The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed grave concern regarding the safety of indigenous Awa group residing on the Colombia-Ecuador border on Friday, July 1. Throughout this week, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances will visit Colombian cities to discuss various cases surrounding the disappearances that mostly pertain to indigenous residents of the Narino Province.
In the midst of a civil war that has lasted 41 years, over 1,200 indigenous
people have been coerced to mobilize due to combat between the guerillas and
the military on their homeland. Although some Awa have successfully crossed
over the border to the security of Ecuador, hundreds remain in the heat of
the battle. The country is home to over 80 different indigenous groups, totaling
about three percent of the population, and the UNHCR fears that those remaining
in Colombia face culture elimination and food deprivation in the distraught
reality of warfare, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond is reported as saying at a
news briefing by the UN News Center.
