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COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CONCLUDES CONSIDERATION OF REPORT OF COLOMBIA
18 August 1999
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HR/CERD/99/55
18 August 1999
Adopts Concluding Observations on Report of Iran
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concluded consideration this morning of a report of Colombia, querying a Government delegation, among other things, on a reported threat of collective suicide by the U'wa indigenous people following loss of their territory to an oil company.
A representative of Colombia told the Committee that the Government was trying to fashion a solution to the problem that was acceptable both to the U’wa and to the oil company. The representative also said that Colombia recognized that in some urban areas there had been discrimination against Blacks with regard to housing. However, the Government had attempted to tackle the problem by creating more housing, the representative said, and the Government was not aware of any discrimination concerning access to justice as alluded to by the Committee’s rapporteur on the situation in Colombia.
Gay McDougall, the Committee Expert who served as rapporteur, said minority groups, particularly indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, were marginalized politically, mired in extreme poverty and disproportionately subjected to violence. She said the absence of explicit and comprehensive legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in the country was a matter of concern.
Colombia is one of 155 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and as such must submit periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to implement the treaty.
The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the report of Colombia towards the end of its session, which concludes 27 August. A two-person Government delegation was on hand yesterday and this morning to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.
Also this morning, the Committee adopted concluding observations on a report of Iran presented earlier in the Committee’s four-week session, and began work on concluding observations on a report of Romania.
The following Committee Experts participated in the discussion: Agha Shahi, Michael E. Sherifis, Theodoor van Boven, Yuri A. Rechetov, Michael P. Banton, Regis de Gouttes, Ivan Garvalov, Ion Diaconu, Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr, Deci Zou and Mario Jorge Yutsis.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will take up a second periodic report of Azerbaijan (document CERD/C/350/Add.1).
Discussion of Colombian Report
At the beginning of the meeting an Expert raised questions related to an incident of a reported threat of collective suicide by one of Colombia's indigenous communities, the U'wa, which had lost its land to an oil company. That indigenous group had even gone to the country's courts appealing for justice and requesting the restoration of its land and had lost the case, the Expert said; the Colombian Government granted a licence to the Occidental Company of Colombia for exploration and exploitation of oil in the U'wa zone. The Expert sought an explanations of the matter.
PASTOR ELIAS MURILLO MARTINEZ (Colombia), responding to a number of queries put by Committee Experts, said that recently the Government had taken measures to deal with problems of internal displacement. Safeguards would be provided and the guarantee of safety of return to the original homes of the displaced persons would be provided with the participation of the indigenous peoples affected.
With regard to land ownership by the Black communities, the delegate said that six collective land ownership projects had already been arranged and in addition ownership titles for 2 million hectares of land for Black communities were being processed. The country's banks also had been invited to participate in the development of lands by providing loans to Black communities.
The delegation said Colombia recognized that in some urban areas there had been racial discrimination against Blacks with regard to housing. However, the Government had attempted to tackle the problem by pointing out special features of the Black culture to the public and by creating more housing. The Government was not aware of any discrimination concerning access to justice, as alluded by the country rapporteur, the delegation said.
Concerning the U'wa territory where the Occidental Company had been given a licence for oil exploration, Mr. Martinez said the Government had found the situation very difficult because of the problem created by the licence given to the company to process for oil exploitation. The Government was now seeking to resolve the problem in an amicable manner. Since the situation was very sensitive, the Government had been paying careful attention to resolving the crisis peacefully. The U'wa indigenous people had also been contemplating a peaceful solution to the problem.
As regards armed conflict, indigenous peoples had been the frontline victims of the civil war affecting the country, Mr. Martinez said. The Government had expressed its will to resolve the problem peacefully by inviting all the actors in the conflict to come to a round table to design a durable solution to a conflict that had cost the lives of thousands.
A special legislative provision had been under study with a view to making racial discrimination a serious crime and severely punishable, Mr. Martinez said. In addition, punishable crimes could be aggravated by offences of direct racial segregation or unfair treatment of persons on grounds of ethnicity. Higher sentences were envisaged for acts which violated any international laws to which the State was a party, including the Convention, he said.
Mr. Martinez said the participation of indigenous peoples in the Government Consultative Committee created in 1994 had been found effective and they had played a fairly active role in the drafting of a mining code -- mining being a sensitive issue for indigenous peoples. The new mining code was designed to regulate sub-soil ownership of land by indigenous peoples and Black communities in the country. The Consultative Committee also dealt with issues touching indigenous questions pertaining to land. In addition, administrative and judicial regulations had been issued in consultation with the committee in which the Blacks also played an active role.
