Petition denouncing development of oil project in indigenous land without consultation with indigenous communities. Request of precautionary measures to prevent oil project. Start of friendly settlement process.
Within the framework of the said process, a work team was formed together with Harvard University’s Program on Non Violent Sanctions and Cultural Survival (PONSACS). The team recommended the suspension of the oil project and a prior consultation. An official meeting of the parties is still pending; the objective of the meeting is to discuss the terms of the prior consultation process, which could take place during 2005.
The intervention of the IACHR led to the initiation of a friendly settlement process. In the context of this process, the State of Colombia had to design an adequate prior consultation procedure ensuring adequate protection of indigenous interests.
Petitioners:
Roberto Afanador Cobadoría, President of Asociación de Cabildos Mayores del pueblo U´wa, on behalf of the U´wa people, Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia –ONIC- , and Coalition for Amazonian Peoples and their Environment