Manifesto for the protection of the human rights of small-scale fishing communities in Colombia

Abstract

Dear Editor,
We are an interdisciplinary group of researchers working at the Universidad del Magdalena (Colombia), in collaboration with a researcher from the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB, Germany). In 2019, we developed the project “Human Rights Violations in Artisanal Fisheries in Colombia”, co-producing a line of interdisciplinary research (Justice in Fishing Territories) focused on researching and reporting on the injustices experienced in fishing territories. Through the systematic analysis of 91 court rulings from the Colombian Constitutional Court, we have identified human rights violations associated with artisanal fishing communities across the country.
Our research led to the construction of the “Justice in Fishing Territories” digital database (available at http://pescayjusticia.unimagdalena.edu.co/), which seeks to increase the visibility of human rights violations experienced by the artisanal fishing sector and to facilitate future actions for the protection of the ways of living and rights of fishing communities in Colombia (see Figueroa et al. 2023).
On March 10, 2023, we hosted the “First National Dialogue Fishing for Justice: Human Rights Violations in Fishing Territories” where we launched this database and shared our research findings with representatives from fishing communities, academics, government agencies working on fisheries, environment, human rights, as well as non-governmental organisations. The dialogue and discussion of these results and their relevance to Colombia triggered the writing of the manifesto that we present below.