Mr. Martinez said a census on ethnic groups and Black communities had been carried out to establish the special features and similarities of indigenous and Black communities. The census was also designed to establish common denominators. Following the census, which also established statistical data, a quantitative study would be carried out and the emerging elements would be used by the Government to shape policies to fit the interests of indigenous and Black communities. The findings of the study would be public and the members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would be informed, he said.
Mr. Martinez said that following legislative measures taken by the Government to empower indigenous peoples to handle their own affairs in their respective territories, an indigenous jurisdiction had been created so that indigenous individuals could be judged in their own indigenous courts. The indigenous jurisdiction had the same value as the national jurisdiction, he said.
Concerning Article 14 of the Convention, which recognized the competence of the Committee to receive communications from individuals claiming to be victims of violations of their rights under the Convention, the Colombian official said the Government had not yet taken a definite decision on the issue. He said the Government would inform the Committee as soon as a decision was made.
GAY MACDOUGALL, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Colombia, said the report was extensive and gave a significant amount of information useful to the Committee. She appreciated the degree to which the delegation had discussed with frankness and candour the persistence of racial discrimination in Colombia.
Ms. McDougall noted the extremely difficult situation that existed within the country, especially the internal conflict and the impact of that conflict on the human rights of all in the country, and especially its disproportionate impact on Colombia’s indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations.
Ms. McDougall said that minority groups, particularly the country’s indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, were marginalized politically, mired in extreme poverty and disproportionately subjected to violence. She said the absence of explicit and comprehensive legislation prohibiting racial discrimination was among the principal concerns of the Committee.
Concluding observations on report of Iran
In its concluding observations on the report of Iran, the Committee cited as a positive aspect to the report the establishment of national institutions to promote, review and monitor human rights enshrined in international instruments and the Constitution, in particular the Islamic Human Rights Commission and the Board for Follow-up and Monitoring of the Implementation of the Constitution.
The Committee suggested, among other things, that the Government of Iran continue to promote economic, social and cultural development in areas inhabited by disadvantaged ethnic and tribal minorities and groups, and that it encourage the participation of those minorities in such development. It recommended that Iran ensure that seminars, training courses and workshops on human rights included training on the Convention and gave due attention to the concluding observations of the Committee and relevant national legislation, in particular relating to the availability of domestic remedies.
HR/CERD/99/55
18 August 1999
Adopts Concluding Observations on Report of Iran
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination concluded consideration this morning of a report of Colombia, querying a Government delegation, among other things, on a reported threat of collective suicide by the U'wa indigenous people following loss of their territory to an oil company.
A representative of Colombia told the Committee that the Government was trying to fashion a solution to the problem that was acceptable both to the U’wa and to the oil company. The representative also said that Colombia recognized that in some urban areas there had been discrimination against Blacks with regard to housing. However, the Government had attempted to tackle the problem by creating more housing, the representative said, and the Government was not aware of any discrimination concerning access to justice as alluded to by the Committee’s rapporteur on the situation in Colombia.
Gay McDougall, the Committee Expert who served as rapporteur, said minority groups, particularly indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, were marginalized politically, mired in extreme poverty and disproportionately subjected to violence. She said the absence of explicit and comprehensive legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in the country was a matter of concern.
Colombia is one of 155 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and as such must submit periodic reports to the Committee on efforts to implement the treaty.
The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the report of Colombia towards the end of its session, which concludes 27 August. A two-person Government delegation was on hand yesterday and this morning to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.
Also this morning, the Committee adopted concluding observations on a report of Iran presented earlier in the Committee’s four-week session, and began work on concluding observations on a report of Romania.
The following Committee Experts participated in the discussion: Agha Shahi, Michael E. Sherifis, Theodoor van Boven, Yuri A. Rechetov, Michael P. Banton, Regis de Gouttes, Ivan Garvalov, Ion Diaconu, Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr, Deci Zou and Mario Jorge Yutsis.
When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will take up a second periodic report of Azerbaijan (document CERD/C/350/Add.1).
Discussion of Colombian Report
At the beginning of the meeting an Expert raised questions related to an incident of a reported threat of collective suicide by one of Colombia's indigenous communities, the U'wa, which had lost its land to an oil company. That indigenous group had even gone to the country's courts appealing for justice and requesting the restoration of its land and had lost the case, the Expert said; the Colombian Government granted a licence to the Occidental Company of Colombia for exploration and exploitation of oil in the U'wa zone. The Expert sought an explanations of the matter.
