Colombia’s Pacific coast is a strategic area for the war and the country’s economy. However, most of it is also home to indigenous peoples and Afro–Colombians who have gained legal recognition of their right to collective ownership of the land and to community management of their economy and culture.

However, the Pacific region has been threatened by war for many years, and more recently by economic megaprojects. It is for this reason that the Proyecto Regional del Pacífico (Pacific Regional Project), through FUCLA (Fundación Universitaria Claretiana – Claretian University Foundation), is promoting the creation of the Pacific Observatory Colombia (Observatorio Pacífico Colombia) on territorial, civil, and political rights and natural resources.

Various organisations have joined together to make this Observatory a reality, such as the Coordinación Regional del Pacífico (Pacific Regional Coordinating Group, which includes associations of ethnic communities, local NGOs and the region’s dioceses of the Catholic Church), FUCLA, CINEP’s Human Rights and Political Violence Database (Banco de Datos), Human Rights Everywhere and Comuna Sur (South Commune, HREV’s Latin American section).

HREV and COMUNA SUR are going to develop the data base tool for the Observatory and will be responsible for integrating it into a Geographic Information System (GIS). They have also been involved in the conceptual and operational development of the Observatory since the project began in October 2008.