Almost 30% of Colombia’s indigenous population is living in extreme poverty and the majority of indigenous children is suffering chronic malnutrition, said the United Nations Sunday.
According to a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 63% of Colombia’s 1.4 million indigenous “is submitted to structural poverty.” 29% of indigenous live in extreme poverty.
Consequently, 70% of indigenous children is suffering malnutrition, said the UNDP.
Because of the gravity of their living situation, 34 of the country’s 104 known indigenous peoples face extinction.
Apart from poverty, Colombia’s indigenous are more than the average Colombian victim of forced displacement, colonization, mega projects, oil and mining projects, drug trafficking and deforestation, according to the U.N.
The situation is most serious in the jungles around the southern Orinoco and Amazon rivers.
The extinction of Colombia’s indigenous groups would be “unforgivable,” UNDP project coordinator Tania Guzman told Spanish news agency EFE.
Colombia’s indigenous heritage “is a very important heritage for the country and humanity,” the U.N. investigator said.