A/HRC/30/25
3.
Violence against indigenous peoples
50.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, exclusion from public life, discrimination
and extreme marginalization have not only led to adverse health outcomes, but also
increased tensions between communities. From 16 to 19 September 2014, a joint human
rights office investigation mission to Kabalo, Katanga province, learned about serious
allegations of human rights violations, including killings and inhumane, cruel and
degrading treatment, as well as abductions and lootings. These violations were allegedly
committed by Bantu militia and Buzolezole-Luba militia and targeted mostly Batwa
Pygmies.
51.
The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office investigated another recent largescale attack on the internally displaced persons site in Nyunzu on 30 May 2015, allegedly
perpetrated by Bantu-Luba militia called Eléments Katangais, which resulted in numerous
human rights violations, namely, 44 killings, 8 rapes and 57 cases of abduction. The victims
were mainly of Batwa Pygmy ethnicity.
52.
The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office also monitored the arrest of a Batwa
Pygmy non-governmental organization activist who had been accused of incitement to
hatred. The trial at the Tribunal of Grand Instance led to his release. In another emblematic
case, on 19 May 2015, the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office and the United
Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
placed under protection and later relocated a Batwa activist from Nyunzu to a safe place.
Allegedly, elements of the Luba militia had threatened him for opposing the Luba
leadership, burned his house and forced his family into hiding.
53.
In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the office expressed concern about the lack of
police protection for Yampara and Qhara Qhara indigenous leaders during a vigil in June
2014, when they were subjected to physical violence and discriminatory language and
behaviour. Symbols of indigenous authorities were also destroyed by peasants from the
area. Acts of violence between a group of leaders belonging to the National Council of
Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu were also highlighted.
54.
The office in Colombia continued field monitoring activities in the Amazon, Cauca,
Chocó, Nariño, Caribbean Coast and Putumayo, where armed actors had committed abuses,
including killings of leaders. Situations where legal and illegal mining had led to violence
also were of concern, for example, in La Toma, where abuses had been committed against
representatives of a women’s organization, including sexual violence, by illegal miners in
their territory. The organization has asked OHCHR for accompaniment as they are
threatened and in need of protection.
55.
The office in Guatemala held a dialogue with indigenous authorities of Totonicapán,
Sololá, Chichicastenango, Nebaj and Quiché to assess the situation of the rights of
indigenous peoples. As a follow-up to the dialogue, the office undertook observation
missions to identify best practices for the prevention of violence in indigenous
communities. The office in Guatemala also maintained regular meetings with the conflict
analysis unit of the national human rights institution in order to exchange information on a
set of six priority conflicts and to build a common strategy, including on a process to
remedy the human rights violations that had occurred in the 1980s due to the construction
of the Chixoy Dam, and on the current conflict in the municipality of San Juan
Sacatepequez due to the construction of a concrete factory of the company Cementos
Progreso. The office in Guatemala and the national human rights institution were
designated as “honour witnesses” in the dialogue established by the State authorities to
address both conflicts.
10
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