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• 1 • 2 • • • • • • • • THE INDIGENOUS

WORLD 2001/2002

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IWGIA •

• Copenhagen 2002 •

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. 1999 stonecut by Kavavaow by stonecut 1999 . “Fish Become Birds” Become “Fish Photo: Cover

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Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen,

Eks-Skolens Trykkeri aps Trykkeri Eks-Skolens Prepress and print: and Prepress

– Lola García-Alix Lola – Indigenous Rights Indigenous

– Marianne Jensen Marianne – Africa

– Christian Erni Christian – Asia

– Diana Vinding Diana – Australia and the Pacific the and Australia

– Alejandro Parellada Alejandro – South America South

– Diana Vinding Diana – Mexico & Central America Central & Mexico

– Kathrin Wessendorff Kathrin – The Arctic & North America North & Arctic The

: Regional editors Regional

: Elaine Bolton & Birgit Stephenson Birgit & Bolton Elaine : English proofreading English

: Elaine Bolton Elaine : English translation English

: Mario Di Lucci Di Mario : Spanish translation and proofreading and translation Spanish

: Jorge Monrás Jorge : Cover and Typesetting and Cover

Diana Vinding Diana Compilation and editing: and Compilation

for Indigenous Affairs), 2002 - All Rights Reserved. Rights All - 2002 Affairs), Indigenous for

The Authors and IWGIA (The International Work Group Work International (The IWGIA and Authors The © Copyright: ©

THE INDIGENOUS WORLD 2001/2002 2001/2002 WORLD WORLD INDIGENOUS INDIGENOUS THE THE THE INDIGENOUS WORLD 2001/2002 WORLD INDIGENOUS THE THE INDIGENOUS WORLD 2001/2002 2001/2002 WORLD WORLD INDIGENOUS INDIGENOUS THE THE

This book has been produced

with financial support from the •

•

Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and •

•

the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation • •

• •

• 5 • 6 •

•

•

uhn(um ...... 222 ...... (Guam) Guahan •

•

...... 218 ......

West Papua West •

•

...... 216 ...... Bougainville •

...... 214 ...... Islands Solomon The

aay(e aeoi)...... 211 ...... Caledonia) (New Kanaky

...... 206 ...... Islands Fiji

eA ah Fec oyei)...... 203 ...... Polynesia) (French Maohi Ao Te

aPeán Hwii ...... 201 ...... (Hawai’i) Pae’áina Ka

...... 196 ...... Region Pacific The

...... 188 ...... Australia

Australia and the Pacific the and Australia

hl ...... 181 ...... Chile

...... 170 ...... Argentina

...... 161 ...... Paraguay

...... 148 ...... Brazil

...... 133 ...... Bolivia

...... 124 ...... Peru

...... 114 ...... Venezuela

...... 106 ...... Colombia

South America South

...... 99 ...... Panama

...... 92 ...... Nicaragua

...... 86 ...... Guatemala

...... 74 ...... Mexico

Mexico and Central America Central and Mexico

h ntdSae fAeia...... 66 ...... America of States United The

h otws ertre ...... 63 ...... Territories Northwest The

...... 56 ...... Canada

North America North

...... 50 ...... Nunavut

...... 46 ...... Alaska

...... 45 ...... Chukotka

The indigenous peoples of Russia of peoples indigenous The ...... 38 ......

...... 37 ...... Russia

...... 33 ...... Sweden

...... 29 ...... Norway

Sápmi

...... 24 ...... Greenland

h rtcCucl...... 22 ...... Council Arctic The

The Artic The

PART I - Region and country reports country and Region - I PART

...... 11 ...... About our contributors our About

9 ...... Editorial CONTENTS East Asia & Southeast Asia Japan ...... 226 China ...... 230 Tibet ...... 233 Taiwan...... 238 Philippines ...... 243 TimorLorosa’e (East Timor) ...... 252 Indonesia ...... 258 Malaysia...... 268 Thailand ...... 272 Cambodia ...... 278 Vietnam ...... 285 Laos ...... 291 Burma ...... 299 Nagalim ...... 306 South Asia Bangladesh ...... 312 Nepal...... 322 India ...... 328

North and West Africa The Amazigh People ...... 348 The Touareg People ...... 353

East Africa Ethiopia ...... 366 East Africa: Regional processes ...... 371 Kenya ...... 374 Tanzania ...... 381 Central Africa The Great Lakes Region: Political update ...... 390 Rwanda ...... 392 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ...... 395 Uganda ...... 397 Cameroon ...... 399 South Africa Namibia ...... 404 Botswana ...... 411 South Africa ...... 419

PART II - Indigenous Rights The Draft Declaration ...... 426 The Permanent Forum ...... 444

The Special Rapporteur ...... 451

•

The African Commission on Human •

•

and Peoples’ Rights ...... 452 •

•

•

• PART III - IWGIA publications and general informations ...... 458 •

• 7

• 8 authorities a pretext to clamp down on them and their fellow men. fellow their and them on down clamp to pretext a authorities • •

• all the political acumen they can muster in order not to give the give to not order in muster can they acumen political the all •

•

serious confrontation, and indigenous leaders will henceforward need henceforward will leaders indigenous and confrontation, serious •

•

may well, in some places, degenerate into more oppression and even and oppression more into degenerate places, some in well, may •

unjustly accused of being terrorists and treated as such. This situation This such. as treated and terrorists being of accused unjustly

determination and for their fundamental rights may in the future be future the in may rights fundamental their for and determination

to be feared that indigenous peoples who merely struggle for self- for struggle merely who peoples indigenous that feared be to

With the prevailing worldwide “terrorist syndrome” it is indeed is it syndrome” “terrorist worldwide prevailing the With

Islam to persecute Moslem indigenous peoples (e.g. Burma). (e.g. peoples indigenous Moslem persecute to Islam

rights, (see chapters on Chile, China, etc.) or are using excitation against excitation using are or etc.) China, Chile, on chapters (see rights,

are legitimately protesting against the violation of their fundamental their of violation the against protesting legitimately are

accuse and castigate indigenous peoples of being terrorists when they when terrorists being of peoples indigenous castigate and accuse

authorities have taken the opportunity of the “war against terrorism” to terrorism” against “war the of opportunity the taken have authorities

to indigenous organisations. In yet others, hostile governments and local and governments hostile others, yet In organisations. indigenous to

India) the passing of a new anti-terrorism law is seen as a direct threat direct a as seen is law anti-terrorism new a of passing the India)

issues were taken off the table, as reported from Mexico; in others (e.g. others in Mexico; from reported as table, the off taken were issues

enous peoples. In some cases, it has meant that important indigenous important that meant has it cases, some In peoples. enous

The impact of September 11 has also been directly felt by indig- by felt directly been also has 11 September of impact The

news and most probably will never make history. make never will probably most and news

nable and abominable too but which, nevertheless, barely make the make barely nevertheless, which, but too abominable and nable

enous leaders – Colombia is a case in point – events that are condem- are that events – point in case a is Colombia – leaders enous

violent deaths and disappearances of indigenous peoples and indig- and peoples indigenous of disappearances and deaths violent

gives several examples of massacres, of examples several gives of issue this The Indigenous World Indigenous The

true when talking about events that involve indigenous peoples, and peoples, indigenous involve that events about talking when true

place in other parts of the world during 2001. This holds especially holds This 2001. during world the of parts other in place

but seem out of proportion when compared with events that took that events with compared when proportion of out seem but

The global and long lasting impact of the September 11 events can events 11 September the of impact lasting long and global The

movement worldwide also. worldwide movement

terrorism”, there is indeed cause for deep concern for the indigenous the for concern deep for cause indeed is there terrorism”,

and its allies get ever more deeply involved in their “war against “war their in involved deeply more ever get allies its and

radically changed the world overnight and, as the US administration US the as and, overnight world the changed radically

and the deaths of some 3,000 innocent civilian men and women, and men civilian innocent 3,000 some of deaths the and

in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001, 11, September on Washington in Pentagon the and York New in

the only response envisaged. The terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers Twin the on attacks terrorist The envisaged. response only the

in fear, suspicion and hatred, in which armed revenge has so far been far so has revenge armed which in hatred, and suspicion fear, in

me face to face with its vulnerability and, overnight, became engulfed became overnight, and, vulnerability its with face to face me

T

technologically and economically developed Western world ca- world Western developed economically and technologically

he year 2001 will go down in history as the year in which the which in year the as history in down go will 2001 year he EDITORIAL Globalisation and neo-liberal economic policies are two other factors that are increasingly impacting on the situation of indigenous peo- ples. The Plan Puebla-Panama, which will affect indigenous commu- nities throughout Mexico and Central America, is one example. In Russia, indigenous communities are facing increasingly tough com- petition from private enterprises over their land and natural resources. In other cases, rights acquired by the indigenous peoples are being directly threatened. In India, for instance, private mining companies are lobbying forcefully for an amendment to the 5th Schedule of the Constitution, which would make the leasing of land to outsiders in tribal areas possible. In Bolivia, the whole land reform process for which the indigenous population has struggled for years is being jeopardized by the government’s sell-out to the cattle farming sector and large landowners. In other parts of the world, indigenous peoples continue to be forced to relocate in order to make way for hydroelectric dams (e.g. in Laos, the Philippines, Chile), national parks (e.g. Bangladesh, India, Tanzania), or in the name of so-called “development”, like the San of Botswana and the Mon-Khmer of Laos. Not surprisingly, the issue of forced relocation was high on the indigenous agenda during the consultations conducted in 2001-2002 by the World Bank in connection with the revision of their guidelines. Unfortu- nately, it seems as if the proposed revised guidelines will not be nearly as strong as they should be and even weaker than they were originally. While this issue of The Indigenous World brings a number of country reports that show that the situation of indigenous peoples worldwide remains highly precarious, with important advances being consist- ently threatened, it also highlights a number of positive developments that have occurred over the period under consideration. At local level, one such development worth mentioning is the several-month-long protest movement of the Adivasi and the Dalits in the state of Kerala (India), which ended with the government conced- ing to all the demands made by the Adivasi-Dalit platform, Samara Samithy, notably in terms of land distribution. Other examples in- clude Cambodia, where a new land law recognizing indigenous land rights has been passed, and Nicaragua where the Awas Tingni land

claims were recognised.

A major event in 2001 - 2002 was the birth of a new independent •

•

country - Timor Lorosa’e. After more than 24 years of Indonesian •

•

colonization and a liberation struggle which, on several occasions, • •

• seemed on the point of collapsing, this is indeed cause for joy and, •

• 9 • 10 • • • • •

•

•

Coordinating Editor Coordinating •

Diana Vinding Diana

keep improving our coverage of the indigenous world. indigenous the of coverage our improving keep

come forward with their suggestions and contributions so that we can we that so contributions and suggestions their with forward come

time, enjoin all those who feel there are still too many shortcomings to shortcomings many too still are there feel who those all enjoin time,

years. For this we wish to thank our many contributors and, at the same the at and, contributors many our thank to wish we this For years.

from this goal, we also feel that some progress has been made over the over made been has progress some that feel also we goal, this from

situation of indigenous peoples worldwide. Even though we are still far still are we though Even worldwide. peoples indigenous of situation

- in 1986 - our goal has been to document as completely as possible the possible as completely as document to been has goal our - 1986 in -

is no.16. From the very beginning very the From no.16. is of issue This The Indigenous World Indigenous The

nities.

tures and know–how, for acquisition of equal rights and equal opportu- equal and rights equal of acquisition for know–how, and tures

self-determination, for recognition and respect of their indigenous cul- indigenous their of respect and recognition for self-determination,

challenges of the years to come: the ongoing struggle for land rights and rights land for struggle ongoing the come: to years the of challenges

enous peoples and will, hopefully, support them in meeting the many the meeting in them support hopefully, will, and peoples enous

high-level institution within the UN system is a breakthrough for indig- for breakthrough a is system UN the within institution high-level

Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples under ECOSOC. This new This ECOSOC. under Peoples Indigenous for Forum Permanent

The greatest advance, however, has been the establishment of the of establishment the been has however, advance, greatest The

protection and recognition of indigenous peoples’ fundamental rights. fundamental peoples’ indigenous of recognition and protection

expectations and will, in the future, be a significant contribution to the to contribution significant a be future, the in will, and expectations

porteur on the Situation of Indigenous People has been met with great with met been has People Indigenous of Situation the on porteur

At UN level, the designation of Rodolfo Stavenhagen as Special Rap- Special as Stavenhagen Rodolfo of designation the level, UN At

give the commission a role similar to that of the IACHR. the of that to similar role a commission the give

that may open up the path for a process which, in the longer term, may term, longer the in which, process a for path the up open may that

recognize the concept of “indigenous”, this is a promising step forward step promising a is this “indigenous”, of concept the recognize

enous peoples in Africa. Given the reticence of African governments to governments African of reticence the Given Africa. in peoples enous

lishment of an ad-hoc group that will focus on the situation of indig- of situation the on focus will that group ad-hoc an of lishment

Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), with the estab- the with (ACHPR), Rights Peoples’ and Human on Commission

In Africa, an interesting process has been initiated within the African the within initiated been has process interesting an Africa, In

gua).

enous peoples’ rights (see chapters on Panama, Paraguay and Nicara- and Paraguay Panama, on chapters (see rights peoples’ enous

ing an increasingly important role in mediating and defending indig- defending and mediating in role important increasingly an ing

American states to comply with human rights standards, has been play- been has standards, rights human with comply to states American

(IACHR), which has the mandate to place binding obligations on all on obligations binding place to mandate the has which (IACHR),

ments. In the Americas, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights Human on Court Inter-American the Americas, the In ments.

At international level, there have also been some major achieve- major some been also have there level, international At

people of Timor Lorosa’e. Timor of people from IWGIA, we send our best wishes and hopes for the future to the to future the for hopes and wishes best our send we IWGIA, from ABOUT OUR CONTRIBUTORS

IWGIA would like to extend warm thanks to the following people and organisations for having contributed to The Indigenous World 2001/ 2002. We would also like to thank the contributors who have wished to remain anonymous and therefore are not mentioned below. Without any of these people’s help, this book would not have been published.

PART I

The Arctic & North America

This section has been compiled and edited by Kathrin Wessendorf, Arctic Programme Coordinator at IWGIA.

Marianne Lykke Thomsen of the Greenland Home Rule Govern- ment, Foreign Affairs Office, is currently posted to Ottawa as Greenland’s Representative to Canada. She previously worked for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and has been asso- ciated with IWGIA for many years. (The Arctic Council) Mette Uldall Jensen is an eskimologist from the University of Co- penhagen (autumn 2001). She has been an active member of the IWGIA national group in Denmark and took part in arranging the Second Indigenous Circumpolar Youth Conference in 1998. (Greenland) Eva Josefsen is a Saami from Alta in Norway. She has a Master’s in political sciences. From 1997 to 2001, she was a member of the Saami parliament in Norway. (Sápmi - Norway) Mattias Åhren is a Saami lawyer from Sweden. He is head of the Human Rights Unit of the Saami Council. (Sápmi - Sweden) Leif Rantala is a lecturer of Saami language and culture at the University of Lapland, in Rovaniemi, Finland. (Sápmi - Russia) Olga Murashko is an anthropologist and co-founder of the IWGIA

local group in Russia. She works in close collaboration with

RAIPON on indigenous peoples and legal rights in the Rus- •

•

sian Federation. (Russia) •

•

Petra Rethmann is professor of anthropology at McMaster Univer- • •

• sity, Canada. She has been working in the northern part of the •

• 11

• 12

is an anthropologist and the and anthropologist an is ANIPA. Abel Barrera Hernández Barrera Abel • •

• ogy (CIESAS) and advisor to the indigenous organisation indigenous the to advisor and (CIESAS) ogy •

•

Centre for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropol- Social in Studies Higher and Research for Centre •

•

is a sociologist and researcher at the at researcher and sociologist a is

Araceli Burguete Cal y Mayor y Cal Burguete Araceli •

and Alejandro Parellada, South American Coordinator at IWGIA. at Coordinator American South Parellada, Alejandro and

and Central America & Pacific Programme Coordinator at IWGIA, at Coordinator Programme Pacific & America Central and

This section has been compiled and edited by Diana Vinding Mexico Vinding Diana by edited and compiled been has section This

Mexico, Central and South America South and Central Mexico,

) ( States. United the in era reservation the to USA

She is currently working on a book that explores terrorism prior terrorism explores that book a on working currently is She

clude the relationship between states and non-state societies. non-state and states between relationship the clude

ment of the University of Nebraska. Her research interests in- interests research Her Nebraska. of University the of ment

anthropology at the Anthropology and Ethnic Studies Depart- Studies Ethnic and Anthropology the at anthropology

works as an assistant professor in cultural in professor assistant an as works McCollough Martha

) ( government. Northwest Territories Northwest

federal and territorial governments on land claims and self- and claims land on governments territorial and federal

much of this time as an advisor and negotiator in talks with the with talks in negotiator and advisor an as time this of much

tional, regional and community level since 1985. He has spent has He 1985. since level community and regional tional,

has worked for aboriginal organisations at na- at organisations aboriginal for worked has Jim Edmonson Jim

) ( Canada Self-Government. Nations’

mittees entitled entitled mittees The Public Emergence of the Vocabulary of First of Vocabulary the of Emergence Public The

First Nations testimony before Canadian Parliamentary com- Parliamentary Canadian before testimony Nations First

ment. He has recently completed his doctoral dissertation on dissertation doctoral his completed recently has He ment.

discussions of First Nations matters in the Canadian Parlia- Canadian the in matters Nations First of discussions

tions and legislative history. He maintains a watching brief on brief watching a maintains He history. legislative and tions

is a consultant on Canadian parliamentary rela- parliamentary Canadian on consultant a is Michael Posluns Michael

North America North

) ( Nunavut. of ernment Nunavut

lives in Iqaluit, Nunavut, where he works for the Gov- the for works he where Nunavut, Iqaluit, in lives Jack Hicks Jack

University of Alaska Fairbanks. ( Fairbanks. Alaska of University ) Alaska

Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development at the at Development Rural and Native Alaska of Department

, a Kodiak Island Alutiiq, is the Director of the of Director the is Alutiiq, Island Kodiak a , Gordon L. Pullar L. Gordon

kotka’s indigenous residents. ( residents. indigenous kotka’s ) Chukotka

the possibilities and limitations of democratisation for Chu- for democratisation of limitations and possibilities the Russian Far East since 1992, and is currently looking at both at looking currently is and 1992, since East Far Russian director of the Centre for Human Rights of the Montaña region in Guerrero, an NGO based in Tlapa. Ricardo Robles is a Jesuit priest and has lived with the Rarámuri of Chihuahua since 1963. He was an advisor to the EZLN during the San Andrés negotiations from 1995 to 1996 and has been a member of the follow-up Commission of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) since 1997. (Mexico) Santiago Bastos and Manuela Camus are social anthropologists and researchers at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sci- ences (FLACSO) in Guatemala. (Guatemala) Dennis Williamson Cuthbert is an economist and director of the Research and Investigation Centre of the Atlantic Coast of Ni- caragua, CIDCA. (Nicaragua) Atencio López is an indigenous Kuna and lawyer. He is President of the NGO “Napguana”. (Panama) Ninoska Laya Pereira is a lawyer and the coordinator of the Hu- man Rights Office of the Vicariate of Puerto Ayacucho, a con- sultant office to the Regional Organisation of Indigenous Peo- ples of the Amazon (ORPIA) and other indigenous organisa- tions in the region. (Venezuela) Efraim Jaramillo is an anthropologist and one of the most long- standing collaborators of the Colombian indigenous organisa- tions. (Colombia) Jorge Agurto is a social communicator who for years has been supporting indigenous communities and peoples in Peru in the defence of their fundamental rights. He was, until recently, head of the Indigenous Information Service SERVINDI ([email protected]) but has now taken over the position of Technical Secretary of the Permanent Conference of the Indig- enous Peoples of Peru (COPPIP), a position he was the first to hold some years back. He is a member of the Technical Secre- tariat of the Amazonian National Indigenous Commission (CINA) E-mail: [email protected] (Peru) Carlos Romero is a lawyer and director of the Centre for Legal Studies and Social Research (CEJIS) in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Ana Cecilia Betancur is a lawyer and works in CEJIS as a volunteer from the Dutch Development Cooperation Service. (Bolivia)

Paulo Celso de Oliveira – Pankararu is a lawyer and Paulino

Montejo Silvestre – Maia a communication advisor. Both work •

•

in the Coordinating Body of the Indigenous Organisations of •

•

the Brazilian Amazon, COIAB. (Brazil) • •

• •

• 13

• 14 Liberation League, Tokyo and is now doing translation work translation doing now is and Tokyo League, Liberation •

•

• has for several years worked for the Buraku the for worked years several for has Masaharu Konaka Masaharu • •

•

•

East and South East Asia East South and East •

Asia Programme Coordinator at IWGIA. at Coordinator Programme Asia , tian Erni tian

This section has been compiled, edited and partially written by by written partially and edited compiled, been has section This Chris-

Asia

(PNB) as well as other PNB sources. sources. PNB other as well as (PNB) (The Pacific) (The Bulletin

the year in PCRC’s monthly newsletter and the the and newsletter monthly PCRC’s in year the Pacific News Pacific

the Pacific section on the basis of articles published throughout published articles of basis the on section Pacific the

Resource Centre (PCRC) in Suva, Fiji Islands. He has prepared has He Islands. Fiji Suva, in (PCRC) Centre Resource

– Decolonisation & Indigenous Rights at the Pacific Concerns Pacific the at Rights Indigenous & Decolonisation –

, from Kanaky (New Caledonia), is Assistant Director Assistant is Caledonia), (New Kanaky from , Jimmy Nâunââ Jimmy

) ( tralia. Australia

national Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Aus- Brisbane, Queensland, of University Studies, national

ternational context in the School of Political Science and Inter- and Science Political of School the in context ternational

researches and writes on indigenous politics in an in- an in politics indigenous on writes and researches

Peter Jull Peter

America & Pacific Programme Coordinator at IWGIA. at Coordinator Programme Pacific & America

This section has been compiled and edited by Diana Vinding, Central Vinding, Diana by edited and compiled been has section This

Australia and the Pacific the and Australia

) ( thesis. doctoral his Chile

and GTZ. He currently lives in Mexico where he is preparing is he where Mexico in lives currently He GTZ. and

been a consultant to various international bodies such as CEPAL as such bodies international various to consultant a been

is a researcher and specialist on indigenous affairs. He has He affairs. indigenous on specialist and researcher a is

is an historian with a Master’s in Social Sciences and Sciences Social in Master’s a with historian an is Álvaro Bello Álvaro

) ( (2000). dígenas en Pampa y Patagonia, Argentina Patagonia, y Pampa en dígenas Argentina

Pacta sunt Servanda Capitulaciones, Convenios y Tratados con In- con Tratados y Convenios Capitulaciones, Servanda sunt Pacta

co-author, together with Claudia Briones, of the IWGIA Document IWGIA the of Briones, Claudia with together co-author,

ment ment (2000) and (2000) Los Derechos de los pueblos indígenas en Argentina Argentina en indígenas pueblos los de Derechos Los

of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is the author of the IWGIA Docu- IWGIA the of author the is She Argentina. Aires, Buenos of

is an anthropologist and lecturer at the University the at lecturer and anthropologist an is Morita Carrasco Morita

for TIERRAVIVA, a Paraguayan NGO, since 1994. 1994. since NGO, Paraguayan a TIERRAVIVA, for (Paraguay)

is an anthropologist and lawyer. He has worked has He lawyer. and anthropologist an is Rodrigo Villagra Rodrigo for the Ainu People in Sapporo. Yupo Abe has been a member of the executive board of the Ainu Association of Hokaido since 1996. Robert E. Gettings, an Associate Professor of Hokusei Women’s Junior College, kindly checked and corrected the En- glish sentences. (Japan) Harald Bøckman, a Sinologist, is Research Fellow at the Interna- tional Institute of Peace Research in Oslo, Norway. His main field of research is the historical emergence of Chineseness and the relation between China and her neighbours in an historical perspective. (China) Charlotte Mathiassen is a social anthropologist and consultant on development projects. She has worked with Tibetan communi- ties in the Himalayas and on Tibetan issues in general for many years. She is a long-term active member of the Danish Tibet Support Committee and a member of the Network for Indig- enous Peoples in Denmark.(Tibet) The Association for Taiwan Indigenous People’s Policies (ATIPP) is an NGO established and administered by Taiwan indig- enous activists, and working for the empowerment of Taiwan indigenous peoples. As a research and advocacy group, ATIPP seeks to promote the rights of the Taiwanese indigenous peo- ples. (Taiwan) AnthroWatch is a Manila-based research and advocacy group working closely with indigenous peoples in the Philippines. Joan Carling is chairperson of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) based in Baguio in the Cordilleras of Northern Luzon. Dario Novellino is international advisor to Bangsa Palawan, Philippines (Indigenous Alliance for Equity and Well-Being). He is currently affiliated to the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kent in Canterbury (UK), as well as to the Institute of the Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila Univer- sity. (Philippines) The chapter on Timor Lorosa’e/East Timor has been compiled by Diana Vinding, IWGIA, on the basis of Torben Retbøll’s IWGIA networking report from East Timor (2001) and his pa- per on “The Women of East Timor” (2002). Other sources have been the Pacific News Bulletin, published by the Pacific Concern

Resource Centre, and information provided by Maurizio Giu-

liano, a journalist and expert on political sciences, which we •

•

gratefully acknowledge. •

•

Emilianus Ola Kleden, is the Information and Communication Ma- • •

• nager of the Secretarial Office of the Indonesian national indig- •

• 15

• 16 edge. • •

• Land and Religion,” April 2002, which we gratefully acknowl- gratefully we which 2002, April Religion,” and Land •

•

Rights Watch report “Repression of Montagnards: Conflicts over Conflicts Montagnards: of “Repression report Watch Rights •

•

has been adapted in part from the Human the from part in adapted been has on chapter The

Vietnam •

tems. tems. (Cambodia)

National Park, developing communication and information sys- information and communication developing Park, National

versity and Protected Areas Management Project in Virachey in Project Management Areas Protected and versity

Cambodia since 2000. He is currently working on the Biodi- the on working currently is He 2000. since Cambodia

is an Australian who has been working in Ratanakiri, in working been has who Australian an is Caul

velopment and an indigenous advocacy network. network. advocacy indigenous an and velopment Justin Mac- Justin

since 1999, supporting community- community- supporting 1999, since based natural resource de- resource natural based

tralian volunteer who has been working in Ratanakiri province Ratanakiri in working been has who volunteer tralian

is an Aus- an is 1968-1979. from Cambodia eastern Graeme Brown Graeme

dia’s indigenous minorities with the Khmer Rouge in north- in Rouge Khmer the with minorities indigenous dia’s

rently working on a book documenting the history of Cambo- of history the documenting book a on working rently

extensively about indigenous issues in Cambodia and is cur- is and Cambodia in issues indigenous about extensively

man rights worker in Cambodia since 1992. She has written has She 1992. since Cambodia in worker rights man

has been working as a journalist, researcher and hu- and researcher journalist, a as working been has Colm Sara

citizenship and legal status issues. issues. status legal and citizenship (Thailand)

sembly of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of Thailand (AITT) on (AITT) Thailand of Peoples Tribal and Indigenous of sembly

for over five years. She is currently also working with the As- the with working also currently is She years. five over for

worked with IMPECT in indigenous and tribal communities tribal and indigenous in IMPECT with worked

has (AIPP). Pact Peoples Indigenous Asian the Helen Leake Helen

Culture in Thailand (IMPECT) Association and a member of member a and Association (IMPECT) Thailand in Culture

staff member of the Inter Mountain Peoples Education and Education Peoples Mountain Inter the of member staff

is a Karen leader from Thailand, a senior a Thailand, from leader Karen a is Prasert Trakansuphakon Prasert

cerns (COAC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia. Lumpur, Kuala (COAC), cerns (Malaysia)

is the coordinator of the Center for Orang Asli Con- Asli Orang for Center the of coordinator the is Colin Nicolas Colin

IWGIA. (Indonesia)

one of the founding members of the Swiss National Group of Group National Swiss the of members founding the of one

Anthropology of the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He is He Switzerland. Zurich, of University the of Anthropology

anthropologist currently working in the Departm the in working currently anthropologist ent of Social of ent

as a field staff member with WARSI. WARSI. with member staff field a as is a social a is Danilo Geiger Danilo

degree at the University of Indonesia, having previously worked previously having Indonesia, of University the at degree

is an anthropologist currently pursuing a Master’s a pursuing currently anthropologist an is Prasetijo

project coordinator and now executive director of WARSI. WARSI. of director executive now and coordinator project Adi

an agricultural economist by education, was formerly was education, by economist agricultural an , Syaf Rudy

