BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Indigenous organizations from the Amazon River Basin and across Colombia latin america I sent the letter on Monday united nations Alert against organized crime. illegal miningdrug trafficking; logging — causing violence in rainforest communities and accelerating environmental destruction. However, they called on governments to avoid highly militarized responses in indigenous territories.
The letter, addressed to UN member states and agencies including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, says criminal networks are expanding and threatening communities, ecosystems and local governance.
The signatories argue that the growth of organized crime is undermining indigenous governance systems and threatening communities that have long served as custodians of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
The document was signed by key indigenous organizations, including the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations in the Amazon River Basin, dozens of regional indigenous federations, and international advocacy groups.
Indigenous groups warn of growing threat
An airplane pilot working in illegal mining shows gold illegally extracted from Yanomami indigenous territory in Alto Alegre, Roraima state, Brazil, February 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros, File)
An airplane pilot working in illegal mining shows gold illegally extracted from Yanomami indigenous territory in Alto Alegre, Roraima state, Brazil, February 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros, File)
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The appeal comes as indigenous communities across the Amazon feel caught between growing criminal networks and state security operations. In recent years, illegal gold mining, logging and drug trafficking have expanded deep into remote rainforest areas in the following countries: BrazilPeru, Colombia, and Ecuador, resulting in violence, mercury pollution, and deforestation.
International rights groups and UN experts have expressed concern about the increasing number of attacks on indigenous leaders and environmentalists related to conflicts over land, natural resources and illegal economies across the Amazon.
According to Global Witness, at least 2,253 land and environment defenders were killed or disappeared around the world between 2012 and 2024, with the majority of cases in Latin America.
In Peru, five men On trial He has repeatedly blamed illegal logging and drug trafficking in the territory over the 2023 killing of indigenous defender Quinto Inuma Alvarado. Human rights groups say most similar killings in the region go unpunished.
Rafael Hetmer, western Amazon program director for environmental and indigenous rights advocacy group Amazon Watch, said the letter reflects a growing sense of crisis among indigenous organizations as these threats grow.
“Even four years ago, this was not a central topic for most partners, but now it is one of the central topics for the majority,” he told The Associated Press in a written statement.
Criminal network spread throughout the region
A boat carrying gasoline carrying illegal mining equipment passes through a mined area near Paimado, Colombia, on September 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia, File)
A boat carrying gasoline carrying illegal mining equipment passes through a mined area near Paimado, Colombia, on September 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia, File)
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The letter warns that organized crime is not only contributing to environmental destruction, but also undermining indigenous governance and territorial control.
Illegal gold mining in particular is a major cause of deforestation and mercury pollution in some parts of the Amazon, while armed groups and trafficking networks seek control of strategic river routes and indigenous lands.
“Fighting back requires protecting territory, prioritizing environmental crimes, and working together against transnational organized crime networks operating across the Amazon,” Jeremy Douglas, deputy director-general of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said in written comments to The Associated Press.
At the time of comment, the UN agency said it had not yet seen the indigenous groups’ letter and said its response should not be interpreted as an endorsement. UNODC said its offices in Latin America are working with indigenous communities and national authorities to strengthen territorial protection and combat environmental crimes linked to organized criminal networks.
The Associated Press reached out to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Voices from affected Amazon regions
Ercilía Castañeda, vice president of Ecuador’s largest indigenous organization, the Ecuadorian Federation of Indigenous Peoples, said the crisis in many indigenous territories remains unresolved as governments increasingly respond to organized crime and illegal mining with militarization.
She said some communities are facing displacement, fear and psychological harm.
“It affected their relationship to land, water, sacred sites and spiritual life,” she says. “We are talking about the deterioration of indigenous identity and livelihoods.”
Organización Regional AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU) Vice-President Herrin Odisio, an indigenous organization representing the Ucayali community in Peru’s Amazon region, said organized crime groups are increasingly adapting the way they operate in indigenous territories.
“They’re no longer making direct threats. They’re using a different strategy now,” he said in a phone call with The Associated Press.
Mr. Odisio said criminal organizations are increasingly infiltrating local political institutions, maintaining influence and campaigning to continue operating in indigenous territories.
He said the growth of organized crime was severely impacting indigenous communities, where poverty and lack of state services put many at risk of being mobilized into illegal activities.
“They recruit young people to work as ‘motilelos,'” he said, referring to people used to transport drugs and supplies through remote areas. “And eventually, when they don’t want them anymore or don’t want to pay for them, they kill them.”
Odisio also warned that sexual exploitation of indigenous girls, some as young as 13 and 14, is on the rise in communities affected by criminal gangs and border areas.
Concerns about a militarized response
In the letter, the groups say the government’s response has focused primarily on military force and risks worsening the situation unless indigenous peoples’ territorial rights and autonomy are recognized.
“Given this context, it is important to ensure that responses to organized crime and illicit economies do not lead to new militarization, criminalization and subordination of indigenous governance systems,” the letter said.
The letter called on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to conduct an expert investigation into organized crime and illicit economies in indigenous areas, and called on United Nations agencies to include indigenous perspectives in anti-crime and anti-corruption policies.
“We are talking about the deterioration of indigenous identity and livelihoods,” Castañeda said.
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