Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia Initiate a Dialogue with the Legislative Assembly to Gain Legal Recognition of their FPIC Protocols
On August 31st, in the town of Santa Cruz, the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia held a session on the development of legislative measures to grant legal force to Indigenous Peoples’ autonomous FPIC protocols. Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) has emerged as an international human rights norm that derives from Indigenous Peoples’ collective right to self-determination. Recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), FPIC requires that Indigenous Peoples have the right to give or withhold their consent to projects and legislative measures that affect their lands, territories, livelihoods, and natural resources. In 2009, the Constitution of Bolivia recognized Indigenous Peoples’ right to FPIC as well as the State’s obligation to fulfill this right. However, the State has since failed in its responsibility to implement FPIC. Throughout the past decade, the exploitation of natural resources in Bolivia has expanded tremendously, alongside growing destruction of biodiversity and violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights. In Bolivia, as well as across the world, when Indigenous Peoples have been “consulted”, it has repeatedly happened in a way that forcefully legitimizes projects in their territories, instead of protecting their rights. As a response to poor implementation of FPIC, many Indigenous Peoples in different parts of the world have started developing their own, autonomous initiatives for the advancement of their rights, based on their own worldviews and governance mechanisms. In their autonomous FPIC protocols, Indigenous Peoples themselves define how they are to be consulted and their FPIC sought. In Bolivia, four Indigenous communities, San Antonio de Lomerío, Monteverde, the Multiethnic Indigenous Territory (TIM1), and Cavineño, have developed their own FPIC protocols, and six communities are currently in the process of doing so. Due to the initiative of these communities, the Assembly of Bolivia hosted a discussion about the need to officially recognize Indigenous Peoples’ FPIC protocols as tools with legal force. In its session, the Assembly of Bolivia heard from representatives of Indigenous communities, civil society, academia, and the UN, on how Indigenous Peoples’ right to FPIC can be better secured. In the meeting, Land is Life’s FPIC Coordinator, David Suarez, shared experiences from working with several Indigenous communities in the development of their protocols, alongside Daniel Santi Gualinga from the Governing Council of the Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku from Ecuador, who recently finalized their FPIC protocol. Daniel, on behalf of Sarayaku, presented his experience and opened the discussion on autonomous FPIC protocols as mechanisms for Indigenous communities to maintain their intrinsic relationship to their territories, to preserve life. “FPIC protocols are tools for Indigenous communities to define their own juridical systems and development priorities. FPIC should not be interpreted solely as a means to say yes or no to a project. It should rather be viewed as a tool towards intercultural dialogue – a dialogue that allows Indigenous Peoples to genuinely participate in decision-making processes. At the same time, FPIC acts as a means for historical restoration, to repair Indigenous Peoples’ rights to have a say and make decisions that have historically been denied. Granting Indigenous Peoples’ FPIC protocols legal force is an act of decolonization.” – David Suarez, Land is Life’s FPIC Coordinator Land is Life, which supports Indigenous Peoples in the development of community-led FPIC protocols, calls on the Assembly of Bolivia to take these discussions seriously and start the process of developing effective measures to grant legal force to Indigenous Peoples’ FPIC protocols.