NGO consortium WARSI (Conservation Information Forum). Information (Conservation WARSI consortium NGO

minorities in Sumatra, and is project adviser to the Sumatran the to adviser project is and Sumatra, in minorities

gist, has undertaken field research on a number of indigenous of number a on research field undertaken has gist,

rakat Adat Nusantara). Nusantara). Adat rakat a social anthropolo- social a , Øyvind Sandbukt Øyvind enous peoples’ umbrella organisation AMAN (Alyansi Masya- (Alyansi AMAN organisation umbrella peoples’ enous Ian Baird, originally from Canada, has been working on natural resource management and indigenous issues in South-east Asia for 15 years, and has been living in Laos for the last 10 years. He is President of the Global Association for People and the Environment, a Canadian NGO active in Laos. He is also the coordinator of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives in Laos, the Canadian Embassy’s small grants facility for NGOs and peoples’ organisations. (Laos) Debbie Stothard, a Malaysian, is the coordinator of Altsean-Bur- ma. Queenie East, a Briton, is the organization’s Research Of- ficer. Altsean-Burma (Alternative Asean Network on Burma) is a South-east Asian network of groups and individuals support- ing human rights and democracy in Burma. It has a strategic women’s program aimed at increasing the political profile of women in Burma. Its secretariat is in Bangkok, Thailand. (Burma) Luingam Luithui, a Tangkhul Naga, is a human rights advocate. For twenty five years he has been actively involved in local and regional networking of indigenous peoples and building alli- ance with NGOs. (Nagalim)

South Asia

The Jumma Peoples Network (JUPNET) is an organisation estab- lished and run by indigenous Jummas based in various coun- tries of Europe and elsewhere. JUPNET seeks to promote the rights of the indigenous Jummas through dialogue, negotiation and other peaceful means. Sanjeeb Drong, a Garo from north Bangladesh, is the Secretary General of the Bangladesh Indig- enous Peoples Forum, a national forum representing 45 differ- ent indigenous communities in Bangladesh. He has published extensively through books and the print media in Bangladesh on indigenous issues. (Bangladesh) Parshu Ram Tamang is a Senior Lecturer of Economics in Sarawati Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. He is founding member, until recently General Secretary and currently an advisor of the Nepal Federation of Nationalities

(NEFEN). He is also the President of Nepal Tamang Ghedung

(NTG), and member of the United Nation’s Permanent Forum •

•

on Indigenous Issues. (Nepal) •

•

C. R. Bijoy is a human rights activist based in Tamil Nadu, south • •

• India. Over the last sixteen years he has been involved in and •

• 17

• 18 Peoples’ Project, the UK-registered charitable arm of the Forest the of arm charitable UK-registered the Project, Peoples’ •

•

• is the Africa Programme Coordinator of the Forest the of Coordinator Programme Africa the is

Dorothy Jackson Dorothy •

• ) ( [email protected] or [email protected]

Ethiopia •

•

peoples living in the other states of Ethiopia. Contact: Ethiopia. of states other the in living peoples •

enous peoples of his own area as well as those of marginalized of those as well as area own his of peoples enous

actively involved in human rights issues concerning the indig- the concerning issues rights human in involved actively

and Public Administration from Addis Ababa University. He is He University. Ababa Addis from Administration Public and

bela national state in Ethiopia. He holds a BA in Management in BA a holds He Ethiopia. in state national bela

is an indigenous Anuak (Anywaa) from the Gam- the from (Anywaa) Anuak indigenous an is Nyikaw Ochalla Nyikaw

) ( North and West Africa West and North

pers on the Tuareg. Contact: [email protected] Contact: Tuareg. the on pers

author of three books and some 50 articles and academic pa- academic and articles 50 some and books three of author

and now works with them more or less continuously. He is the is He continuously. less or more them with works now and

Sahara. He first began working amongst the Tuareg in 1964 in Tuareg the amongst working began first He Sahara.

sor of social anthropology, his main area of research is the is research of area main his anthropology, social of sor

Studies at the University of East Anglia, UK. Formerly a profes- a Formerly UK. Anglia, East of University the at Studies

the Sahara Studies Programme in the School of Development of School the in Programme Studies Sahara the

is currently Senior Research Fellow and Director of Director and Fellow Research Senior currently is Jeremy Keenan Jeremy

Amazigh associations in North Africa and Europe. Europe. and Africa North in associations Amazigh (North Africa) (North

which has a membership of more than 70 than more of membership a has which ”, Mondial Amazigh Mondial

he founded in 1978. He is also the Vice-President of the of Vice-President the also is He 1978. in founded he “ Congrés

and President of the Amazigh association “Tamaynut”, which “Tamaynut”, association Amazigh the of President and

is an Amazigh from Morocco. He is a lawyer a is He Morocco. from Amazigh an is Hassan Idbalkassm Hassan

Programme Coordinator at IWGIA. at Coordinator Programme

This section has been compiled and edited by Marianne Jensen, Jensen, Marianne by edited and compiled been has section This Africa

Africa

first magazine on people, environment and development. and environment people, on magazine first ) (India

India, and publisher of Grassroots Options, north-east India’s north-east Options, Grassroots of publisher and India,

is a journalist based in Shillong, Meghalaya, north-east Meghalaya, Shillong, in based journalist a is chhuak

which works for autonomy within the Indian state. state. Indian the within autonomy for works which Linda Chhak- Linda

Organisation for Human Rights (JOHAR) based in Ranchi, in based (JOHAR) Rights Human for Organisation

is a lawyer and member of the Jharkandi the of member and lawyer a is Ratnaker Bhengra Ratnaker

frontline people in the Jharkhand separate state movement. state separate Jharkhand the in people frontline

Jharkhand for the last quarter of a century. He was one of the of one was He century. a of quarter last the for Jharkhand

been working in solidarity with the indigenous peoples of peoples indigenous the with solidarity in working been

is a political activist, teacher and researcher who has who researcher and teacher activist, political a is Mullick

and written about these and associated matters. matters. associated and these about written and Samar Bosu Samar associated with indigenous issues and organisations in India in organisations and issues indigenous with associated Peoples’ Programme. The Forest Peoples’ Project works to sup- port indigenous and tribal forest peoples to secure their rights to lands, resources and sustainable livelihoods. (The Great Lakes Region) Naomi Kipuri is a Maasai from the Kajiado district of Kenya. She is an anthropologist by training. Naomi Kipuri taught at the University of Nairobi and is now a development con- sultant. She undertakes research and development and is keen on development concerns and issues relating to hu- man rights and the rights of indigenous peoples. (East Af- rica and Kenya) Benedict Ole Nangoro is a Maasai from Kiteto in Tanzania. He holds an M. Phil in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Sussex, UK. He is currently working with CORDS, a local NGO that works with indigenous pastoral Maasai communities on land demarca- tion, mapping, registration and collective titling. (East Africa and Tanzania) Robert K. Hitchcock is a Professor of Anthropology and Geogra- phy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. His most recent book is Organizing to Survive: Indigenous Peoples’ Politi- cal and Human Rights Movements (2002, Routledge Press). (Bot- swana and Namibia) Megan Biesle teaches anthropology at the University of Texas (Austin). She has long worked with Ju|’hoan San communi- ties in Botswana and Namibia as an advocate and docu- mentarian. She is the President of the Kalahari Peoples Fund. (Namibia) Cecil le Fleur has been working for the “Griqua National Confer- ence of South Africa” (G.N.C.) for the past 27 years and is now its coordinator. He is also the chairperson of “The Council of Headmen of the G.N.C” and “The National Khoi-San Con- sultative Conference” (N.K.C.C.), as well as an executive com- mittee member of the National Khoi-San Council (N.K.C.). He is furthermore an executive committee member of “The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee” (I.P.A.C.C.) where he has been involved in networking and

advocacy amongst indigenous peoples throughout Africa

since 1997. (South Africa) •

•

•

•

•

•

• •

• 19 • 20 • • • • • •

•

•

) ( The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Peoples’ and Human on Commission African The

is the Coordinator of IWGIA’s Africa Programme. Africa IWGIA’s of Coordinator the is Marianne Jensen Marianne

and and The Special UN Rapporteur) UN Special The Peoples

IWGIA. IWGIA. (The United Nations: The Permanent Forum on Indigenous on Forum Permanent The Nations: United (The

is the Coordinator of Human Rights Activities at Activities Rights Human of Coordinator the is Lola García Alix García Lola

laration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) Indigenous of Rights the on laration

(2000). (The Working Group on the Draft Dec- Draft the on Group Working (The Bangladesh Tracts,

99: 99: Land Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Chittagong Hill Chittagong the of Peoples Indigenous the of Rights Land

nation and gender issues. She is author of IWGIA Document IWGIA of author is She issues. gender and nation

with emphasis on human rights, indigenous peoples, discrimi- peoples, indigenous rights, human on emphasis with

ing as an independent consultant on international legal issues legal international on consultant independent an as ing

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (No.169). She is currently work- currently is She (No.169). Peoples Tribal and Indigenous

application of ILO standards, in particular the Convention on Convention the particular in standards, ILO of application

nical cooperation project aimed at increasing awareness and awareness increasing at aimed project cooperation nical

ber team responsible for establishing a new inter-regional tech- inter-regional new a establishing for responsible team ber

International Labour Office where she was part of a two-mem- a of part was she where Office Labour International

on indigenous issues, she has worked for many years in the in years many for worked has she issues, indigenous on

is a Chakma and a lawyer. As an expert an As lawyer. a and Chakma a is Rajkumari Chandra Roy Chandra Rajkumari

García-Alix, IWGIA Human Rights Programme Coordinator. Programme Rights Human IWGIA García-Alix,

This section has been compiled, edited and partially written by Lola by written partially and edited compiled, been has section This

Indigenous Rights Indigenous PART II PART PART I PART

REGION AND

COUNTRY REPORTS

•

THE ARCTIC • •

•

•

•

• •

• 21

• 22

activities are already part of a national program, such as is the case the is as such program, national a of part already are activities •

• initiatives under the Sustainable Development Program, except where except Program, Development Sustainable the under initiatives • •

• to get the same level of attention from governments and donors for donors and governments from attention of level same the get to •

•

monitoring, assessment and action planning, it has proven difficult proven has it planning, action and assessment monitoring, •

programs are quite successful in obtaining funding for environmental for funding obtaining in successful quite are programs

Whereas the long established environmental working groups and groups working environmental established long the Whereas

the environment and sustainable development working groups. working development sustainable and environment the

will be deciding on the program of work for the coming two years in years two coming the for work of program the on deciding be will

ing consultations with members and participants. Finally, ministers Finally, participants. and members with consultations ing

for adjustments to the Council’s structure and work, based on ongo- on based work, and structure Council’s the to adjustments for

The Ministerial Meeting will furthermore be discussing proposals discussing be furthermore will Meeting Ministerial The

ment activities in the Arctic. the in activities ment

respect to setting standards and priorities for its sustainable develop- sustainable its for priorities and standards setting to respect

is also expected to deal with the recommendations from the WSSD with WSSD the from recommendations the with deal to expected also is

ship and the transfer of the Arctic Council responsibilities to Iceland, to responsibilities Council Arctic the of transfer the and ship

meeting, which will mark the finale of a very active Finnish Chairman- Finnish active very a of finale the mark will which meeting,

ing to be held in Inari (Finland) at the beginning of October. This October. of beginning the at (Finland) Inari in held be to ing

Secondly, the Arctic Council is preparing its third Ministerial Meet- Ministerial third its preparing is Council Arctic the Secondly,

peoples.

which is sensitive to the needs, aspirations and livelihood of the Arctic the of livelihood and aspirations needs, the to sensitive is which

the sustainable development and protection of the Arctic environment, Arctic the of protection and development sustainable the

ment, will build on the ongoing work of the Arctic Council to promote to Council Arctic the of work ongoing the on build will ment,

The Arctic Message, or Arctic Dimension of Sustainable Develop- Sustainable of Dimension Arctic or Message, Arctic The

governmental organizations, regional bodies and research networks. research and bodies regional organizations, governmental

ships with non-Arctic states, parliamentarians, international and non- and international parliamentarians, states, non-Arctic with ships

a high-level inter-governmental forum, which also features partner- features also which forum, inter-governmental high-level a

cooperation between national governments and indigenous peoples in peoples indigenous and governments national between cooperation

More specifically, the Arctic Council aims to highlight the unique the highlight to aims Council Arctic the specifically, More

to take place in Johannesburg in September of this year. this of September in Johannesburg in place take to

peoples at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), due (WSSD), Development Sustainable on Summit World the at peoples

advocating that a strong voice be given to the Arctic Region and its and Region Arctic the to given be voice strong a that advocating

Firstly, the Arctic Council, under the Finnish Chairmanship, is Chairmanship, Finnish the under Council, Arctic the Firstly,

fall of 2002. of fall

Presently, the Arctic Council is preparing for two major events in the in events major two for preparing is Council Arctic the Presently,

national thematic conferences. thematic national

Arctic Region and the Arctic Council at numerous regional and inter- and regional numerous at Council Arctic the and Region Arctic

sequently, the Finnish Chair has been very active in promoting the promoting in active very been has Chair Finnish the sequently,

cooperate closely with relevant regional and international bodies. Sub- bodies. international and regional relevant with closely cooperate

T

clearly emphasized the need for the Arctic Council to continue to continue to Council Arctic the for need the emphasized clearly

he Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in Barrow (Alaska) in 2000 in (Alaska) Barrow in meeting Ministerial Council Arctic he THE ARCTIC COUNCIL ARCTIC THE with many health-related projects. This is why some members and

participants argue in favour of some form of core funding and a

permanent secretariat. •

•

One comprehensive project under the Sustainable Development •

•

Program is the Survey on Living Conditions in the Arctic (SLICA), • •

• which has the objective of providing proper and much needed com- •

• 23

• 24

the current capital, Nuuk. Until 1953, Greenland was legally a Danish a legally was Greenland 1953, Until Nuuk. capital, current the •

G • first Danish colonial settlement was established in 1721 close to close 1721 in established was settlement colonial Danish first • •

• reenland is a self-governing unit within the Danish realm. The realm. Danish the within unit self-governing a is reenland •

•

•

GREENLAND

in areas of concern. of areas in

express their experiences, views and interests regarding future action future regarding interests and views experiences, their express

of the situation of women in the Arctic and to give voice to women to women to voice give to and Arctic the in women of situation the of

of Ministers initiative co-hosted by Finland, aims to raise awareness raise to aims Finland, by co-hosted initiative Ministers of

The conference, which is a joint Arctic Council and Nordic Council Nordic and Council Arctic joint a is which conference, The

on Gender Equality and Women in the Arctic” will be held in Inari. in held be will Arctic” the in Women and Equality Gender on

In the summer (August 4-6) of 2002, the “Taking Wing - Conference - Wing “Taking the 2002, of 4-6) (August summer the In

cil, as described in the Barrow Declaration. Barrow the in described as cil,

opment of a capacity-building strategy and focus for the Arctic Coun- Arctic the for focus and strategy capacity-building a of opment

Greenland, was to gather ideas and recommendations for the devel- the for recommendations and ideas gather to was Greenland,

of the conference, which also included youth representatives from representatives youth included also which conference, the of

ficials meeting and co-hosted by Canada and Finland. The objective The Finland. and Canada by co-hosted and meeting ficials

Capacity Building was held back to back with the Senior Arctic Of- Arctic Senior the with back to back held was Building Capacity

Arctic Council. At the beginning of November (1-2), a conference on conference a (1-2), November of beginning the At Council. Arctic

review and promote the youth policy viewpoints in activities of the of activities in viewpoints policy youth the promote and review

Policy in the Arctic held at Rovaneimi in September (12-14) to discuss, to (12-14) September in Rovaneimi at held Arctic the in Policy

ferences during the course of 2001. Notably, the Meeting on Youth on Meeting the Notably, 2001. of course the during ferences

In the margins of the Arctic Council, there have been several con- several been have there Council, Arctic the of margins the In

ment of sustainable development. sustainable of ment

promotion of indigenous peoples’ effective participation in the achieve- the in participation effective peoples’ indigenous of promotion

Rio Declaration on Environment and Development dealing with the with dealing Development and Environment on Declaration Rio

Arctic Council process in accordance with the provisions of the 1992 the of provisions the with accordance in process Council Arctic

became accepted as Permanent Participants and true partners in the in partners true and Participants Permanent as accepted became

under Danish Chairmanship, that the Arctic Indigenous Peoples first Peoples Indigenous Arctic the that Chairmanship, Danish under

was at the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in Nuuk (Greenland) Nuuk in meeting Ministerial Council Arctic the at was

of this important environmental co-operation was signed in 1991. It 1991. in signed was co-operation environmental important this of

in Rovaneimi (Finland) where the Declaration on the establishment the on Declaration the where (Finland) Rovaneimi in

egy (AEPS) was celebrated with a successful conference in June 2001, June in conference successful a with celebrated was (AEPS) egy

The 10 The anniversary of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strat- Protection Environmental Arctic the of anniversary

th

sustainable policy planning and development for the region. the for development and planning policy sustainable

hensive Survey is expected to make an important contribution to contribution important an make to expected is Survey hensive parable statistical information across the Arctic Region. The compre- The Region. Arctic the across information statistical parable colony and it was not until 1979, when Home Rule was established, that some kind of real autonomy was introduced. Greenland now has its own Home Rule Parliament and Government responsible for most internal matters. In the year 1999, the Home Rule Government estab- lished a self-government commission to investigate the possibilities for taking over more responsibilities from the Danish state. Core issues are foreign affairs, security matters, economic development and language policy. The latter is especially important to a population of only 56,000 inhabitants, 87 per cent of them being ethnic Greenlanders (Inuit).

Recent events

During the past year, a power struggle has been going on within the largest government party, Siumut (the Social Democratic Party). As a result, Hans Enoksen was appointed as new party leader thereby creating the situation of having a Home Rule Premier - Jonathan Motzfeldt – who is not leader of his own party. Alongside the change in party leader, Siumut adopted a new strategy for the equal develop- ment of all parts of Greenland. However, this may very well clash with the party’s wish for more independence from Denmark, given that keeping the outlying districts alive is a costly affair. Another problem Siumut is facing is the creation of and plans for creating new parties such as e.g. the Women’s Party (Arnat Partiiat) or a party that will take care of the hunters’ and fishermen’s interests. The distance between people’s daily lives and the administration in Nuuk, added to Siu- mut’s lack of ability to respond to the interests of its voters, seem to be the reason for these new parties, which will no doubt steal voters from Siumut in future elections. The unrest within Siumut partly explains the break-up of the coalition government between Siumut and the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit in late 2001. Instead Siumut estab- lished a new coalition with the conservative Atassut party. In November 2001, Denmark held elections for the Danish Parlia- ment and Greenland had to elect their two members. Those elected are Kuupik Kleist from Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) and the former Greenland Premier, Lars Emil Johansen, from Siumut. The two politicians won the election by focusing on key issues such as independence, transfer

of complete ownership of the subsoil and a renegotiation of the de-

fence agreement between Denmark and the US. Neither of the two •

•

politicians wants to bind themselves to a Danish party like their •

•

predecessors did, as they want to be able to vote for what they feel is • •

• the best for Greenland. Instead, the two Greenlandic politicians have, •

• 25

• 26 school. Most of the children will be of mixed marriages and the par- the and marriages mixed of be will children the of Most school. • •

• be taught both Greenlandic, Danish and English from the first day at day first the from English and Danish Greenlandic, both taught be •

•

their own way by establishing a private school where the pupils will pupils the where school private a establishing by way own their •

•

press. A group of parents in Nuuk have decided to resolve the matter the resolve to decided have Nuuk in parents of group A press. •

Danish language in the schools, as often noted by the Greenlandic the by noted often as schools, the in language Danish

main language but, at the same time, give a higher priority to the to priority higher a give time, same the at but, language main

solution could be to strengthen the development of Greenlandic as the as Greenlandic of development the strengthen to be could solution

dominant educational language thus has long-term prospects. One prospects. long-term has thus language educational dominant

majority in the high schools. To make the Greenlandic language the language Greenlandic the make To schools. high the in majority

schools are monolingual in Danish, this group accounts for a massive a for accounts group this Danish, in monolingual are schools

even though only about ten per cent of the children in the public the in children the of cent per ten about only though even

Danish language well enough to get an education. The result is that is result The education. an get to enough well language Danish

the Greenlandic youth are facing the problem of not mastering the mastering not of problem the facing are youth Greenlandic the

speak Greenlandic. Concerning the educational institutions, half of half institutions, educational the Concerning Greenlandic. speak

due to the fact that one third of the staff in the administration do not do administration the in staff the of third one that fact the to due

The problem concerning the Home Rule arises, among other things, other among arises, Rule Home the concerning problem The

Home Rule administration, as well as in the educational institutions. educational the in as well as administration, Rule Home

dissatisfied with the dominant role of the Danish language in the in language Danish the of role dominant the with dissatisfied

demonstrated that many Greenlandic-speaking Greenlanders were Greenlanders Greenlandic-speaking many that demonstrated

in Nuuk where the language debate was again in focus. The meeting The focus. in again was debate language the where Nuuk in

In February 2001, the Self-government Commission held a meeting a held Commission Self-government the 2001, February In

and English, which should all be strengthened in the public schools. public the in strengthened be all should which English, and

ment in Greenland to be based on three languages: Greenlandic, Danish Greenlandic, languages: three on based be to Greenland in ment

should be mono- or bilingual. Most participants wanted the develop- the wanted participants Most bilingual. or mono- be should

what role the Danish language should play and whether Greenland whether and play should language Danish the role what

how the development of the Greenlandic language can be strengthened; be can language Greenlandic the of development the how

focusing on subjects such as the language of the Greenlandic authorities; Greenlandic the of language the as such subjects on focusing

In January 2001, a language conference was held in Kangerlussuaq in held was conference language a 2001, January In

The language debate language The

to Greenland. to

European Union, which will be used to invite politicians from the EU the from politicians invite to used be will which Union, European

Another subject was the forthcoming Danish chairmanship of the of chairmanship Danish forthcoming the was subject Another

through the case together if an enquiry should come from the USA. the from come should enquiry an if together case the through

Thule and the National Missile Defence (NMD) and decided to look to decided and (NMD) Defence Missile National the and Thule

Stig Møller. Among other things, they discussed the US airbase in airbase US the discussed they things, other Among Møller. Stig

Motzfeldt (from Siumut), has met the new Danish foreign minister, Per minister, foreign Danish new the met has Siumut), (from Motzfeldt

With regard to foreign politics, the Premier of Greenland, Jonathan Greenland, of Premier the politics, foreign to regard With

a North Atlantic Group. Atlantic North a together with the Faeroese member of the Danish Parliament, created Parliament, Danish the of member Faeroese the with together INUIT ents believe all three languages are necessary to get on in society and in the educational system.

Mineral and Oil Resources

In the southern part of Greenland, in the area of Nanortalik, prospect- ing for gold has been going on since the 1980s, led by the Greenlandic company Nuna Minerals A/S and the Canadian company Crew Development Corporation. The final decision to establish a mine will depend on the price of gold on the world market and the profitability of the mine, which will be examined during the spring and summer of 2002. For the community of Nanortalik, a goldmine would bring employment and thereby strengthen the economy of the municipality. Nevertheless, some negative impacts might also be felt, affecting both the local community and the environment. With regard to oil extraction, current prospects are not very good as the search for oil at Fylla Banke, west of Nuuk, turned out to be negative. As a result, the oil companies involved have given up their licences and no further investigation is planned for the moment. The potential value of the seabed explains the renewed interest in the North Pole and the resources of the Polar Sea. Because of geologi- cal circumstances, Greenland/Denmark might be able to enlarge its nautical mile border from 200 nautical miles to 350. Russia, however, has already filed a rights claim to the North Pole and part of the Polar Sea with the UN Sea Rights Commission, while Denmark has not yet signed the UN Sea Rights Convention. The Greenland Home Rule puts great expectations on the inves- tigations of both oil, gold and other minerals as a means of making the economy, and thereby the country, more self-supporting and in- dependent of Denmark. Furthermore, oil and minerals are seen as a way to remedy the all-embracing dependence on the fishing industry, which makes the country incredibly vulnerable in case of fluctuations in the living resources.

Trade and Industry

•

•

The expectations for profitable oil and mineral explorations might be •

•

even higher in the future as the large fishing corporation Royal Green- • •

• land A/S is facing significant financial problems. The company’s •

• 27

• 28

” i.e. ” “ of title flattering very not the has book Farvel til Grønlands Natur Grønlands til Farvel • •

• Greenland was published by a Danish journalist, Kjeld Hansen. The Hansen. Kjeld journalist, Danish a by published was Greenland •

• In the autumn of 2001, a book discussing hunting and fishing in fishing and hunting discussing book a 2001, of autumn the In •

•

•

Living resources Living

responsibility in many of the Home Rule’s corporations. Rule’s Home the of many in responsibility

bility apportioned. To some, the scandal is an example of the lack of lack the of example an is scandal the some, To apportioned. bility

year. People want the matter examined thoroughly and the responsi- the and thoroughly examined matter the want People year.

a hot topic of debate in the Greenlandic newspapers over the past the over newspapers Greenlandic the in debate of topic hot a

has cost Greenlandic society more than 50 million DKK and has been has and DKK million 50 than more society Greenlandic cost has

of actions and omissions concerning the company. The Puisi affair Puisi The company. the concerning omissions and actions of

ing director, the board, the members and the accountants for a number a for accountants the and members the board, the director, ing

the beginning of 2001, a report from the trustees criticised the manag- the criticised trustees the from report a 2001, of beginning the

director was fired and the company’s payments were suspended. At suspended. were payments company’s the and fired was director

neither factory nor market for the seal products existed. The managing The existed. products seal the for market nor factory neither

for activities in a non-existent daughter company in China where China in company daughter non-existent a in activities for

significant financial problems. It turned out that Puisi A/S had paid had A/S Puisi that out turned It problems. financial significant

production in 1999 but, after only two weeks, the company faced company the weeks, two only after but, 1999 in production

Chinese market. The company was established in 1998 and began and 1998 in established was company The market. Chinese

which was to have produced seal sausages and seal oil pills for the for pills oil seal and sausages seal produced have to was which

Home Rule is facing a scandal regarding the Puisi A/S Company, A/S Puisi the regarding scandal a facing is Rule Home

These openings towards the private sector come at a time when the when time a at come sector private the towards openings These

so far had a hard time in Greenland. in time hard a had far so

a sign of a more positive attitude towards private business, which has which business, private towards attitude positive more a of sign a

Consumers’ Advisory Council and the Board of Competition could be could Competition of Board the and Council Advisory Consumers’

Home Rule has, at the same time, doubled the grants to both the both to grants the doubled time, same the at has, Rule Home

in order to make it easier for anyone to establish a company. That the That company. a establish to anyone for easier it make to order in

large part of Pisiffik and to make the business legislation more liberal more legislation business the make to and Pisiffik of part large

department store Pisiffik. The Home Rule has agreed to privatise a privatise to agreed has Rule Home The Pisiffik. store department

the sale of another Home Rule-owned company, Greenland’s major Greenland’s company, Rule-owned Home another of sale the

economy of Greenland. The 200 million DKK have been financed by financed been have DKK million 200 The Greenland. of economy

that the survival of the company is vital to the employment and employment the to vital is company the of survival the that

million Danish Crowns (DKK) subsidy. This is done in the knowledge the in done is This subsidy. (DKK) Crowns Danish million

- which owns the company - has decided to grant the company a 200 a company the grant to decided has - company the owns which -

As a result of the crises in Royal Greenland A/S, the Home Rule Home the A/S, Greenland Royal in crises the of result a As

in danger of closure, largely due to a lack of raw materials. raw of lack a to due largely closure, of danger in

shrimps - on the world market. Furthermore, three to five factories are factories five to three Furthermore, market. world the on - shrimps

partly because of falling prices for the company’s main product - product main company’s the for prices falling of because partly debt has increased from 2.3 billion in 2000 to 3 billion DKK in 2001 in DKK billion 3 to 2000 in billion 2.3 from increased has debt A Farewell to Greenland’s Wildlife, and in it Kjeld Hansen criticises the way living resources are used in Greenland. By doing so, he questions a part of the Greenlandic self-conception of having an innate ability to manage the resources in a sustainable way. Although Kjeld Hansen is dealing with very sensitive issues, the book has on the whole been well received in Greenland and it contributes to the ongoing debate on the management of living resources. One example is the discussion of new and more restrictive regu- lations on bird hunting that came into force on 1 January 2002 and that will restrict the hunting season. All relevant interest groups have taken part in the preparation: the fishermen’s and hunters’ organisa- tion (KNAPK) the gamekeepers, the ornithological association “Tim- miaq”, Greenland Tourism, the police, the municipalities, the Green- land Institute for Natural Resources, the Department for Employment and the Department for Environment. The hunters have nevertheless expressed dissatisfaction and the whole matter has been of great discussion in the Greenlandic newspapers. The discussion has mainly focused on whether the regulations have been forced on the hunters - what they themselves argue – or whether the hunters’ occupation has been taken into extensive consideration – what the Greenland Parliament argues. The discussion can be seen as an example of the constant struggle between hunters, biologists and wildlife managers and the ongoing debate on whose knowledge and whose ways of managing are the most correct. Furthermore, it reflects the hunters’ fear for their occupation, and the biologists’ fear for the animals, and the wildlife managers have to navigate a fine line between the two in order to protect both the hunters and the animals.

