Country:

Colombia

Region:

Latin America

Date:

December 15, 2019

Implementor:

ONIC

Funding Amount:

$34,980

Details:

Objective: support ONIC in helping the Ethnic Commission of Peace (IP-Afro organizations) to engage with the Colombian government at the highest levels, aiming to secure the allocation of funds in the national public budget for 2020 to implement the Ethnic Chapter of the peace accord, which constitutes the safeguard mechanism for the protection of the collective tenure rights of indigenous and afro-descendant peoples.

Evidence of Achievement:

The deteriorating security situation in Colombia over the second quarter of 2019 in particular complicated ONIC’s capacity to carry out the political advocacy as planned. The humanitarian situation around criminalization and violation of rights is rapidly deteriorating—with at least 800 extrajudicial killings of social activists, Afro-descendants, and indigenous leaders since 2016—making efforts to advance the collective rights agenda while maintaining safety incredibly difficult.

ONIC completed the technical budgetary proposal and established key allies within the Congress including members within the Commissions for Peace, the parties Partido Liberal, Partido de la U, Polo Democratico Alternativo, Cambio Radical, and Partido Verde. However, the regressive actions of the Duque administration and its explicit lack of interest to implement the peace accord were a major challenge to the success of this SRM. Congress has cut budgetary appropriations for 2020 across social programs, including to agencies responsible for the implementation of the Ethnic Chapter. ONIC’s allies in Congress advised to wait until 2020 to present their proposal for technical guidance and budget allocation for inclusion into the 2021 budget.

During the implementation of this SRM, ONIC coordinated the presentation of the technical budgetary strategy before the High-Level Space of Ethnic Peoples (IEANPE) to discuss next steps for political advocacy in 2020 utilizing the technical budgetary strategy. 13 state institutions, 9 foreign embassies, 3 multilateral organizations, 9 congressional representatives, and 2 commissions were invited to participate in meeting, however attendance was affected by the social unrest. ONIC shared key points from the meeting with IEANPE and an abbreviated version of the technical-budgetary strategy with the invitees to maintain their engagement by socializing the strategy.

In addition, ONIC as a member of the IEANPE, carried out an advocacy strategy at the national and international levels achieving secure funding for the next two years for a total of $490,000 from the United Nations Multi-Donor Fund. This financing enables all indigenous and afro-descendant organizations that are members of the IEANPE to continue with their crucial role in monitoring the government’s compliance with 97 indicators defined in the Implementation Plan for the Ethnic Chapter for the Peace Agreement. The funding is essential for the IEANPE’s role in safeguarding the collective tenure rights of different ethnic groups and the promotion of intercultural dialogue, through a gender, generational, and human rights-oriented focus.