Rights Violations of Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation Heard for the First Time in the Inter-American Court
This past Tuesday, August 23rd, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) held a historical public hearing in Brasilia, regarding severe rights violations by the State of Ecuador against the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous Peoples. Taromenane and Tagaeri are two of the last known Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) in Ecuador. They inhabit the Yasuní region, in the eastern part of the Ecuadorian Amazon. In this historic case of Tagaeri-Taromenane vs. Ecuador, the Inter-American Court heard the first case regarding the rights of PIACI. The PIACI are holders of human rights in a situation of extreme vulnerability, and among the few who are unable to advocate for their own rights. Indigenous peoples from across Ecuador and Brazil, as well as delegates from several organizations, including Land is Life, took part in the hearing to express solidarity and to defend the rights of the Taromenane and Tagaeri. Growing pressure over the use of natural resources in Yasuní has been ongoing since the beginning of Ecuador’s oil boom in the 1970s. Yasuní is not only one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth but it also has some of Ecuador’s largest oil reserves. Despite it being designated a national park in 1979, oil companies have been increasingly entering the area and expanding their drilling operations in Indigenous territories. This has led to displacement of Indigenous peoples, forced contact, diminished territories, and contamination of rivers. Even though the State of Ecuador permanently protected part of Yasuní as the “Tagaeri Taromenane Intangible Zone”, an area where extractive industries are supposed to be prohibited, the Zone does not actually follow the boundaries of the territories of these Peoples. The Intangible Zone is too small and has allowed the oil industry to have major impacts on the rights and livelihoods of the Taromenane and Tagaeri, whose ancestral ways of life necessitate the ability to move across and use their entire territory. The Court Hearing was an attempt to determine whether the State has violated the rights of the Tagaeri and Taromenane by allowing extractive industries to enter their territories. The case also considered the killings of Indigenous peoples in Yasuní that took place in 2003, 2006, and 2013, when conflicts between different tribes escalated due to extractive pressures on their territories. Even though the State was informed about a heightened risk of violence, it did not take any measures to intervene, nor did it fulfill its responsibility to appropriately investigate these devastating cases. Leonidas Iza, President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), who testified in support of the victims, stated in his testimony: “Indigenous peoples take care of their territories for the reproduction of life. We take care of the rights of Mother Nature, not only for the benefit of Indigenous Peoples but of the entire humanity. Indigenous territories are continuously threatened by state policies that favor extractive industries. That has forced us to organize ourselves to resist. – – Oil drilling keeps destroying the Amazon and the ways of life of Indigenous peoples living in isolation. These Peoples, their culture, and their spirituality, are integrally dependent on their territories. They are the guardians of their forests, taking care of and protecting them. If these Peoples die, or are forced to leave, the balance that sustains life in the Yasuní, will break down. Humanity will lose one of the most biodiverse places in the world if we do not act in time. That is why we demand that oil companies are kept out of these territories and that the self-determination of the Taromenane and Tagaeri is guaranteed. The State must respect the life and the rights of these Peoples.” After working for the defense of the rights of the PIACI for more than 20 years, Land is Life hopes that this case will make a strong precedent for future cases. As the Secretariat of the GTI PIACI Working Group, we demand justice for the Tagaeri and Taromenane and call for their right to self-determination and to remain in voluntary isolation, to be fulfilled. Any extractive operations on Tagaeri and Taromenane territories must be halted.
Partner Highlight: WZGT Encourages Washoe Youth to Sustain their Culture, Language, and Heritage
“Our legend stories take us to the stars – we are people from the stars, we were planted here, on top of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, as peaceful people, to live with all the other nations of the Earth, the plant nations, the animal nations, the ones that fly, the ones that swim, the ones that crawl upon the Earth. We are here to be part of this circle of life. Washoe people have been here since time immemorial, and we are not going away.” – Lisa Grayshield, PhD, Washoe Tribal Member Washiw Zulshish Goom Tahn-Nu (“Washoe Warrior Society”, WZGT), was established in 2009, when a group of Elders came together to discuss a shared concern for cultural loss and disconnection within the Washoe community. The Washoe people have inhabited the lands surrounding Lake Tahoe, at the border of Nevada and California, in the western United States, for thousands of years. As a result of colonial exploitation that started with the gold and silver rush in the mid-1800s, the Washoe have suffered loss of land and livelihoods. The resulting historical trauma has led to a drastic decrease in the number of youth committed to carrying on the traditions of their ancestors, and speaking their language. To respond to the severe situation, WZGT is carrying out a powerful mission to revive the Washoe’s understanding of themselves as a cultural people, with a unique and valuable heritage, by preserving their traditional knowledge and practices into the future. This includes knowledge sharing, for