QUESTION: Do you know of other cases of indigenous communities that have gone through the same process? Mentioned them
Here in Colombia we have almost 80 ethnic groups of indigenous communities with high cultural diversity: there are 64 languages and 300 dialects spoken by them, they have different values, costumes, beliefs and live in 32 departments of the country. As the case of Australia, the indigenous people in Colombia inhabited the country's present territory prior to its discovery by Europeans around 1500, and had suffered lots of harassment and human violations from the conquerors at the beginnings of the discovery of the continent. Their process of organization and fight date from conquest time. But the problem did not finish when we got free from Spain, there is still violence against them and their culture is in dangerous of extinguishing.
The Colombian government has a particular obligation to adopt specific measures to protect these communities with special dependency on and attachment to their lands against forced displacement from armed groups, such as the FARC or the Paramilitares. They have been particularly affected by years of conflict and violence, because their are located in strategic territories that are target of the armed conflict and also because their lands are very rich for illegal crops, suffering discrimination and marginalization.
In the country there are several organizations, leader by indigenous, that foster human rights for their people and also enhance the participation in democracy. To name one group, we have the ONIC (national organization of indigenous from Colombia). An example of progress for these people and other minorities (black people), was seen in the electoral votes. Last month all Colombians could vote for their representatives of Chamber and Congress, including for indigenous representatives.
So we can conclude that although there are still violations against indigenous from illegal groups, there is more participation in the public decisions and they are recognized as citizens that brings diversity to our country.
REFERENCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_in_Colombia
Yes it is a very astonishing fact that illegal groups are affecting these minorities and that in some times government cannot interfere in these situations. And another important fact is that they are discriminated groups, and even if their participations are being recognized there is a long road to walk.
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