PASTOR ELIAS MURILLO MARTINEZ (Colombia), responding to a number of queries put by Committee Experts, said that recently the Government had taken measures to deal with problems of internal displacement. Safeguards would be provided and the guarantee of safety of return to the original homes of the displaced persons would be provided with the participation of the indigenous peoples affected.
With regard to land ownership by the Black communities, the delegate said that six collective land ownership projects had already been arranged and in addition ownership titles for 2 million hectares of land for Black communities were being processed. The country's banks also had been invited to participate in the development of lands by providing loans to Black communities.
The delegation said Colombia recognized that in some urban areas there had been racial discrimination against Blacks with regard to housing. However, the Government had attempted to tackle the problem by pointing out special features of the Black culture to the public and by creating more housing. The Government was not aware of any discrimination concerning access to justice, as alluded by the country rapporteur, the delegation said.
Concerning the U'wa territory where the Occidental Company had been given a licence for oil exploration, Mr. Martinez said the Government had found the situation very difficult because of the problem created by the licence given to the company to process for oil exploitation. The Government was now seeking to resolve the problem in an amicable manner. Since the situation was very sensitive, the Government had been paying careful attention to resolving the crisis peacefully. The U'wa indigenous people had also been contemplating a peaceful solution to the problem.
As regards armed conflict, indigenous peoples had been the frontline victims of the civil war affecting the country, Mr. Martinez said. The Government had expressed its will to resolve the problem peacefully by inviting all the actors in the conflict to come to a round table to design a durable solution to a conflict that had cost the lives of thousands.
A special legislative provision had been under study with a view to making racial discrimination a serious crime and severely punishable, Mr. Martinez said. In addition, punishable crimes could be aggravated by offences of direct racial segregation or unfair treatment of persons on grounds of ethnicity. Higher sentences were envisaged for acts which violated any international laws to which the State was a party, including the Convention, he said.
Mr. Martinez said the participation of indigenous peoples in the Government Consultative Committee created in 1994 had been found effective and they had played a fairly active role in the drafting of a mining code -- mining being a sensitive issue for indigenous peoples. The new mining code was designed to regulate sub-soil ownership of land by indigenous peoples and Black communities in the country. The Consultative Committee also dealt with issues touching indigenous questions pertaining to land. In addition, administrative and judicial regulations had been issued in consultation with the committee in which the Blacks also played an active role.
Mr. Martinez said a census on ethnic groups and Black communities had been carried out to establish the special features and similarities of indigenous and Black communities. The census was also designed to establish common denominators. Following the census, which also established statistical data, a quantitative study would be carried out and the emerging elements would be used by the Government to shape policies to fit the interests of indigenous and Black communities. The findings of the study would be public and the members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would be informed, he said.
Mr. Martinez said that following legislative measures taken by the Government to empower indigenous peoples to handle their own affairs in their respective territories, an indigenous jurisdiction had been created so that indigenous individuals could be judged in their own indigenous courts. The indigenous jurisdiction had the same value as the national jurisdiction, he said.
Concerning Article 14 of the Convention, which recognized the competence of the Committee to receive communications from individuals claiming to be victims of violations of their rights under the Convention, the Colombian official said the Government had not yet taken a definite decision on the issue. He said the Government would inform the Committee as soon as a decision was made.
GAY MACDOUGALL, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur for the report of Colombia, said the report was extensive and gave a significant amount of information useful to the Committee. She appreciated the degree to which the delegation had discussed with frankness and candour the persistence of racial discrimination in Colombia.
Ms. McDougall noted the extremely difficult situation that existed within the country, especially the internal conflict and the impact of that conflict on the human rights of all in the country, and especially its disproportionate impact on Colombia’s indigenous and Afro-Colombian populations.
Ms. McDougall said that minority groups, particularly the country’s indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, were marginalized politically, mired in extreme poverty and disproportionately subjected to violence. She said the absence of explicit and comprehensive legislation prohibiting racial discrimination was among the principal concerns of the Committee.
Concluding observations on report of Iran
In its concluding observations on the report of Iran, the Committee cited as a positive aspect to the report the establishment of national institutions to promote, review and monitor human rights enshrined in international instruments and the Constitution, in particular the Islamic Human Rights Commission and the Board for Follow-up and Monitoring of the Implementation of the Constitution.
The Committee suggested, among other things, that the Government of Iran continue to promote economic, social and cultural development in areas inhabited by disadvantaged ethnic and tribal minorities and groups, and that it encourage the participation of those minorities in such development. It recommended that Iran ensure that seminars, training courses and workshops on human rights included training on the Convention and gave due attention to the concluding observations of the Committee and relevant national legislation, in particular relating to the availability of domestic remedies.