SÁPMI - NORWAY

s the most important voice for the Saami people in Norway, the

Saami Parliament is dealing with a wide range of issues having

A • •

to do with most areas of politics. These issues will eventually be •

•

brought onto the political common agenda of the national Norwegian •

•

Government. Different aspects of land rights have a high priority in • •

• 29

• 30 ling) had grazing rights for their reindeer in privately owned outlying owned privately in reindeer their for rights grazing had ling) • •

• dispute as to whether two reindeer districts (Essand and Riast/Hyl- and (Essand districts reindeer two whether to as dispute •

•

The first ruling came on June 21. The issue was concerning a concerning was issue The 21. June on came ruling first The •

•

developments in Saami land rights. land Saami in developments •

be seen as a turning point, and will have a major impact, on future on impact, major a have will and point, turning a as seen be

In 2001, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled in two cases that can that cases two in ruled Court Supreme Norwegian the 2001, In

and has to present its report by 1 July 2005. July 1 by report its present to has and

The Committee consists of 16 members, both Saami and Norwegians, and Saami both members, 16 of consists Committee The

identify these areas according to Article 14-2 of ILO Convention no.169. Convention ILO of 14-2 Article to according areas these identify

in the traditional Saami areas south of Finnmark County and to and County Finnmark of south areas Saami traditional the in

nmark County. This Committee’s mandate is to examine Saami rights Saami examine to is mandate Committee’s This County. nmark

The last Committee was examining the Saami land claims in Fin- in claims land Saami the examining was Committee last The

In 2001, the Government re-established the Saami Rights Committee. Rights Saami the re-established Government the 2001, In

Land rights Land

diminishing female representation. female diminishing

of 39). There has as yet been no research into the reasons for this for reasons the into research no been yet as has There 39). of

of female representatives fell from 27 % (10 out of 39) to 18 % (7 out (7 % 18 to 39) of out (10 % 27 from fell representatives female of

since the Parliament was established. In this last election, the number the election, last this In established. was Parliament the since

male representation in the Parliament has constantly been falling ever falling been constantly has Parliament the in representation male

alliance with three other minor parties. Fe- parties. minor other three with alliance in majority its retaining

parliament. The Norwegian Saami Association (NSR) succeeded in succeeded (NSR) Association Saami Norwegian The parliament.

The Saami Parliament is elected on the same day as the national the as day same the on elected is Parliament Saami The

nmark. They were not successful. not were They nmark.

National Parliament in the electoral district of the county of Fin- of county the of district electoral the in Parliament National

was founded. This party stands for election to the to election for stands party This founded. was Party Peoples )

toward Saami rights altogether. In 1999, the Samefolkets Parti (Saami Parti Samefolkets the 1999, In altogether. rights Saami toward

has a negative approach toward ethnic minorities in general and general in minorities ethnic toward approach negative a has

support of the right wing wing right the of support (Progress Party), which Party), (Progress Framskrittspartiet

ing to a politically liberal tradition formed a government with the with government a formed tradition liberal politically a to ing

wing parties obtained a majority. A coalition of three parties belong- parties three of coalition A majority. a obtained parties wing

Saami parliament took place. In the national parliament, the right the parliament, national the In place. took parliament Saami

In September 2001, elections to both the national parliament and the and parliament national the both to elections 2001, September In

Elections

cerning children and education. and children cerning

entation and development of the Saami language, and questions con- questions and language, Saami the of development and entation the Saami Parliament, as well as livelihood, questions related to pres- to related questions livelihood, as well as Parliament, Saami the SÁPMI

areas within the municipality of Selbu in the county of Sør-Trøndelag. The Supreme Court has previously, in similar issues, ruled in favour of the farmers that are against reindeer herding on their land. How- ever, this time, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the reindeer herders, based on their continued use over a long period of historical time (alders tids bruk). On October 5, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled that the local inhab-

itants in Manndalen / Olmmaivaggi in the county of Troms had the

property rights to the Svartskogen-area. The state had claimed its owner- •

•

ship to this 116 sq.km. area. The locals argued that they had used the area •

•

as if they owned it and that they never had given this right away. Again, • •

• the Court’s decision was based on their continued use over a long period •

• 31 • 32

•

Bårjås 2001, Populærvitenskapelig tidsskrift fra Arran – lulesamisk senter. lulesamisk – Arran fra tidsskrift Populærvitenskapelig 2001, Bårjås •

• “Nye høyesterettsdommer om samiske rettigheter”. samiske om høyesterettsdommer “Nye Bull, Kirsti Strøm. 2001. Strøm. Kirsti Bull, • •

•

•

References •

and much loved artist. loved much and

Valkeapää, passed away. The Saami people lost a highly cherished highly a lost people Saami The away. passed Valkeapää,

artists both within Saami society and internationally, Nils Aslak Nils internationally, and society Saami within both artists

On November 26, one of the most well-known and profiled Saami profiled and well-known most the of one 26, November On

their cultural expressions. cultural their

file, whereby other indigenous people are invited to contribute with contribute to invited are people indigenous other whereby file,

niversary in 2001. This festival has a distinct Arctic indigenous pro- indigenous Arctic distinct a has festival This 2001. in niversary

The Saami cultural festival Riddu Riddu celebrated its tenth an- tenth its celebrated Riddu Riddu festival cultural Saami The

in many communities. many in

in Norway, several cases have proven that this right is hard to achieve to hard is right this that proven have cases several Norway, in

the individual right to Saami language education wherever they live they wherever education language Saami to right individual the

Despite the fact that legislation on education gives Saami pupils Saami gives education on legislation that fact the Despite

to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in the United Nations. United the in Issues Indigenous on Forum Permanent the to

Magga, was appointed representative for the Inuit and Saami areas Saami and Inuit the for representative appointed was Magga,

The former President in the Saami Parliament, professor Ole Henrik Ole professor Parliament, Saami the in President former The

Other significant events significant Other

to angling in inland watercourses equal to Norwegian citizens. Norwegian to equal watercourses inland in angling to

scope of the EEA Agreement. Foreigners therefore do not have rights have not do therefore Foreigners Agreement. EEA the of scope

out that the contested Norwegian legislation did not fall within the within fall not did legislation Norwegian contested the that out

wegian legislation. In response, the Norwegian government pointed government Norwegian the response, In legislation. wegian

ESA requested answers to specific questions and information on Nor- on information and questions specific to answers requested ESA

the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement. On 29 June 2001, the 2001, June 29 On Agreement. (EEA) Area Economic European the

angling in inland watercourses for foreign nationals was in breach of breach in was nationals foreign for watercourses inland in angling

veillance Authority) alleging that Norwegian legislation regarding legislation Norwegian that alleging Authority) veillance

In 1998 and 1999, there were two complaints to ESA (EFTA Sur- (EFTA ESA to complaints two were there 1999, and 1998 In

monstration against this activity took place last autumn. last place took activity this against monstration

Halkavarre (Finnmark County). In Halkavarre a non-violent, one-day de- one-day non-violent, a Halkavarre In County). (Finnmark Halkavarre

in the reindeer herding areas of Mauken/Blåtind (Troms County) and County) (Troms Mauken/Blåtind of areas herding reindeer the in

There is an ongoing conflict around the national armed forces’ activity forces’ armed national the around conflict ongoing an is There

the decision was in accordance with the convention. the with accordance in was decision the

ILO Convention No. 169 into consideration but it did highlight the fact that fact the highlight did it but consideration into 169 No. Convention ILO

if they actually had been owners. The Court did not find it necessary to take to necessary it find not did Court The owners. been had actually they if

of historical time ( time historical of ) and that this use had been practised as practised been had use this that and ) alders tids bruk tids alders Ryel, Anne Lise. 2001. “Gjenoppnevning av samerettsutvalget”. Bårjås 2001, Populærvitenskapelig tidsskrift fra Arran – lulesamisk senter Nystø, Sven-Roald. 2001. “Retten til innlandsfiske i Finnmark – ESAs be- handling av klagesak mot Norge”. Notat av 09.08.01. Sametinget i Norge. The Norwegian Supreme Court’s homepage: http://www.hoyesterett.no/ The Saami Parliament in Norway’s homepage: http://www.samediggi.no/

SÁPMI - SWEDEN

his report aims to review developments of importance to Sweden’s T indigenous Saami people over the last year. The Saami people also inhabit Finland, Norway and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Even though this report only covers Sweden, several of the developments outlined below are also relevant to members of the Saami population living outside Sweden.

The right to self-determination

Sweden has established a Saami Parliament, with the mandate to decide on certain matters of relevance to the Saami people. The Saami parlia- ment constitutes a commendable effort to realize the Saami people’s right to self-determination. However, the Saami parliament does not have the authority to take decisions on issues of most importance to the Saami people, such as issues regarding land rights and rights to natural re- sources. The government has recently submitted a report to the Swedish parliament, outlining how, in the government’s opinion, Sweden is pro- moting human rights. In its report, the government acknowledges that the Saami people is an indigenous people and that this has implications e.g. with regard to the Saami people’s right to self-determination. It

remains to be seen whether this insight will have an impact on the

government’s future policy towards the rights of the Saami people. • •

•

Further, on December 14, 2001, a government investigation com- •

1 •

mittee, Rennäringspolitiska Kommittén, presented its report with a pro- •

• •

• 33

• 34

”. The legislation does not define, however, which these areas, these which however, define, not does legislation The

immemorial •

3 •

• to pursue reindeer husbandry in areas they have inhabited “ inhabited have they areas in husbandry reindeer pursue to since time since •

•

traditional land, under Swedish legislation the Saami people is allowed is people Saami the legislation Swedish under land, traditional •

•

serving the Saami culture. Even if not recognized as owners of their of owners as recognized not if Even culture. Saami the serving •

Saami people. The practice of reindeer husbandry is paramount to pre- to paramount is husbandry reindeer of practice The people. Saami

Reindeer husbandry is one of the main traditional livelihoods of the of livelihoods traditional main the of one is husbandry Reindeer

same conclusion in the second of the three cases. three the of second the in conclusion same

territory. In a ruling of January 2002, the Court of Appeal reached the reached Appeal of Court the 2002, January of ruling a In territory.

will be registered as owner of traditional Saami traditional of owner as registered be will and stands, Vattenfall Vattenfall

in the first of the three cases. The ruling of the Court of Appeal thus Appeal of Court the of ruling The cases. three the of first the in

not to try the Saami parties’ appeal of the ruling of the Court of Appeals of Court the of ruling the of appeal parties’ Saami the try to not

), in December 2001, the Supreme Court decided Court Supreme the 2001, December in ), enous World 2000-2001 World enous

separate land areas within traditional Saami territory (see (see territory Saami traditional within areas land separate The Indig- The

which in 2000 filed an application to be registered as owner of three of owner as registered be to application an filed 2000 in which

eroded during 2001. In the case of the power plant company company plant power the of case the In 2001. during eroded Vattenfall,

being evaluated, the Saami people’s land rights were being further being were rights land people’s Saami the evaluated, being

ple’s land rights in the future. However, while these proposals were proposals these while However, future. the in rights land ple’s

There are thus signs of a possible strengthening of the Saami peo- Saami the of strengthening possible a of signs thus are There

should Sweden adhere to the provisions of ILO 169. ILO of provisions the to adhere Sweden should

Saami people’s land rights, but further measures will be necessary be will measures further but rights, land people’s Saami

mittee includes a number of proposals that would strengthen the strengthen would that proposals of number a includes mittee

, mentioned above. In its report, the Com- the report, its In above. mentioned , näringspolitiska Kommittén näringspolitiska

was awaiting the result of the investigations conducted by the the by conducted investigations the of result the awaiting was Ren-

). Instead, it announced that it that announced it Instead, ). (see The Indigenous World 2000-2001 World Indigenous The

on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) Discrimination Racial of Elimination the on in the year 2000 year the in

2

of the ILO Convention no 169, or to the criticism from the Committee the from criticism the to or 169, no Convention ILO the of

recommendations of its own investigation regarding the ratification the regarding investigation own its of recommendations

By the end of 2001, the government had still not responded to the to responded not still had government the 2001, of end the By

The ILO Convention no. 169 and the Saami people’s land rights land people’s Saami the and 169 no. Convention ILO The

regard to some other matters relating to reindeer herding. reindeer to relating matters other some to regard

ment. The Saami parliament is also granted a wider mandate with mandate wider a granted also is parliament Saami The ment.

should be transferred from the Swedish authorities to the Saami Parlia- Saami the to authorities Swedish the from transferred be should

divisions of winter pasture areas between different Saami villages Saami different between areas pasture winter of divisions

people. For instance, it suggests that the right to make decisions on decisions make to right the that suggests it instance, For people.

people’s self-determination in matters of real relevance to the Saami the to relevance real of matters in self-determination people’s

tory. The report also includes some proposals that increase the Saami the increase that proposals some includes also report The tory.

other forms of livelihoods that make use of the traditional Saami terri- Saami traditional the of use make that livelihoods of forms other

suggestions on how to balance the interests of the Saami people with people Saami the of interests the balance to how on suggestions posal for a new reindeer management policy. The report contains report The policy. management reindeer new a for posal in the government’s opinion, are. This uncertainty has resulted in several conflicts, particularly in the winter pasture areas, which the Saami people nowadays share with the non-Saami population. There are seven cases pending before Swedish courts, in which non-Saami claim compensation from reindeer herders because of their reindeer grazing on territories to which the non-Saami hold title but which, also, according to the reindeer herders, form part of Saami traditional winter grazing areas. During 2001, an appointed mediator tried to come up with a proposal by which the reindeer herders agree to pay some compensation to the landowners for the reindeer grazing on “their” land. If an agreement is reached, the government has indicated that it might be prepared to com- pensate the reindeer herders for at least some of these fees. Moreover, in December 2001, the Swedish government appointed a long-awaited com- mittee with the task of investigating which areas constitute traditional Saami territories. The aim is to avoid further court proceedings regarding which land the Saami people has inhabited since time immemorial. Meanwhile, on February 15, 2002, the Swedish Court of Appeal ruled on the first of the seven cases. Concurring with the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal held that the land areas in question did not constitute traditional Saami territory, and that the reindeer herd- ers would thus have to pay compensation to the landowners for the reindeer grazing on that land. Obviously, the ruling will have a detrimental effect on the reindeer herding industry. What upsets the Saami community the most is the heavy burden of proof that the courts have placed on the Saami parties. The reindeer herders tried to explain the prerequisites for reindeer herding, and that it was almost impossi- ble for a culture that aims to live in harmony with the land, and leave no traces thereupon, to prove its presence in a particular land area. The courts were not convinced by this reasoning. A major Swedish news- paper referred to the ruling of the Court of Appeal as “racist”. Together with the lawsuits described above, predatory animals, such as wolfs, wolverines, lynxes and brown bears, continue to constitute the most severe threat towards many reindeer herders. The Saami people has long argued for a cap on how many killed reindeer each reindeer herder should have to sustain and that adequate compensation should be paid

for reindeer killed. No progress was made in this regard during 2001.

Hunting and fishing rights •

•

•

•

Historically, hunting and fishing rights in the areas the Saami people • •

• traditionally inhabit were vested in the Saami people alone, and were •

• 35 • 36 • • • •

•

•

myndigheter och domstolar. och myndigheter •

•

4 In Swedish: Swedish: In 4 Lag (1999:1175) om rätt att använda samiska hos förvaltnings- hos samiska använda att rätt om (1999:1175) Lag

” “ Swedish: In 3 urminnes hävd urminnes

2 CERD Document CERD/C57/CRP.3/Add.2 Document CERD 2

. med andra markanvändare. Betänkande av Rennäringspolitiska Kommittén Rennäringspolitiska av Betänkande markanvändare. andra med

1 SOU 2001:101 – – 2001:101 SOU 1 En ny rennäringspolitik – öppna samebyar och samverkan och samebyar öppna – rennäringspolitik ny En

Notes and references and Notes

Saami language, subtitled in Swedish. in subtitled language, Saami

casting a daily Saami news program. The news broadcast is in the in is broadcast news The program. news Saami daily a casting

Further, during 2001, the Swedish state television began broad- began television state Swedish the 2001, during Further,

whole Saami area following criticism by, among others, CERD. others, among by, criticism following area Saami whole

to apply to the to apply to ing expanding the scope of the Saami Language Act Language Saami the of scope the expanding ing

4

The Swedish government has recently announced that it is consider- is it that announced recently has government Swedish The

the Saami Language Act and Saami television Saami and Act Language Saami the

Cultural rights - rights Cultural

rights solely from a legal viewpoint. legal a from solely rights

will survey the question of the Saami people’s hunting and fishing and hunting people’s Saami the of question the survey will

not, however, be a political investigation. Instead, the investigator the Instead, investigation. political a be however, not,

recommended that yet another investigator be appointed. This will This appointed. be investigator another yet that recommended

fishing rights would be better investigated separately. It therefore It separately. investigated better be would rights fishing

referred to above, it announced that it believed that the hunting and hunting the that believed it that announced it above, to referred

When When recently submitted its report, its submitted recently Rennäringspolitiska Kommittén Rennäringspolitiska

sed its concern over the Saami people’s hunting and fishing rights. fishing and hunting people’s Saami the over concern its sed

concluding observations on Sweden in 2000, CERD particularly stres- particularly CERD 2000, in Sweden on observations concluding

confiscation of the Saami people’s hunting and fishing rights. In the In rights. fishing and hunting people’s Saami the of confiscation

fishing rights. Legal scholars have referred to the regulation as a as regulation the to referred have scholars Legal rights. fishing

longer subcontracting the Saami people’s, but the but people’s, Saami the subcontracting longer , hunting and hunting , state’s

Then, in 1992, the government suddenly announced that it was no was it that announced suddenly government the 1992, in Then,

the Saami people’s hunting and fishing rights for about 100 years. 100 about for rights fishing and hunting people’s Saami the

ing and fishing rights. Swedish authorities thereafter administered thereafter authorities Swedish rights. fishing and ing

Saami people was deemed incapable of administrating its own hunt- own its administrating of incapable deemed was people Saami

from the Saami people to the government, the reason being that the that being reason the government, the to people Saami the from

of 1886 transferred the right to subcontract hunting and fishing rights fishing and hunting subcontract to right the transferred 1886 of

first regulated in the late 19 late the in regulated first century. The first Reindeer Grazing Act Grazing Reindeer first The century. th SÁPMI - RUSSIA

he Russian Saami have worked actively in 2001 with both politi T cal and cultural matters. The Saami together with the Regional Duma of Murmansk County have worked out a county (oblast) law about the legal status of the indigenous peoples of the Murmansk county. On July 11th the Duma of the Murmansk region adopted a regulation on the territory that has traditionally been used by the Saami people and should be reserved for them. On the base of that regulation the territory around the holy lake Sejdjaur was declared a protected Saami area. Much of the Saami political and cultural work was accomplished by the Saami Public Organization of the Murmansk Region (OOSMO). It cooperated with the Danish organization Infonor, which helped OOSMO to get an office and equipment. On 23 May the Russian language edition of the research report Saami Potatoes: Living with Reindeer and Perestroika, by Michael P. Robinson and Karim-Aly S. Kassam was presented in Moscow by the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It was financed by the Gor- bachev Fund and was a joint Canadian-Kola Saami project. The report offers a Canadian-Saami vision of how co-management could flour- ish in post-perestroika Russian society. It is the story of the struggle of the Saami to protect their traditional lands and their reindeer. In 2001 the Ethnic Center in Lovozero arranged various courses and meeting, for instance a course for unemployed Saami women and a course on bone, horn and wood carving with a Norwegian Saami teacher. The Center participated in a cultural festival in June in Ro- vaniemi, Finland. It also arranged a meeting for the former inhabit- ants of Voronje, a village situated between Lovozero and the northern coast, which they were forced to leave in the 1960´s when it was flooded due to the construction of a power station. The sport fishing in the Saami rivers continued in 2001. The rivers are rented to foreign fishing companies for the cost of 4,300 to 7,900 dollars per week. Most of the fishers come from the USA and Scandi- navia. The Saami are practically being pushed out of the fishing places on their homelands. The situation of the reindeer herders was worse than the year before.

This is due to the difficulties to sell the reindeer meat. Many reindeer

herders lost their work. Some Russian Saami reindeer herders have •

•

visited Norwegian colleagues in order to improve the situation at home. • •

•

The Russian Saami are actively participating in the work of the •

• Association of Small Peoples of the Russian North. The situation of •

• 37

• 38 ”. “ law Federal the by envisaged been had they that fact the

On Fauna On •

• rights to priority licensing were not mentioned in that regulation despite regulation that in mentioned not were licensing priority to rights • •

• their organization of fishing and fish processing. Indigenous peoples’ Indigenous processing. fish and fishing of organization their •

•

on a tender basis. Contestants were faced with high demands regarding demands high with faced were Contestants basis. tender a on •

lation regarding the order giving users licenses to fish anadromous species anadromous fish to licenses users giving order the regarding lation

For instance, in April 2001 the State Fishing Committee issued a regu- a issued Committee Fishing State the 2001 April in instance, For

is a time-consuming operation requiring substantial legal backup. legal substantial requiring operation time-consuming a is

prove this in court and to cancel the inconsistent enforceable enactment enforceable inconsistent the cancel to and court in this prove

commonly, they contradict the existing Federal legislation. However, to However, legislation. Federal existing the contradict they commonly,

alias and enforceable enactments are of a provisional nature. Quite nature. provisional a of are enactments enforceable and alias

by the government rather than by Federal laws. These instructions, These laws. Federal by than rather government the by

their practical activities primarily by temporary instructions issued instructions temporary by primarily activities practical their

ity of cases. The point is that the local authorities are being guided in guided being are authorities local the that is point The cases. of ity

and, unfortunately, are not subject to court examination in the major- the in examination court to subject not are unfortunately, and,

violations take place in accordance with a very complicated scheme complicated very a with accordance in place take violations

have been systematically violated in the areas they inhabit. These inhabit. they areas the in violated systematically been have

The indigenous peoples’ rights outlined in Federal legislation Federal in outlined rights peoples’ indigenous The

flood of bureaucratic correspondence. bureaucratic of flood

indigenous peoples’ rights at government level have drowned in a in drowned have level government at rights peoples’ indigenous

of indigenous peoples in Russia), in the sphere of the defence of defence the of sphere the in Russia), in peoples indigenous of

Peoples of the North (RAIPON – the national umbrella organization umbrella national the – (RAIPON North the of Peoples

shape. All the initiatives of the Russian Association of Indigenous of Association Russian the of initiatives the All shape.

well as with the Ministry of Natural Resources, has failed to take to failed has Resources, Natural of Ministry the with as well

Development and Trade. Tangible cooperation with this Ministry, as Ministry, this with cooperation Tangible Trade. and Development

ing indigenous peoples were transferred to the Ministry of Economic of Ministry the to transferred were peoples indigenous ing

National and Regional Policy was abolished and its functions regard- functions its and abolished was Policy Regional and National

In October 2001, the Ministry for the Affairs of the Federation, the of Affairs the for Ministry the 2001, October In

being ignored both by the government and the local authorities. local the and government the by both ignored being

that the rights and interests of indigenous peoples’ communities are communities peoples’ indigenous of interests and rights the that

S

the areas inhabited by indigenous peoples have shown evidence shown have peoples indigenous by inhabited areas the

ocial, economic and environmental processes now underway in underway now processes environmental and economic ocial,

THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF RUSSIA OF PEOPLES INDIGENOUS THE

things are improving. are things

is getting worse, politically the situation is as before and culturally and before as is situation the politically worse, getting is the Russian Saami can be characterized as follows: Economically life Economically follows: as characterized be can Saami Russian the Besides, the greater number of quotas remained in the hands of the state, while the regions received a lesser number. However, it is for the regions to distribute the quotas among the indigenous peoples. Refer- ring to this government regulation, the regional authorities put out all the quotas for the tender and invited the indigenous peoples to partici- pate. The majority of communities and indigenous businesses surely failed to compete in terms of equipment with solid industrial fishing companies and, therefore, did not gain any licenses. While RAIPON tried to prove the illegitimacy of the regulation and the government replied that the regulation did not infringe upon the indigenous peo- ples’ interests, the fishing season (to fish anadromous species) of 2001 was over and the indigenous peoples of the Far East were left jobless and without any fish.

Territories of traditional natural resource use

Despite the indigenous peoples’ communities appeal to the govern- ment regarding the formation of traditional subsistence territories, not a single traditional subsistence territory has been established since the Federal law “On Territories of Traditional Natural Resource Use (Traditional Subsistence Territories) of Indigenous Numerically Small Peo- ples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation”, came into effect on May 11, 2001. Meanwhile, the government explains its inertia by “unavailability of essential legislative acts regulating the order of establishing traditional subsistence territories of Federal sig- nificance as well as specification of the system of rules applicable to their functioning”.1 There is no indication in the letter as to why such enforceable enactments have not been formulated and when indeed they will be drawn up. RAIPON, with the help of lawyers, prepared some drafts of the necessary enforceable enactments and handed them over to the gov- ernment in October 2001 but until now RAIPON’s initiative has been roaming the corridors of bureaucratic letter-writing. At the same time, in 2000 and 2001, during the period of formulation and adoption of the above-mentioned Federal law, cases of hasty aboli- tion of the formerly established traditional subsistence territories, with

the approval of regional authorities, became increasingly frequent.

In the Evenk Autonomous Area, for example, documents of 55 •

•

kinship communities concerning their lineage-based kinship land •

•

parcelling dating back to 1992-1995 were declared null and void by • •

• a single ordinance # 152 dated June 23, 2000 issued by the Area’s •

• 39

• 40 of oil and gas production. The lease of a section of Samarga forests in forests Samarga of section a of lease The production. gas and oil of • •

• adjacent area of the Sea of Okhotsk are viewed as prospective zones prospective as viewed are Okhotsk of Sea the of area adjacent •

•

information. The coastal areas of the Tkhsanom territory and the and territory Tkhsanom the of areas coastal The information. •

•

security, ecological impact assessment and the rights of population to population of rights the and assessment impact ecological security, •

the standards with regard to observing the rules of environmental of rules the observing to regard with standards the

chatkan region, with the government’s tacit consent, has violated all violated has consent, tacit government’s the with region, chatkan

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskyi with gas, the administration of the Kam- the of administration the gas, with Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskyi

Pushing ahead with this pipeline construction envisaged to supply to envisaged construction pipeline this with ahead Pushing

to have been traditional subsistence areas of indigenous peoples. indigenous of areas subsistence traditional been have to

more than a hundred spawning rivers and hunting grounds known grounds hunting and rivers spawning hundred a than more

south across the Tkhsanom territory, crossing the upper reaches of reaches upper the crossing territory, Tkhsanom the across south

digenous peoples’ organisations. The pipeline stretches from north to north from stretches pipeline The organisations. peoples’ digenous

assessment, public hearing or argument and reconciliation with in- with reconciliation and argument or hearing public assessment,

struction started in 1999 without any prior environmental impact environmental prior any without 1999 in started struction

underway to the south of the Tkhsanom territory. The pipeline con- pipeline The territory. Tkhsanom the of south the to underway

At the same time, the construction of a natural gas pipeline is pipeline gas natural a of construction the time, same the At

shows the weakness in the implementation of the current laws... current the of implementation the in weakness the shows

tion. The possibility of a new governor revoking an earlier decree earlier an revoking governor new a of possibility The tion.

ance with resolution #136 (1998) by the Tigilskiy District administra- District Tigilskiy the by (1998) #136 resolution with ance

Villages of Kovran, Ust’-Khairyuzovo, Khairyuzovo and in accord- in and Khairyuzovo Ust’-Khairyuzovo, Kovran, of Villages

Union of Communities of Indigenous Peoples and Non-Natives of the of Non-Natives and Peoples Indigenous of Communities of Union

” at the request of the of request the at ” ence Territories in the Koryak Autonomous Area Autonomous Koryak the in Territories ence

was established in compliance with the law “ law the with compliance in established was On Traditional Subsist- Traditional On

Autonomous Area”. The Tkhsanom Traditional Subsistence Territory Subsistence Traditional Tkhsanom The Area”. Autonomous

tional Subsistence Territory in the Tigilskiy District of the Koryak the of District Tigilskiy the in Territory Subsistence tional

by his predecessor, on “The Establishment of the ‘Tkhsanom’ Tradi- ‘Tkhsanom’ the of Establishment “The on predecessor, his by

nance # 60 on March 14, 2001 revoking ordinance #317 (1998) issued (1998) #317 ordinance revoking 2001 14, March on 60 # nance

use. The Governor of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug issued ordi- issued Okrug Autonomous Koryak the of Governor The use.

is a flagrant violation of their rights to traditional natural resource natural traditional to rights their of violation flagrant a is

The withdrawal of lands previously assigned to indigenous peoples indigenous to assigned previously lands of withdrawal The

Examples from the regions the from Examples

concerning the other kinship communities. kinship other the concerning

munity was revoked. However, it was impossible to get documents get to impossible was it However, revoked. was munity

unlawful ordinance. The unlawful decision with regard to that com- that to regard with decision unlawful The ordinance. unlawful

lands and in lodging, with RAIPON’s assistance, a protest against the against protest a assistance, RAIPON’s with lodging, in and lands

obtaining copies of documents concerning the withdrawal of kinship of withdrawal the concerning documents of copies obtaining

prospecting in the Area. Only one kinship community succeeded in succeeded community kinship one Only Area. the in prospecting

enous peoples, this decision was due to the beginning of oil and gas and oil of beginning the to due was decision this peoples, enous Governor. In the opinion of the Evenk Area’s organizations of indig- of organizations Area’s Evenk the of opinion the In Governor. the Primorskiy Territory, since 1991 reserved as an ethnic area inhab- ited by the Udeges, to a timber cutting company in March 2001 is a case similar to the above examples. Twenty-six percent of the total territory of the Khanty-Mansi Au- tonomous Okrug was given to kinship communities of the Khants and Mansis in 1992-1993 as their kinship lands for gratuitous and term- less use with the right to lease them out to other users. As of January 1, 2002, 47 percent of kinship lands happened to be leased out on a long-term basis to oil-drilling companies. The indigenous population, given one-time compensation for leasing out their lands in the form of propeller-driven sledges, wireless and audio equipment, has now found itself without means of existence. The majority of the indig- enous population is jobless, living like beggars on the outskirts of towns and industrial settlements in the hope of promised apartments and compensation. Their native lands have been disfigured by geo- logical prospecting, drilling rigs and forest fires and are unsuitable for traditional natural resource use.

