On Dec. 20, 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights publicly announced a landmark decision against the Colombian government and found it responsible for multiple human rights violations against the U’wa Indigenous people. In a more than 200-page document, the court determined there were violations of the right of access to a healthy environment, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the self-determination of Indigenous peoples, collective property, political participation, access to information, participation in cultural life, children’s rights and judicial protection. Months after the ruling, Indigenous communities are insisting on its implementation. The U’wa Nation is located in eastern Colombia, across the departments of Arauca, Santander, Casanare, Northern Santander and Boyacá. The U’wa people have defended their ancestral territory and culture since the early 1990s, confronting tourism projects and the extraction of natural resources, such as oil and gas. U’wa lawyer Juan Gabriel Jerez Tegria emphasized that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Colombian government to complete a number of tasks within two years: title the territory, clarify colonial titles, carry out a participatory process for the current extractive projects and guarantee that the projects located within in the U’wa reservation, or in adjacent areas, do not impact the U’wa people’s right to participate in their cultural life. A 2023 hearing in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Image courtesy of EarthRights International. “For us, this decision means that our demands and our rights were acknowledged. This means that there is a precedent that allows [us] to make…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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