Awá (Kwaiker)

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The Awá , Kwaiker or Cuaiquer are an indigenous people who live in the very humid forests in the lowlands west of the Andes on both sides of the border between Colombia and Ecuador . Their settlement area extends from Río Telembí in Nariño to Carchi and Esmeraldas .

Awá in Colombia

Around 30,000 Awá live in an area of ​​around 450,000 hectares in southwest Colombia. The Awá of Colombia are organized in the Cabildo Mayor Awá del Ricaurte (CAMAWARI) and the Unidad Indígena del Pueblo Awá (UNIPA) . Both organizations maintain permanent relationships with the Ecuadorian Federación de Centros Awá del Ecuador (FCAE) and organize regular meetings and activities. The main problem faced by the Awá in Colombia is the various armed groups that are invading their area, killing and displacing them. The reason given by the secretary of the Organización General Indígena de Colombia (ONIC), Luis Fernando Arias, is the fact that important resources and mineral resources are located on the territories of the indigenous people. In the first eight months of 2009, 38 Awá had already been murdered.

Awá in Ecuador

Awá at the land survey

The approximately 3,500 indigenous Awá in Ecuador live in 22 villages that have come together in the Federación de Centros Awá del Ecuador (FCAE). The Awá live in extreme poverty and under constant threat on the Pacific coast near the border with Colombia. Despite the legal recognition of the Awá territory, timber, palm oil and mining companies as well as settlers and land speculators are trying to usurp the land and its natural resources. Due to the great power of logging companies over the legal system, in the majority of cases legal disputes to the disadvantage of the Awá resulted.

Their language is called Awapit (also Kwaiker or Cuaiquer ) and is classified in the family of the Barbacoa languages alongside the Tsafiki of the Tsáchila , the Cha'pallachi of the Chachi and the Guambiano of the Misak .

Awá territory in Ecuador

The FCAE is a state-recognized indigenous social organization based in Ibarra, Imbabura Province and has municipal land titles for the approximately 120,000 hectare rainforest territory. The Awá Territory is the last large contiguous lowland rainforest on the Ecuadorian coast and a global hotspot of biodiversity and endemic animal and plant species. The protection of the Awá territory is therefore of international importance. The FCAE is countering the pressure of external actors with alternative programs. a. its own school and health system, sustainable legal local forest management, activities in agriculture and handicrafts, work with women's groups and organizational strengthening.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ EL PUEBLO AWÁ. (No longer available online.) In: Federación de Centros Awá del Ecuador. Archived from the original on October 25, 2008 ; Retrieved February 17, 2009 (Spanish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.federacionawa.org
  2. ↑ a b Awas unite to fend off threats. In: Latinamerica Press. January 22, 2009, accessed February 18, 2009 .
  3. ^ Colombia: Another massacre of indigenous peoples. In: amerika21. September 9, 2009, accessed September 10, 2009 .
  4. ↑ According to a statistical survey from 2002: EL PUEBLO AWÁ ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federación de Centros Awá del Ecuador, accessed February 17, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.federacionawa.org