Land code

In May 2001, the Land Code of the Russian Federation was adopted by parliament, practically at the same time as the law on traditional natural resource use. The Code envisages the right to acquire land as private property. The priority right to acquisition is given to those already having this or that kind of right to hold parcels of land. The process of leasehold legalization practically without payment for the land in industrial use on traditional subsistence territories of indigenous peoples thus became extremely intensive in 2000 and 2001. Unfortunately, groups of indigenous peoples dispersed all across the great vast areas, cut off from administrative centres by hundreds of miles of impassable roads, are more often than not left uninformed about the legal status of their native lands. They keep using their lands and natural resources on the basis of traditional law. Their fathers and grandfathers lived there. Under the tsars, their lands were administered by kinship boards, under the Soviet power they were

incorporated into collective and state farms. Later, they became lands

of kinship communities. Now they can become the private property •

•

or long-term leasehold property of extractive companies. •

•

At present, indigenous peoples’ communities, frequently without • •

• knowing it, are engaged in a tough competition with private capital •

• 41 • 42 • • •

•

Autonomous Okrug Autonomous •

• 17. Aginsky Buryatsky Aginsky 17.

35. Republic of Karelia of Republic 35. •

• 16. Amurskaya Oblast Amurskaya 16. 34. Arhangelskaya Oblast Arhangelskaya 34.

15. Evreyskaya Oblast Evreyskaya 15. 3 Saint-Petersburg 33.

14. Sahalinskaya Oblast Sahalinskaya 14. 2 Moskva 32.

13. Primorsky Kray Primorsky 13. 31. Sverdlovskaya Oblast Sverdlovskaya 31.

12. Habarovsky Kray Habarovsky 12. 30. Tyumenskaya Oblast Tyumenskaya 30.

11. Magadanskaya Oblast Magadanskaya 11. 29. Omskaya Oblast Omskaya 29.

10. Kamchatkskaya Oblast Kamchatkskaya 10. 28. Tomskaya Oblast Tomskaya 28.

9. Koryaksky Autonomous Okrug Autonomous Koryaksky 9. 27. Novosibirskaya Oblast Novosibirskaya 27.

8. Chukotsky Autonomous Okrug Autonomous Chukotsky 8. 26. Kemerovskaya Oblast Kemerovskaya 26.

7. Republic of Sakha-Yakutia of Republic 7. 25. Republic of Hakassia of Republic 25.

6. Taymyr Autonomous Okrug Autonomous Taymyr 6. 24. Republic of Tyva of Republic 24.

Autonomous Okrug Autonomous 23. Republic of Altai of Republic 23.

.Hanty-Mansi 5. 22. Krasnoyarsky Kray Krasnoyarsky 22.

Autonomous Okrug Autonomous 21. Altaisky Kray Altaisky 21.

.Yamal-Nenets 4. 20. Evenkisky Autonomous Okrug Autonomous Evenkisky 20.

3. Republic of Komi of Republic 3. Autonomous Okrug Autonomous

2. Nenets Autonmous Okrug Autonmous Nenets 2. 19. Ust-Ordynsky Buryatsky Ust-Ordynsky 19.

1. Murmanskaya Oblast Murmanskaya 1. 18. Republic of Buryatia of Republic 18.

Far East of the Russian Federation Russian the of East Far

(provinces) of the North, Siberia and Siberia North, the of (provinces) subjekty The

more workshops, training courses, local information centres and centres information local courses, training workshops, more far be

conditions and problems in the regions differ too much. There must There much. too differ regions the in problems and conditions

communities are too dissociated, the distances are too great and the and great too are distances the dissociated, too are communities

Much work lies ahead in the Parliament. Indigenous peoples’ Indigenous Parliament. the in ahead lies work Much

ples themselves. ples

sion taking due account of proposals coming from indigenous peo- indigenous from coming proposals of account due taking sion

legislation. A sizable effort is required for its improvement and expan- and improvement its for required is effort sizable A legislation.

peoples’ rights. These rights are not sufficiently reflected in federal in reflected sufficiently not are rights These rights. peoples’

entire spectrum of activities involved in the defence of indigenous of defence the in involved activities of spectrum entire

gions. However, these projects are far from being able to cover the cover to able being from far are projects these However, gions.

and to share information about environmental problems in their re- their in problems environmental about information share to and

to get information about possible ways of community development community of ways possible about information get to

workshops and courses, in order to know how to defend their rights, their defend to how know to order in courses, and workshops

to acquire the necessary legislative information, at least partly, during partly, least at information, legislative necessary the acquire to

eign partners make it possible for indigenous peoples’ representatives peoples’ indigenous for possible it make partners eign

Projects of indigenous organizations that are funded through for- through funded are that organizations indigenous of Projects

of laws concerning indigenous peoples’ rights. peoples’ indigenous concerning laws of

no tangible state support, at least not in the form of implementation of form the in not least at support, state tangible no for their lands and natural resources. Unfortunately, there has been has there Unfortunately, resources. natural and lands their for

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

• 43 • 44 • • • • • •

•

•

general source of this chapter. this of source general

” nos. 5, 6-7 and 8, 2001, is the is 2001, 8, and 6-7 5, nos. ” “ Mir korennykh narodov – Zhivaya Arktika Zhivaya – narodov korennykh Mir

and the Far East, Mr. S.N. Kharyuchi. S.N. Mr. East, Far the and

president of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia North, the of Peoples Indigenous of Association the of president

Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Mr. I.S. Materov to the to Materov I.S. Mr. Development, Economic of Minister Deputy

1 Quote from letter # 29/22-1 dated January 1, 2002, written by the First the by written 2002, 1, January dated 29/22-1 # letter from Quote 1

Note and sources and Note

of Friendship personally by Russia’s President V.V. Putin. V.V. President Russia’s by personally Friendship of

2001, RAIPON President, S.N. Kharyuchi, was awarded the Order the awarded was Kharyuchi, S.N. President, RAIPON 2001,

istries and RAIPON concerning their cooperation. In December In cooperation. their concerning RAIPON and istries

ment level, agreements have been reached between the above Min- above the between reached been have agreements level, ment

Affairs of the Federation, National and Regional Policy. At govern- At Policy. Regional and National Federation, the of Affairs

in the Ministries of Economic Development and Trade, and the and Trade, and Development Economic of Ministries the in

The RAIPON leadership has been received at the highest level highest the at received been has leadership RAIPON The

ples.

ports summing up their efforts for the welfare of indigenous peo- indigenous of welfare the for efforts their up summing ports

parliament delivered speeches bearing more resemblance to re- to resemblance more bearing speeches delivered parliament

ing. Representatives from all the state bodies, the government and government the bodies, state the all from Representatives ing.

delegates from all areas inhabited by indigenous peoples attend- peoples indigenous by inhabited areas all from delegates

Congress at the Presidential Palace in Moscow with more than 400 than more with Moscow in Palace Presidential the at Congress

sia’s state authorities. In April 2001, RAIPON convened its 4 its convened RAIPON 2001, April In authorities. state sia’s th

RAIPON, has gained a greater degree of recognition among Rus- among recognition of degree greater a gained has RAIPON,

On the one hand, the indigenous peoples’ movement, through movement, peoples’ indigenous the hand, one the On

indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. Far the and Siberia North, the of peoples indigenous

The years 2001 and 2002 have been extremely contradictory for the for contradictory extremely been have 2002 and 2001 years The

The work of RAIPON of work The

practice and how to defend them in case of need. of case in them defend to how and practice

rights admitted by law and they must learn how to use them in them use to how learn must they and law by admitted rights

entered a new phase in their development: they have been granted been have they development: their in phase new a entered

well-trained leaders in the regions. Russia’s indigenous peoples peoples indigenous Russia’s regions. the in leaders well-trained have CHUKOTKA

n December 24, 2000, the Chukotka Autonomous Region in the Ofar east of Russia experienced a shift in regional and adminis- trative power. Previously run under the auspices of autocratic gover- nor, Aleksandr Nazarov, the region is now governed by Roman Abra- movich. It remains, however, to be seen if the situation of the region’s indigenous residents will improve, for the new governor has already assumed a number of different roles. First, Roman Abramovich is Chukotka’s latest manifestation of altruism and care. In summer 2000, he paid for hundreds of indig- enous children from impoverished communities to spend the two summer months of their school vacation in well-staffed camps on the Black Sea. Jet-planes were flying back and forth between Anadyr and the Black Sea, financed by his personal wealth. The new governor, too, sends “humanitarian aid” in the form of food, clothes, and shoes, but also candles and fishing rods, to Chukchi villages in Chukotka. Yet there is one article that Roman Abramovich will not give: money. It is, however, this latter, indigenous residents argue, that they so urgently need. Money not only buys products and food, it also buys technical tools and mechanical devices that could help them to revitalize their own income-generating activities such as, for example, reindeer herding. Why is Roman Abramovich providing all of this “assistance”? A look at his second incarnation might provide the answer. In Russia, and particularly Chukotka, Abramovich is better known as one of Russia’s oligarchs: the key beneficiaries of the economic reign of the few who have decided Russia’s economic fate since the beginning of the 1990s. Together with other members of this economic elite, he reached his apogee in 1996 when “the oligarchs” received important slices of state property at extraordinarily low prices in return for their collective decision to underwrite and finance Yeltzin’s re-election campaign. The move guaranteed Abramovich’s apotheosis to an “oil baron.” He currently holds more than fifty percent of the shares of Sibneft (Siberian Oil), one of Russia’s most powerful companies. Al- though many indigenous residents feel grateful for the help Abra- movich provides, there is also increasing concern that he will want

to exploit Chukotka’s rich oil reserves without consulting the commu-

nities who live on these lands. •

•

In this volatile political environment, it has been quite dangerous • •

•

for Chukotka’s indigenous population to argue for social justice and •

• self-determination. Even while the newly democratized Russian gov- •

• 45 • 46

•

territories as such. A few indigenous communities that had status as status had that communities indigenous few A such. as territories •

• tural and social areas and does not include rights concerning the concerning rights include not does and areas social and tural • •

•

tribal governments. Their jurisdiction is limited to certain legal, cul- legal, certain to limited is jurisdiction Their governments. tribal •

• ties of their stakeholders. Indigenous communities have their own their have communities Indigenous stakeholders. their of ties

ment and many have also supported educational and cultural activi- cultural and educational supported also have many and ment

been involved in oil development, logging, tourism, real estate invest- estate real tourism, logging, development, oil in involved been

(regional corporations) the subsurface land. The corporations have corporations The land. subsurface the corporations) (regional

village and regional corporations who own the surface land and land surface the own who corporations regional and village

state of Alaska’s land mass. The beneficiaries are shareholders of shareholders are beneficiaries The mass. land Alaska’s of state

ANCSA, the indigenous peoples own (“fee simple title”) 11% of the of 11% title”) simple (“fee own peoples indigenous the ANCSA,

the extinguishment of aboriginal rights to land and territories. Under territories. and land to rights aboriginal of extinguishment the

in 1979 giving certain rights to indigenous peoples in exchange for exchange in peoples indigenous to rights certain giving 1979 in

The Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act (ANCSA) was established was (ANCSA) Act Settlement Claim Native Alaska The

south-eastern coast. south-eastern

Athabaskan communities in the interior and the Tlingit along the along Tlingit the and interior the in communities Athabaskan

communities are located on the coast or along the major rivers, the rivers, major the along or coast the on located are communities

Inuit (Yupik and Inupiak), Aleut and Tlingit. The Inuit and Aleut and Inuit The Tlingit. and Aleut Inupiak), and (Yupik Inuit

O

16% are indigenous, belonging to different Athabascan groups, Athabascan different to belonging indigenous, are 16%

f the 630,000 inhabitants of the state of Alaska, approximately Alaska, of state the of inhabitants 630,000 the f

ALASKA

justice in Chukotka. in justice

variety of futures and paths before the heralding of indigenous social indigenous of heralding the before paths and futures of variety

present, the challenges are formidable. Most likely, there will be a be will there likely, Most formidable. are challenges the present,

rights and community participation. From the vantage point of the of point vantage the From participation. community and rights

most compelling issues for indigenous people include poverty, land poverty, include people indigenous for issues compelling most

mine indigenous debates. In the Chukotka peninsula, some of the of some peninsula, Chukotka the In debates. indigenous mine

political possibilities in an environment that seeks to silence or under- or silence to seeks that environment an in possibilities political

enous organizing in the Chukotka region has been the search for search the been has region Chukotka the in organizing enous

dependency. Since democratization, one of the key issues for indig- for issues key the of one democratization, Since dependency.

greater social justice and rights by fostering unequal relations of relations unequal fostering by rights and justice social greater

gional government disavows such practices, it thwarts aspirations to aspirations thwarts it practices, such disavows government gional

tactics to threaten indigenous critics. And although the current re- current the although And critics. indigenous threaten to tactics

reforms, Chukotka’s government has continued to use intimidating use to continued has government Chukotka’s reforms, ernment has opened up debates on issues of land rights and legal and rights land of issues on debates up opened has ernment indigenous reserves decided in 1979 not to be a part of ANCSA but to keep their special status.

Alaska tribal leaders sign Millennium Agreement with State of Alaska

Representatives from more than 80 federally recognized Alaska indig- enous tribes signed an agreement with the State of Alaska on April 11, 2001 under which a framework was provided for tribes and the state to work together on a “government-to-government” basis. The docu- ment, called the Millennium Agreement, makes it possible for the tribes and the state to work together to improve the delivery of essen- tial services to Native villages. For many years, the State of Alaska refused to acknowledge the existence of tribes in Alaska despite their recognition by the federal government, which maintains a government-to-government relation- ship with recognized tribes in Alaska. Under this relationship, many millions of dollars of federal money is contracted to tribes for the provision of a wide range of health and social service programs. In 1993, Ada Deer, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs in the Clinton administration, officially recognized 227 Alaska tribes. This action was followed by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1994 that affirmed the tribes’ existence. In 2000, the Alaska Supreme Court reversed a long-standing position and acknowledged the existence of federally recognized tribes. “This agreement begins a whole new era of Tribal-State relations built upon the principles of mutual respect and acknowledgement,” Alaska Governor Tony Knowles said during the signing ceremony. “It carefully lays out the framework for an effective and orderly partner- ship as we work together to better meet the needs of Alaskans, espe- cially those who live in rural Alaska. With this agreement, we ac- knowledge something that tribal leaders have known all along that their governments are the modern day expressions of the oldest, con- tinuous political entities in North America.” “This is a historic time for tribes,” said Mike Williams, Chairman of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. “This is the first time there is a

working relationship established to improve the quality of life in our

tribal communities. It opens up opportunities for the state and the •

•

tribes to do something about problems in our communities.” •

•

On December 10, 2001, the leaders of the Alaska State Legisla- • •

• ture appealed to Gale Norton, the Secretary of the Interior in the •

• 47

• 48 citizens, Native and non-Native alike, supported the right of people of right the supported alike, non-Native and Native citizens, • •

• Supreme Court. Surveys continued to show that a majority of Alaskan of majority a that show to continued Surveys Court. Supreme •

•

urging Governor Knowles not to appeal against the decision to the to decision the against appeal to not Knowles Governor urging •

•

of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, in support of Katie John and John Katie of support in city, largest Alaska’s Anchorage, of •

On August 21, 2001, over 4,000 people marched through the streets the through marched people 4,000 over 2001, 21, August On

governor.

their own different law. People always help each other,” she told the told she other,” each help always People law. different own their

Alaska. They got their own law for their game, for their village, all got all village, their for game, their for law own their got They Alaska.

white people, around. Alaska is just Native. All different Natives in Natives different All Native. just is Alaska around. people, white

used to have Indian law. In those days, we don’t see white man, or man, white see don’t we days, those In law. Indian have to used

the governor. “This subsistence business, I tell you. You know, we know, You you. tell I business, subsistence “This governor. the

life had never learned to read or write, presented her case directly to directly case her presented write, or read to learned never had life

articulate and outspoken grandmother, who, in living a traditional a living in who, grandmother, outspoken and articulate

widely publicized visit seemed to be a turning point in the case. The case. the in point turning a be to seemed visit publicized widely

In July, Governor Knowles visited Katie John at her fish camp. The camp. fish her at John Katie visited Knowles Governor July, In

extended deadline for such an appeal was granted, making it October 4. October it making granted, was appeal an such for deadline extended

State of Alaska and that was to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. An Court. Supreme U.S. the to appeal to was that and Alaska of State

most of her life. The Ninth Circuit ruling left only one option for the for option one only left ruling Circuit Ninth The life. her of most

her camp near the headwaters of the Copper River as she had done had she as River Copper the of headwaters the near camp her

bascan grandmother, had the right to continue to subsistence fish at fish subsistence to continue to right the had grandmother, bascan

, that Katie John, an 86-year-old Ahtna Atha- Ahtna 86-year-old an John, Katie that , John v. State of Alaska of State v. John

On May 8, 2001 the Ninth Circuit Court had ruled in the case, case, the in ruled had Court Circuit Ninth the 2001 8, May On Katie

ruling overturned in the long-standing Katie John case. John Katie long-standing the in overturned ruling

to the U.S. Supreme Court to have the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of Court Circuit Ninth the have to Court Supreme U.S. the to

announced in August 2001 that the State of Alaska would not appeal not would Alaska of State the that 2001 August in announced

In a reversal of a previous position, Alaska Governor Tony Knowles Tony Governor Alaska position, previous a of reversal a In

Alaska Governor declines to appeal in Katie John case John Katie in appeal to declines Governor Alaska

tal authority and sovereign immunity”. sovereign and authority tal

“distinct political entities whose governing bodies possess governmen- possess bodies governing whose entities political “distinct

Congress intended that Alaska Native villages be recognized tribes as tribes recognized be villages Native Alaska that intended Congress

Norton, the state legislature leaders state that they do not believe that believe not do they that state leaders legislature state the Norton,

ka Natives in order to receive the settlement. In their request to Secretary to request their In settlement. the receive to order in Natives ka

which state-chartered corporations were required to be formed by Alas- by formed be to required were corporations state-chartered which

their claims is the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 under 1971 of Act Settlement Claims Native Alaska the is claims their

established for the forty-eight contiguous states”. The foundation for foundation The states”. contiguous forty-eight the for established

policy that is quite different from the Native American policy Congress policy American Native the from different quite is that policy

They contend that Congress has established an “Alaska Native “Alaska an established has Congress that contend They

tives. Bush administration, to review the federal policy towards Alaska Na- Alaska towards policy federal the review to administration, Bush who depend on subsistence foods to have priority to those foods in times of shortage. “This case has been in the courts for 10 years during which the state has lost its argument five times,” Knowles said. “This includes three appeals my administration has pursued, one of which was to the U.S. Supreme Court.” “I cannot oppose in court what I know in my heart to be right,” Knowles said. “I know – we all know – what Katie John does is not wrong.” Leaders of the Alaska State legislature failed in their attempt to take an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court despite the governor’s decision not to. It was ruled that only the governor had the standing to take the case to appeal.

Paint ball attacks on homeless Alaska Natives shocks Alaskans

An attack on homeless Alaska Natives in Anchorage in January 2001 shocked Alaska and the entire U.S. Three young white men drove the streets of Anchorage looking for Alaska Natives to shoot with paintball guns, shooting frozen paintballs. The three videotaped the shootings along with their own commentary. A voice on the video tape, made public after the tape was confiscated by police, said they were hunting down “...Eskimos...otherwise known as muktuks”. One of the victims, a homeless Native man who was walking along a sidewalk, was shot several times by the frozen paint balls. When he complained to the police he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. He served 10 days in jail as a result. He later filed a lawsuit against the young men and their parents. The incident brought national attention to racism in Alaska with CNN and other national networks coming to Alaska to cover the case. The incident led to the governor of Alaska appointing a special com- mission on tolerance and to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights holding public hearings on racism and hate crime in Alaska.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was •

•

finalized in December 1980 and designated the 1.5 million acre Coastal •

•

Plain within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) a study area, • •

• to be evaluated for its oil and gas development potential. The resource •

• 49

• 50

T • and was created under the land claim agreement between the between agreement claim land the under created was and • •

• he territory of Nunavut covers the Eastern Arctic region of Canada of region Arctic Eastern the covers Nunavut of territory he • •

•

•

NUNAVUT

Office of the Governor, State of Alaska. of State Governor, the of Office

Rural Alaska Community Action Program. Action Community Alaska Rural

Alaska Federation of Natives. of Federation Alaska

President and Speaker of the House. the of Speaker and President

Letter to Secretary of the Interior from Alaska State Legislature Senate. Legislature State Alaska from Interior the of Secretary to Letter

State-Tribal Relations Working Group. Working Relations State-Tribal

Sources

the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge free from oil drilling. oil from free Refuge Wildlife National Arctic the

and the beginning of 2002. On 18 April 2002, the Senate voted to keep to voted Senate the 2002, April 18 On 2002. of beginning the and

and gas drilling parties took place in Washington throughout 2001 throughout Washington in place took parties drilling gas and

the Democrat senators and extensive lobbying of both pro and anti oil anti and pro both of lobbying extensive and senators Democrat the

controlled House. However, the bill was strongly opposed by some of some by opposed strongly was bill the However, House. controlled

In August 2001, the national energy plan passed the Republican- the passed plan energy national the 2001, August In

vately owned lands if the energy bill were passed. were bill energy the if lands owned vately

indigenous communities that they should be able to develop their pri- their develop to able be should they that communities indigenous

in Canada. However, the dispute also included the arguments of some of arguments the included also dispute the However, Canada. in

and of concern to many indigenous peoples in the interior of Alaska and Alaska of interior the in peoples indigenous many to concern of and

herd that has its breeding ground in ANWR was the center of the dispute the of center the was ANWR in ground breeding its has that herd

substantial risk to caribou and other wildlife. The Porcupine caribou Porcupine The wildlife. other and caribou to risk substantial

Refuge (ANWR). The discussions included different opinions about the about opinions different included discussions The (ANWR). Refuge

its most controversial proposals is drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife National Arctic the in drilling is proposals controversial most its

new conservation measures and energy infrastructure upgrades. One of One upgrades. infrastructure energy and measures conservation new

the United States took place. The bill calls for more oil and gas drilling, gas and oil more for calls bill The place. took States United the

During 2001, extensive discussions about a new energy legislation in legislation energy new a about discussions extensive 2001, During

budget act but the entire measure was vetoed by President Clinton. President by vetoed was measure entire the but act budget

Senate approved Coastal Plain Development as part of a balanced a of part as Development Plain Coastal approved Senate

and gas exploration and development. In 1995, the U.S. House and House U.S. the 1995, In development. and exploration gas and

1987 and recommended that Congress open the Coastal Plain for oil for Plain Coastal the open Congress that recommended and 1987 evaluation, conducted by the Department of Interior, was released in released was Interior, of Department the by conducted evaluation, Inuit of the territory and Canada. It came into existence in April 1999 (see also The Indigenous World 1999-2000 and 2000-2001). The Gov- ernment of Nunavut is a public government, representing all people living in Nunavut. The rights and responsibility accorded to Inuit under the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement are managed by an Inuit representative organisation called Nunavut Tunngavik Incor- porated (NTI). NTI’s leadership is elected by Inuit, whereas all resi- dents of Nunavut (Inuit and non-Inuit) vote for members of Nunavut’s Legislative Assembly.

The government of Nunavut

2001 was a year of consolidation for the new Government of Nunavut. Its ten departments continued to hire staff, establish decentralized offices in ten communities outside Iqaluit (the capital), deliver a wide range of programs and services and review its legislation and policies in order to determine where change was most immediately required (the development of a “made in Nunavut” Wildlife Act being one example). Few of these efforts generated news headlines – at least not outside Nunavut. For example, the Nunavut Power Corporation came into being and assumed responsibility for the generation of electricity in Nunavut communities. This is not the sort of story that fires the imagination of newspaper editors but it is precisely the kind of insti- tutional development that self-government entails. Issues that dominated public discussion included the quality of the territory’s education and health programs, efforts to incorporate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit traditional knowledge) in the opera- tion of government (see also The Indigenous World 2000-2001), limited progress in raising the percentage of Inuit employees working for the government, the change from three time zones to a single Nunavut- wide time zone (which was eventually abandoned) and the start-up of a law school for 15 Inuit students. Language Commissioner Eva Arreak called for a new language law that would require all business and road signs, utility bills and medicine prescriptions to be written in Inuktitut in addition to any other languages. Premier Paul Okalik and his Cabinet emerged from a mid-term

leadership review in October 2001 largely unscathed, and it would

appear that the current leadership will remain in place until Nu- •

•

navut’s second election – expected to take place in November 2003. • •

•

•

• •

• 51

• 52 land but even the most basic exchanges between the two govern- two the between exchanges basic most the even but land • •

• opportunity for business development between Nunavut and Green- and Nunavut between development business for opportunity •

•

airline service to its neighbour in the east. Not only will this limit the limit this will only Not east. the in neighbour its to service airline •

•

Kangerlussuaq (Greenland), leaving Nunavut without a scheduled a without Nunavut leaving (Greenland), Kangerlussuaq •

First Air terminated its weekly jet service between Iqaluit and Iqaluit between service jet weekly its terminated Air First

courts ruled that the consultation had been adequate. been had consultation the that ruled courts

requirement that NTI be consulted on allocations of this kind but the but kind this of allocations on consulted be NTI that requirement

of the quotas to interests in Atlantic Canada violated the land claim’s land the violated Canada Atlantic in interests to quotas the of

resides. NTI felt that the federal government’s decision to give the bulk the give to decision government’s federal the that felt NTI resides.

panies based in the province or territory closest to where the species the where to closest territory or province the in based panies

proportion of the quotas for any given species are allocated to com- to allocated are species given any for quotas the of proportion

is a principle of fisheries management in Canada that a significant a that Canada in management fisheries of principle a is

cent of the total allowable catch in the waters adjacent to Nunavut. It Nunavut. to adjacent waters the in catch allowable total the of cent

in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait. Nunavut interests receive just 27 per 27 just receive interests Nunavut Strait. Davis and Bay Baffin in

that upheld the federal government’s allocation of quotas for turbot for quotas of allocation government’s federal the upheld that

Court of Canada rejected NTI’s appeal against a lower court decision court lower a against appeal NTI’s rejected Canada of Court

The economic news in Nunavut was often depressing: The Supreme The depressing: often was Nunavut in news economic The

Economic development Economic

“boys’ club”. “boys’

speculate that her real crime was that she was not part of the regional the of part not was she that was crime real her that speculate

male politicians had been forgiven over the years led observers to observers led years the over forgiven been had politicians male

Board of Directors removed her from office when the sins of so many so of sins the when office from her removed Directors of Board

had not done anything illegal or immoral. The fact that the all-male the that fact The immoral. or illegal anything done not had

questions about her ability to lead the struggling organization but she but organization struggling the lead to ability her about questions

become President of QIA. Meeka Kilabuk’s erratic behavior had raised had behavior erratic Kilabuk’s Meeka QIA. of President become

interests of the Inuit of the Baffin region, fired the first woman to woman first the fired region, Baffin the of Inuit the of interests

Directors of the Qikitani Inuit Association (QIA), which represents the represents which (QIA), Association Inuit Qikitani the of Directors

While NTI was welcoming its first female President, the Board of Board the President, female first its welcoming was NTI While

who is often referred to as “the father of Nunavut”. of father “the as to referred often is who

she narrowly defeated long-time Inuit politician John Amagoalik, John politician Inuit long-time defeated narrowly she

in which just 45 per cent of eligible voters bothered to cast their ballot, their cast to bothered voters eligible of cent per 45 just which in

Quassa, thereby becoming the first woman to head NTI. In an election an In NTI. head to woman first the becoming thereby Quassa,

tongie of Rankin Inlet was elected by the Inuit of Nunavut to replace to Nunavut of Inuit the by elected was Inlet Rankin of tongie

to have abused corporate credit cards and bank cards. Cathy Tow- Cathy cards. bank and cards credit corporate abused have to

Paul Quassa resigned as President of NTI after he was discovered was he after NTI of President as resigned Quassa Paul

organizations.

