On a Peak in Darien: Community Initiatives in Urabá, Colombia

All over the world, rural and minority communities are vulnerable to human rights violations, often due to larger economic interests in their land. This policy and practice note argues that it is important to recognize community initiatives that denounce and resist such risks as acts of autonomous human rights defenders. To illustrate this, it looks at two experiences of community organization and resistance in Urabá, Colombia: the organization CAVIDA and their Humanitarian Zones in Cacarica, and the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. The paper examines the context in which these experiences have emerged, how the communities were displaced off their land, and how they developed strategies for returning, despite the ongoing conflict. It looks at the risks they face and the combination of complementary protection mechanisms they use in order to remain on their land. While being context-specific, these experiences also have wider resonance for community human rights defense and protection strategies, especially against violations linked to economic interests and interests in maintaining impunity, and for pioneering the right to non-participation in armed conflict.