recognizes the declining situation of Afro-Colombians would push the matter to the forefront in Colombia, activists added. That’s why they are urging U.S. citizens to call their representatives and make certain that they are willing to sign on to HR 618.
TransAfrica Forum has posted a summary of the resolution and a sample of the kind of questions you should ask your representative about, concerning HR 618, while WOLA summarizes the resolution and is maintaining a list of its current co-sponsors. HR 618 was introduced by Rep. Donald Payne during the August recess and is expected to come up for a vote some time in November 2007.
“The resolution is a tool for us,” adds Mina Rojas, “it’s going to be a mechanism we can use on the international level to make more demands on the Colombian government to do the things it’s supposed to do to help us.
“For us, this is really, really important.”
HR 618: Resolution recognizing the importance of addressing the plight of Afro-Colombians
Whereas Afro-Colombians have experienced economic, social, and political injustices, as a result of their skin color and ancestry and have been targets of violence and intimidation;
Whereas Afro-Colombians today compromise over 25 percent of Colombia’s population — the second largest Afro-descendant population in Latin America and the third largest outside of Africa;
Whereas the vast majority of Afro-Colombians live on the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts and the Valley of Magdalena and Cauca Rivers of Colombia within the departments of Choco, Valle del Cauca, Cauca, Nariño, Bolivar, Magdalena, Sucre, and Cesar and endure extreme humanitarian conditions, as a result of marginalization, neglect, and the country’s 40-year armed conflict and violence;
Whereas the internal armed conflict fueled by drug trafficking has generated violence against Afro-Colombian civilians and has led to the appropriation of Afro-Colombian territories and internal displacement creating huge obstacles for social and economic progress of the Afro-Colombian population;
Whereas the Government of Colombia has maintained close ties with the United States and is the largest recipient of bilateral United States foreign aid outside of the Middle East and South Asia;
Whereas the Government of Colombia has received an estimated $6,000,000,000 in military, counter-narcotics, and other aid since 2000, primarily through congressionally-legislated Plan Colombia;
Whereas, although a major beneficiary of United States foreign assistance, the Government of Colombia has not effectively addressed racial discrimination, violence, and social and political marginalization facing Afro-Colombians;
Whereas Colombia has the second largest population of internally displaced people in the world, and Afro-Colombians are the most affected, compromising an estimated 40 percent of Colombia’s 3,800,000 internally displaced persons;
Whereas an estimated 76 percent of Afro-Colombians live in conditions of extreme poverty, 42 percent are unemployed, and only 2 percent are able to attend college;
Whereas the life expectancy for Afro-Colombians is two decades shorter than the national average, with an estimated 82 percent of Afro-Colombians lacking access to basic public services;
Whereas Afro-Colombians are underrepresented in positions of leadership, power, and authority within the social, political, and economic spheres of the country, yet in recent years, Afro-Colombian representation in government has increased: currently there are 2 Afro-Colombian senators and 7 Afro-Colombian members of the House of Representatives;
Whereas the department of Choco, a region that has the largest percentage of Afro-Colombians with an estimated 70 percent of the total population of the state, also suffers from the lowest per-capita level of government investment in health, education, and infrastructure, with a significant proportion of the population facing an increase in illiteracy;
Whereas the Colombian healthcare system covers only 10 percent of Afro-Colombian communities, compared to 40 percent of non-black communities;
Whereas the 1991 Colombian Constitution and Law 70 of 1993 granted Afro-Colombians the legal titles to their ancestral land and the ownership of the tropical rainforest;
Whereas, however, Afro-Colombians have been forcibly and violently displaced from their lands;
Whereas the aerial herbicide spraying and fumigation of coca crops has also resulted in the destruction of the legitimate subsistence crops of Afro-Colombian communities and a corresponding increase in food instability and internal displacement amongst Afro-Colombians in territories where fumigation occurs;
Whereas although Articles 6 and 7 of the International Labor Convention mandates that United States assistance to Colombia is contingent upon human rights standards for indigenous communities, Afro-Colombians are not included in the language for human rights certification conditions;
Whereas the spread of oil palm cultivation is linked to grave human rights violations, internal displacement, and the killings of Afro-Colombian leaders and results in the weakening of territorial and environmental rights of Afro-Colombian communities;
Whereas human rights violations against Afro-Colombians, including bombings, massacres, and kidnappings go uninvestigated and unaddressed by the judicial system;
Whereas the deaths and disappearances of Afro-Colombian community activists and human rights defenders are uninvestigated and leaders within the Afro-Colombian communities continue to endure death threats and are specifically targeted by left-wing guerillas and right-wing paramilitaries;
Whereas Colombia’s paramilitary demobilization process has led to continued displacement, human rights violations, and armed territorial disputes in Afro-Colombian communities;
Whereas Afro-Colombians suffer disproportionately from extrajudicial executions, massacres, death threats, disappearances, displacements, and forced conscription;
Whereas violent terrorist attacks continue to occur at an alarming rate in Buenaventura, a city with a majority Afro-Colombian population, resulting in the frequent loss of innocent civilians and making that city one of the most dangerous in Colombia;
Whereas in 2002 in Bojaya, Choco, 119 unarmed Afro-Colombian civilians—including 45 children—who had taken refuge in a church were massacred, as they were caught in the crossfire between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries;
Whereas following the massacre in 2002, civilians suffer greatly due to terrorist attacks in Buenaventura, as the FARC continues to commit violent acts against Afro-Colombians; and
Whereas, although persons of African descent have made significant achievements in education, employment, economic, political, and social spheres in Latin America, the vast majority are marginalized: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) recognizes and honors Afro-Colombians for their contributions to the economic, social, and cultural fabric of Colombia;
(2) calls upon the Government of Colombia to take measures to combat racial discrimination, human rights violations, and condemn all attacks and forms of racial discrimination against Afro-Colombians;
(3) urges the Government of Colombia to demand politicians linked to para-politics scandals are investigated and brought to justice;
(4) urges the Government of Colombia to develop and implement a policy that ensures the proper execution of assistance programs designated for Afro-Colombians and internally displaced communities; and
(5) encourages the United States Government to ensure that the previous consultation mechanism with Afro-Colombians and marginalized groups is applied in the negotiation for a free trade agreement and the implementation of Plan Colombia.
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