Strengthening rights and building peace in vulnerable communities of Colombia

This project aims to improve the protection of Indigenous Peoples at risk of cultural and physical extinction and environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) from the Colombian departments of Arauca Caquetá Cauca Guaviare Nariño Norte de Santander Putumayo Santa Marta and Sierra Nevada. Project activities include: (1) providing technical assistance to authorities to help them adopt and implement protection measures for Indigenous people; (2) supporting Indigenous Peoples with technical assistance and facilitating their participation in dialogue with state institutions. It does so to increase gender-inclusive individual and collective rights in implementing protection policies and improve Indigenous justice and self governance in the peace processes impacting their territories; (3) advocating for increased engagement by Colombian authorities to protect Indigenous people’s rights to land and resources; (4) building the technical capacities of national and local level institutions to protect EHRDs and address environmental degradation resulting from conflict; (5) building the capacities of EHRDs to better identify risks including those affecting women and girls and to claim protection measures and access justice; and (6) advocating for including EHRDs in the government’s violence prevention and protection strategies.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) contributed to protecting human rights and violence prevention measures for Colombian ethnic groups and rural populations; (2) improved protection of Colombian Indigenous women and men from violence by armed non-state actors and criminal organizations; and (3) improved protection measures for EHRDs to claim their rights to a healthy and sustainable environment for rural communities including Indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations.