COLOMBIAN CONCERNS ON UN DRAFT DECLARATION ON THE

UNCLAS BOGOTA 005709 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM CO SUBJECT: COLOMBIAN CONCERNS ON UN DRAFT DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES REF: STATE 78740 ¶1. On June 23, Poloff delivered reftel tripartite demarche to Ambassador Clara Ines Vargas, MFA Director of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, and Patricia Cortes, MFA Coordinator for the U.S. and Canada. Poloff explained that the "compromise text" was unacceptable because there was no consensus on its most important elements and its purported recognition of "self-determination" and land and resource claims would violate national sovereignty. ¶2. Vargas said the GOC was especially concerned about the text's provisions on rights to resources. Although the GOC had not yet adopted positions on the text's remaining provisions, Vargas agreed that demarche points raised significant issues and promised to study them further. She said the GOC had not yet issued instructions to its mission in Geneva regarding the draft declaration, but claimed that Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil were leaning in favor of approval. WOOD