Communication to the government of Colombia about the humanitarian and environmental crisis suffered by the Afro-descendant Raizal people

On November 15, 2022, seven UN Special Rapporteurs on the right to adequate housing, climate change, cultural rights, right to food, the right to health, rights of internally displaced persons, and discrimination against Afro-decendants, jointly issued a communication to the government of Colombia about the humanitarian and environmental crisis suffered by the Afro-descendant Raizal people of the islands of Vieja Providencia and Santa Catalina, after category 4 and 5 hurricanes Eta and Iota in November 2020. Nearly two years later, about 5,000 people still urgently need help with basic needs, including accommodation, health care, water, sanitation and food. The increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes in this region has been attributed to climate change, and has been long known and anticipated according to the communication. Allegedly, 95% of Providencia's infrastructure, houses and the only health center on the island were destroyed during the hurricanes, and many people were displaced. The post-disaster reconstruction efforts do not take into account the aspirations and recommendations of the Raizal people and their authorities, leading to deficient housing that ignores the Raizal’s way of life and customs, and the climatic conditions on the islands. The newly built homes are insufficiently adapted to future climate risks (e.g. adequate roof fixtures) leading to serious risk of rendering people homeless and causing death or injuries when the next hurricane hits. The Government has allegedly not improved the building code of the islands, nor ensured that infrastructure, especially health infrastructure, could withstand severe climatic events. The system of water collection for newly built homes was also insufficient. Houses in Providencia and Santa Catalina traditionally have systems of gutters and underground cisterns, used to collect rainwater and store it in tank with limited risk of being affected or destroyed by storms and lighter hurricanes. However, newly rebuilt housing lacked those essential cisterns, making the Raizal indigenous people dependent on external water supply, limiting their resilience to climatic events and contradicting the Raizal tradition of living in a self-sufficient in harmony with nature. Similar problems exist in relation to the ability to return to climate-resilient and self-sufficient ways of food production on the islands. In September 2022, the Colombian Constitutional Court issued a judgment (T-333 of 2022) determining that fundamental rights to decent housing, drinking water, basic sanitation, health and a healthy environment of the Raizal people were not sufficiently guaranteed in the post-disaster reconstruction process. Amongst others, the Constitutional Court ordered the Government to ensure that reconstruction efforts are consistent with the Raizal’s cultural identity and strengthens the resilience of the islands in the face of the effects of climate change. The UN Special Rapporteurs express concern that, to date, insufficient measures are taken to guarantee the Raizal’s way of life and to protect people from extreme weather events. The Raizal people have not received habitable, safe and culturally appropriate housing, nor adequate and non-discriminatory compensation for losses suffered. The Special Rapporteurs emphasise that failure to prevent the impairment of human rights caused by climate change, or refraining from mobilizing maximum of available resources to this effect, could constitute a violation of States’ human rights obligations under the ICESCR, and to take action to address the effects of climate change. Amongst relevant rights and instruments cited in support of the communication – in a separate Annex – are Articles 11, 12 and 15 ICESCR, pertaining to the right to adequate standards of living, including housing, the right to health, and right to culture; Article 17 and 27 ICCPR on the right to privacy, family and the home and right to culture of minorities; the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement; and UN Framework Principles on Human Rights and Environment. On January 13, 2023, the Colombian government responded to the UN Special Procedures’ requests for further information through a document of over 100 pages detailing how the Government approached the reconstruction process, and which legislative frameworks and processes are in place to safeguard indigenous peoples’ rights, including cultural rights. It is aware that ‘climate change deepens inequalities, compromises food security and sovereignty and aggravates public health conditions’, including through increasingly severe weather events. It also aware of ‘the need to maintain policies that increasingly make it possible to close the historical gaps of less favored populations and that put human dignity as central axis of society’.