NGOs call for protection for besieged Afro-Colombian communities

[gbscar]

NGOs call for protection for besieged Afro-Colombian communities
Friday, 12 August 2011 09:52
James Bargent

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The Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network (ACSN) has released a statement documenting assassinations, displacement, intimidation, drug trafficking and forced conscription in communities around the country in the last two months.

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Paramilitaries operate openly, despite the presence of members of the Army’s 17th Brigade. Community members claim the army neither search nor arrest the paramilitaries who regularly transport coca through checkpoints.

They also claim the paramilitaries are offering $400 to community youths to join them. If they refuse their lives are threatened and they are forced to flee.

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One campaigner against illegal mining in Northern Cauca received a call saying, “you people from the Community Council are the ones opposed to the machines working in the Ovejas River. The bumps in the road must be removed so that they don’t disturb progress.”

Many activists have complained the authorities have shown little interest in the cases. Port union leaders claim the Labor Action Plan agreed with the U.S. in April has not led to any progress in investigations into abuses, while the northern Cauca activists say that the authorities have not responded to reported death threats.

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http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18285-ngos-call-for-protection-for-besieged-afro-colombian-communities.html