Top UNHCR official meets displaced indigenous group in Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia, February 19 (UNHCR) - UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees L. Craig Johnstone met this week with more than 300 displaced indigenous people in south-west Colombia and condemned those behind the violence that forced them to flee their collective land earlier this month.

Johnstone, who met the Awá group during a visit Tuesday to the village of El Diviso in the Nariño region, also praised the Colombian government for the efficient coordination of shelter and food delivery at the site.

"The national authorities' response in bringing assistance to this group is commendable and should be a model in all cases of forced displacement in Colombia," he told officials of Acción Social, the state body responsible for coordinating the national response to forced displacement.

During his visit to El Diviso, Johnstone commiserated with the Awá, who fled to safety after the reported murder by armed groups of 17 of their people on the collective territory of Tortugaña-Telembí, some two days walk away.

"Thank you for coming from so far to see us today, we have felt very alone and want the world to know what is happening to us and our brothers," one Awá leader told the Deputy High Commissioner.

The Tortugaña-Telembí area is remote and hard to access and only two bodies have been recovered to date. UNHCR has called for a full investigation into the killings. Some 500 Awá have since fled Tortugaña-Telembí, with the largest group in El Diviso and the rest in two other villages.

Like other indigenous groups in Colombia, the Awá have been struggling for years to keep out of the conflict and avoid forced displacement, which takes them out of their ancestral lands and threatens their survival as a community.

The Awá are the second largest indigenous group in Nariño, a part of Colombia that suffers from high indices of violence and forced displacement. Nariño's Afro-Colombians have also suffered badly and Johnstone visited one of their communities in the port city of Tumaco, where UNHCR and the local authorities have been working together to bring basic services to the displaced.

Johnstone also met with senior government officials during his three-day visit, including Vice President Francisco Santos and Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez. During the meetings, Johnstone praised the government's efforts to address the humanitarian crisis and pledged UNHCR's continuing support.

He stressed the need to focus on prevention and address the root causes of forced displacement. "It is more efficient to address the core issue rather than just treat the symptoms," the Deputy High Commissioner said.

He also called for more international attention and support for Colombia's situation. Some 3 million people have been displaced inside Colombia as a result of the decades-long conflict involving irregular armed groups and government forces. Johnstone left Bogota on Wednesday for Ecuador, where he will spend two days before flying to Panama, final stop on his regional tour.

By Marie-Hélène Verney in Bogota, Colombia