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Press Release 001 of 2022
To the national and international community
March 10, 2022
Emergency in the Pipalta Palbí Yaguapí Awá reservation due to the massive displacement of its entire population.
From the organization UNIPA of the Awá people in Nariño, we denounce and make public the total displacement of the Awá families of the Pipalta Palbí Yaguapí reservation, located in the village of Buenavista, Los Telembies, municipality of Barbacoas. Since March 2, there have been constant clashes between armed actors operating in the area; therefore, these families have had to abandon their homes and leave their belongings to safeguard their lives.
On March 7, our ancestral authorities verified the massive displacement of 90 Awá families from the Pipalta Palbí Yaguapí reservation, totaling 281 people. At this moment, these families, among which there are more than eighty minors, are temporarily overcrowded in people’s houses in the town of Buenavista, in precarious and inhumane conditions. In view of this, medical, psychological and humanitarian attention is urgently required; especially the allocation of a temporary housing space in decent conditions until the state of emergency in the territory is overcome. It is necessary to provide non-perishable food, mattresses, personal hygiene kits and clothing, among others.
This situation is part of the systematic human rights violations that the Pipalta Palbí Yaguapí Awá reservation has been suffering since 2010, with murders, threats against leaders, confinements and displacements, as we have been warning through communiqués1. Despite this, there has not been an effective response of attention and protection by municipal, departmental and national institutions, which ultimately leads to the total displacement of its population.
We demand priority attention for these Awá families from the Ombudsman’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, the Government of Nariño, the Mayor’s Office of Barbacoas and the ICBF. Likewise, we call for solidarity with human rights organizations such as UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, AHE – Emergency Humanitarian Assistance, the International Committee of the Red Cross -CRIC, the Danish Council, the World Food Program, Doctors Without Borders, and other national and international organizations responsible for humanitarian assistance to provide priority support to these Awá families.
We reject the scourge of massive forced displacement that our ancestral communities are suffering, in the context of the intensification of the conflict due to the armed actors that are disputing so many routes and areas in our territory. We urgently request attention to these Awá families. We are a peaceful people who live in harmony and we do not want more violations of our fundamental rights.
1. Press Release, April 9, 2010 “Communiqué to the public opinion – The Awá crisis continues”; Press Release, February 4, 2014 “We join the agrarian, ethnic, peasant and popular summit”;
2. Ombudsman Resolution No. 53 of 2008; Early Alert 045 of 2019.
ASSOCIATION OF TRADITIONAL AWÁ INDIGENOUS AUTHORITIES – ORGANIZATION OF THE INDIGENOUS UNITY OF THE AWÁ PEOPLE UNIPA
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