2006, in order to comply with Protection Judgment 2595 of November 2, 2005, delivered by
the Superior Council of the Judicature in favor of 17 families of the Kankuamo Indigenous
People who, at that time, were in a situation of forced displacement in Bogota, it acquired
the property known as “Turin” in the municipality of Nilo, Cundinamarca, which had been
temporarily awarded to the beneficiaries of the Protection Judgment of October 3, 2007. In
this regard, the State indicated that the Kankuamo leaders presented two productive
projects that were rejected for technical and budgetary reasons, and that the State
presented them with two proposals which they did not accept. In its most recent brief
(supra second having seen paragraph), the State indicated that, based on the orders issued
by the Constitutional Court, particularly “Judgment T-025 of 2004 and its follow-up Decision
004 of 2009, several entities of the national Government had been ordered, among other
matters, to design a program to guarantee the rights of the indigenous peoples affected by
displacement”; progress had been made in this regard, “particularly with the Kankuamo
people in conjunction with the other indigenous peoples who live in the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta, by autonomous decision of the communities.” Based on “the order issued by
the Constitutional Court, there is a specific mechanism, the Concertation Committee.” It
also indicated that the Ministry of Interior and Justice, through its Territorial Coordination
Group on forced displacement, “has been taking different measures aimed at creating
coordination mechanisms between the policies developed by the national entities and the
actions of the territorial entities, seeking increased impact in the implementation of the
policy for prevention of and attention to forced displacement.”
16.
Regarding the right to freedom of movement of the members of the Community, the
representatives reported that, on July 15, 2009, in the community of Guatapurí, Luis Manuel
Montero Arias and José Enrique Cáceres Arias were arbitrarily detained by members of the
State’s security agency (DAS). In addition, they emphasized that the members of the
indigenous peoples who decided to return voluntarily to their territories did not have the
necessary guarantees of security, protection and dignity when doing so. They expressed
their concern owing to the current absence of mechanisms to prevent new forced
displacements, and stressed that the failure to implement and make available productive
projects in keeping with the indigenous traditions and customs that guarantee collective
self-sustainability in the context of the return is a pending task for the State. They indicated
that an example of this is the abandonment of the return to the community of Río Seco.
Lastly, the representatives advised that, in an application for protective measures, they had
requested the guarantee of the rights of the indigenous people who are in a situation of
forced displacement in Bogota, and the award of a property in the municipality of Nilo,
department of Cundinamarca. They reiterated the importance of assessing any changes in
the proposals taking into consideration the practices and customs of the beneficiaries.
17.
The Commission observed that the State and the representatives both refer to the
temporary award of a property to the members of the Kankuamo Indigenous People who
are displaced in Bogotá, as well as to the lack of agreement regarding the development of a
production project on this property. Moreover, it underlined the contradictions that existed
regarding application of the Protocol to support the processes of return or relocation of the
displaced population. It observed that the information presented by the State with regard to
the measures taken for the return of the Kankuamo population to the municipalities of Río
Seco and Murillo was incomplete. In its most recent brief (supra fourth having seen
paragraph), it reiterated “the need for detailed information on the measures taken to
implement the security conditions needed for the free movement of the People, in order to
improve their situation and enable them to return under secure conditions, avoiding new
displacements.”
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