A.
Maintain and adopt the measures necessary to continue protecting the
life, personal integrity and liberty of all the members of the communities that
form part of the Indigenous Community of Kankuamo (operative paragraph one
of the Order of April 3, 2009)
7.
The State presented, not only in its reports but also at the public hearing,
extensive information on the measures adopted tending to comply with this operative
paragraph. Next, the Tribunal shall refer to the main aspects of said information. In
general terms, the State pointed out that the provisional measures are being
implemented within the framework of the Human Rights Protection Program of the
Ministry of Interior and Justice, especially, through the Regulation and Risk Evaluation
Committee [Comité de Reglamentación y Evaluación de Riesgos] (hereinafter, "CRER" for
its acronym in Spanish). This body is requested to recommend the most convenient
measures to protect people, in this case, the members of the Kankuamo Indigenous
Community. The State broadly referred to the different measures it had adopted. On the
one hand, it indicated that in order to guarantee the life and personal integrity of the
beneficiaries, the Tenth Engineer Battalion [Batallón de Ingenieros de Movilidad y Contra
Movilidad N° 10] is carrying out tactical missions to ensure security in the area, not only
in the indigenous territory but also in access roads and roads that connect different
corregimientos. Also, the State made reference to the adoption of different protective
material measures of an individual and a collective nature6. In this respect, it indicated
that, in a meeting conducted on February 22, 2011, the CRER recommended that the
requests for “protective material measures made by the indigenous peoples” be assessed
“taking into account the differential approaches in accordance with the proposal to be
presented by the representatives of [such] people”. Given that, according to the
Colombian legislation, protective material measures are provisional in nature, on that
same month, through the CRER, the State requested “the representative of the
community to update the information regarding the leaders of the community, the
occurrence of new facts, if any, and the resolution thereof, in order to conduct new and
up-to-date Technical Studies on the Level of Risk".
8.
On the other hand, the State pointed out that, since 2009, it has convened
“security councils with the local authorities". These councils are part of a “mechanism
[…] of the Colombian government designed to address the concerns related to security of
the local authorities and the community”. “Members of the police and the national army
permanently attend" this security council. In addition, it indicated that, in a follow-up
meeting of these provisional measures held on June 9, 20117 it made some commitments
with Kankuamo Indigenous Community, including the organization of periodic meetings
with the police, the army and the “community” in order to make a "permanent
assessment of Kankuamo Indigenous Community"; the appointment of an indigenous
liaison officer and the designation of a direct liaison by means of a non-commissioned
officer of the intelligence department of the battalion with jurisdiction over the area, in
order to communicate any "alleged presence of illegal armed people in the indigenous
territory". The State provided detailed information regarding the "current liaison
officers". It also indicated that the members of the army and the police receive
permanent training on the respect for the autonomy and jurisdiction of the communities.
In this respect, the State indicated that it requested the Indigenous Governor of the
Kankuamo Indigenous Organization its good practices so that a member of such
community support, in these trainings, the military groups "in order to teach them their
6
These measures consist, basically, in ground transportation services; mobile, “avantel” and satellite
communication services; airline tickets and armored vehicles with escort agents.
7
In the brief presented by the State of July 18, 2011, it was indicated that said meeting was held on
June 10, 2011.
4