We affirm ourselves for life, peace and permanence in the territory.
A caravan of various human rights platforms, social organizations, trade unions, alternative media and international organizations, which departed from Bogotá, visited the municipalities of Tame, Fortul, Saravena and Arauquita, and noted the serious human rights situation experienced by the inhabitants and the violations of international humanitarian law committed by the various armed actors present in the region.
During March 24 and 25, we have held this forum in the context of a national situation characterized by the humanitarian crisis that plagues various regions of the country such as Chocó, Catatumbo, Cauca, Caquetá and Magdalena Medio, among others; a monumental fraud in the electoral contest and the approaches of the U.S. government with the legitimate government of Venezuela, for a possible peace in the relations between the two countries.
The only thing the government looks to Arauca for is the plundering of its energy wealth. The companies Sierracol Energy (of US origin), Ecopetrol, PAREX (Canadian) have been the protagonists of the most recent conflicts with the Araucanian population over labor, environmental and social investment issues; in addition to this, most of the piedmont area is in the process of licensing for seismic exploration. Economic projections include mining-energy and agroforestry plans in Arauca, the Orinoco and Amazon regions, in addition to the Orinoco mining arc, the largest extension of which is located in Venezuelan territory.
The government has implemented a “security and defense” policy for regions such as Arauca, disguised in the so-called “Future Zones”, which seeks to implement forms of territorial intervention through public-military and civil-military management, in a kind of military governance of the territory. The staging of the country’s natural resources as the main value of military care, which, on the contrary, seeks to benefit the process of concentration and privatization of the main natural wealth of the nation, is striking.
Additionally, the Colombian government, in response to U.S. expansionist policies, has the strategy of affirming the Araucanian territory as a theater of war in order to continue provocations and interference against the Venezuelan State. To do so, it needs to control the territory and destroy the social organizations. This strategy is reflected in the 7 US military bases operating in Colombia, and a greater presence of US military in Arauca.
The degradation of the armed conflict, the serious humanitarian crisis and the persistent violation of human rights has increased in Arauca. Since January, the population has been experiencing the worsening of the armed conflict, against the backdrop of the enormous militarization imposed long ago and the “highly lethal” counterinsurgency operations with bombings that increase terror, forced displacement, threats to life, unleashing aggressions against the civilian population, causing the murder of civilians, the serious attack on January 19 against the headquarters of the social organizations in Saravena, displacements, plans such as the so-called “young people for the good” that the police implement in the regions of Arauca; displacements, plans such as the so-called “young people for the good” that the police implement in the municipalities behind the backs of the civil authorities themselves, to involve young people in the conflict; there are reports that some of these events are covert actions of the army through the use of mercenaries; all of which has been creating a climate of terror in the region. At the same time, armed groups are involved in assassinations, kidnappings, confinement of entire communities, threats and forced recruitment of minors.
This escalation of violence so far this year has left more than 100 homicide victims (including 5 social leaders and one signatory of the peace agreement); 5 social organizations and 56 of their members victims of a terrorist attack by car bomb, of which 6 were wounded; 2,378 displaced persons (725 families), including 52 signatories of the FARC-Government peace agreement and 25 teachers threatened.
The State’s only response is security councils, from which only new military strategies emerge that further aggravate the living conditions of the population and do not resolve the social needs of the region.
The Colombian government is solely responsible for the serious situation of violence and state abandonment that the Araucanian people are going through; there is an absolute lack of resources and public policies for health, housing, education and other basic needs of the entire population and the victims of the conflict, solutions that will be successful if they are conceived and implemented with the communities and their organizations, with the perspective of solving the structural and historical problems of the region.
These accumulated and aggravated problems cannot be solved by military or repressive means.
The region is also affected by the non-compliance with the Peace Accords and the blocking of a negotiated solution to the armed conflict with the ELN and other insurgencies. The failed “Policy of Peace with Legality” has defunded, distorted and simulated before the International Community the fulfillment of the obligations subscribed for the implementation of a stable and lasting peace.
Today it is urgently required that Colombian society, the international community, the Churches, the ecumenical movement and human rights and social movement organizations join their capacities and wills to contribute to stop the war in the department of Arauca and to solve the historical and structural causes that generate it. The population launches an SOS for the essential rights to life, peace and permanence in the territory.
This forum calls for the articulation of efforts on the following objectives: To the different regular and irregular armed actors, to fully comply with IHL, excluding the civilian population, social organizations and protected civilian assets from their military actions. To the social organizations and the human rights movement in Colombia to declare a Humanitarian Emergency for the Department of Arauca, which entails demanding resources and attention to the affected civilian population, and not to the militarization of the territory; in this perspective, to summon international human rights organizations, the UN and the MAP-OAS to support this autonomous initiative.
Request the government to convene the National Commission of Security Guarantees, point 3.4. of the Peace Agreement, which, by listening to the problems of the community, will allow the development of actions in favor of the community and social leaders.
We demand that the Congress of the Republic commit to the territory, with the participation of the communities and social leaders in a plan to reestablish the collective rights of the Araucanians. Support the establishment of humanitarian tables, humanitarian corridors and other forms of humanitarian law to protect life, personal integrity, human rights and the non-violation of international humanitarian law.
Arauca’s history has been linked to its relationship with Venezuela, which requires the reestablishment of diplomatic, consular, economic and cultural relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and dialogue and coordination between the two governments to address shared border issues.
Strengthen with qualified personnel, preferably Araucanas and Araucanos, the field teams of the ombudsman’s office and the government offices and secretaries of government of the seven municipalities. Generate policies that comply with their constitutional functions.
Attend to the communities that have suffered displacement, providing them with shelter and dignified humanitarian conditions and working for their safe return.
We call on the international community to monitor the human rights situation in the Department of Arauca, accompanying local organizations and populations.
