Report of the independent expert on minority issues

Human Rights Council
Thirteenth session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights, including
the right to development


..The story of Afro-Colombians begins with slavery and the massive and gross
violations of the rights of African descendants that terrible chapter in history entailed, not
only in Colombia but in the entire region. In Colombia, the most prominent slave-labour
operations were established in coastal areas. As slaves escaped, they were forced to find
refuge in nearly uninhabitable, geographically remote regions of the Atlantic and Pacific
Coast. There they strived and remarkably succeeded, to build communities and livelihoods
under conditions of extreme isolation, harsh climate, and often extreme poverty. Except for
nearby communities of Indigenous peoples, these settlements have been all Black for
centuries. Colombia has recognized the ownership rights of Afro-Colombians to these
territories. More..