FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 14, 2019
Bogotá, Colombia — On Wednesday, a judge in Bogotá, Colombia, issued a historic ruling recognizing the grave danger to local communities presented by the Ituango hydroelectric dam on the country’s Cauca River. To protect the rights of communities in the region, the judge ordered that precautionary measures be immediately put into place to prevent further damage and to address ongoing risks from the dam project.
Just last year, Colombian authorities ordered Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) to suspend operations on the dam after a construction error resulted in massive flooding, which forced thousands of residents in nearby communities to flee their homes. The entire region has been on high alert since the flooding. Affected communities have long been publicly voicing concerns about damming the Cauca River, including due to the potential for severe environmental degradation and loss of livelihoods.
Wednesday’s ruling represents the first time that a Colombian judge has recognized the seriousness of the risks imposed by the HidroItuango dam on surrounding communities. This decision is the result of a criminal environmental complaint filed by Movimiento Ríos Vivos (MRV), which has played a central role in highlighting affected communities’ concerns about this project for many years.
“This historic decision has given us a glimmer of hope that we might achieve justice, despite the many years of pain and anguish that we have experienced,” said Isabel Zuleta, spokeswoman for the MRV. “We now have reason to believe that Colombia’s constitutional protections for the environment and human rights will be given effect.”
Among the precautionary measures ordered is the urgent creation of a commission to assess the viability of the dam project. Notably, the ruling provides that representatives of affected communities should be included in this commission, which will assess the stability of the dam and whether its construction should be allowed to proceed. Given the urgency of the situation, the judge ordered that the commission be constituted by next week and that it be required to hold public hearings regarding its progress every ten days until it makes a final determination on the project’s viability – at most in two months’ time.
In addition, the judge ordered that contingency plans be put into place to prevent the continued violation of victims’ rights, including their rights to life, the environment, public health, minimum living standards, and human dignity.
“We welcome Wednesday’s decision by Colombia’s judiciary as a first step to ensure justice for the victims of the HidroItuango project. It is high time for Colombian institutions to act to protect the rights of impacted communities,” said Carla García Zendejas, Director of the People, Land, and Resources Program at the Center for International Environmental Law. “We call on local and regional authorities in the department of Antioquia to promptly take all necessary actions to fully implement this judicial order and include affected communities in all decision-making processes that affect their environment, their lives, and their futures.”
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The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), and International Accountability Project (IAP) support Movimiento Ríos Vivos Antioquia and the communities in the municipalities of Briceño, Ituango, Toledo, San Andrés de Cuerquia, Valdivia, Sabanalarga, Peque, and Caucasia Antioquia who are impacted by the construction and future operation of the Ituango Hydroelectric Project.
For more information, please review the press statement published by Movimiento Ríos Vivos (in Spanish), available at: https://riosvivoscolombia.org/juez-de-la-republica-deja-constancia-de-la-gravedad-del-riesgo-que-corremos-las-comunidades-afectadas-por-hidroituango/
Contact: Carla García Zendejas, cgarcia@ciel.org, (202) 742-5846