2001 was rather more unsettled for several of the representative Inuit representative the of several for unsettled more rather was 2001 The Inuit organizations Inuit The ments will be made that much more difficult (and expensive) as a result. Breakwater Resources announced that its Nanisivik lead/zinc mine, which has operated near Arctic Bay on northern Baffin Island since 1974, would close in September 2002 - several years earlier than forecast. Unemployment remains a huge problem in Nunavut, and with a large number of teenagers about to enter the labour force the situation can only become more serious. Other parts of Canada often

required significant public investment in infrastructure to encourage

the development of a viable private sector. The Government of Nu- •

•

navut and the representative organisations are lobbying the federal •

•

government to invest in the future of Nunavut as it invested in the rest • •

• of the country in earlier times. •

• 53 • 54 • • • • • •

•

•

Inuit residents of Nunavut, the priests, the traders and the police. the and traders the priests, the Nunavut, of residents Inuit

– which will focus on the relationship between Inuit and the first non- first the and Inuit between relationship the on focus will which –

vummiut, who are already looking forward to Zach Kunuk’s next film next Kunuk’s Zach to forward looking already are who vummiut,

great film can. “Atanarjuat” is a source of great pride for Nuna- for pride great of source a is “Atanarjuat” can. film great

gaged Canada and the world in Inuit culture in ways that only a truly a only that ways in culture Inuit in world the and Canada gaged

nationally and internationally. ”Atanarjuat” has immersed and en- and immersed has ”Atanarjuat” internationally. and nationally

received in Nunavut communities, and is now being distributed both distributed being now is and communities, Nunavut in received

nearly every major newspaper in Canada. The film was rapturously was film The Canada. in newspaper major every nearly

prize at the Cannes film festival appeared on the front page of page front the on appeared festival film Cannes the at prize d’Or

graph of director Zach Kunuk of Igloolik accepting the coveted coveted the accepting Igloolik of Kunuk Zach director of graph Camera

released – and quickly took the cinematic world by storm. A photo- A storm. by world cinematic the took quickly and – released

narjuat” (”The Fast Runner“), the first feature film made by Inuit, was Inuit, by made film feature first the Runner“), Fast (”The narjuat”

Perhaps the brightest moment in Nunavut in 2001 came when “Ata- when came 2001 in Nunavut in moment brightest the Perhaps

Inuit film makes international news international makes film Inuit

well be brought into production in the next few years. few next the in production into brought be well

Kitikmeot and Keewatin regions. Several promising properties may properties promising Several regions. Keewatin and Kitikmeot

gold and diamonds as well as for base metals taking place in the in place taking metals base for as well as diamonds and gold That being said, there continues to be a high level of exploration for exploration of level high a be to continues there said, being That

NORTH AMERICA • •

•

•

•

•

• •

• 55

• 56

First Nations within the Canadian Confederation. The new The Confederation. Canadian the within Nations First •

• tary plans for realizing a provincial-type of self-government for self-government of provincial-type a realizing for plans tary • •

•

Each of these earlier reports had set out basically complemen- basically out set had reports earlier these of Each •

•

. entitled Report Senate 2000 a and Forging New Relationships New Forging •

the 1996 1996 the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Aboriginal on Commission Royal the of Report

and 1983 the particularly Canada, in relations Penner Report Penner

ommendations of all the public inquiries into First Nations First into inquiries public the all of ommendations

programme that renews colonialism and ignores the key rec- key the ignores and colonialism renews that programme

, identifying it as a as it identifying , to opposition steadfast their pressed FNGI

2) First Nations political organizations across Canada have ex- have Canada across organizations political Nations First 2)

decisions affecting Cree education). Cree affecting decisions

rantees that the Cree School Board should be a party to any to party a be should Board School Cree the that rantees

which, among other things, gua- things, other among which, and Northern Quebec Agreement Agreement Quebec Northern and

governments for once again ignoring the terms of the the of terms the ignoring again once for governments James Bay James

Québec Court of Appeal criticized the federal and Quebec and federal the criticized Appeal of Court Québec

case (in which the which (in case 2001 the to Nations) First of Cree School Board Board School Cree

binding fiduciary or trust-like duty to act in the best interests best the in act to duty trust-like or fiduciary binding

Supreme Court of Canada found that the Crown has a legally a has Crown the that found Canada of Court Supreme

decision (in which the which (in decision 1985 the from decisions court in Guérin

ary duties as they have been set out in historic legislation and legislation historic in out set been have they as duties ary

of Canada) for repeated and continuing breaches of its fiduci- its of breaches continuing and repeated for Canada) of

limit the liability of the federal government (the Crown in right in Crown (the government federal the of liability the limit

and-Councils to their communities. At the same time, it would it time, same the At communities. their to and-Councils

Nations and additionally change the relationship of Chiefs- of relationship the change additionally and Nations

1) Adoption of this package would re-write the status of First of status the re-write would package this of Adoption 1)

year’s book: year’s

Two essential factors remain the same in 2002 as described in last in described as 2002 in same the remain factors essential Two

new bills has been labeled the the labeled been has bills new ). ( First Nations Governance Initiative Governance Nations First FNGI

bills might be introduced in 2002. The package of amendments and amendments of package The 2002. in introduced be might bills

Development. Nault has since announced that even more companion more even that announced since has Nault Development.

posed by Robert Nault, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern and Affairs Indian of Minister the Nault, Robert by posed

garding the legal status of “Indian” Communities, which were pro- were which Communities, “Indian” of status legal the garding

rized these proposed amendments to the federal Canadian law re- law Canadian federal the to amendments proposed these rized

. In that article, Russell Diabo summa- Diabo Russell article, that In . Nations Financial Institutions Act Institutions Financial Nations

T

was devoted to the the to devoted was and the the and First Nations Governance Act Governance Nations First First

he second article on Canada, in in Canada, on article second he , The Indigenous World 2000-2001 World Indigenous The

The First Nations Governance Initiative Governance Nations First The CANADA programme, however, will require First Nations to govern them- selves via a complex system of direct democracy that no territo- rial or provincial government in Canada would find workable. “Communities First”, as this government statement is called, argues that the minister wants to focus on the well-being of the communities and not to focus so much effort on the legal rights that First Nations leaders emphasize. This is a doubly offensive argument. Without jurisdiction or legal authority having been granted by Parliament, the minister could do nothing. He would not have an office. In contrast, since the rise of colonial authori- tarianism, but particularly since the 1969 White Paper in which the Trudeau Government and the then Minister of Indian Af- fairs, Jean Chrétien, proposed terminating all Indian rights and imposing a policy of assimilation, First Nations leaders have been arguing that the living standards of their communities will only improve when they achieve substantial freedom from Canadian colonial rule. They point to numerous parliamentary

and public inquiries, such as those just mentioned, that have

reached similar conclusions. Proposals to hand “Indian af- •

•

fairs” over to the provinces have been criticized by parliamen- •

•

tary committees ever since the Watson Report on Indian Educa- • •

• tion, in 1971, found that the best progress was to be found in •

• 57

• 58 First Nations leaders. This confrontational attitude has come to be to come has attitude confrontational This leaders. Nations First • •

• by a willingness to be far more confrontational in his relations with relations his in confrontational more far be to willingness a by •

• Robert Nault has distinguished himself from his recent predecessors recent his from himself distinguished has Nault Robert •

•

•

The issue of consultations of issue The

building their nations in the face of historic Canadian colonialism. Canadian historic of face the in nations their building

autonomy of their communities that undermines their efforts at re- at efforts their undermines that communities their of autonomy

country have clearly identified Nault’s programme as an attack on the on attack an as programme Nault’s identified clearly have country

down from their usual meanings. First Nations leaders across the across leaders Nations First meanings. usual their from down

Ottawa rhetoric in which words take on meanings that are upside are that meanings on take words which in rhetoric Ottawa

parliamentary representatives may have been fooled by this Alice-in- this by fooled been have may representatives parliamentary

The Canadian public and their and public Canadian The genuine for First Nations self-government. Nations First

has been introduced as part of an effort to evade earlier proposals earlier evade to effort an of part as introduced been has

in the face of a renewed colonialism. renewed a of face the in Even the word “governance” word the Even

3

political discourse in the interests of fostering an illusion of change of illusion an fostering of interests the in discourse political

(PCO), re-work the plain sense of many key words in English in words key many of sense plain the re-work

2

Affairs bureaucracy, in collaboration with the Privy Council Office Council Privy the with collaboration in bureaucracy, Affairs

strategies and rhetorical sleights-of-hand developed by the Indian the by developed sleights-of-hand rhetorical and strategies

dians, the Assembly of First Nations. Secondly, the set of political of set the Secondly, Nations. First of Assembly the dians,

political organizations and the national organization of status In- status of organization national the and organizations political

munity leaders, tribal and grand councils, provincial and territorial and provincial councils, grand and tribal leaders, munity

to circumvent the elected First Nations leadership – including com- including – leadership Nations First elected the circumvent to

nistrations. First, Nault has made it clear that he is quite prepared quite is he that clear it made has Nault First, nistrations.

ings have changed under Robert Nault’s rough-hewn mi- rough-hewn Nault’s Robert under changed have ings th Two

moving in quite the opposite direction. opposite the quite in moving

trol while a closer look at the actual proposals indicate a legal text legal a indicate proposals actual the at look closer a while trol

claims promises of increased autonomy and greater community con- community greater and autonomy increased of promises claims

ment – shows that the ministerial verbiage and propaganda pro- propaganda and verbiage ministerial the that shows –

1

officials avoid as though they were still a part of the defence establish- defence the of part a still were they though as avoid officials

als that has reached the light of day — something that Indian Affairs Indian that something — day of light the reached has that als

with First Nations leaders. A close examination of each of the propos- the of each of examination close A leaders. Nations First with

dian Affairs officials to revise federal Indian law without consulting without law Indian federal revise to officials Affairs dian

was a proposal of In- of proposal a was like which, Band Government Legislation Legislation Government Band FNGI

minister after another since 1978 when they talked of of talked they when 1978 since another after minister Optional Indian Optional

been providing variations on this package for the presentation of one of presentation the for package this on variations providing been

Nault’s strategy and plan is not new. Indian Affairs officials have officials Affairs Indian new. not is plan and strategy Nault’s

Indian student than do First Nations-run schools. Nations-run First do than student Indian

public and Catholic school boards receive 50% more money per money more 50% receive boards school Catholic and public transferring Indian schools to Indian control. Yet, in 2002, in Yet, control. Indian to schools Indian transferring seen as a large part of what FNGI is really all about. The earliest efforts to re-write the Indian Act were developed without any efforts at con- sultation with the First Nations leadership. It was an effort under- taken entirely within the Indian Affairs bureaucracy undisturbed by the presence of any representative Indians. Since John Munro became Minister in 1980, Canadian Ministers of Indian Affairs have needed to create the appearance of consultation with First Nations leaders – indeed, if rights are involved, the courts require it. The list of ministers from Munro to Nault could well be sorted into those who gave evidence of actually listening to First Nations leaders and those whose consultations were an empty shell. By and large, those ministers whose record gives evidence of listening to First Nations leaders also evidence a significant effort to direct rather than be directed by their senior officials. Almost all the minis- ters with a demonstrated ability to listen to First Nations were re- placed soon after their sympathies became apparent. Nault’s confrontational manner has determined on which of these lists his name will appear. The earliest indication that he was expect- ing and willing to foster resistance from First Nations leaders was his decision to make his initial announcement of FNGI before an audience of high school students instead of announcing his intentions to First Nations leaders and to parliament, which was a calculated insult. Then and ever since, Nault has maintained a mantra about the evils of the present Indian Act. This might be called “Nault’s straw Indian”, i.e., his reply to an argument that was not made. Since the hearings of a task force headed by the then junior Minister of Indian Affairs, Robert Andras, before the 1969 White Paper, First Nations leaders have consistently argued that the federal Indian Act should be re-written to recognize and respect the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations. 4 Nault’s attack on the Indian Act plays on the illusion that this act is the principal embodiment of federal authority in First Nations relations. Yet, the largest part of his departmental activities – housing, education, land claims, even policing — take their authority from annual appropriations acts. Indian health services, though adminis- tered by another department, are likewise authorized by an annual appropriation act. The most basic reform that any Canadian govern- ment could make would be assured, long-term funding for First Na-

tions community-based programs.

In July 2001, on a national Canadian Broadcasting Corporation •

•

(C.B.C.) radio program, The House, Nault was emphatic that if he could •

•

not find First Nations leaders with whom to consult he would find • •

• other Indians who were prepared to consult with him. Listening to •

• 59

• 60 Minister and his senior officials had determined to be rid of a tradi- a of rid be to determined had officials senior his and Minister • •

• the request of the third party manager. What this means is that the that is means this What manager. party third the of request the •

•

the traditional council can be met by the armed force of the police at police the of force armed the by met be can council traditional the •

•

advisors or suppliers and (b) any effort to gain access to the offices by offices the to access gain to effort any (b) and suppliers or advisors •

community, including any social programs or money for consultants, for money or programs social any including community,

elected council, has sole authority then (a) no resources go to the to go resources no (a) then authority sole has council, elected

appointed by the minister who is neither a career civil servant nor an nor servant civil career a neither is who minister the by appointed

tional council and declares that a third party manager, i.e. a person a i.e. manager, party third a that declares and council tional

erred in law. When the minister suspends the authority of a tradi- a of authority the suspends minister the When law. in erred

he acted in bad faith, failed to observe principles of natural justice and justice natural of principles observe to failed faith, bad in acted he

the Federal Court to overturn the Nault overthrow on the basis that basis the on overthrow Nault the overturn to Court Federal the

its inception, since time immemorial. Dakota Tipi has now applied to applied now has Tipi Dakota immemorial. time since inception, its

traditional form of governance, as allowed under the the under allowed as governance, of form traditional since Indian Act Indian

Council has occurred”. The Dakota Tipi First Nation has followed a followed has Nation First Tipi Dakota The occurred”. has Council

party management until such time as an election for a Chief and Chief a for election an as time such until management party

government of the Dakota Tipi First Nation and placed it under “third under it placed and Nation First Tipi Dakota the of government

On March 27, 2002, for example, Nault overthrew the traditional the overthrew Nault example, for 2002, 27, March On

Nault’s confrontational attitude has carried over into related areas. related into over carried has attitude confrontational Nault’s

The Case of the Dakota Tipi First Nation First Tipi Dakota the of Case The

workshops bureaucrats outnumbered First Nations folks. Nations First outnumbered bureaucrats workshops

elected leaders have a voice in setting the agenda. At several of these of several At agenda. the setting in voice a have leaders elected

there is no apparent reason to expect that the communities and their and communities the that expect to reason apparent no is there

Although the department has adopted the slogan “Communities First” “Communities slogan the adopted has department the Although

items on the agenda that were sought by First Nations representatives. Nations First by sought were that agenda the on items

to put on the agenda. There has been a consistent refusal to include to refusal consistent a been has There agenda. the on put to

those issues of Indian law reform that the departmental officials chose officials departmental the that reform law Indian of issues those

agenda fixed in Ottawa. These workshops were devoted to discussing to devoted were workshops These Ottawa. in fixed agenda

of officials around the country to conduct workshops according to an to according workshops conduct to country the around officials of

nister and First Nations leaders. The minister has sent a flying squad flying a sent has minister The leaders. Nations First and nister

Consultations have not, however, been primarily between the mi- the between primarily been however, not, have Consultations

refused to participate. to refused

in order to develop their opposition to to opposition their develop to order in while others have simply have others while FNGI

in northern Saskatchewan, who have accepted consultation funding consultation accepted have who Saskatchewan, northern in

ever, see some First Nations, such as the Prince Albert Grand Council Grand Albert Prince the as such Nations, First some see ever,

in his consultation programme. Non-governmental observers, how- observers, Non-governmental programme. consultation his in

cial First Nations political organization, to have gained participation gained have to organization, political Nations First cial

Nault also claimed, based on some co-operation from one provin- one from co-operation some on based claimed, also Nault

nated with images of a 19 a of images with nated century outpost of the British Empire. British the of outpost century

th

determined to install a pliable local administration. The rhetoric reso- rhetoric The administration. local pliable a install to determined this interview again recently, I heard the sound of a colonial governor colonial a of sound the heard I recently, again interview this tional form of governance whether or not they had to stoop to violence to effect it. 5 First Nations find that the introduction of third party managers – usually done on the grounds of financial mismanagement – is a disaster from which recovery often takes several years. In the Dakota Tipi instance, the evidence points to the use of this ministerial author- ity primarily for political objectives, since financial management has not been at issue. Another example is Pikangikum, in North-western Ontario near the Manitoba border, where a tragic wave of suicides prompted the Minister to impose third-party management although most observers felt the return of the Indian Agent, i.e. a person who acts on the Minister’s behalf and “administers the Indians”, would add to the factors of colonialism, poverty and hopelessness that fos- tered the suicides in the first place.

Conclusion

The rhetoric of “Communities First” and “First Nations Governance” – derived from an Orwellian newspeak that runs throughout the history of Indian Affairs – has risen to new levels of obfuscation: “Governance”, upon close examination, proves to be a code word for renewed federal authority. A hypothetical concerned citizen might well mistake it for “self-government” as recommended by successive committees of both Houses of Parliament and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Likewise “accountability” turns out to be about more detailed reporting to federal authorities by band administrations, in contrast to the impression that it is related to responsibility of First Nations leader- ship to their own communities. Ministerial rhetoric about improving community living conditions rather than developing self-government runs against Nault’s own argu- ment that all problems will be solved if the federal Government could only create the perfect institutions of Aboriginal governance. Worse, it ignores the history of appalling rates of child mortality that have resulted from non-fulfillment of federal treaty obligations even under modern land claims agreements such as the James Bay Agreement.

What I have called “rhetoric” is not merely a matter of word games.

If it is a game, it is one that is deadly serious. Nault’s rhetoric repre- •

•

sents a sea change, a sudden and dramatic shift in which the Liberal •

•

government is playing primarily to the Official Opposition in the • •

• Canadian Parliament, a party long dedicated to assimilation, a code •

• 61 • 62

• leaders have been unfailingly consistent in the positions that they have they that positions the in consistent unfailingly been have leaders •

• 4 It is quite central to my thesis here and elsewhere that First Nations First that elsewhere and here thesis my to central quite is It 4 •

• quite the opposite. the quite •

•

government, or to do other good things when, in fact, they are doing are they fact, in when, things good other do to or government, •

for instance, to believe that the government is looking to enable self- enable to looking is government the that believe to instance, for

result, the ordinary citizen with a casual interest in Indian policy is led, is policy Indian in interest casual a with citizen ordinary the result,

course but they then define them in ways that are quite unfamiliar. As a As unfamiliar. quite are that ways in them define then they but course

Nations relations which consist of words used in other political dis- political other in used words of consist which relations Nations

3 The government consistently used terms in the discussion of First of discussion the in terms used consistently government The 3

Affairs officials concerned with issues of governance. of issues with concerned officials Affairs

Affairs from PCO. PCO is the most likely path of promotion for Indian for promotion of path likely most the is PCO PCO. from Affairs

Affairs is only the most senior of several officials to come to Indian to come to officials several of senior most the only is Affairs

ates under a cloak of secrecy. The present Deputy Minister of Indian of Minister Deputy present The secrecy. of cloak a under ates

PCO. As its name suggests, this most central of central agencies oper- agencies central of central most this suggests, name its As PCO.

Constitutional Affairs”, a term formerly used to describe a branch of branch a describe to used formerly term a Affairs”, Constitutional

has responsibility for constitutional development including “Aboriginal including development constitutional for responsibility has

2 PCO is the federal department directly under the Prime Minister that Minister Prime the under directly department federal the is PCO 2

other by their ranks. their by other

nated by retired military officers who continued to recognize one an- one recognize to continued who officers military retired by nated

indeed, from Confederation until after WWI. After WWII it was domi- was it WWII After WWI. after until Confederation from indeed,

1 Indian Affairs was run by the defence department for many years, many for department defence the by run was Affairs Indian 1

Notes

. the through instance, for resolve, First Nations Governance Initiative Governance Nations First

that it smacks of judicial activism. These are matters for Parliament to Parliament for matters are These activism. judicial of smacks it that

ings” in First Nations relations. Their reply to this line of reasoning is reasoning of line this to reply Their relations. Nations First in ings”

injunction against what the Supreme Court described as “sharp deal- “sharp as described Court Supreme the what against injunction

the “honour of the Crown”. They may even be aware of the Court’s the of aware be even may They Crown”. the of “honour the

First Nations are legally enforceable fiduciary duties on which depends which on duties fiduciary enforceable legally are Nations First

a solemn promise and that the obligations of the Canadian Crown to Crown Canadian the of obligations the that and promise solemn a

of Aboriginal and treaty rights in Part II of the the of II Part in rights treaty and Aboriginal of is Constitution Act, 1982 Act, Constitution

of Canada and the Courts of Appeal have declared that the guarantee the that declared have Appeal of Courts the and Canada of

tion are aware of the growing line of cases in which the Supreme Court Supreme the which in cases of line growing the of aware are tion

Alliance MPs who urge the Liberal government toward assimila- toward government Liberal the urge who MPs Alliance

Indians, the Alliance argues, need to be dragged into the mainstream. the into dragged be to need argues, Alliance the Indians,

of forced assimilation and termination of Aboriginal and treaty rights. treaty and Aboriginal of termination and assimilation forced of

in Indian policy was his abandonment of the 1969 1969 the of abandonment his was policy Indian in policy White Paper White

Party, have told Prime Minister Jean Chrétien that his great mistake great his that Chrétien Jean Minister Prime told have Party,

wing party, the Canadian Alliance, and its predecessor, the Reform the predecessor, its and Alliance, Canadian the party, wing

Nations. Throughout this Parliament and the previous one, the right- the one, previous the and Parliament this Throughout Nations. word for the dissolution (if necessary, the destruction) of the First the of destruction) the necessary, (if dissolution the for word taken before various kinds of public hearings at least since 1967. I use this benchmark because the Andras hearings were supposed to gather the evidence on which the White Paper was supposed to be based. Quite clearly, the White Paper was, in fact, written in the Privy Council Office without regard to the evidence gathered by Minister Andras. 5 Application for writ of certiorari of Dakota Tipi First Nation in the Federal Court of Appeal, April 5, 2002.

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

s was the case last year (see The Indigenous World 2000-2001), A non-renewable resource development dominated the political agenda of the Northwest Territories’ Aboriginal peoples in 2001. Over the past twelve months, economic activities in the NWT grew substan- tially, both in terms of gross domestic product and employment, large- ly as a result of mineral, oil and gas prospecting and development. Additional impetus to this growth came from widespread prepara- tions by governments and industry in anticipation of the construction of a major natural gas pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley. This pipeline as currently planned will run through the NWT from north to south passing most regions that are under indigenous land-claim or self-government negotiation. In the face of all this activity, the prime focus of Aboriginal governments, communities and corporations alike was on ensuring appropriate recognition and protection of their in- terests. Unfortunately, with all the emphasis on resource develop- ment, little progress occurred in the NWT in terms of implementing the inherent right of Aboriginal self-government.

The development of pipeline proposals

A key challenge for NWT Aboriginal governments has been to deter-

mine which of three competing pipeline proposals best serves their

long-term economic and social interests. Two of them are backed by •

•

consortia of large multinational corporations: one, the Alaska Gas •

•

Producers, proposes to construct a pipeline from Prudhoe Bay in • •

• northern Alaska down through the Yukon territories in northern •

• 63

• 64 Group and the Mackenzie Valley Aboriginal Pipeline Corporation Pipeline Aboriginal Valley Mackenzie the and Group • •

• ponents pressed ahead and, in January 2002, the Delta Producers Delta the 2002, January in and, ahead pressed ponents •

•

Resources Corporation (Arctic Gas). Nevertheless, the project’s pro- project’s the Nevertheless, Gas). (Arctic Corporation Resources •

•

their support behind the alternative pipeline proposed by the Arctic the by proposed pipeline alternative the behind support their •

as it stands, and have thrown have and stands, it as the rejected also region Sahtu MOU

endorsed the project proposal. Several land claim organizations in the in organizations claim land Several proposal. project the endorsed

conditions have been met, and the Deh Cho has still not formally not still has Cho Deh the and met, been have conditions

benefit agreements for Deh Cho communities. So far, none of these of none far, So communities. Cho Deh for agreements benefit

as a full and equal participant; and 3) the negotiation of impact/ of negotiation the 3) and participant; equal and full a as

fees; 2) an environmental review of the project involving the Deh Cho Deh the involving project the of review environmental an 2) fees;

reached with Canada on resource revenue sharing and land access land and sharing revenue resource on Canada with reached

for a pipeline project was conditional upon: 1) an agreement being agreement an 1) upon: conditional was project pipeline a for

Assembly in August unanimously agreed that the region’s support region’s the that agreed unanimously August in Assembly

of Treaty 11 between the Deh Cho and the Crown. A Special Deh Cho Deh Special A Crown. the and Cho Deh the between 11 Treaty of

agreement with Canada that more fully implements the original terms original the implements fully more that Canada with agreement

Nations in the Deh Cho region, which are collectively negotiating an negotiating collectively are which region, Cho Deh the in Nations

came from Dene First Dene from came this to opposition strongest the of Some MOU

region and about how a pipeline would fit within this. within fit would pipeline a how about and region

clarify its views about the future of economic development in its in development economic of future the about views its clarify

, each Aboriginal community was forced to forced was community Aboriginal each , the against or for MOU

regions up and down the Mackenzie Valley. In taking a stand either stand a taking In Valley. Mackenzie the down and up regions

debate that continued throughout the summer and fall in all the all in fall and summer the throughout continued that debate

became the subject of intense debate among the leadership, a leadership, the among debate intense of subject the became MOU

federal jurisdiction over pipeline monitoring and regulation. This regulation. and monitoring pipeline over jurisdiction federal

the construction of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline, and to recognizing to and pipeline, Valley Mackenzie a of construction the

pipeline, it commits Inuit, Dene and Metis governments to supporting to governments Metis and Dene Inuit, commits it pipeline,

Hay River. In return for up to one-third ownership of a potential a of ownership one-third to up for return In River. Hay

before the Aboriginal leadership at a June meeting in meeting June a at leadership Aboriginal the before the tabled MOU

equity participation in a gas pipeline project. The Pipeline Group first Group Pipeline The project. pipeline gas a in participation equity

agreement on a a on agreement on Aboriginal on Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Understanding of Memorandum

the NWT’s regional Aboriginal organizations, reached a tentative a reached organizations, Aboriginal regional NWT’s the

Pipeline Group, a government/industry-funded body representing body government/industry-funded a Group, Pipeline

In late spring 2001, the Delta Producers Group and the Aboriginal the and Group Producers Delta the 2001, spring late In

Delta Producers Group appeared to have become a clear front runner. front clear a become have to appeared Group Producers Delta

governments for their support and, by the year’s end, the Mackenzie the end, year’s the by and, support their for governments

of these projects extensively lobbied Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal lobbied extensively projects these of

debt financing for a pipeline, also down from the Beaufort Sea. Each Sea. Beaufort the from down also pipeline, a for financing debt

Gas), which is prepared to consider 100 % Aboriginal ownership and ownership Aboriginal % 100 consider to prepared is which Gas),

proposal has come from the Arctic Resources Corporation (Arctic Corporation Resources Arctic the from come has proposal

fields in the northern NWT down the Mackenzie Valley. A third A Valley. Mackenzie the down NWT northern the in fields

Producers Group plans a pipeline route from onshore natural gas natural onshore from route pipeline a plans Group Producers Canada to southern Canada, while the other, the Mackenzie Delta Mackenzie the other, the while Canada, southern to Canada jointly announced their intention to work together in developing an application for regulatory approval. Although Aboriginal governments may achieve some equity own- ership in an eventual Mackenzie Valley pipeline, they will apparently play only a limited part in its impact review, formal approval and regulation. Judging from the content of the draft Cooperation Plan (December 2001) on project approval, these responsibilities will re- main largely with the federal government and with co-management bodies. This Plan was worked out over the course of the year by a number of impact assessment and regulatory authorities, with the NWT Aboriginal governments being restricted to a consultative role. This exclusion clearly revealed how far the Aboriginal governments still have to go to achieve practical recognition of their inherent right of self-government over their traditional lands and resources.