example, on the use of wild plants as part of traditional, healthy diets, and as medicine. However, in order to revitalize such cultural traditions and enhance the passing of traditional knowledge from one generation to another, there is a strong need for a proper gathering place that the community has been missing since the early 1900s. Therefore, WZGT is striving towards building Washiw Tahn-Nu Ung-Gahl, a People’s House – a place to gather, talk and learn Washoe language, conduct ceremonies, pray, and remember the values that their ancestors held as stewards of the land. Lake Tahoe is the center of the universe for the Washoe people. The lake has suffered severe degradation due to long-lasting, unsustainable land use, climate change, as well as the construction of casinos, housing and roads. WZGT, among other groups, has been actively involved in restoring the lake towards a healthier state. They are also advocating for Lake Tahoe to be granted rights as a legal person. Over recent years, Indigenous-led efforts to gain legal personhood for lakes and rivers has become a strong movement towards incorporating Indigenous worldviews into environmental protection. WZGT stands with Indigenous Nations around the world who seek to reinstate their Indigenous values and encourage a world-wide change of consciousness towards care for Mother Earth. Currently, negotiations are ongoing for obtaining a piece of land on Washoe territory along Lake Tahoe, where Tahn-Nu Ung-Gal will be built and the people can once again gather as a symbol of the healing of the land, the water, and the people. “There is that within our bodies – we are organic beings – to live in balance with the Earth, to respect the Earth as a living being, and to re-learn how to be stewards of the Earth. It is important for everybody to stand up for the rights of nature and recognize that we have industrialized ourselves to the point of stressing the Earth. We need to reverse that by recognizing Indigenous peoples in these places and learning how it is that we maintained a peaceful existence for thousands of years. It is important to recognize that Indigenous ways of thinking and being in the world are still alive, and by supporting tribal groups in their areas we are making a statement that an Indigenous way of being in the world is different from the industrialized way that has formed as a result of colonization. Now it is the time for all of us to return to a more simple way of living, in balance and harmony with the Earth, and to revive the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples. That knowledge is in our language, it is in our culture, and it is in our ceremonies. It is important not just for Washiw, it is important for everybody; that Indigenous peoples maintain their knowledge because that teaches us how to be and how to take care of the Earth.” – Lisa Grayshield, PhD Land is Life’s partnership with WZGT is currently in support of their realization of the People’s House on Washoe land. Learn more about WZGT by watching this video.
The Kichwa People of Sarayaku Hold the First Meeting of the Kawsak Sacha
In the Kichwa language, kawsari refers to a type of awakening, specifically the awakening to life. The Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku thus named their First Meeting of the Peoples of the Living Forest (Kawsak Sacha) accordingly, held on their territory between the 25th and 27th of July. The Kawsari brought together Indigenous peoples from the Ecuadorian, Colombian and Peruvian Amazon with the aim to refine their proposals to sustain life on Indigenous territories of the Amazon, share experiences regarding their self-determination and autonomy, and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Inter-American Court ruling (Sarayaku vs. Ecuador case) that determined the mandatory standards for the exercise of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and marked an enormous victory for Indigenous territories threatened by extractive activities. The Kichwa People of Sarayaku have called for a need to multiply the actions to defend and promote the self-determination and self-governance of Indigenous peoples as the most effective mechanism to secure the rights of nature and to face the challenges of environmental justice of the 21st century. From the work of Sarayaku, the world has been reminded that in Indigenous worldviews, forest is an immense living organism where animals, plants, human beings, and spiritual beings coexist and protect all forms of life of the Living Forest, or Kawsak Sacha in the Kichwa language. With this in mind, the Sarayaku people continue to develop political and legal tools to defend the Living Forest. One of these tools is their autonomous protocol of free, prior and informed consent that was published in the Kawsari gathering. The protocol is first of its kind in Ecuador. It is the first normative framework, autonomously developed by an Indigenous people, to regulate the ways in which they wish to be consulted and to give or withhold their consent to projects that affect their territories. The protocol is the result of almost two years of meetings, assemblies, working groups, research, and discussions around Indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior and informed consent. We at Land is Life are honored to have supported the Kichwa People of Sarayaku with technical and financial assistance in the design of their autonomous FPIC protocol. Given the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples in realizing this right, Land is Life is working with communities in the development of community-led protocols for the proper implementation, monitoring and review of FPIC processes. The Kawsari gathering reminded its attendees that the integral respect for Indigenous peoples’ rights, their territories, and their own forms of government, constitutes the correct path and the best mechanism to preserve life in the Amazon, in all the territories of the Indigenous peoples of the continent.
