Afro-Colombian News

Members of US Congress to Secretary Clinton on Afro-Colombian HUman Rights

Given the deteriorating human rights situation facing Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities, Representatives McGovern, Schakowsky, Payne, and Honda, wrote a letter calling on US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to make changes in the US aid package to Colombia. The letter asks the U.S. government to stop spending taxpayer dollars on the military, which has been found to be killing innocent civilians and illegally wiretapping human rights defenders, journalists, and Supreme Court judges and to support internally displaced people, Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, and small farmers who are trying to turn away from coca. The letter (link to full text below ) strengthens the human rights of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities in various ways including by underscoring that US: “Programs targeting Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities should be designed and implemented in consultation with representatives of Afro-Colombian urban and suburban communities and the community council and cabildo leaders of the territories in question.”

In addition to being subjected to violence related to the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous leaders are at a high risk of being harmed due to their bold efforts to stand up for their territorial rights by standing against economic interests in the natural resources found in their ancestral territories. Recent cases, such as that of various Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities in Cauca, point to systematic threats against these communities for defending their right to be previously consulted on all economic projects to be implemented in their territories.

In order to support this effort to change US foreign policy in favor of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities’ rights we encourage you to contact your Representative today and ask that he or she sign on to the McGovern, Schakowsky, Payne, and Honda letter to Secretary Clinton.

To do so, please visit the LAWG page explaining how to call your representative: http://bit.ly/4yP9re. and the online action center at: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/625/t/8560/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1651

You can also find the full text of the Dear Colleague and the list of updated co-signers by going to: http://bit.ly/1uXuB3

For more information on recent death threats see: http://www.afrocolombians.com/pdfs/AFRODESUSAurgentactionoct23pcn.pdf
and: http://www.wola.org/?&option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=6&Itemid=&topic=Colombia

In behalf of Afro-Colombian Communities and leaders, we thank you for your support.

Afrocolombian News

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