Self-government discussions

Self-government negotiations between Aboriginal regional organiza- tions and the federal Crown made only modest progress over the past year. In October 2001, an Agreement in Principle on Gwich’in and Inuvialuit self-government was initiated by Aboriginal and govern- ment negotiators, and work has now begun toward a Final Agree- ment, which is still several years away. The final stages of the Dog- ribs’ self-government/land claim talks with Canada continue to drag on, as disagreements over key issues such as “certainty”, overlap with other First Nations’ territories and taxation powers stand in the way of an Agreement. During the summer, Deh Cho and federal/territorial negotiators finalized an Interim Agreement as well as a Framework Agreement as a basis for further negotiations. Some of this Interim Agreement’s provisions have no precedent in Canadian treaty talks, as they recognize the Deh Cho region’s veto powers over several federal and territorial government authorizations. However, subsequent ne- gotiations have come to a near standstill over Canada’s unwilling- ness to share resource royalties with Deh Cho Aboriginal govern-

ments.

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• 65

• 66

action lawsuit against the Interior Department’s misuse of trust fund trust of misuse Department’s Interior the against lawsuit action •

• Five years ago, three hundred thousand Native people filed a class a filed people Native thousand hundred three ago, years Five • • •

•

•

Individual Indian Money Trust Fund Trust Money Indian Individual •

concerning health and education. and health concerning

the Individual Indian Money Trust Fund, sacred sites, and issues and sites, sacred Fund, Trust Money Indian Individual the

United States, three specific areas will be addressed. These include These addressed. be will areas specific three States, United

order to illustrate the uphill battle facing Native populations in the in populations Native facing battle uphill the illustrate to order

Fund (NARF) and the National Congress of American Indians. In Indians. American of Congress National the and (NARF) Fund

Particularly helpful in this regard are the Native American Rights American Native the are regard this in helpful Particularly

government’s failure to address Native concerns in policy decisions. policy in concerns Native address to failure government’s

the fight to protect the rights of indigenous groups affected by the by affected groups indigenous of rights the protect to fight the

A number of Native advocacy organizations have been critical in critical been have organizations advocacy Native of number A

of extractable resources. extractable of

phy that promotes state rights, and a commitment to the development the to commitment a and rights, state promotes that phy

government appears to be related to budgetary constraints, a philoso- a constraints, budgetary to related be to appears government

issues a priority. This lack of activism on the part of the federal the of part the on activism of lack This priority. a issues

Currently, the Bush administration has yet to make any of these of any make to yet has administration Bush the Currently,

communities.

of these areas continues to plague Native efforts to sustain viable sustain to efforts Native plague to continues areas these of

and taxation have begun to gain national attention. Predictably, each Predictably, attention. national gain to begun have taxation and

gaming, health, education, and jurisdiction over tribal lands, budgets lands, tribal over jurisdiction and education, health, gaming,

surrounding the Individual Indian Money Trust Fund, sacred sites, sacred Fund, Trust Money Indian Individual the surrounding

course among Native Americans. As a consequence, controversies consequence, a As Americans. Native among course

concerning sovereignty, health and finances dominate political dis- political dominate finances and health sovereignty, concerning

States still deserve the attention of federal and state authorities. Issues authorities. state and federal of attention the deserve still States

tic issues, many areas concerning Native communities in the United the in communities Native concerning areas many issues, tic

Although the tragedy of September 11 has overshadowed domes- overshadowed has 11 September of tragedy the Although

purified any non-Native individuals who asked. who individuals non-Native any purified

Native peoples not only burned sage to cleanse themselves but also but themselves cleanse to sage burned only not peoples Native

ironworkers working at the site. While at this place of sorrow, these sorrow, of place this at While site. the at working ironworkers

veled to “ground zero” in order to support the efforts of Mohawk of efforts the support to order in zero” “ground to veled

the survivors. In addition, keepers of spiritually important pipes tra- pipes important spiritually of keepers addition, In survivors. the

itual events to ease the passage of the dead as well as to help strengthen help to as well as dead the of passage the ease to events itual

to aid the victims. For example, Native communities organized spir- organized communities Native example, For victims. the aid to

F

many Native peoples in the United States participated in efforts in participated States United the in peoples Native many

ollowing the September 11 attack on New York and the Pentagon, the and York New on attack 11 September the ollowing THE UNITED STATES UNITED THE KORT

1. Yucca Mountain 6. Weatherman Draw 2. Death Valley 7. Black Hills 3. Pyramid Lake 6. Washington, D.C. accounts. Referred to as Cobell v. Babbitt, who was Clinton’s Secretary of the Interior, the case alleges that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a sub agency of the Department of the Interior, underpaid or in some cases failed to pay fees owed to Native tribes and individuals for the use of their land. This problem most commonly occurred over the royalties owed for the extraction of resources such as timber, mining, grazing, oil and coal. At this point in time, these federal agencies cannot account for billions of dollars kept in thousands of trust fund accounts set up for Native peoples. This problem has had the most effect on Natives who reside in the Great Plains states. At least forty percent of the individual accounts managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs belong to individuals living in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. This endemic weakness in accounting procedures began in 1887, when federal law divided some reservation land into smaller plots for individual Natives. Currently, the Bureau of Indian affairs, oversees

45 million acres. Because the land is held in trust, it cannot be taxed

or sold and the government must approve any leases. •

•

After President Bush’s election, the Cobell v. the Department of the •

•

Interior case focused on the actions of the newly appointed Interior Sec- • •

• retary, Gale Norton, and Neal McCaleb, the recently appointed director •

• 67

• 68 tentious issue in the United States. A particularly problematic situa- problematic particularly A States. United the in issue tentious • •

• Protecting land considered sacred to Native peoples has been a con- a been has peoples Native to sacred considered land Protecting • •

•

•

Sacred Sites Sacred •

Norton and McCaleb have not been resolved. been not have McCaleb and Norton

volved in the class action suit. As yet, the contempt charges facing charges contempt the yet, As suit. action class the in volved

responsible for returning monies belonging to the individuals in- individuals the to belonging monies returning for responsible

the Native peoples is determined, the federal government will be will government federal the determined, is peoples Native the

If the class action suit perseveres and a total loss of income owed income of loss total a and perseveres suit action class the If

person gets”. person

Interior Department. Right now, fish get more money than an Indian an than money more get fish now, Right Department. Interior

Roger Trudell, “the bottom line would be to get the bureau out of the of out bureau the get to be would line bottom “the Trudell, Roger

Affairs departments. According to the Santee Sioux Tribal Chairman, Tribal Sioux Santee the to According departments. Affairs

funds is spread between a number of Interior and Bureau of Indian of Bureau and Interior of number a between spread is funds

to continue managing the funds. Currently, the management of trust of management the Currently, funds. the managing continue to

both tribal and individual - while allowing the Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian of Bureau the allowing while - individual and tribal both

As an alternative, tribal leaders suggest centralizing trust funds - funds trust centralizing suggest leaders tribal alternative, an As

ment of billions of dollars belonging to Native landowners. Native to belonging dollars of billions of ment

to address the decades-old problem of the government’s mismanage- government’s the of problem decades-old the address to

leader opposes this proposal. As one leader noted, this change fails change this noted, leader one As proposal. this opposes leader

funding will be used to oversee trust reform. Almost every Native every Almost reform. trust oversee to used be will funding

ney for trust fund management. However, only $83 million of this of million $83 only However, management. fund trust for ney

Department of the Interior. Apparently, she visualizes using this mo- this using visualizes she Apparently, Interior. the of Department

lion earmarked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs be transferred to the to transferred be Affairs Indian of Bureau the for earmarked lion

Assets Management. Consequently, Norton requested that $300 mil- $300 that requested Norton Consequently, Management. Assets

stead, they envision the development of a Bureau of Indian Trust Indian of Bureau a of development the envision they stead,

Bureau of Indian Affair’s historical control over trust accounts. In its In accounts. trust over control historical Affair’s Indian of Bureau

Both McCaleb and Norton are spearheading efforts to remove the remove to efforts spearheading are Norton and McCaleb Both

tion by past administrators. past by tion

due to improper storage and the destruction of other critical informa- critical other of destruction the and storage improper to due

faulty accounting practices of the past, a loss of critical documents critical of loss a past, the of practices accounting faulty

began more than 100 years ago. Norton’s main defense centers on the on centers defense main Norton’s ago. years 100 than more began

tives are owed because of prior mismanagement of the fund, which fund, the of mismanagement prior of because owed are tives

Interior Secretary discussed her efforts to determine how much Na- much how determine to efforts her discussed Secretary Interior

When the court resumed after its recess during January 2002, the 2002, January during recess its after resumed court the When

efforts to gain information concerning funds missing from their accounts. their from missing funds concerning information gain to efforts

ing to the District Judge, Norton and McCaleb failed to aid the trust holders’ trust the aid to failed McCaleb and Norton Judge, District the to ing

officials over the potentially fraudulent loss of these trust monies. Accord- monies. trust these of loss fraudulent potentially the over officials

seeing the trial filed contempt charges against both of the government the of both against charges contempt filed trial the seeing of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In late December, the District Judge over- Judge District the December, late In Affairs. Indian of Bureau the of tion occurs when the private or public sector rather than Native peoples control culturally important land. Yucca Mountain provides an example of this difficulty. In January 2002, the Department of Energy chose Yucca Mountain as a repository for the bulk of the nation’s nuclear waste. Currently, about 40,000 tons of commercial waste is generated yearly. Estimates suggest that this amount will increase by at least 2,000 tons annually. In order to address this problem, the Energy Department wants to deposit a minimum of 77,000 tons of highly radioactive material at Yucca Mountain. Located in Nevada, Yucca Mountain is considered a place with im- mense spiritual power by the Shoshone and Paiute peoples. According to their beliefs, even the water emerging from the mountain contains spiritual energy. Although the mountain has been used by the military for nuclear testing, the land is actually protected by an 1863 treaty signed by the United States Government and the Shoshone. Unfortu- nately, the Shoshone have not been able to control their rights to the land. Because of the misuse of this area, the Western Shoshone Nation suffer from widespread cancer, leukemia and other disease as a result of the fallout from more than 900 atomic explosions on their territory. During President Clinton’s tenure in office, he vetoed the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear repository. With a new administration, this policy has changed. President Bush approved the site’s use as a storage area for radioactive waste in February 2002. If the Senate and the House approve the plan, Yucca Mountain will become the na- tion’s number one nuclear repository. Currently, the Native peoples affected, Nevada officials and environmentalists are fighting Yucca Mountain’s designation. Politically, however, it appears that this coalition will lose their battle. Adding insult to injury, Senate Bill 958 - the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act offers $117 million to individual Western Shos- hone citizens for 26 million acres of land that is not, and has never been, for sale. With the passage of this bill, any future claims made by the Western Shoshone will not be considered. Presently, the bill is still in committee. It is impossible to predict whether or not the Senate will pass the bill once it moves to the floor for a vote. Sponsors of the bill hope that its passage will diminish the loss of Yucca Mountain by providing monies for the land and long-term health costs incurred by the Western

Shoshone from the past misuses of their territory.

Weatherman Draw, which encompasses 47,000 acres and is lo- •

•

cated approximately 70 miles southwest of Billings, Montana is an- •

•

other sacred area in peril. At least ten Native nations perceive this • •

• region to be sacred. Numerous rock drawings dating back several •

• 69

• 70 become much worse. In relation to the population at large, death rates death large, at population the to relation In worse. much become • •

• to 7.2 for the population at large. In other areas, these disparities these areas, other In large. at population the for 7.2 to •

•

United States. Infant mortality is 8.9 per 1,000 live births, as compared as births, live 1,000 per 8.9 is mortality Infant States. United •

•

expectancy is five years less than for any other populations in the in populations other any for than less years five is expectancy •

expectancy, infant deaths, diabetes, tuberculosis and alcoholism. Life alcoholism. and tuberculosis diabetes, deaths, infant expectancy,

in the United States. Obvious health disparities exist in terms of life of terms in exist disparities health Obvious States. United the in

Native peoples is still poorer than that of any other ethnic population ethnic other any of that than poorer still is peoples Native

Indian Health Service for their medical needs. And yet the health of health the yet And needs. medical their for Service Health Indian

Currently, 60% of Native peoples in the United States rely on the on rely States United the in peoples Native of 60% Currently,

received most of these monies. these of most received

tives. Populations residing on reservations or in rural communities rural in or reservations on residing Populations tives.

provide healthcare to 2.4 million American Indians and Alaska Na- Alaska and Indians American million 2.4 to healthcare provide

Department of Health and Human Services, received $2.6 billion to billion $2.6 received Services, Human and Health of Department

During the year, the Indian Health Service, under the auspices of the of auspices the under Service, Health Indian the year, the During

Health Issues Health

). The Indigenous World 2000-2001 World Indigenous The

ered critical to the local Paiute, will have a chance to recover (see also (see recover to chance a have will Paiute, local the to critical ered

gered cui-ui fish, which is only found at Pyramid Lake and consid- and Lake Pyramid at found only is which fish, cui-ui gered

major source of water for Pyramid Lake. As a consequence, the endan- the consequence, a As Lake. Pyramid for water of source major

in Nevada. $36 million will be used to clean up the Truckee River, a River, Truckee the up clean to used be will million $36 Nevada. in

Tribe’s agreement with the Department of the Interior and local cities local and Interior the of Department the with agreement Tribe’s

Another positive development involves the Pyramid Lake Paiute Lake Pyramid the involves development positive Another

protecting the site from development. from site the protecting

case, the National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution a passed Indians American of Congress National the case,

Vernon, New Jersey to build a baseball field on the sacred area. In this In area. sacred the on field baseball a build to Jersey New Vernon,

aged to save a 10,000-year-old site from plans by the town council of council town the by plans from site 10,000-year-old a save to aged

On a more optimistic note, the Lenape of New Jersey have man- have Jersey New of Lenape the note, optimistic more a On

Anschutz has refused to consider the Blackfeet’s offer. Blackfeet’s the consider to refused has Anschutz

Nation is known to contain at least two billion barrels of oil. To date, To oil. of barrels billion two least at contain to known is Nation

sacred site. Based on geological surveys, the region offered by this by offered region the surveys, geological on Based site. sacred

chutz the right to drill for oil on their reservation instead of on the on of instead reservation their on oil for drill to right the chutz

As a strategy to protect the region, the Blackfeet have offered Ans- offered have Blackfeet the region, the protect to strategy a As

Anschutz’s firm the right to begin drilling in the region this June. this region the in drilling begin to right the firm Anschutz’s

the issue was buried in red tape. After Bush took office, he granted he office, took Bush After tape. red in buried was issue the

important to our nation’s heritage. During Clinton’s presidential term, presidential Clinton’s During heritage. nation’s our to important

of Land Management’s regulations concerning the protection of places of protection the concerning regulations Management’s Land of

oil in the area. He bought the lease in 1994, which predates the Bureau the predates which 1994, in lease the bought He area. the in oil

schutz, the 16 the schutz, wealthiest person in the world, has a lease to drill for drill to lease a has world, the in person wealthiest

th thousand years, dot the entire landscape. Unfortunately, Philip An- Philip Unfortunately, landscape. entire the dot years, thousand due to alcoholism (740%), tuberculosis (500%), diabetes (390%) and suicide (190%), are clearly much higher for Native peoples. According to the Indian Health Service, they only receive 59% of the monies needed to address the health care needs of Native peoples. Hopefully, next year’s budget will take these health disparities into account.

Development

Reservations are desperately trying to develop employment opportu- nities for their citizens. In some states, gambling has provided a boom to local economies. Many states do not allow this type of activity, however. In those states that do allow gambling, the market is becom- ing saturated with competing gaming operations. In the past, pro- ceeds from gaming could not be taxed by the state in which they operated. A number of states have successfully fought to tax these proceeds during the past year. This has reduced profits made from gambling further. In Nebraska, the Santee community has continued to battle against the state for the right to legally operate a gaming operation. For the first time since this issue arose, the state’s committee addressing the activity had enough votes to send a bill to the floor. Once there, it is hoped that the bill will receive enough support from fellow state legislatures to undertake a statewide ballot on the rights of Native gaming. If passed, casino gambling would be allowed on reservation lands or trust lands owned by the Omahas, Winnebagos, Poncas and Santees. According to some elected officials, however, not enough votes are available in the state legislature to place the issue on November’s ballot. During the past year, the Lakota attempted to develop the commer- cial production of hemp. The importation of hemp is allowed through NAFTA and currently Canada is one of the main exporters of this crop into the United States. Unfortunately, the United States failed to grant the Lakota the right to produce hemp for sale. Unfortunately, state and federal laws continue to hinder the com- mercial development of tribal lands. Few options beyond gambling, the selling of extractive resources and the leasing of land for grazing

or farming are presently available to Native peoples. Few Native

nations have managed to make enough money in any of these areas •

•

to diversify their economies. Hopefully, 2002 will be a more prosper- •

•

ous one for the indigenous peoples of the United States. • •

• •

• 71 • 72 • • • • • •

•

•

not stopped this practice. this stopped not

ing to the Wichitas and their affiliates. So far, the state of Texas has Texas of state the far, So affiliates. their and Wichitas the to ing

individuals permits to dig on their property for artifacts once belong- once artifacts for property their on dig to permits individuals

lands in that region. It is legal for private landowners in Texas to sell to Texas in landowners private for legal is It region. that in lands

are fighting Texas for the right to control the use of their ancestral their of use the control to right the for Texas fighting are

Currently, the Wichitas and affiliated Tribes, located in Oklahoma, in located Tribes, affiliated and Wichitas the Currently,

however, the Lakota refuse to touch money given for land. for given money touch to refuse Lakota the however,

South Dakota as illegal, received monies for this land. Like the Hopi, the Like land. this for monies received illegal, as Dakota South

a 1983 ruling. The Lakota, who view the sale of the Black Hills of Hills Black the of sale the view who Lakota, The ruling. 1983 a

Death Valley, although they were promised that this would occur in occur would this that promised were they although Valley, Death

land. The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe has yet to receive any acreage in acreage any receive to yet has Tribe Shoshone Timbisha The land.

the return of land taken illegally or for monetary compensation for lost for compensation monetary for or illegally taken land of return the

In 2001, few - if any - Native communities won in their efforts for either for efforts their in won communities Native - any if - few 2001, In

Land Claims Land

during the next fiscal year. fiscal next the during

Native American education. Hopefully, funding levels will increase will levels funding Hopefully, education. American Native

have yet to see the 1 billion dollars promised by Bush for improving for Bush by promised dollars billion 1 the see to yet have

behind” and to fund schools adequately in his 2003 budget. They budget. 2003 his in adequately schools fund to and behind”

Native educational leaders are lobbying Bush to “leave no child no “leave to Bush lobbying are leaders educational Native

fulfill their administrative responsibilities. administrative their fulfill

year, these schools will only receive 80% of the funding needed to needed funding the of 80% receive only will schools these year,

have also received less money than requested. During the 2002 fiscal 2002 the During requested. than money less received also have

Native schools that administer their own education programs education own their administer that schools Native

Affairs, only $13.1 million dollars were earmarked for these needs. these for earmarked were dollars million $13.1 only Affairs,

and construct schools under the management of the Bureau of Indian of Bureau the of management the under schools construct and

istration estimates $292 million dollars are needed to repair, improve repair, to needed are dollars million $292 estimates istration

receive $504 million in 2002. Although the General Services Admin- Services General the Although 2002. in million $504 receive

Indian Affairs’ school programs, which serve 50,000 students, will students, 50,000 serve which programs, school Affairs’ Indian

to 22% for whites and 20% for all other ethnic groups. The Bureau of Bureau The groups. ethnic other all for 20% and whites for 22% to

Only 9% of Native Americans have bachelor’s degrees, as compared as degrees, bachelor’s have Americans Native of 9% Only

Native American students face obstacles in their educational success. educational their in obstacles face students American Native Education

MEXICO AND

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CENTRAL AMERICA •

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• •

• 73

• 74

gress of the Union, and even the parties comprising it, were polarised were it, comprising parties the even and Union, the of gress •

• express an opinion in the face of such a significant event. The Con- The event. significant a such of face the in opinion an express • •

• capital. There was not one social sector in the country that did not did that country the in sector social one not was There capital. •

•

issue was the presence of the Zapatista command in the country’s the in command Zapatista the of presence the was issue •

Throughout February and March, the most significant national significant most the March, and February Throughout

Amerindian peoples were in favour of this initiative. this of favour in were peoples Amerindian

ties and 128 senators, and the nation as a whole, the reasons why the why reasons the whole, a as nation the and senators, 128 and ties

the platform at the Congress of the Union to explain to the 500 depu- 500 the to explain to Union the of Congress the at platform the

on the agenda was the proposal that the EZLN command should take should command EZLN the that proposal the was agenda the on

promise to the indigenous movement. For this reason, a central point central a reason, this For movement. indigenous the to promise

one of his government’s first actions and in fulfilment of his campaign his of fulfilment in and actions first government’s his of one

President Vicente Fox had sent this to the Congress of the Union as Union the of Congress the to this sent had Fox Vicente President

Dialogue discussions in San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas in 1996. in Chiapas Larráinzar, Andrés San in discussions Dialogue

Concord and Peacemaking (COCOPA) as a result of the first Peace first the of result a as (COCOPA) Peacemaking and Concord

nous rights and culture, formulated by the Commission for Commission the by formulated culture, and rights nous indige

ence, their full support of the initiative for constitutional reform on reform constitutional for initiative the of support full their ence,

The second aim of the march was to demonstrate, by their pres- their by demonstrate, to was march the of aim second The

Some 5,000 observers were also present. also were observers 5,000 Some

peoples attended this event, coming from 27 states of the Republic. the of states 27 from coming event, this attended peoples

(5 March 2001), around 3,383 delegates from 41 indigenous 41 from delegates 3,383 around 2001), March (5 nada

tonomy and self-determination. According to the newspaper newspaper the to According self-determination. and tonomy La Jor- La

fied their desire to promote legal reforms relating to indigenous au- indigenous to relating reforms legal promote to desire their fied

Michoacán, in which the EZLN and the indigenous movement rati- movement indigenous the and EZLN the which in Michoacán,

a national indigenous meeting held in the community of Nurío de Nurío of community the in held meeting indigenous national a

representative sections of the national indigenous movement through movement indigenous national the of sections representative

first was the interaction the EZLN was able to establish with the most the with establish to able was EZLN the interaction the was first

Two important objectives of the march are worth mentioning. The mentioning. worth are march the of objectives important Two

ing in the capital of the Republic to implement a prolific agenda. prolific a implement to Republic the of capital the in ing

than two thousand kilometres passing through 13 states, until arriv- until states, 13 through passing kilometres thousand two than

The march began on 24 February, lasted 17 days and covered more covered and days 17 lasted February, 24 on began march The

The March of those who are the Colour of the Earth the of Colour the are who those of March The

constitutional reforms relating to indigenous rights and culture. and rights indigenous to relating reforms constitutional

Insurgent Sub-Commander Marcos at its head – and the debate on debate the and – head its at Marcos Sub-Commander Insurgent

”march for dignity” to Mexico City by the EZLN EZLN the by City Mexico to dignity” for ”march – with – comandantes

1

D

indigenous world, and for the country as a whole, were the were whole, a as country the for and world, indigenous

uring the first half of 2001, the most important events for the for events important most the 2001, of half first the uring MEXICO between those in favour and those against the Zapatista demands. Finally, on 28 March, from 11 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, the Chamber of Deputies (without the senators) and, via national television coverage, the whole country heard the moving words of the Zapatista command.

Constitutional Reform in the Congress of the Union What came next was an intense national debate on the constitutional reform and its promulgation. This has passed through various stages, the latest of which – as of February 2002 at least – has yet to be concluded. First, the reform was approved by the Congress of the Union. Then, it was sent to the local assemblies for their ratification because the law establishes that, for constitutional reforms to enter

into force, the approval of 16 state legislatures is required. The reform

had to be debated in the state congresses, where it would be endorsed •

•

or rejected. If a majority approved it, it would be accepted and prom- •

•

ulgated by the nation’s executive power. If rejected, it would have to • •

• return to the Congress of the Union for amendment. •

• 75

• 76 with the more hard-line sectors of his party, which have consistently have which party, his of sectors hard-line more the with • •

• whilst, in fact, he had done nothing to push it through and, faced and, through it push to nothing done had he fact, in whilst, •

•

public opinion believe that the COCOPA law had been his own his been had law COCOPA the that believe opinion public •

•

being a “sham”, by trying to make the indigenous movement and movement indigenous the make to trying by “sham”, a being •

Similarly, it reproached and criticised President Vicente Fox for Fox Vicente President criticised and reproached it Similarly,

and consensus the indigenous struggle has achieved”. has struggle indigenous the consensus and

national and international society, as it disregards the mobilisation the disregards it as society, international and national

rights and represents a serious offence against Amerindian peoples, Amerindian against offence serious a represents and rights

In addition, the said reform “prevents the exercise of indigenous of exercise the “prevents reform said the addition, In

tion, amongst other things. other amongst tion,

resources, the election of authorities and the law of regional associa- regional of law the and authorities of election the resources,

public law, lands and territories, the use and enjoyment of natural of enjoyment and use the territories, and lands law, public

autonomy and self-determination, Amerindian peoples as subjects of subjects as peoples Amerindian self-determination, and autonomy

so-called “COCOPA initiative for a law” in its fundamental points: fundamental its in law” a for initiative “COCOPA so-called

[B]etrayed the San Andrés Accords in general and, in particular, the particular, in and, general in Accords Andrés San the [B]etrayed

civil society” and that it that and society” civil

Indigenous Congress, of the EZLN, or of national and international and national of or EZLN, the of Congress, Indigenous

to the demands of Mexico’s Amerindian peoples, of the National the of peoples, Amerindian Mexico’s of demands the to

stated its rejection of the reform, noting that it “in no way responded way no “in it that noting reform, the of rejection its stated

Three days later, the EZLN issued two press releases in which it which in releases press two issued EZLN the later, days Three

The Zapatista Response Zapatista The

ganisations in the country. the in ganisations

This reform was immediately rejected by the main indigenous or- indigenous main the by rejected immediately was reform This

COPA’s proposal and minimised the scope of indigenous rights. indigenous of scope the minimised and proposal COPA’s

proved a law on Indigenous Rights and Culture that sidelined CO- sidelined that Culture and Rights Indigenous on law a proved

Unexpectedly, on 26 April 2001, the Congress of the Union ap- Union the of Congress the 2001, April 26 on Unexpectedly,

stood firm in their position to refuse to accept COCOPA’s proposal. COCOPA’s accept to refuse to position their in firm stood

Action Party (PAN) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Party Revolutionary Institutional the and (PAN) Party Action

power groups within the Senate, in an alliance between the National the between alliance an in Senate, the within groups power

legitimize their struggle in the eyes of public opinion. However, opinion. public of eyes the in struggle their legitimize

With the Zapatista march, they had managed to win the battle to battle the win to managed had they march, Zapatista the With

more lost centre stage in the national arena. national the in stage centre lost more

and the Chiapas conflict and the rights of indigenous peoples once peoples indigenous of rights the and conflict Chiapas the and

attention, and that of Mexico’s along with it, turned to other problems other to turned it, with along Mexico’s of that and attention,

2001. With the collapse of the twin towers in New York, the world’s the York, New in towers twin the of collapse the With 2001.

mained focused on it for several months, right up until September 11, September until up right months, several for it on focused mained

ment active throughout the country, and the country’s attention re- attention country’s the and country, the throughout active ment This long discussion process on reform kept the indigenous move- indigenous the kept reform on process discussion long This refused to recognise indigenous rights, he had simply given way. With the reform, notes the EZLN’s press release, the deputies and gov- ernment of Vicente Fox have closed the doors on dialogue and peace, as

[T]hey avoid resolving one of the original causes of the Zapatista uprising; they give the different armed groups in Mexico a raison d’être...and try to break up the national indigenous movement by giving the state congresses an obligation of the Federal Legislative Power.

For which reason, “the EZLN formally refuses to recognise this con- stitutional reform on indigenous rights and culture” as it sabotages the incipient process of rapprochement between the federal govern- ment and the EZLN, “betraying hopes for a negotiated solution to the war in Chiapas, and revealing the total divorce of the political class from popular demands”. With the reform, the EZLN declared the nascent exchange it had initiated with President Fox’s government suspended, and stated that “there will be no more contact between the Fox government and the EZLN”. Dialogue would be re-established, it declared, when CO- COPA’s legal initiative was approved, for which reason “the Za- patistas will continue our resistance and rebellion”.

