Indigenous peoples in Colombia exist in a precarious situation: assassinations, kidnappings, forced disappearances, threats and forced displacement continue to plague indigenous communities in Colombia.
According to the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Colombia, more than 1,400 indigenous persons were killed as a result of the armed conflict between 2002 and 2009.
The Wiwa indigenous people, numbering approximately 1,850 persons, are among the affected. As a result of their extraordinary level of risk, the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights has awarded the Wiwa precautionary measures every year since 2005.
A number of projects are currently in development on Wiwa land, including the construction of the Los Besotes reservoir. It is believed that this reservoir could provide potable water to a half a million people. But this project could bring devastating consequences to the Wiwa given their special connection to the land and nature that have piqued the interest of developers.
In this video, Pilar Silva of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective and Claudia Girón of the Cepeda Foundation provide legal and psychosocial support to the Wiwa indigenous community in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in Northern Colombia.