On 9 August 2025, as we commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, ABColombia recognises the courage, resilience and wisdom of Colombia’s Indigenous Peoples. Despite enduring systemic racism and exclusion, armed conflict and the encroachment of extractive industries, they continue to defend their land, culture and right to determine their own future.

Following their visit to Colombia in August 2024, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, stated that 70% of indigenous communities affected by commercial projects reported a lack of adequate reparation, 85% were not properly consulted, and over 60% expressed distrust towards state authorities and corporations. The report concluded that such omissions constitute “a direct violation of the right to self-determination.”

One case of resistance, in which excluded communities with shared ancestral rights have come together to resist mining in their territory, is found in Cañaverales, a village in the municipality of San Juan del Cesar, La Guajira. There, the Afro-descendant community —organised through the Community Council and with the Wayuu indigenous Peoples — have been opposing the expansion of a large-scale mining project by the Best Coal Company (BCC), a subsidiary of Turkish multinational Yildirim Holding. Despite firm opposition based on their right to free, prior and informed consent, the company continues pushing for an environmental licence that threatens a vital water source sustaining more than 15 communities and irrigating 5,000 hectares of crops in a semi-dessert region of the country.

#PuebloWayuu: Where water means life, no to coal.
The spring that feeds the Cañaverales river is essential not only for agriculture, but it also holds sacred meaning for communities who have lived in harmony with their environment for generations. The threat of open-pit coal mining less than two kilometres from the village centre represents a violent rupture of this way of life.

Just kilometres away lies El Cerrejón, one of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world. Its legacy in La Guajira is a stark testament to the destructive impacts of large-scale mining. For decades, Wayuu indigenous communities have reported forced displacement, river diversion (notably the Bruno and Rancheria Rivers), environmental pollution and severe health consequences. The lack of meaningful consultation or comprehensive reparation has eroded public trust and fuelled a broader resistance movement now echoed in places like Cañaverales.

The broader situation for Indigenous Peoples in Colombia is deeply concerning. According to the 2025 Annual Report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in the first half of 2024, over 71,000 people —mainly from indigenous communities— were subjected to confinement by armed groups, marking a 39% increase from the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, more than 34,000 Indigenous People were forcibly displaced, particularly in the departments of Cauca, Chocó and Nariño. The report also documented 216 cases of child recruitment, with indigenous children being disproportionately affected. Between January and August 2024, 138 killings of social and indigenous leaders were recorded, and in the first six months alone, 111 indigenous leaders were victims of violence, accounting for 31% of all reported cases.

This crisis was acutely felt by the Wiwa People in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, who endured one of the worst humanitarian emergencies of 2024 due to fighting between illegal armed groups —the Gaitanista Self-Defence Forces (AGC) and the Conquistadores of the Sierra Nevada (ACSN)— which forced over 300 people into displacement. Amid this devastation, a historic breakthrough occurred: the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) officially recognised the Wiwa people and their ancestral territory as victims of international crimes. This unprecedented ruling marks a key step in acknowledging the collective harm suffered by Indigenous Peoples during Colombia’s armed conflict and sets the stage for comprehensive, culturally grounded reparation.

#PuebloWiwa: Forced displacement from the heart of the world.
The Sierra Nevada is not just a biocultural sanctuary —it is a spiritual axis for ancestral peoples. Forcing the Wiwa from their land severs more than a home; it severs their spiritual and cosmic centre.

The Barí People, in the Catatumbo region of North Santander, are also in urgent need of protection. As ancestral guardians of tropical forest and traditional knowledge, they now face the incursion of armed groups, illicit economies and large-scale infrastructure projects. Armed attacks, forced recruitment and displacement are tearing apart their communities.

#PuebloBarí: Resistance amid structural violence.
Their struggle is daily and determined —defending their lives and land in one of Colombia’s most militarised and exploited regions.

#PuebloNasa: Lives given in defence of territory

In 2024, Colombia remained one of the deadliest countries in the world for human rights defenders. Between January and October alone, the national Ombudsperson’s Office registered 147 assassinations of social leaders, many of them indigenous. The  UN, identified Cauca among the worst affected departments due to the heavy presence of armed groups.

One such case was the murder of Carmelina Yule Paví, a Nasa leader and advocate for the rights of Indigenous women and girls. She was killed on 16 March 2024 in Toribío, Cauca, by an armed group. Her death was so significant that the Colombian government suspended its ceasefire agreement with the group involved. The OAS Mission in Colombia (MAPP/OEA) highlighted the case as a turning point that exposed the extreme vulnerability of Indigenous women leaders, even during formal peace processes.

Carmelina gave her life defending her people and their land. Her story is a painful reminder that Indigenous leadership —particularly that of women— continues to be targeted simply for protecting life and territory. Her legacy demands justice and a sustained commitment to collective protection.

At ABColombia, we echo the voices of indigenous communities: defending the land is defending life. We call on the Colombian government to fully uphold its obligation to guarantee free, prior and informed consent in all projects that affect ethnic communities. We also urge transnational corporations to respect international human rights and environmental standards and refrain from operating where these standards are not met.

ABColombia also recognises that Colombia’s indigenous peoples in their resistance in many regions of the country to defend the environment and its biodiversity – is not only for themselves, but as the climate crisis escalates, their resistance is in defence of all of us.

Because where there is resistance, there is hope. And where there is hope, there is a future.