Lawyers Leonardo Crippa and Ana Manuela Ochoa join native leaders Higineo Obispo and Juan Edgardo Pais on the petitioners team before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at the “Human Rights Situation Of Indigenous People In Colombia” on March 23, 2009.
Weaving Wisdom is being used as a tool by Colombia's National Indigenous Authority (ONIC) to press its case for human rights protection before the Organization Of American States' human rights commission. The film was submitted as evidence during a hearing in Washington D.C. on March 23, 2009. Click here to watch a clip of the hearing.
On September 13, 2007 the United States, Canada and Colombia were the only countries that abstained from endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that was drafted over 20 years by indigenous peoples and states to ensure a clear protection of human rights for the world's indigenous peoples. Colombia's Constitutional Court issued a ruling in January 2009 mandating the Colombian government protect the country's indigenous nations, 32 of which are in danger of extinction because of the armed conflict.
This hearing at the Organization of the American States combined with the Constitutional Court’s ruling and continual pressure from Colombia’s indigenous movement, contributed to Colombian government's endorsement of the U.N. Declaration in May 2009.
