The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemns the murder of three indigenous leaders in Colombia, and the wife of one of them, over the last two weeks.
According to the information available, three leaders of the U’wa, Sikuani, and Pasto peoples, and the wife of one of the leaders, were killed by hired assassins between August 13 and 26 of this year. On August 13, Carmen Elisa Mora Uncacia was killed. A member of the U’wa people, she worked as coordinator of the Office of Indigenous Affairs in the Mayor’s Office in the town of Saravena, in the department of Arauca. The indigenous leader, who was attacked in her home, was the mother of two children and was pregnant at the time of her death. On August 14, Jaime Reyes, of the Sikuani people, was killed. He lived on the Parreros reserve and was a member of the town council of La Esperanza. The indigenous leader, who was in a situation of forced displacement, was attacked by hit men in the community of Barcelona, in the municipality of Tame, in Arauca. On August 26, Ramiro Inampues and his wife, of the Pasto people, were kidnapped; their bodies appeared two days later, with bullet wounds, in the community of El Corso, in the Guachucal indigenous reserve, in the department of NariƱo. The indigenous leader, who was known as Taita Ramiro, had been governor of the Guachucal reserve and was a council member in the municipality of Guachucal.
The IACHR condemns these violations to the individual rights of the victims and their families. The Inter-American Commission also emphasizes that attacks on indigenous leaders and authorities break down the cohesion of indigenous peoples. These murders affect not only the direct victims of violence and their families, but also indigenous societies as a whole, given the critical duties of leaders and authorities and their central role in defending, preserving, and passing down their ancestral cultures. Since attacks on indigenous leaders and authorities constitute assaults on the entire sociocultural structure, they are grave crimes that violate the integrity and collective rights of indigenous peoples as groups that have special protections under international human rights law and, in the context of internal armed conflicts such as the one in Colombia, under international humanitarian law as well.
The Commission urges the Colombian State to investigate these crimes, prosecute and punish the perpetrators and masterminds, and address the needs for protection and security of indigenous leaders and authorities in Colombia, in order to prevent these violations of individual and collective human rights.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in a personal capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
5th International Black Power Conference
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 12:55 PM
From: "Pan-African Roots"
The 40th anniversary of the “Black Power Uprising” in Trinidad and Tobago is being commemorated with an international academic conference at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, from Friday 17th September to Sunday 19th September 2010.
This 5th International Black Power Conference is being organized by the Department of History at St. Augustine, Trinidad. Co-sponsors include the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies and the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (both at St. Augustine campus). Other supporting organizations in Trinidad include the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), the History Society (at UWI), the Emancipation Support Committee, the Oilfield Workers Union and the Public Services Association. The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP (GC)) is also a supporting organization.
This historic Conference includes a record 90 presentations on 20 panels in 2 days. Participants include professors and organizers from Trinidad, Jamaica, Canada, Britain, the United States and other countries. They represent several academic and movement schools and traditions including: History, Trinidad and Caribbean Studies, Pan-African Studies, Black Studies, Black Power Studies, Black Radical Studies, Afro-centric Studies, NJAC Studies, Black Panther Studies, etc.
The A-APRP (GC) will present two papers:
(1) Mwalimu Keita will present, on behalf of the A-APRP (GC), a paper titled Black Power: An Ideological Channel for Mass All-African Revolutionary Political Education and Organization.
This paper provides a historical analysis of the call for Black Power in the U.S. within the context of African people's generational struggle for Africa's Unity, National Independence, Liberation, and Pan-Africanism. It documents the dialectical relationship between Black Power as an intellectual and ideological force in the worldwide anti-colonial movement and as an objective in the African Revolution, of which Pan-Africanism is its highest expression. It defines, defends, and reclaims Black Power as an objective necessity and channel to teach, politically educate, empower, and organize the African Masses in Africa and throughout the African Diaspora in all-African organizations as an expression of the revolutionary African Personality and Culture.
(2) Bob Brown will present, on behalf of the A-APRP (GC), a paper titled Kwame Ture Is Still Dancing In The Fire! Towards A New Historiography.
This paper will provide an overview of Kwame’s public life, work, study and struggle from 1950, when his philosophical conscience and political conscious was awakened in Trinidad, to his transition to the Ancestors in Guinea in 1998. It will serve as the Introduction to a book by the same title that will be “the definitive political biography of Kwame Ture.” As you perhaps know, Bob has been working on this book for the past 12 years. It will be published in late 2011 or early 2012.
The Conference invites all interested parties, worldwide, to attend. Email us for contact information at paroots02@yahoo.com
Bob, as a representative of the A-APRP (GC), has also been invited to visit Venezuela to observe the Parliamentary Elections, make several presentations and attend several meetings. We hope that he can visit other countries in the Caribbean Basin while in the area.
The A-APRP (GC) needs and asks for your assistance in raising the funds needed to defray travel to and in the region, and provide modest accommodations. Tax exemption is available for those who request it. Please contact Bob directly, if you can help: paroots02@yahoo.com or (202) 239-1651.
A copy of the A-APRP (GC)’s two papers will be emailed to all who make a donation, no later than September 17, 2001, the start of the Conference. Thank you in advance for any assistance that you might offer.
As always, we remain
Ready for Revolution!
Organizers, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC)
info@a-aprp-gc.org
