Auto 004 of 2009

Nature of the Case

In 2004, the Constitutional Court of Colombia decided case T-025, where it declared an unconstitutional state of affairs in regards to the situation of millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the country’s armed conflict. The unconstitutional state of affairs was due to the massive human rights violations associated with systemic failures in the safeguarding of IDPs by the State. In order to put an end to the unconstitutional state of affairs, the Court established a structure for follow-ups that consisted of two types: (1) special proceedings to evaluate the progress made by various state agencies, in which agencies were required to provide periodic reports on their compliance with the Court’s orders; and (2) autos de seguimiento, additional written materials from the court which expanded and clarified the Court’s orders in T-025, with specific focus on groups of persons at greater vulnerability and disproportionately impacted by the internal armed conflict. Auto 004 of 2009 is one of such orders, referring specifically to the situation of Indigenous Peoples.

Enforcement of the Decision and Outcomes

Auto 266 followed up on the decision and found a low compliance level. The Court found severe situations of discrimination, stigmatization, and marginalization in urban spaces as well as an accelerated loss of cultural life in their territories. In the urban setting, this included extreme poverty, marginalization and food insecurity, inability to access clean water and basic hygiene. Additionally, the follow-up report noted Indigenous people in urban settings are unable to practice cultural norms central to their continued existence because they are focused on surviving through these highly precarious living situations in displacement.

Structural discrimination also continues rampant, with Indigenous and Afro-Colombians being relegated to substandard housing, including coliseums, schools, sport stadiums, abandoned hospitals and economically depressed zones in the outskirts of cities. These substandard housing structures, which are themselves decrepit and run down, further exacerbate tensions within the communities and result in increased incidents of intrafamily violence, lack of respect for elders, and traditional authority figures, and rift in younger generations with their cultural and ethnic background, among others.

This also extends to Indigenous Persons who remained in their territories, due to the continued deterioration of their lands by armed actors and illegal actors with economic interests. This includes a pervasive practice of forced recruitment into armed groups and forced labor in the production of cocaine and other drugs.

For those who left and then returned, fleeing situations of extreme poverty and precarity in urban settings, the return is complicated by the lack of knowledge of how to operate their lands upon return, and the lack of interest and investment by the younger generations in reconnecting with their ancestral lands.

To all of this, the Court found pervasiveness of lack of funds allocated to deal with this problem, as well as systemic lack of coordination to implement the ordered programs, thus necessitating further judicial oversight of the plight of internally displaced Indigenous Peoples.

Autos 173 of 2012(link is external) specifically surveyed the situation of the Indigenous peoples of Jiw o Guayabero and Nukak from the regions of Meta and Guaviare. Auto 382 of 2010(link is external) surveyed the situation of the Indigenous peoples of Hitnú o Macaguán in the region of Arauca.

Significance of the Case

The armed conflict greatly expedited the speed with which Indigenous Peoples in Colombia feel the threat to extinction of their cultures. Not only do they suffer from the structural discrimination that has led to them not having ownership of ancestral lands, for instance, but they also suffer disproportionately at the intersection of identities. For instance, Indigenous women, as Auto 092 showed, are at a much higher risk of being victims of sexual violence than non-Indigenous women and girls. This pattern rings true for other intersecting lines, such as disability, and age. Therefore, it is promising that the judiciary document the jarring statistics on the impacts of displacement on Indigenous communities, and it is also imperative that the State continue to work towards fulfilling the minimum requirements as outlined by the Court.