Ratification of the reform in the states of the Republic The constitutional mechanism that obliges one half plus one (16) of the local congresses of the 31 states of the Republic to approve or reject a constitutional reform offered new hope for a re-opening of the discus- sion on the reform that had been approved by the deputies. In the states of the Republic, indigenous organisations were active in putting pres- sure on the legislatures of their states to vote against the reform. It was significant that two governors, of the states of Oaxaca - José Murat - and Chiapas – Pablo Salazar- called publicly at national level for the state legislatures to reject the reform. Many sectors of the population called on the country not to approve the reform. For exam- ple, on 13 June 2001, more than one hundred Mexican artists and

intellectuals signed a document in which they expressed their rejec-

tion of the Law on Indigenous Rights and Culture approved by the •

•

Federal Congress the previous April. •

•

The outcome could not be predicted: the disputes, alliances and • •

• political balances kept public opinion on tenterhooks. In the end, and •

• 77

• 78 Supreme Court of Justice to pass judgement on the issues raised in raised issues the on judgement pass to Justice of Court Supreme • •

• This is the scenario in 2002: the EZLN continues to wait for the for wait to continues EZLN the 2002: in scenario the is This •

•

those involved said, the law was “stillborn”. was law the said, involved those •

•

ernment undertake “a reform of the reform”. And, as a majority of majority a as And, reform”. the of reform “a undertake ernment •

Congress. Inside, a group of deputies were demanding that the gov- the that demanding were deputies of group a Inside, Congress.

people from indigenous and civil organisations protested outside the outside protested organisations civil and indigenous from people

President Fox promulgated the “anti” COCOPA law, hundreds of hundreds law, COCOPA “anti” the promulgated Fox President

the reform as “a betrayal of the Mexican state”. The same day that day same The state”. Mexican the of betrayal “a as reform the

tions added their weight to the EZLN’s pronouncement that described that pronouncement EZLN’s the to weight their added tions

On hearing the government’s decision, the indigenous organisa- indigenous the decision, government’s the hearing On

vention 169, which forms part of the constitutional law of Mexico. of law constitutional the of part forms which 169, vention

cepts contained within the reform were in contravention of ILO Con- ILO of contravention in were reform the within contained cepts

had already won under state laws. In addition, quite clearly, the pre- the clearly, quite addition, In laws. state under won already had

reform as, they argued, it detracted from the rights that some peoples some that rights the from detracted it argued, they as, reform

pas, amongst others, all presented constitutional lawsuits against the against lawsuits constitutional presented all others, amongst pas,

Laguna (Mexico state), and communities and municipalities in Chia- in municipalities and communities and state), (Mexico Laguna

zahua communities of San Miguel Xoltepec and San Antonio de la de Antonio San and Xoltepec Miguel San of communities zahua

Copalillo (Guerrero) and Comalcalco (Tabasco), the indigenous Ma- indigenous the (Tabasco), Comalcalco and (Guerrero) Copalillo

the municipalities of Molcaxac (Puebla), of Texcaltepec (Veracruz), Texcaltepec of (Puebla), Molcaxac of municipalities the

deputies from the PRD, PRI and PVEM and PRI PRD, the from deputies in the Tlaxcala state congress, state Tlaxcala the in

3

as the governor, deputies, and 400 municipal presidents from Oaxaca, from presidents municipal 400 and deputies, governor, the as

ing the deputies’ approval of the reform in April, various people such people various April, in reform the of approval deputies’ the ing

to the reform. Because the fact is that, in an immediate reaction follow- reaction immediate an in that, is fact the Because reform. the to

Court of Justice had passed judgement on the issues raised in objection in raised issues the on judgement passed had Justice of Court

movement demanded that it refrain from doing so until the Supreme the until so doing from refrain it that demanded movement

spite the fact that many sectors of the population and the indigenous the and population the of sectors many that fact the spite

The government went ahead with promulgation of this law de- law this of promulgation with ahead went government The

Law thus entered into force on 15 August. 15 on force into entered thus Law

115 in the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF). The Indigenous The (DOF). Federation the of Journal Official the in 115

the reform, publishing reforms to constitutional articles 1, 2, 4, 18 and 18 4, 2, 1, articles constitutional to reforms publishing reform, the

end, the government of the Republic promulgated a decree regarding decree a promulgated Republic the of government the end,

Once the ratification process in the state congresses had come to an to come had congresses state the in process ratification the Once

Promulgation of the reform the of Promulgation

minimises the legitimacy of the reform. the of legitimacy the minimises

where the indigenous population is not in the majority, which clearly which majority, the in not is population indigenous the where

others. The reform was approved by the vote of legislatures in states in legislatures of vote the by approved was reform The others.

the case in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas Guerrero, Oaxaca, in case the and San Luis Potosí, among Potosí, Luis San and

2

rejected in all states with a majority indigenous population. Such was Such population. indigenous majority a with states all in rejected

latures. It is important to note that the reform was overwhelmingly was reform the that note to important is It latures. by a small margin, the reform was approved by 19 of the state legis- state the of 19 by approved was reform the margin, small a by objection to the reform. At the same time, a group of deputies is promoting “a reform of the reform”. Others are hoping that Vicente Fox will fulfil his many promises in this respect. And, in fact, under pressure from pro-Zapatista activists abroad, the president declared that he would promote a discussion of the reform but it has to be assumed that, on returning to the country, he forgot about the new commitment he had made, as he has not mentioned the subject since. Meanwhile, various indigenous players continue to reject the reform whilst, in other states, some indigenous organisations are making the most of the commitment undertaken by their deputies in approving the law to try to win rights that were previously denied them. October 12 was the context for marches in a number of the coun- try’s towns, organised by indigenous organisations to commemorate the 509 years of indigenous resistance and to protest at the entry into force of the constitutional reform on indigenous rights and culture approved by the Congress. A number of indigenous organisations came to Mexico City to protest the same issues. And so, hoping that in the spring of 2002 the courts would decide on the legal validity of the reform or demand its revision, the EZLN and indigenous organisations continue to wait. It is unknown how the armed rebels will react following the court’s judgement: whether they will remain silent during the last five years of Vicente Fox’s government (as they did with ex-president Ernesto Zedillo in his last four years in government) or whether they will organise another new initiative to put them once more in the national limelight, from which they have momentarily been dis- placed due to the serious problems being debated in the country, an economic crisis and the hike in prices of basic services (such as electricity). International events since September 2001 and President Bush’s escalat- ing war against “terrorism” also focus people’s concerns elsewhere.

The Plan Puebla-Panama

Various analysts have established a direct link between the economic mega-projects – particularly those known as the “Plan Puebla-Pa- nama”, the “Meso-American Corridor”, the mega-projects of the Te- huantepec Isthmus, the Pacific and Golf Corridors, to name but a few

- being favoured by the current administration and the refusal of the

Fox government and his PAN party to approve the initiative for leg- •

•

islative reforms on indigenous rights, including recognition of the •

•

territorial rights of the indigenous peoples in the terms of the precepts • •

4 • contained in ILO Convention 169. In fact, the concepts that were most •

• 79

• 80 initiating mega-projects in the south of the country. the of south the in mega-projects initiating • •

• sion in neighbouring USA, the Mexican government is insisting on insisting is government Mexican the USA, neighbouring in sion •

•

impact of the crisis in Argentina, and strongly affected by the reces- the by affected strongly and Argentina, in crisis the of impact •

•

withdrawn from electricity. Given this situation, combined with the with combined situation, this Given electricity. from withdrawn •

and, at the same time, rural sector resources were cut and subsidies and cut were resources sector rural time, same the at and,

threatened, and a transfer of its functions to the local states has begun) has states local the to functions its of transfer a and threatened,

ous budget cuts for 2002 (and INI’s continued survival has even been even has survival continued INI’s (and 2002 for cuts budget ous

tions, including the National Indigenist Institute (INI), suffered seri- suffered (INI), Institute Indigenist National the including tions,

The reality was somewhat different. Social development institu- development Social different. somewhat was reality The

but one of poverty”, hence the greater economic resources on offer. on resources economic greater the hence poverty”, of one but

ment) noting that, “the problem of indigenous peoples is not one of rights of one not is peoples indigenous of problem “the that, noting ment)

(in fact, the reform contains a paragraph promising strong public invest- public strong promising paragraph a contains reform the fact, (in

indigenous peoples, they offered greater financial investment in exchange in investment financial greater offered they peoples, indigenous

hand, while justifying the indigenous reform of “restricted rights” for rights” “restricted of reform indigenous the justifying while hand,

tradictory in terms of facing up to the country’s main problems. On the one the On problems. main country’s the to up facing of terms in tradictory

The Fox government’s policies and legislative actions have been con- been have actions legislative and policies government’s Fox The

during its first year in office. in year first its during

and, at the same time, the government has had to accept zero growth zero accept to had has government the time, same the at and,

2001, 255,000 jobs were lost in the country, according to official sources official to according country, the in lost were jobs 255,000 2001,

the first five months of the Fox government, from November 2000 to April to 2000 November from government, Fox the of months five first the

nomy in order to face up to the economic crisis Mexico is suffering. During suffering. is Mexico crisis economic the to up face to order in nomy

economic policy on the country’s greater integration into the global eco- global the into integration greater country’s the on policy economic

region for national development”. The Fox government has focused its focused has government Fox The development”. national for region

area and “considered by the Mexican federal government to be a strategic a be to government federal Mexican the by “considered and area

greatest poverty, is concentrated, covering 25.7% of the national territorial national the of 25.7% covering concentrated, is poverty, greatest

where the country’s indigenous population, along with the country’s the with along population, indigenous country’s the where

According to its appraisal, the south-south-east region of Mexico is Mexico of region south-south-east the appraisal, its to According

inhabitants (CIEPAC 2001). (CIEPAC inhabitants

Panama)”. The PPP region as a whole comprises more than 62 million 62 than more comprises whole a as region PPP The Panama)”.

(Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Nicaragua Honduras, Guatemala, Salvador, El Rica, Costa (Belize,

tán) and within Central America the seven countries of that region that of countries seven the America Central within and tán)

Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yuca- and Veracruz Tabasco, Roo, Quintana Puebla, Oaxaca, Guerrero,

covers the nine states of the south-south-east (Campeche, Chiapas, (Campeche, south-south-east the of states nine the covers

integrated development plan whose geographic scope within Mexico within scope geographic whose plan development integrated

“Scope of Action”, the PPP is described as a “visionary long-term “visionary a as described is PPP the Action”, of “Scope

Document” of the Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP). In the section entitled section the In (PPP). Puebla-Panama Plan the of Document”

In March 2001, the federal government made known the “Basic the known made government federal the 2001, March In

a thorn in the side of these business initiatives. business these of side the in thorn a

ples to their territories, autonomy and self-determination would form would self-determination and autonomy territories, their to ples

links between both issues are obvious: the rights of indigenous peo- indigenous of rights the obvious: are issues both between links

precisely the terms territory, autonomy and self-determination. The self-determination. and autonomy territory, terms the precisely discussed during the national debate on indigenous reform were reform indigenous on debate national the during discussed The search for alternative strategies However, these proposals gained no sympathy from the different popular sectors, in particular the indigenous organisations, who feel threatened by foreign capital, particularly in a context of the lack of legal protection for their territories that results from the approved reform. So they stated their complete rejection of all mega-projects. In order to face up to these threats, various indigenous organisations, together with sectors of civil society have begun a process of reviewing the mega-projects and are endeavouring to design alternative strategies with which to challenge them. In May 2001, the border town of Tapachula, Chiapas played host to the First Forum for Information and Analysis, in which 250 repre- sentatives from 109 civil society and production organisations from around Central America took part. Six months later, the second forum was held in Xelajú, Guatemala, from 22 to 24 November, with more than 800 delegates representing 300 social organisations from Mexico and Central America, accompanied by observers from Canada, the USA and various European countries. The ”imposed globalisation” of free trade agreements, in particular the PPP, was widely discussed in this forum. In the Declaration it was stated that,

For the men and women attending the Xelajú Forum, the PPP is a prefabricated geo-political project that seeks to build a services and infrastructure zone in Meso-America, designed from the logic of transnational business, national oligarchies and international finan- cial institutions. The aim of this project is to create a service infra- structure for the exportation of goods, the exploitation of our natural resources, biodiversity and labour of our peoples and in no way responds to the social logic of Meso-American peoples and communi- ties. (CIEPAC, 2001).

And so the struggle for recognition of the territorial rights, autonomy and self-determination of indigenous peoples takes a new turn, now forced to face up to threats from the transnational capital that will presumably arrive with the mega-projects, without there being any guarantee that such a strategy will be able to stop the deepening of

already severe poverty caused by the economic crisis in the country.

The struggle of the indigenous peoples of Guerrero •

•

•

•

The most significant events in Guerrero were the participation of four • •

• indigenous peoples, the Mixteco, Nahua, Tlapaneco and Amuzgo, in •

• 81

• 82 thorities. Given the racist and arrogant attitude of the Investigating the of attitude arrogant and racist the Given thorities. • •

• Acatlán to demand the immediate liberation of the indigenous au- indigenous the of liberation immediate the demand to Acatlán •

•

region, who immediately marched on the municipal centre of San Luis San of centre municipal the on marched immediately who region, •

•

cutory action outraged the majority of indigenous communities in the in communities indigenous of majority the outraged action cutory •

digenous people and deprived them of their freedom. This perse- This freedom. their of them deprived and people digenous

leadership. They were accused of having illegally detained non-in- detained illegally having of accused were They leadership.

Investigators just as they were in the process of electing their new their electing of process the in were they as just Investigators

Indigenous Authorities were violently arrested by the State Police State the by arrested violently were Authorities Indigenous

February 2002, five members of the Regional Coordinating Body of Body Coordinating Regional the of members five 2002, February

persecution of their leaders on the part of the state authorities. On 11 On authorities. state the of part the on leaders their of persecution

and public insecurity, has been one of a fabrication of crimes and crimes of fabrication a of one been has insecurity, public and

state authorities and all citizens its effectiveness at reducing crime reducing at effectiveness its citizens all and authorities state

response to this form of autonomy, which has demonstrated to the to demonstrated has which autonomy, of form this to response

bly, has taken responsibility for administering justice in the area. The area. the in justice administering for responsibility taken has bly,

of Indigenous Authorities which, via mandate of the Regional Assem- Regional the of mandate via which, Authorities Indigenous of

their rights as peoples, they formed the Regional Coordinating Body Coordinating Regional the formed they peoples, as rights their

Costa Chica”, known locally as the “Community Police”. Calling on Calling Police”. “Community the as locally known Chica”, Costa

“Public Security System for the Indigenous Peoples of Montaña and Montaña of Peoples Indigenous the for System Security “Public

solidate a project of the Tlapaneco and Mixteco peoples known as the as known peoples Mixteco and Tlapaneco the of project a solidate

tlatónoc and Atlamajalcingo del Monte, they have managed to con- to managed have they Monte, del Atlamajalcingo and tlatónoc

In the municipalities of San Luis Acatlán, Azoyú, Malinaltepec, Me- Malinaltepec, Azoyú, Acatlán, Luis San of municipalities the In

Community Police Community

taking into account the decisions of the communities. the of decisions the account into taking

authority over the indigenous authorities at a whim and without and whim a at authorities indigenous the over authority

and corrupt attitude of the municipal authorities who assert their assert who authorities municipal the of attitude corrupt and

Luis Acatlán. The crux of the conflict revolves around the cacique-like the around revolves conflict the of crux The Acatlán. Luis

the indigenous municipalities of Xochistlahuaca, Acatepec and San and Acatepec Xochistlahuaca, of municipalities indigenous the

experienced due to the political conflict that continues unresolved in unresolved continues that conflict political the to due experienced

Throughout this period, very tense and difficult moments were moments difficult and tense very period, this Throughout

minalize the state’s indigenous movement. indigenous state’s the minalize

sabotage. The three state powers joined forces to discredit and cri- and discredit to forces joined powers state three The sabotage.

eighteen indigenous leaders accused of insurrection, rebellion and rebellion insurrection, of accused leaders indigenous eighteen

government to respond by reopening previous investigations against investigations previous reopening by respond to government

and demand a public dialogue with the 45 local deputies led the state the led deputies local 45 the with dialogue public a demand and

the Congress of the Union. This determined action to block Congress block to action determined This Union. the of Congress the

manding that local deputies reject the Indigenous Law approved by approved Law Indigenous the reject deputies local that manding

the local congress by indigenous authorities and organisations de- organisations and authorities indigenous by congress local the

Motorcade March of the Zapatista command, and the occupation of occupation the and command, Zapatista the of March Motorcade the mass rally held in the town of Iguala for the purposes of the of purposes the for Iguala of town the in held rally mass the Cirilio Plácido Valerio, member of the Indigenous Community Police, San Luís Acatlan

Photo: Diana Vinding:

•

•

•

Mural on town hall in Santa Fe de la Laguna, a P’urhépecha community in Michoacán •

•

Photo: Diana Vinding • • •

• 83

• 84 June, “We will hold a consultation...We are aware that this will not will this that aware are consultation...We a hold will “We June, • •

• one they should do it themselves. They responded with realism on 7 on realism with responded They themselves. it do should they one •

•

ties told them they had no time for a consultation, and if they wanted they if and consultation, a for time no had they them told ties •

•

and Ódame authorities. The response was one of disdain. The depu- The disdain. of one was response The authorities. Ódame and •

Indigenous Rights and Culture”. This letter represented 67 Rarámuri 67 represented letter This Culture”. and Rights Indigenous

law. It ended thus: “We have always lived here with no respect for our for respect no with here lived always have “We thus: ended It law.

demanding a consultation prior to the approval of the indigenous the of approval the to prior consultation a demanding

on 23 May 2001 a letter was written to the Chihuahua deputies Chihuahua the to written was letter a 2001 May 23 on

from the peoples. As a result of the meetings of traditional authorities, traditional of meetings the of result a As peoples. the from

ence and racist scorn, has been constant and has provoked a reaction a provoked has and constant been has scorn, racist and ence

itself. Its policy of disdain of the Amerindian, of calculated indiffer- calculated of Amerindian, the of disdain of policy Its itself.

Ironically, the greatest promoter of change has been the government the been has change of promoter greatest the Ironically,

Disdain as a state policy state a as Disdain

history, create a consensus among all and thus defend their existence. their defend thus and all among consensus a create history,

exercise of interculturality in order to understand, come to terms with terms to come understand, to order in interculturality of exercise

tions, and always challenged. Now they have adopted them as an as them adopted have they Now challenged. always and tions,

traditional authorities which, before, were only tolerated as imposi- as tolerated only were before, which, authorities traditional

logue with policy makers... One major change is that of meetings of meetings of that is change major One makers... policy with logue

to other Amerindian peoples, they appoint young authorities, dia- authorities, young appoint they peoples, Amerindian other to

incorporated into the national indigenous movement, they now relate now they movement, indigenous national the into incorporated

These peoples have had to take many changes on board. They have They board. on changes many take to had have peoples These

forming.

ing also reached northern Mexico, organising, illuminating, trans- illuminating, organising, Mexico, northern reached also ing

uprising in Chiapas were all warning signs. The Zapatista awaken- Zapatista The signs. warning all were Chiapas in uprising

counter-reforms, the Free Trade Agreement and the 1994 Zapatista 1994 the and Agreement Trade Free the counter-reforms,

in history. The celebration of 500 years of dominance, the agrarian the dominance, of years 500 of celebration The history. in

them, that of their rights as peoples. The signs of danger can be found be can danger of signs The peoples. as rights their of that them,

unexpectedly burst onto a scene new to new scene a onto burst unexpectedly Ódame and Rarámuri The

5

The situation in Chihuahua in situation The

lective rights, autonomy and legal diversity from the legislative power. legislative the from diversity legal and autonomy rights, lective

the authorities and fighting for constitutional recognition of their col- their of recognition constitutional for fighting and authorities the

withdrawal of the warrants, seeking respectful coordination between coordination respectful seeking warrants, the of withdrawal

viewed. A record was signed of each case revision, demanding the demanding revision, case each of signed was record A viewed.

arrest warrants against members of the Community Police were re- were Police Community the of members against warrants arrest

leaders were freed on bail and eight court files containing eighteen containing files court eight and bail on freed were leaders

turning into a serious confrontation. On 12 February, the five detained five the February, 12 On confrontation. serious a into turning Officer and of the police in general, the situation was at the point of point the at was situation the general, in police the of and Officer take place before the approval or rejection of the issue currently under debate. However, we know that it is important as indigenous peoples to strengthen ourselves through this consultation process”. For six months, and with no resources, hitching lifts or on foot, they covered their territories, they provided information in Sunday meetings, they gathered community records. Finally, they presented the results to the state congress on 12 December. They brought 64 community reports, and 4,567 signatures against the law. They say in their report,

Indigenous people… categorically reject the law that has been approved. All the communities state that we want to continue living as we have always lived, with our customs, traditions, communal work, to have our own way of social organisation, our own way of meting out justice, of electing our traditional authorities, of having a culturally-focused education, of using the land and natural resources collectively and occupying the territory as our ancestors charged us to. This has been our life for many years and, with this law, we are being denied the rights that the ancients gave us. The approved law - far from respecting the experience of the Rarámuri and Odame peoples - takes from us what we have been and what we have been doing for many, many years.

Once more they were met with disdain. They were reproached for getting involved in issues they knew nothing about, they were told that they were not policy makers or lawyers, that they did not have the signatures of all indigenous people in Chihuahua, that their work meant nothing without official backing.

Notes and references

1 EZLN - Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional/Zapatista National Liberation Army. 2 In Chiapas, 27 deputies voted against and 5 in favour of the law. 3 PRD: Democratic Revolutionary Party; PRI: Institutional Revolutionary Party; PVEM: Green Ecology Party of Mexico. 4 See, in this regard, documents produced by the Centre for Economic and Political Research into Community Action, CIEPAC, AC.

5 The Rarámuri (92,000) and the Odame (7,000) along with the Warijó

(1,000) and the Pima (5-600) mostly live in the Sierra Tarahumara of •

•

Chihuahua state. (Editor’s note) •

•

•

•

• •

• 85

• 86

enous Women’s Rights Commission presented proposals for the Law the for proposals presented Commission Rights Women’s enous •

•

Municipal Code and a new law on Development Councils; the Indig- the Councils; Development on law new a and Code Municipal •

• ticipation Commission thus presented proposals for a reform of the of reform a for proposals presented thus Commission ticipation • •

•

Commissions’ periods of work were extended. The Reform and Par- and Reform The extended. were work of periods Commissions’ •

The rescheduling at the beginning of 2001 meant that some of these of some that meant 2001 of beginning the at rescheduling The

on Land and “Reform and Participation at all Levels”. all at Participation and “Reform and Land on

sion, and others continued functioning, including the commissions the including functioning, continued others and sion,

form Commission, which became a part of the Consultative Commis- Consultative the of part a became which Commission, form

ficialisation. Others were modified, for example the Educational Re- Educational the example for modified, were Others ficialisation.

sions were terminated, such as the Commission on Language Of- Language on Commission the as such terminated, were sions

of May 1999. On reaching the end of their mandate, some commis- some mandate, their of end the reaching On 1999. May of

however, abandoned following the negative results of the referendum the of results negative the following abandoned however,

and the creation of a Land Fund. The most important proposals were, proposals important most The Fund. Land a of creation the and

to the officialisation of indigenous languages, educational reforms educational languages, indigenous of officialisation the to

sions which, in 1998-1999, offered a number of proposals with regard with proposals of number a offered 1998-1999, in which, sions

vided for the establishment of a series of Parity and Specific Commis- Specific and Parity of series a of establishment the for vided

The Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples pro- Peoples Indigenous of Rights and Identity on Agreement The

of peace of ” huipil “ the of weaving slow The

3

their struggle. their

tempting to reorganise and find a space in which they can continue can they which in space a find and reorganise to tempting

public agenda, and indigenous organisations are relegated to at- to relegated are organisations indigenous and agenda, public

apartheid”. In fact, the indigenous issue is no longer high on the on high longer no is issue indigenous the fact, In apartheid”.

In its report, the Head of Mission described Guatemala as a “de facto “de a as Guatemala described Mission of Head the report, its In

an exclusive monocultural model. monocultural exclusive an

2

proposed changes in the Agreements but encourages the persistence of persistence the encourages but Agreements the in changes proposed

have shown the highest level of failure...This is not in line with the with line in not is failure...This of level highest the shown have

...commitments relating to indigenous peoples are amongst those those amongst are peoples indigenous to relating ...commitments that

gested that, gested

MINUGUA (the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala), which sug- which Guatemala), in Mission Verification UN (the MINUGUA

Agreement commitments, and ended with a controversial report from report controversial a with ended and commitments, Agreement

year began with a rescheduling to 2004 of the still unfulfilled Peace unfulfilled still the of 2004 to rescheduling a with began year

ongoing confrontation between government and civil society. The society. civil and government between confrontation ongoing

following the FRG’s the following accession to power in January 2000 and by an by and 2000 January in power to accession

1

T

Guatemala was marked by an abandonment of the peace process peace the of abandonment an by marked was Guatemala

hroughout 2001, the situation of indigenous organisations in organisations indigenous of situation the 2001, hroughout GUATEMALA 1. Q’eqchi 4. Kaqchikel 7. Garífunas (Approx. locations of indigenous 2. Ixil 5. Kiche’ groups mentioned in text) 3. Mam 6. Xinkas against Sexual Harassment; and the Land Commission sought the creation of an “Agrarian Ombudsman” to resolve land conflicts, in the face of what it considered the ineffectiveness of the government office created for this purpose. Finally, in October, the Commission on Spirituality and Sacred Places was re-established, after more than a two-year break in its functioning. In his inaugural speech, the Secre-

tary for Peace said that this was yet another step “in the slow and

delicate weaving of the huipil of peace”. •

•

But the weaving of this huipil is taking far too long and, for the •

•

moment, has more holes in it than delicate handiwork. For many • •

• sectors, rather than bearing any content, such progress is merely •

• 87

• 88 should be reformed or whether the government should intervene, the intervene, should government the whether or reformed be should • •

• institutions and even the government, as to whether the institution the whether to as government, the even and institutions •

•

weeks in May and June. Following a debate between organisations, between debate a Following June. and May in weeks •

•

ated in 1995, were the subject of much press coverage for several for coverage press much of subject the were 1995, in ated •

ruption aimed at the Guatemalan Indigenous Fund (FODIGUA), cre- (FODIGUA), Fund Indigenous Guatemalan the at aimed ruption

The continual accusations of politicisation, inefficiency and cor- and inefficiency politicisation, of accusations continual The

leaders meeting for that purpose. that for meeting leaders

position regarding the VAT - Value Added Tax - to a group of Mayan of group a to - Tax Added Value - VAT the regarding position

these officials was in July when they had to defend the government’s the defend to had they when July in was officials these

ture, has also experienced similar situations. One difficult moment for moment difficult One situations. similar experienced also has ture,

able methods and meagre results. Mrs. Otilia Lux, Minister for Cul- for Minister Lux, Otilia Mrs. results. meagre and methods able

out pay, or when he had to defend a Literacy Campaign’s question- Campaign’s Literacy a defend to had he when or pay, out

his office after complaining that they had gone several months with- months several gone had they that complaining after office his

Programme for Educational Self-Management (PRONADE) to leave to (PRONADE) Self-Management Educational for Programme

as Cojtí found when he had to ask the directors of the National the of directors the ask to had he when found Cojtí as

However, working within the government is not without its costs, its without not is government the within working However,

guages.

mum of 11,000 teachers in reading and writing their own lan- own their writing and reading in teachers 11,000 of mum

Education, one of the objectives of which has been to train a mini- a train to been has which of objectives the of one Education,

reform. In addition, he has promoted Bilingual and Intercultural and Bilingual promoted has he addition, In reform.

establish the Great National Dialogue to define the content of the of content the define to Dialogue National Great the establish

for Education. His first step at the beginning of this year was to was year this of beginning the at step first His Education. for

this reform and also the role of Dr. Demetrio Cojtí as Vice-Minister as Cojtí Demetrio Dr. of role the also and reform this

coordination between the civil society organisations supporting organisations society civil the between coordination

received rather a boost: educational reform. This is due to close to due is This reform. educational boost: a rather received

say the least, one of the components of this peace process has process peace this of components the of one least, the say

Whilst the government’s commitment to peace seems lukewarm, to lukewarm, seems peace to commitment government’s the Whilst

The challenges of working within the State the within working of challenges The

the institutionalisation of peace. of institutionalisation the

of the Republic instead of with the Peace Secretary, overcoming what was what overcoming Secretary, Peace the with of instead Republic the of

progress by alternative paths, such as working directly with the Congress the with directly working as such paths, alternative by progress

Faced with this outlook, various proposals are being made to force to made being are proposals various outlook, this with Faced

Mayan movement. Mayan

4

partner even though this body has lost all legitimacy within the within legitimacy all lost has body this though even partner

Republic. In addition, the government retains COPMAGUA as a as COPMAGUA retains government the addition, In Republic.

the stagnation of proposals when they go before the Congress of the of Congress the before go they when proposals of stagnation the

scant budget, the government’s insistence on symbolic issues and issues symbolic on insistence government’s the budget, scant

has yet to be confirmed. Serious examples are the Peace Secretary’s Peace the are examples Serious confirmed. be to yet has symbolic and the government’s desire to fulfil the Peace Agreements Peace the fulfil to desire government’s the and symbolic issue lost its interest value and FODIGUA continued, but with even less legitimacy than before. Another ongoing problem is the minimal budget allocated to the Mayan bodies within the State. This has been the case since 1990 for the Academy of Mayan Languages, and is now being repeated with the General Directorate for Bilingual Intercultural Education, the In- digenous Women’s Ombudsman and the Indigenous Ombudsman within the Attorney-General’s Office for Human Rights.

