State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2013 - Colombia

In an effort to end the long-running internal conflict, at the end of 2012 the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began formal peace negotiations with the Colombian government in Cuba. This is to be followed by talks between the government and another major insurgents' group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).

Nevertheless, indigenous and Afro-Colombian activists report that while military combat may have lessened, Colombia's various far-right paramilitary 'gangs' continued to operate and expand in their regions, even while the presence of other armed groups was diminishing.

During 2012, Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples continued to be removed and dispossessed of their ancestral lands by these paramilitary entities. Instead of conflict and agribusiness expansion, the latest round of displacement and rights violations is linked to the rapid expansion of the mining sector in the Colombian economy – including illegal gold mining.

Mining fever

Colombia is now a major international producer of coal, nickel and gold. According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, about 4 per cent of the national territory has been leased out for mining concessions. Moreover there is a pending backlog of 20,000 unprocessed title requests that cover approximately 20 per cent of Colombia's overall land area. Many of the sought-after concessions affect indigenous and Afro-descendant lands, which combined constitute a total of 91 million acres (or 37 million hectares).

According to ECLAC data, the mining and petroleum sectors provided almost 50 per cent of the country's total exports (US$8 billion) in 2010. However, this sector, with its multiple social and environmental questions, contributed just 6 per cent to the total GDP in a country that spends 7.6 per cent of its GDP on health.

The Colombian NGO Dejusticia argues that the country is undertaking mining with very little regard for the enormous social and environmental costs to the nation, and especially to indigenous and Afro-descendant communities.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR has cautioned that the rapid expansion of mining directly threatens the territorial rights, overall health and economic well-being of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, who make up over 30 per cent of the national population.

Mining in proximity to their lands has greatly increased the risk of related health hazards. These range from environmental problems to deaths and injuries due to title disputes and forced displacement by encroachers.

At issue is the fact that although some territories in question may be legally titled to the respective communities, under Colombia's 1991 Constitution the state retains the sub-soil rights for mineral and petroleum resources, which officials can allocate as they choose.

In May 2011 a newly introduced Mining Code (Law 1382) was challenged by Colombia's Constitutional Court. It had excluded the constitutionally guaranteed right to prior and informed consent regarding any activities occurring on indigenous and Afro-Colombian territories. The government then proposed amendments before re-tabling the legislation. The new draft favoured large – mostly foreign – mining companies and allowed already protected environmental and ethnic territories to be used for strategic mining projects.

About half of the gold produced in Colombia is extracted by small-scale and artisan miners and increasingly also by illegal prospectors. During 2012 incursions onto ancestral areas by individuals bent on illicit gold mining generated tensions in the Amazon as well as the southern Pacific coast region near the border with Ecuador.

Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities complain that illegal miners ravage the jungle earth to get at the gold. Then they move on, leaving behind a series of polluted wastelands the size of football fields, littered with slag heaps and pits of contaminated water. These areas contain highly toxic chemicals such as mercury.

In addition to land conflicts between armed entities and the respective communities, during 2012 the limited state presence in remote areas also encouraged violent disputes among the various paramilitary factions themselves, as well as between private investors, guerrillas, narcotics producers and the military, who are all increasingly interested in gold speculation.

According to local MRG partner CIMARRON (the Movimiento Nacional por los Derechos Humanos de las Communidades Afrocolombianos ), community members are often threatened with expulsion and violence if they resist encroachment. Moreover there is frequently an overlap of areas where displacement has occurred and where mining licences have been applied for or granted.

As well as gold exploitation the increase of open-pit coal mining in Colombia also had an effect on the well-being and health of Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities.

In February 2012 a protest over pollution caused by the massive coal mining in the north-eastern Colombian zone of El Cesar blocked the railroad used to carry trainloads of coal to the port of Santa Marta.

El Cesar sub-soil coal mining required the removal and relocation of the Afro-Colombian population from their ancestral territory to other areas. This included an obligation to provide new housing and public services – including schools. The residents complained there had been no prior consultations on the mining initiative, and coal mining had destroyed vast areas of productive land as well as the region's Calenturitas River. Moreover, the companies had not fulfilled the obligations to relocate their populations and provide basic amenities.

Likewise in La Guajira, the indigenous Wayúu community protested during 2012 over large-scale coal mining occurring at the giant open-pit facility at El Cerrejón, which exports over 30 million tonnes of coal annually.

Apart from not having consented to mining on their territory, the main reason for the El Cerrejón protests is the resulting poor air quality, which causes respiratory health problems. They also claim that the groundwater in their springs and wells is now contaminated, and that there have been soil and forest losses. This is partly connected to the reality that mining 1 tonne of coal leaves behind 10 tonnes of slag and waste materials that continue to leach into rivers and the ground.