SIEMBRA is the legal representative and advisor to the Collegiate Body of Guardians of the Atrato River (CCGA) in the implementation of the T-622 ruling of 2016 by the Constitutional Court, which declared the river a subject of rights. This ruling also protected the fundamental rights of the ethnic communities of the basin, which were found to be violated by the State’s omission regarding the extractive economies present in the territory, ordering that the damages to the communities and the river be remedied from a biocultural perspective.
The Collegiate Body of Guardians has the function of legally representing the Atrato River on behalf of the riverside communities and serving as a bridge between these communities and public entities in the implementation processes of T-622; SIEMBRA supports the guardians in these efforts. The CCGA has influence in all the municipalities of the Atrato River basin and is composed of seven ethnic-territorial and social organizations: Foro Interétnico Solidaridad Chocó (FISCH), Asociación de Consejos Comunitarios del Bajo Atrato (ASCOBA), Consejo Comunitaria Mayor de la Asociación Campesina Integral del Atrato (COCOMACIA), The Major Community Council of the Rural and Popular Organization of Alto Atrato (COCOMOPOCA), the Dialogue and Consultation Committee of the Indigenous Peoples of Chocó, the Social and Environmental Committee of Carmen de Atrato and the Community Councils of Río Quito.
SIEMBRA accompanies the Greater Community Council of Paimadó, which has undertaken a process in defense of its territory, given the serious effects that illegal gold mining has caused on the Quito River, a tributary of the Atrato. Currently, the Council is in the process of implementing the sentence derived from a popular action that recognizes the responsibilities of state entities in the face of the violation of collective rights caused by mining activity. This Community Council is located in the municipality of Río Quito in the department of Chocó.
SIEMBRA accompanies the Greater Community Council of the Popular and Peasant Organization of Alto Atrato in its defense of the territory and the effective enjoyment of the rights of its inhabitants. To this end, we are currently working with COCOMOPOCA in the implementation of the ruling issued by the High Court of Antioquia within the framework of a land restitution process, through which the damages suffered by the Community Council in its ethnic-territorial rights are recognized due to the dynamics of the armed conflict, including the promotion of mining activities -legal and illegal- and the intensive forest use of the territory.
This organization is located in the municipalities of Bagadó, Lloró, Atrato and Cértegui in the department of Chocó.
SIEMBRA accompanies the Social and Environmental Board of Carmen de Atrato in the exercise of monitoring and citizen control of the El Roble copper and gold mining project, which is located at the source of the Atrato river and is in the process of expansion. It also accompanies the Board in the analysis of the Talasa hydroelectric project and in the understanding of the impacts that its execution could have on the peasant communities of the municipality and on the dynamics of the Atrato River.
This organization is located in the municipality of Carmen de Atrato in the department of Chocó.
Visit this microsite to learn about the actions, actors, and initiatives driving the implementation of the T-622 ruling, which declared the Atrato River a subject of rights. This platform was created by the Collegiate Body of Guardians of the Atrato and SIEMBRA, to facilitate access to all information related to this important process.
On July 27, 2021, the Superior Court of Antioquia (Civil Chamber Specialized in Land Restitution) ruled in favor of COCOMOPOCA in response to the lawsuit...
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In 2016, thanks to the hard work of the ethnic organizations of Atrato, the Constitutional Court, through Judgment T-622, declared for the first time in...
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El Atrato es la vida is a report by the Solidaridad Chocó Interethnic Forum -FISCH and by Siembra, and was presented to the Commission for...
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