Colombia: Driven from Their Lands, Colombia’s Awá Struggle to Survive

Dec 26, 2017 | Michelle Begue, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
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Indigenous peoples like the Awá Mayasquer are among those most impacted by more than five decades of armed conflict in Colombia that has displaced more than 7.6 million people both within the country and beyond its borders. The community, whose lands are in Nariño province in southwest Colombia, were caught in the crossfire between government forces and left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. While a peace agreement in 2016 ended hostilities, the painful memory of rebel massacres that killed at least 11 in 2009, and the fear of landmines, make the community reluctant to return to their traditional home.