Undecided land claims in Colombia put slave descendants at risk, study says
JANUARY 17, 2018 / 4:38 PM / UPDATED 7 HOURS AGO
Anastasia Moloney
BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hundreds of land claims by Afro-Colombians sitting unresolved, some for over a decade, put those communities in danger of being driven off their land by business interests, according to new research.
Efforts by the government to award collective land titles have largely overlooked claims by Colombians of African descent whose families arrived as slaves, said researchers at Javeriana University in Bogota.
Without formal titles of ownership, Afro-Colombian communities are at acute risk of displacement and have little say over use of their land, researchers said.
Some 271 Afro-Colombian collective land claims await a decision by government authorities, leaving about two million hectares in limbo, they said.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-landrights/undecided-land-claims-in-colombia-put-slave-descendants-at-risk-study-says-idUSKBN1F632C