A Voice for the Voiceless

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENAVENTURA, Colombia – The Colombian NGO Consultancy for Human Rights (CODHES) reports that  Colombia is the country with the highest number of displaced people in the world, based on figures from a report published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to the UNHCR report, approximately 3.7 million Colombian citizens have been displaced from their homes in the last five decades due to increasing violence from rebel groups, such as the FARC.

Jorge Rojas, Director of CODHES, stated “[t]he number of uprooted people in Colombia is higher than those in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”  Ecuador and Venezuela were named as two countries that received the highest portion of displaced Colombians.

According to the report, about 600,000 Colombians live in Ecuador. The Ecuadorian government claims that that have spent $40 million in the past three years to address the displaced population.

The Colombian Government is receiving harsh criticism for their handling of the news.  Initially, Colombia rejected reports that the country had the highest number of displaced peoples.  According to Acción Social, the presidential agency in charge of displacement, the statements and figures contained in the report are “untrue”.  Acción Social also claims that global data on displacement and refugees cannot be used to compare displacement between countries because there are multiple ways to calculate displacement.

According to Colombia Reports, an independent news organization, the true purpose of the report was not to establish a definitive figure on displaced people, but rather to highlight the gravity of an often overlooked humanitarian crisis, a claim that dulls Acción Social’s claim that research methodology acts to unfairly skew the figures.  Colombia Reports goes on to point out that although high-intensity warfare is a “thing of the past” in Colombia, the UNHCR report illustrates that the country is experiencing a humanitarian disaster of “epic proportions”.

Colombia Reports also claims that Acción Social’s response is indicative of a much larger “national attitude of worrying too much about the country’s image and too little about its concrete problems.”

For more information, please see:

Pravda.ru – Colombia has the Highest Number of Displaced People in the World – 12 November 2010

Colombia Reports – Displacement is a Human Tragedy, not a Publicity Crisis – 11 November 2010

Colombia Reports – Colombia Rejects U.N. Report on Refugee Figures – 10 November 2010

Momento 24 – Colombia Displaces and Ecuador Receives Refugees by Violence – 9 November 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

DRY CHACO, Paraguay—An expedition led by conservation scientists from London’s Natural History Museum has become controversial because of the threat it poses to local indigenous peoples.  The expedition would invade remote areas of Paraguay that reach into Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil, called the Dry Chaco.  Experts fear that the expedition may have “fatal consequences” for indigenous groups, including the Ayoreo Indians who avoid contact with outsiders.

The Museum scientists plan to explore the Dry Chaco, a semi-arid lowland, in order to discover and record biodiversity.  Biologists and botanists will search for new plants, insects and animals in the isolated region.  The Museum has stated that it hopes their findings will help “governments and conversation groups better understand how to manage fragile habitats and protect them for future generations.”  The Dry Chaco has been threatened recently by the possibilities of logging and intensive agriculture.

The Museum has assured that they have researched the area and will try to avoid any contact with the indigenous groups.  Professor Richard Lane, head of science at the Museum, said, “[O]ur collaborators have enlisted an Ayoreo elder, who has volunteered to guide our team in the forest.”

Benno Glauser, Director of Iniciativa Amotocodie, a not-for-profit dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Ayoreo, has expressed concern about the expedition’s negative impact on indigenous peoples living in the area, many of whom have never made contact with the outside world.  According to Glauser, “[w]e know of three isolated indigenous groups in the area targeted by the expedition.  They live in completely virgin forest.  It makes them vulnerable to any external intrusion.”

Glauser said that “surprise contact” could arise between the scientists and indigenous peoples because the scientists would be moving “around in a very silent way in order to observe animals.”

Jonathan Mazower, the Advocacy Director for Survival International, a human rights organization that campaigns for the rights of indigenous tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples, maintains that intruders may be seen as hostile by the indigenous groups, and surprise encounters may become violent.  Mazower has suggested that a good compromise could be to go through with the expedition, but move it to another area in the Dry Chaco.

Ayoreo elders who live near the town of Filadelfia have asked Paraguay’s president and the Museum itself to stop the expedition.  They believe that indigenous groups are endangered by the plans and said, “There is too much risk.  It’s like a genocide.”

For more information, please see:

Monga Bay-Chaco expedition working to ‘minimize the risk’ of running into uncontacted natives-11 November 2010

Telegraph-Danger: the world is on its way-10 November 2010

BBC-Conservation expedition ‘poses risk to tribes’-9 November 2010

This is London-Paraguay trip by scientists ‘could wipe out natives’-9 November 2010