IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 618 
Recognizing the importance of addressing the plight of Afro-Colombians. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 3, 2007 
Mr. PAYNE (for himself, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. 
RUSH, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. HONDA, and Ms. SOLIS) submitted the fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the importance of addressing the plight of Afro- 
Colombians. 
Whereas Afro-Colombians have experienced economic, social, 
and political injustices, as a result of their skin color and 
ancestry and have been targets of violence and intimida-
tion; 
Whereas Afro-Colombians today compromise over 25 percent 
of Colombia’s population—the second largest Afro-de-
scendant population in Latin America and the third larg-
est outside of Africa; 
Whereas the vast majority of Afro-Colombians live on the Pa-
cific and Atlantic Coasts and the Valley of Magdalena 
and Cauca Rivers of Colombia within the departments of 
Choco, Valle del Cauca, Cauca, Narin˜o, Bolivar, 
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•HRES 618 IH 
Magdalena, Sucre, and Cesar and endure extreme hu-
manitarian conditions, as a result of marginalization, ne-
glect, and the country’s 40-year armed conflict and vio-
lence; 
Whereas the internal armed conflict fueled by drug traf-
ficking has generated violence against Afro-Colombian ci-
vilians and has led to the appropriation of Afro-Colom-
bian territories and internal displacement creating huge 
obstacles for social and economic progress of the Afro-Co-
lombian population; 
Whereas the Government of Colombia has maintained close 
ties with the United States and is the largest recipient 
of bilateral United States foreign aid outside of the Mid-
dle East and South Asia; 
Whereas the Government of Colombia has received an esti-
mated $6,000,000,000 in military, counter-narcotics, and 
other aid since 2000, primarily through congressionally- 
legislated Plan Colombia; 
Whereas, although a major beneficiary of United States for-
eign assistance, the Government of Colombia has not ef-
fectively addressed racial discrimination, violence, and so-
cial and political marginalization facing Afro-Colombians; 
Whereas Colombia has the second largest population of inter-
nally displaced people in the world, and Afro-Colombians 
are the most affected, compromising an estimated 40 per-
cent of Colombia’s 3,800,000 internally displaced per-
sons; 
Whereas an estimated 76 percent of Afro-Colombians live in 
conditions of extreme poverty, 42 percent are unem-
ployed, and only 2 percent are able to attend college; 
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•HRES 618 IH 
Whereas the life expectancy for Afro-Colombians is two dec-
ades shorter than the national average, with an estimated 
82 percent of Afro-Colombians lacking access to basic 
public services; 
Whereas Afro-Colombians are underrepresented in positions 
of leadership, power, and authority within the social, po-
litical, and economic spheres of the country, yet in recent 
years, Afro-Colombian representation in government has 
increased: currently there are 2 Afro-Colombian senators 
and 7 Afro-Colombian members of the House of Rep-
resentatives; 
Whereas the department of Choco, a region that has the larg-
est percentage of Afro-Colombians with an estimated 70 
percent of the total population of the state, also suffers 
from the lowest per-capita level of government investment 
in health, education, and infrastructure, with a signifi-
cant proportion of the population facing an increase in il-
literacy; 
Whereas the Colombian healthcare system covers only 10 per-
cent of Afro-Colombian communities, compared to 40 
percent of non-black communities; 
Whereas the 1991 Colombian Constitution and Law 70 of 
1993 granted Afro-Colombians the legal titles to their an-
cestral land and the ownership of the tropical rainforest; 
Whereas, however, Afro-Colombians have been forcibly and 
violently displaced from their lands; 
Whereas the aerial herbicide spraying and fumigation of coca 
crops has also resulted in the destruction of the legiti-
mate subsistence crops of Afro-Colombian communities 
and a corresponding increase in food instability and in-
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•HRES 618 IH 
ternal displacement amongst Afro-Colombians in terri-
tories where fumigation occurs; 
Whereas although Articles 6 and 7 of the International Labor 
Convention mandates that United States assistance to 
Colombia is contingent upon human rights standards for 
indigenous communities, Afro-Colombians are not in-
cluded in the language for human rights certification con-
ditions; 
Whereas the spread of oil palm cultivation is linked to grave 
human rights violations, internal displacement, and the 
killings of Afro-Colombian leaders and results in the 
weakening of territorial and environmental rights of Afro- 
Colombian communities; 
Whereas human rights violations against Afro-Colombians, 
including bombings, massacres, and kidnappings go 
uninvestigated and unaddressed by the judicial system; 
Whereas the deaths and disappearances of Afro-Colombian 
community activists and human rights defenders are 
uninvestigated and leaders within the Afro-Colombian 
communities continue to endure death threats and are 
specifically targeted by left-wing guerillas and right-wing 
paramilitaries; 
Whereas Colombia’s paramilitary demobilization process has 
led to continued displacement, human rights violations, 
and armed territorial disputes in Afro-Colombian commu-
nities; 
Whereas Afro-Colombians suffer disproportionately from 
extrajudicial executions, massacres, death threats, dis-
appearances, displacements, and forced conscription; 
Whereas violent terrorist attacks continue to occur at an 
alarming rate in Buenaventura, a city with a majority 
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•HRES 618 IH 
Afro-Colombian population, resulting in the frequent loss 
of innocent civilians and making that city one of the most 
dangerous in Colombia; 
Whereas in 2002 in Bojaya, Choco, 119 unarmed Afro-Co-
lombian civilians—including 45 children—who had taken 
refuge in a church were massacred, as they were caught 
in the crossfire between the Revolutionary Armed Forces 
of Colombia (FARC) and United Self-Defense Forces of 
Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries; 
Whereas following the massacre in 2002, civilians suffer 
greatly due to terrorist attacks in Buenaventura, as the 
FARC continues to commit violent acts against Afro-Co-
lombians; and 
Whereas, although persons of African descent have made sig-
nificant achievements in education, employment, eco-
nomic, political, and social spheres in Latin America, the 
vast majority are marginalized: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes and honors Afro-Colombians for 
their contributions to the economic, social, and cul-
tural fabric of Colombia; 
(2) calls upon the Government of Colombia to 
take measures to combat racial discrimination, 
human rights violations, and condemn all attacks 
and forms of racial discrimination against Afro-Co-
lombians; 
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