Promoting the Rights of Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation at EMRIP
The 15th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) took place earlier this month in Geneva, Switzerland. The Expert Mechanism is a UN body that provides the Human Rights Council with advice on the rights of Indigenous peoples and assists Member States in achieving the goals of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Land is Life, as the Secretariat of the GTI PIACI Working Group, participated in the session to promote the rights of Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI). GTI PIACI is an international working group that consists of 15 organizations, Indigenous leaders, academics, and human rights defenders from across South America, that are committed to the protection, defense, and promotion of the rights of the PIACI in the Amazon, Cerrado, and Gran Chaco regions. Please find below a summarized statement of the working group for the Expert Mechanism. You can read the full statement in Spanish here. “Mr. President, The threats to the lives and integrity of the PIACI, who are exposed to extremely high vulnerability, have exponentially increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the self-determination of these peoples is at constant risk due to extractivist and agro-export development policies affecting their territories. With this in mind, it is increasingly necessary to advance a dialogue and joint reflection between Indigenous organizations, allies from the civil society, and multilateral bodies, to identify the primary threats to the PIACI and to define proposals for action for the defense of their rights. – – We have participated in all three UN mechanisms that promote Indigenous peoples’ rights. All of them have highlighted the importance to address the human rights situation of the PIACI as well as the actions that international bodies could carry out to protect these peoples. – -Thus, we find it fundamentally important that the EMRIP would include the high vulnerability of the PIACI in the agenda of your future sessions and conduct a thematic study on the situation of the PIACI.” – José Proaño, Secretariat of the GTI PIACI, Co-Director of Land is Life The discussions on the protection of the PIACI continued at our side event where the panelists shared their concerns on the extremely high vulnerability that the PIACI are exposed to, in the face of various threats, such as mining, deforestation, and drug trafficking. The panel also highlighted the crucial and unique role of the PIACI as invaluable protectors of biodiversity. The panelists demanded the governments to take urgent action to recognize and respect the rights of the PIACI before it is too late. Watch the recording of our side event here. “As the PIACI are unable to lobby or fight for their own rights, it is exceptionally crucial for the states, international mechanisms, and other actors that work for the defense of human rights, to ensure that the human rights of the PIACI are fully recognized and respected, taking in consideration their unique situation of vulnerability. Of particular importance is the respect for their right to remain in voluntary isolation.” – Anexa Alfred Cunningham, EMRIP Member for South America, Central America, and the Caribbean “Increasing deforestation keeps accelerating the risks and vulnerability that the PIACI are already exposed to. The Permanent Forum has, in several occasions, recommended that governments need to advance the conditions for the PIACI to maintain their forests in their traditional ways, and preserve their cultural identity, including mobility within their territories.The relationship of the PIACI to their forests is intrinsic and must not be ignored.” – Dario Mejía Montalvo, President of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues “I would like to highlight the role of Indigenous peoples in protecting the PIACI, in the face of inaction of the states. For example in South America, Indigenous organizations are carrying out effective actions, with respect to the principle of no contact. With a network of surveillance, situated in strategic locations in relation to the territories of the PIACI, the organizations are constantly monitoring threats, documenting evidence of possible presence of the PIACI, implementing actions to prevent contact and conflicts, as well as informing the local people of the rights of the PIACI. It is a set of good practices that I hope will be carried out in other regions too.” – Francisco Calí Tzay, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples