PONSACS

Colombia - U'wa Project

In 1995, newspaper reports stated that U’wa Indians were threatening to commit mass suicide by leaping from a 1,400 foot cliff if the US Oil company Occidental (OXY) carried through with its plans for oil exploration on U’wa lands. They and the Colombian national Indian organization, ONIC, argued that all previous oil activities in Colombia’s rain forest had left a legacy of social and environmental degradation and destruction, and the Indians did not want to be objects of yet another such chapter. As national and international interest and support grew, OXY halted all work in the block, and sought to open discussions with the U’wa and other critics of the proposed work.

However, the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy and the national oil company, Ecopetrol argued that, without new oil production by the year 2005, Colombia would shift from being Latin America’s 3rd largest oil exporter to a net importer, thus precipitating a national economic crisis. So they pressured OXY to maintain its work schedule. Meanwhile other ministries and directorates, particularly the National Ombudsman and the National Directorate for Indigenous Affairs (DGAI) argued in support of the U’wa’s rights. The situation quickly led to a stalemate.

In May 1997, the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested that the OAS General Secretariat enlist the participation of PONSACS to undertake an on-site analysis. The OAS General Secretariat, drawing its Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD) created a joint OAS/Harvard Project on Colombia.

The team’s initial research suggested that, despite the apparent simplicity of the case, interests were far more complex, and clearly linked to a wide set of national and international interests. Nonetheless, the team focused its research on what, in its opinion, were the two critical themes -- community consultation and indigenous rights to territories. Both are linked to Colombia’s progressive 1991 Constitution, which ratified ILO Convention #169 but left implementation unclear and untested.

Given the difficulty of establishing any sort of mutually acceptable agreement or open dialogue, the recommendations of the researchers, drawing on much of the pioneering conflict management work at Harvard, focused on issues and concerns that, they felt, were shared by the key parties. These shared concerns, reformulated as "shared problems" – e.g., a mutually acceptable consultation process as well as clear territorial lines - could serve to bring the parties together in some form of joint problem solving.

In September 1997, the OAS traveled to Colombia and presented the team’s report to all of the major stakeholders. Subsequently the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally requested continued involvement in resolving the dispute. ONIC and the U’wa people have also asked, informally, for continued help. Clear agreements and commitments, delayed by the 1998 Colombian elections, have now advanced as the newly elected government establishes its ties with the OAS/Harvard Project.