The Nukak people have remained in voluntary isolation from Western civilization for the past 35 years.

On Friday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Colombia denounced that armed violence has forced the displacement of Nukak families.

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This new case of forced displacement stems from clashes between the Colombian Army and the Seventh Front, a dissident faction of the former FARC guerrilla, in the department of Guaviare, located on the border between the Amazon and the Orinoquia regions.

“We condemn the forced displacement of 11 families from the Nukak Indigenous People to Puerto Flores, Guaviare, as a result of the fighting on July 14. We call on the state to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for this forced displacement,” the OHCHR said.

“We urge authorities to take effective measures to guarantee the rights of the displaced Nukak families. We call on the state to fulfill its obligation to protect the Nukak People, their lives, and their hunting and fishing grounds, and to prevent violations of their rights.”

“We also call on all armed groups to comply with their obligation to avoid causing the forced displacement of civilians or other human rights violations. They must respect international humanitarian law, particularly the principle of distinction, as well as human rights.”

“In 2009, the Constitutional Court declared that the Nukak People are at risk of physical and cultural extermination due to the armed conflict, forced displacement, loss of territory, and lack of access to rights, and it ordered protective measures in line with human rights standards,” the OHCHR concluded.

The Nukak are Indigenous people of the Maku linguistic family, a nomadic group of hunter-gatherers who inhabit the Guaviare rainforest and who remained in voluntary isolation from Western civilization for the past 35 years.

Over the last two decades, however, the Nukak — a community of just over 1,000 people — have been severely affected by the armed conflict, due to the expansion of illegal armed groups and coca cultivation in Guaviare. This has forced many of them to seek refuge in urban centers, abandoning their traditional ways of life.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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