Reorganisation within the Mayan movement

The years 1999 and 2000 were dark moments for the organisations that form the Mayan movement: their attempts to express their unity through COPMAGUA had failed and the constitutional reforms were at a halt.5 However, they soon began to attempt to reorganise. Al- though very different in terms of their objectives, composition or ways of working, all the associations were agreed that they should avoid excessive institutionalisation and promote a dialogue and reflection on what had happened. Last year, the “Mayan Forum” appeared around the problems of FODIGUA, the “Platform” sponsored by MINUGUA, and the “Space for Mayan Political Coordination”, which is to work on proposals for reforms to the Electoral Law. In addition, regular meetings have been organised with senior Mayan officials in the government. A recurrent theme within these circles has been the advisability of creating a political party. There is growing awareness that political change will not come about without parliamentary representation. The temptation to set up an exclusively “Mayan” party is giving way to the conviction that there is a need for inter-ethnic alliances and “intercultural” programmes. The example of the Xel-Ju’ Civic Com- mittee which, from a mixed indigenous and non-indigenous platform, has managed to govern Quetzaltenango – the country’s second largest city – for two consecutive terms, has carried great weight. However, the Committee did not make a public appearance when, on 12 December, Mr. Alfredo Tay Coyoy – from Quetzaltenango and ex-Minister of Edu- cation – presented the Political Party for Pluralist Organisation in

Guatemala (Pop-Gua) to the Civic Register.6 It seems that Xel-Ju’ and

other groups behind it were abandoning the initiative. •

•

In addition, the National Guatemalan Revolutionary Unity party •

•

(URNG), ex-guerrillas turned politicians, held its General Assembly • •

• in August. There were at least 7 Maya in its new National Executive •

• 89

• 90 Mayan women’s groups, shook one of the symbolic bases of tourism of bases symbolic the of one shook groups, women’s Mayan • •

• accept the post. This position, which was supported by a number of number a by supported was which position, This post. the accept •

•

maltreatment of her and, out of solidarity, her successor refused to refused successor her solidarity, of out and, her of maltreatment •

•

of the Community – denounced the organisers’ discrimination and discrimination organisers’ the denounced – Community the of •

were another significant event. The outgoing Rabin Ahau – Daughter – Ahau Rabin outgoing The event. significant another were

The public complaints made at the Cobán Folklore Festival in July in Festival Folklore Cobán the at made complaints public The

reorganisation and militarisation of community structures. community of militarisation and reorganisation

dragging on since the 1980s, with population relocations and the and relocations population with 1980s, the since on dragging

Chajul, demonstrate the intra-community conflicts that have been have that conflicts intra-community the demonstrate Chajul,

In addition, clashes over land, such as that in Los Cimientos, Los in that as such land, over clashes addition, In

are currently running at much higher levels than previously. than levels higher much at running currently are

this reason, current data indicates that malnutrition and famine levels famine and malnutrition that indicates data current reason, this

farmers all over the country, both indigenous and non-indigenous. For non-indigenous. and indigenous both country, the over all farmers

been the collapse of coffee prices on the world market. This has affected has This market. world the on prices coffee of collapse the been

tion at the end of August. One of the causes of increased hunger has hunger increased of causes the of One August. of end the at tion

girl from the eastern department of Chiquimula, who died of malnu of died who Chiquimula, of department eastern the from girl tri-

patriots were linked to rather unpleasant events, such as the Ch’orti’ the as such events, unpleasant rather to linked were patriots

The images Guatemalans retained this year of their indigenous com- indigenous their of year this retained Guatemalans images The

The visibility of the Maya the of visibility The

which participate in the Parity Commission on Sacred Places. Sacred on Commission Parity the in participate which

ers, such as Oxlajuj Ajpop or the Gran Confederación Kaqchikel, Confederación Gran the or Ajpop Oxlajuj as such ers,

for political posts. There are also the organisations of spiritual lead- spiritual of organisations the also are There posts. political for

of personal experience – or Moloj – aimed at training Mayan women Mayan training at aimed – Moloj or – experience personal of

as Kaqla’ – which reflects on gender, ethnicity and power on the basis the on power and ethnicity gender, on reflects which – Kaqla’ as

At the same time, new associations are being consolidated, such consolidated, being are associations new time, same the At

recognise COPMAGUA. recognise

representation, and yet some URNG leaders state that they do not do they that state leaders URNG some yet and

7

formed only of bodies related to the URNG, plus Xinka and Garífuna and Xinka plus URNG, the to related bodies of only formed

links with this body. In June, COPMAGUA reorganised, and is now is and reorganised, COPMAGUA June, In body. this with links

its part in COPMAGUA’s failure, it has still not clarified its current its clarified not still has it failure, COPMAGUA’s in part its

cause conflict between the indigenous people of this town. In spite of spite In town. this of people indigenous the between conflict cause

a customary institution with its own legitimacy – only managing to managing only – legitimacy own its with institution customary a

time it tried to “democratise” the indigenous Town Hall of Sololá – Sololá of Hall Town indigenous the “democratise” to tried it time

a continuing lack of sensitivity towards the ethnic issue, such as the as such issue, ethnic the towards sensitivity of lack continuing a

allies in the popular movement. Recent experience seems to suggest to seems experience Recent movement. popular the in allies

The URNG still needs to rethink its relationship with its historic its with relationship its rethink to needs still URNG The

Chay and Alberto Mazariegos. Alberto and Chay

deputies that sit in the Congress of the Republic: Pablo Ceto, Gregorio Ceto, Pablo Republic: the of Congress the in sit that deputies Committee and among its leadership could be found the three Mayan three the found be could leadership its among and Committee in Guatemala, along with the monopoly of those who benefit from it. One illustration of the increasing lack of visibility of the Maya and their specific demands is the peasant farmers’ marches of 12 October, which have always demonstrated the links between the peasant struggle and indigenous resistance. This year, virtually no ethnic demands were raised and hence the proposal for an “Indigenous Peoples’ Law”, presented by the National Peasant and Indigenous Coordinating Body (CONIC) at the end of the demonstration, went largely unnoticed. But perhaps the most spectacular and disturbing event for the whole country was the “riots” of Totonicapán and Cobán on 1 Au- gust. In these two towns, the population’s demands in the face of the imminent approval of an increase in VAT flared up with such force that the government declared a state of siege and sent in tanks to patrol the streets. This popular uprising against corruption and abuse of power in these two municipal centres with a strong indigenous presence provoked the return of “a fear of the Indian”. Nonetheless, it was a short-lived conflict and, a few days later, the situation had returned to normal. President Portillo took advantage of the occasion to make a populist gesture of recognition of Mayan institutionality by signing an agreement with the Auxiliary Mayors of Totonicapán.

Notes and references

1 Frente Republicano Guatemalteco: the Guatemalan Republican Front, a party established and led by ex-General Efraín Ríos Montt who, during 1982 and 1983, was responsible for the worst massacres commited by the Guatemalan army. The Constitution prohibits him from standing for presidential election as he has led a previous coup d’état and so Alfonso Portillo stood during the 1995 and 2000 elections. 2 UN Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA). September 2001. “Los pueblos indígenas de Guatemala: la superación de la discriminación en el marco de los Acuerdos de Paz” (“Indigenous Peoples of Guate- mala: overcoming discrimination within the context of the Peace Agree- ments”) Verification Report. Page 7. 3 Huipil: a blouse that forms part of the Mayan women’s traditional dress. It is normally woven by the women themselves. 4 The Coordinating Body of Organisations of the Mayan People of Guate- mala (COPMAGUA) emerged in 1994 as the joint Mayan body for the

peace process and, after 1996, centralised the work of the parity com-

missions. Due to internal problems, two of its five coordinators left in • •

•

2000, leaving only those linked to the URNG. •

•

5 In this respect, see the relevant The Indigenous World reports for those •

• years. •

• 91 • 92 •

•

• gained a majority in Puerto Cabezas. Puerto in majority a gained • •

•

the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS). For its part, the FSLN the part, its For (RAAS). Region Autonomous Atlantic South the •

• Prinzapolka in the RAAN, and in Desembocadura de Río Grande, in Grande, Río de Desembocadura in and RAAN, the in Prinzapolka

the PLC Alliance gained a majority of the votes in Waspam and Waspam in votes the of majority a gained Alliance PLC the

Of the four municipalities with a majority indigenous population, indigenous majority a with municipalities four the Of

tional elections with 56% of the votes, followed by the FSLN with 42%. with FSLN the by followed votes, the of 56% with elections tional

of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party Alliance (PLC), winning the na- the winning (PLC), Alliance Party Liberal Constitutionalist the of

Nicaraguan Resistance Party (PRN) all participated under the banner the under participated all (PRN) Party Resistance Nicaraguan

Nicaraguan Christian Path (Camino Cristiano Nicaragüense) and the and Nicaragüense) Cristiano (Camino Path Christian Nicaraguan

At national and regional level, the Constitutionalist Liberal Party, Liberal Constitutionalist the level, regional and national At

deputy in the National Assembly. National the in deputy

Pantin Wilson, was re-elected as a PLC member, the only indigenous only the member, PLC a as re-elected was Wilson, Pantin

gion. It is worth mentioning, however, that the Miskito deputy, Leonel deputy, Miskito the that however, mentioning, worth is It gion.

to gain one of the three departmental seats for this autonomous re- autonomous this for seats departmental three the of one gain to

Autonomous Region (RAAN), but this was still insufficient for them for insufficient still was this but (RAAN), Region Autonomous

most notably, gaining 11.3% of the regional vote in the North Atlantic North the in vote regional the of 11.3% gaining notably, most

Party Movement for Coastal Unity (PAMUC). YATAMA performed YATAMA (PAMUC). Unity Coastal for Movement Party

ties: Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Asla Taranka (YATAMA) and the and (YATAMA) Taranka Asla Nanih Masraka Tasba Yapti ties:

Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), were two regional par- regional two were (FSLN), Front Liberation National Sandinista

powerful parties, the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) and the and (PLC) Party Liberal Constitutionalist the parties, powerful

Competing in the departmental elections alongside the two most two the alongside elections departmental the in Competing

members of the Central American parliament (PARLACEN). parliament American Central the of members

elections for national and departmental deputies, plus elections for elections plus deputies, departmental and national for elections

N

prised presidential (and vice-presidential) elections, legislative elections, vice-presidential) (and presidential prised

ational elections took place on 4 November 2001. These com- These 2001. November 4 on place took elections ational

Political and legislative developments legislative and Political

NICARAGUA

Atlantic Coast are two non-Mayan linguistic groups. linguistic non-Mayan two are Coast Atlantic

7 The Xinkas from the south of Guatemala and the Garífunas from the from Garífunas the and Guatemala of south the from Xinkas The 7

factors of clear indigenous identification. indigenous clear of factors

6 In several Mayan languages languages Mayan several In 6 tortilla, two tortilla, and kitbag means “gua” “pop” Regional elections 2002 In line with the provisions of the Law of Autonomy, promulgated in 1987, the first regional elections were held on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua in 1990. Given that their term of office lasts four years, further elections for the two Autonomous Regional Councils, each made up of 45 elected members plus the regional deputies, are due to take place on 3 March 2002. This body is the highest authority within the two autonomous regions, and a guarantee of the laws relating to representation of indigenous peoples and ethnic commu- nities. In the RAAN, the PLC, FSLN, PAMUC, YATAMA and the PRN will contest these elections. With the exception of PAMUC, the above

parties will all also contest the RAAS elections.

In the RAAN, there are 108,791 people eligible to vote and in the •

•

RAAS 74,806, according to the official figures of the Supreme Electoral •

•

Court (CSE). However, poor organisation on the part of the CSE and a • •

• marked apathy, particularly in the geographic areas inhabited by a •

• 93

• 94 tional governments. tional • •

• to strengthen the process of autonomy on the part of successive na- successive of part the on autonomy of process the strengthen to •

•

the region. This situation is reinforced by an absence of political will political of absence an by reinforced is situation This region. the •

•

people who elected them, thus putting party interests above those of those above interests party putting thus them, elected who people •

according to the agenda of their member parties and not that of the of that not and parties member their of agenda the to according

authorities. The general perception is that the regional councillors act councillors regional the that is perception general The authorities.

tonomy Statute (Law 28) have not been taken on board by the regional the by board on taken been not have 28) (Law Statute tonomy

istrative, economic, political and social powers defined in the Au- the in defined powers social and political economic, istrative,

The decentralisation process remains at a standstill and the admin- the and standstill a at remains process decentralisation The

Regional autonomy Regional

by the indigenous communities of the centre and north of Nicaragua. of north and centre the of communities indigenous the by

ment is still pending. This legal instrument is being vigorously demanded vigorously being is instrument legal This pending. still is ment

Ratification of ILO Convention 169 on the part of the Nicaraguan govern- Nicaraguan the of part the on 169 Convention ILO of Ratification

and Li Lamni Tasbaika Kum. Tasbaika Lamni Li and

Miskito people: Miskitu Indian Tasbaika Kum, Kipla Sait Tasbaika Sait Kipla Kum, Tasbaika Indian Miskitu people: Miskito

Sikilta community. Three more blocks are communities of indigenous of communities are blocks more Three community. Sikilta

ples, Mayangna Sauni As and Mayangna Sauni Bu, in addition to the to addition in Bu, Sauni Mayangna and As Sauni Mayangna ples,

community blocks belong to the indigenous Mayangna-Sumo peo- Mayangna-Sumo indigenous the to belong blocks community

immense reserve of more than 7,000 square kilometres. Two of the of Two kilometres. square 7,000 than more of reserve immense

the participation rights of the community blocks located within this within located blocks community the of rights participation the

Assembly on 14 November 2001, November 14 on Assembly with no consultation and infringing and consultation no with

3

Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. This was approved by the National the by approved was This Nicaragua. of Coast Caribbean

serve has caused greater controversy among the population of the of population the among controversy greater caused has serve

The Law Declaring and Defining the BOSAWAS Biosphere Re- Biosphere BOSAWAS the Defining and Declaring Law The

a secondary level in relation to industrial mining. industrial to relation in level secondary a

traditional gold mining, known as guirisería in Nicaragua, remain on remain Nicaragua, in guirisería as known mining, gold traditional

concessions for exploration with exploitation rights. The interests of interests The rights. exploitation with exploration for concessions

courages big capital investment, favouring those companies that obtain that companies those favouring investment, capital big courages

Republic. The main criticism of this mining legislation is that it en- it that is legislation mining this of criticism main The Republic.

ing Law 387 Law ing were subsequently issued by the Presidency of the of Presidency the by issued subsequently were

2

by the National Assembly on 26 June 2001. June 26 on Assembly National the by The regulations govern- regulations The

1

Special Law on Exploration and Exploitation of Mines, promulgated Mines, of Exploitation and Exploration on Law Special

of many indigenous communities. One such law is Law 387, the 387, Law is law such One communities. indigenous many of

During 2001, various laws were approved that directly affect the lives the affect directly that approved were laws various 2001, During

Approval of laws of Approval

presage an abstention rate of more than 50% in these constituencies. these in 50% than more of rate abstention an presage

the process of autonomy is going and a lacklustre electoral campaign, all campaign, electoral lacklustre a and going is autonomy of process the mestizo majority, added to extensive disagreement with the way in which in way the with disagreement extensive to added majority, mestizo The dramatic frustration with authorities which, according to the majority of the population, do not work is illustrated in the results of a survey carried out by the Institute for the Promotion of Democracy (IPADE) and entitled “Political Culture, attitudes towards the elec- tions and the regional and municipal systems of autonomy”.4 Infor- mation from this survey, undertaken in September 2001, highlights the fact that 43.9% of those surveyed consider that the Regional Gov- ernment, as it currently stands, is of absolutely no use to them, whilst 42% think that it is of little use to them.

Socio-economic aspects

The map of extreme poverty Backwardness, misery, discrimination and marginalisation have been the constant features of indigenous life. In Nicaragua, as in other countries, a number of contributory factors mean that the indigenous population is amongst the poorest of the poor. Most recent evidence comes from the national survey of households, which measures living standards, undertaken in 1998 by the Government of Nicaragua and the results of which were published in 2000 and 2001. The available data shows that top place in the survey in terms of extreme poverty went to five communities, four of which are located in the RAAN5: Prinzapolka, Waspam, Bonanza and Puerto Cabezas. Coming in third was the municipality of Desembocadura de Río Grande in the RAAS. With the exception of Bonanza, all the municipalities mentioned have a majority Miskito population.

Natural disasters 2001 was not free from natural disasters and, once more, the on- slaught of nature affected the RAAN. The climatic phenomenon of greatest impact was a nine-day rain storm caused by tropical depres- sion no. 15, which began at the end of October 2001 and caused serious flooding in the municipalities of Rosita, Puerto Cabezas, Was- pam and Prinzapolka. The rivers Coco (Wangky), Wawa, Lycus, Kukalaya and Bambana

burst their banks and affected many indigenous communities with

populations settled along the banks of these rivers. •

•

According to information from Rev. Norman Bent, the attorney •

•

(procurador)of the Indigenous Peoples and Communities,6 6,192 fami- • •

• lies were affected and more than 3,400 homes damaged, of which 180 •

• 95

• 96 pay the sum of US$30,000 in legal costs and invest a further US$- further a invest and costs legal in US$30,000 of sum the pay • •

• the Awas Tingni territory. The Court prescribed that Nicaragua should Nicaragua that prescribed Court The territory. Tingni Awas the •

•

obligation upon the Nicaraguan state to delimit, demarcate and title and demarcate delimit, to state Nicaraguan the upon obligation •

•

violated the community’s property rights. The Court thus imposed an imposed thus Court The rights. property community’s the violated •

nity’s claim and concluded that the Government of Nicaragua had Nicaragua of Government the that concluded and claim nity’s

The IACHR recognized the legitimacy of the Awas Tingni commu- Tingni Awas the of legitimacy the recognized IACHR The

their ancestral territory and the forest resources existing within it. within existing resources forest the and territory ancestral their

munity and the Government of Nicaragua regarding ownership of ownership regarding Nicaragua of Government the and munity

ment initiates a new stage in the extended dispute between the com- the between dispute extended the in stage new a initiates ment

favour of the Sumo-Mayangna community of Awas Tingni. This judge- This Tingni. Awas of community Sumo-Mayangna the of favour

American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), Rights Human of Court American on 31 Aug. 2001, in 2001, Aug. 31 on

8

The most significant event of 2001 was the decision of the Inter- the of decision the was 2001 of event significant most The

community of Awas Tingni Awas of community

The ruling of the IACHR in favour of the Sumo-Mayangna the of favour in IACHR the of ruling The

from forming part of the land market. land the of part forming from

for communal property, which prevents communal territories or lands or territories communal prevents which property, communal for

ties from the governing party do not accept this regulatory framework regulatory this accept not do party governing the from ties

gaged, and they are imprescriptible.” A significant number of depu- of number significant A imprescriptible.” are they and gaged,

lands are inalienable, they may not be given, sold, seized or mort- or seized sold, given, be not may they inalienable, are lands

of the Autonomy Statute (Law 28) which establishes that, “Communal that, establishes which 28) (Law Statute Autonomy the of

In some analysts’ opinion, the main obstacle to progress is section 1 section is progress to obstacle main the opinion, analysts’ some In

mitted by the Regional Councils in September 2000. September in Councils Regional the by mitted

the Presidency of the Republic in October 1998 and the second sub- second the and 1998 October in Republic the of Presidency the

draft bills on the system of communal property, the first presented by presented first the property, communal of system the on bills draft

the National Assembly in terms of reaching a consensus on the two the on consensus a reaching of terms in Assembly National the

During the period in question, there was little progress made within made progress little was there question, in period the During

The legal and institutional framework institutional and legal The

The process of legalisation of indigenous communal lands communal indigenous of legalisation of process The

disaster.

to support the victims was inadequate given the magnitude of the of magnitude the given inadequate was victims the support to

It should be mentioned that, as in the past, once again the capacity the again once past, the in as that, mentioned be should It

USD).

roads in the RAAN at 90 million córdobas (approximately 6.3 million 6.3 (approximately córdobas million 90 at RAAN the in roads

Transport and Infrastructure calculated the damage to 696 kilometres of kilometres 696 to damage the calculated Infrastructure and Transport

que (malanga or or (malanga que Xanthosoma violaceum). For its part, the Ministry of Ministry the part, its For violaceum). Xanthosoma

maize, rice, beans, bananas and tubers such as cassava and quequis- and cassava as such tubers and bananas beans, rice, maize,

were destroyed. Crop losses were in excess of 20,907 20,907 of excess in were losses Crop destroyed. were of manzanas 7 50,000 in social projects, as compensation for the emotional distress suffered by the community. In an IACHR press release,9 Dr. Santiago Cantón, Executive Sec- retary of the Court, indicated that this decision had transcended the borders of Nicaragua and the Americas and represented one of the most significant achievements in the protection of indigenous peo- ples internationally. The Indian Law Resource Center in the US,10 which represented the community, considered the Court’s decision to be a precedent of great international significance, in addition to being an instrument of vital importance in the defence of indig- enous people’s human rights in Nicaragua. According to informa- tion from this Centre, this was the first time that an indigenous community had appealed to international jurisdiction in defence of its rights, and the first time that an international court had recognised the rights of indigenous peoples to their land and natu- ral resources. In fulfilment of the Court’s judgement, on 22 February 2002, Am- bassador Lombardo Martínez handed over a cheque for US$30,000 to the Inter-American Commission so that it could pass this sum on to the Awas Tingni community in payment of the costs and expenses incurred by the members of this community and their representatives. On this date, both parties also agreed to present a plan of action with which to continue to fulfil the Court’s decision at the next meeting, to be held in Managua during the third week of March 2002.

Commercialisation of communal property As in the previous year, in 2001 the scandalous transactions of the Greek American businessman, Peter Tsokos, continued to form the most publicised aggression against the system of communal property. Following the controversial sale of 4 of the so-called Cayos Perlas in the RAAS, Mr. Tsokos once more hit the news, offering 6,000 man- zanas of land, considered to be communal lands, in the municipality of Laguna de Perlas, for sale on the Internet for the sum of US$360,000. He had previously proceeded to break up 7 plots in the area of Monkey Point, more specifically in Punta de Águila, a territory ancestrally inhabited by indigenous Rama. As a consequence of a series of legal

appeals introduced in Bluefields by representatives of the Rama peo-

ple, judge Anabel Omeir issued a ban on the sale until it could be •

•

clarified as to whether the indigenous people were the owners or not. • •

•

•

• •

• 97 • 98 • • • • • •

•

•

AT/PRESS/1, 23/2/2002. AT/PRESS/1,

10 Legal Resource Centre for Indigenous Peoples. Press Release No. L/ No. Release Press Peoples. Indigenous for Centre Resource Legal 10

9 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Press Release No. 8/02. No. Release Press Rights. Human on Commission Inter-American 9

Awas Tingni Community vs. Nicaragua. Decision of 31 August 2001. August 31 of Decision Nicaragua. vs. Community Tingni Awas

8 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of the Mayangna (Sumo) Mayangna the of Case Rights, Human of Court Inter-American 8

is the equivalent of 0.7 has. (Editor’s note) (Editor’s has. 0.7 of equivalent the is 71 manzana

whole length of its path, particularly on the island of Cuba. of island the on particularly path, its of length whole

turned into Hurricane Michelle, which caused devastating damage the damage devastating caused which Michelle, Hurricane into turned

, 20 November 2001. Subsequently, tropical depression no. 15 no. depression tropical Subsequently, 2001. November 20 , 6 La Prensa La

. 2001. Nicaragua. of Government 5 Map of Extreme Poverty in Nicaragua in Poverty Extreme of Map

, 3 March 2002. March 3 , 4 La Prensa La

, Official Newspaper, No. 244, 24 December 2001. December 24 244, No. Newspaper, Official , 3 La Gaceta La

, Official Newspaper, No. 4, 7 January 2002. January 7 4, No. Newspaper, Official , 2 La Gaceta La

, Official Newspaper, No. 151, 13 August 2001. August 13 151, No. Newspaper, Official , 1 La Gaceta La

Notes and references and Notes

more end in frustration. in end more

enous peoples and other ethnic minorities in Nicaragua will once will Nicaragua in minorities ethnic other and peoples enous

rection or whether these hopes and expectations on the part of indig- of part the on expectations and hopes these whether or rection

show whether there has been significant progress in the desired di- desired the in progress significant been has there whether show

over the exploitation of natural resources. The coming months will months coming The resources. natural of exploitation the over

title community lands and will begin to have more effective control effective more have to begin will and lands community title

lations governing the Law on Autonomy, will begin to demarcate and demarcate to begin will Autonomy, on Law the governing lations

Caribbean Coast in national policies and will begin to establish regu- establish to begin will and policies national in Coast Caribbean

its faith in the fact that the new liberal government will include the include will government liberal new the that fact the in faith its

significant percentage of the indigenous population is also renewing also is population indigenous the of percentage significant

the PLC, trusting in the promises of President Enrique Bolaños, a Bolaños, Enrique President of promises the in trusting PLC, the

to hegemonic national party directions. By giving a majority vote to vote majority a giving By directions. party national hegemonic to

virtually parasitic public Treasury situation and their subordination their and situation Treasury public parasitic virtually

would take on a more aggressive and functional role, overcoming a overcoming role, functional and aggressive more a on take would

In 2002, there was renewed hope that the new Regional Councils Regional new the that hope renewed was there 2002, In

of the indigenous peoples of Nicaragua. of peoples indigenous the of

interpretation lights a new flame along the path of the historic claims historic the of path the along flame new a lights interpretation

year was the IACHR decision regarding Awas Tingni. This legal This Tingni. Awas regarding decision IACHR the was year

From the perspective of indigenism, the most outstanding event of the of event outstanding most the indigenism, of perspective the From By way of conclusion of way By PANAMA

n the concert of nations, Panama occupies the 52nd place in the I Human Development Index. This is on a par with other countries of the continent, such as Trinidad and Tobago (49) and Mexico (51). It is below countries that are considered high on the human develop- ment scale, such as Spain (21), Argentina (34) or Costa Rica (41) (UNDP Report-Panama, La Prensa, 2002). But when we look at these figures, the warning indicators all flash with regard its indigenous peoples. As we can see in the same report, it states that, “the Ngobe- buglé are one of Panama’s most affected ethnic groups in terms of poverty. In some comarcas, more than 90% of the inhabitants are des- titute. Infant mortality due to malnutrition-related illnesses is a spectre that haunts the indigenous population”. But this occurs not only amongst the Ngobe, other indigenous peoples are also in a similar situation. The development of indigenous peoples exists only on paper and in gov- ernment plans, but is never conscientiously implemented.

Village not on the map

Proof of this marginalisation can be found in an article in one daily paper entitled, “Panamanian village not on the map”. The newspaper article stated that:

Jirote is a village lost in time and space. The village does not appear on maps of the Republic of Panama, nor do its almost 200 inhabitants appear in the National Census. Located in the thick forests of the province of Bocas del Toro, more than ten hours by foot, the indigenous Ngobe-Buglé do not know their country, and nor does their country know they exist. (Panamá América, 2002)

This shows how little the indigenous communities mean to the Pana- manian authorities, and that it is not only poverty that plagues these communities but also the direct effects of social and political prob-

lems. The most important of these for 2001 are detailed below.

Tense situation on the Colombian border •

•

•

•

•

The Colombia Plan and the internal war in that country are now •

• spilling over the border. Hundreds of displaced Colombians are arriv- •

• 99 • 100 • •

• spiritual guides. spiritual •

•

resents the country’s recognition of one of the indigenous peoples’ indigenous the of one of recognition country’s the resents •

•

Western culture or ineptly named “civilisation”. The new law rep- law new The “civilisation”. named ineptly or culture Western •

colonial policy that wished to “integrate” the Kuna forcibly into the into forcibly Kuna the “integrate” to wished that policy colonial

able to encourage the young Kuna of the time to stand up to the to up stand to time the of Kuna young the encourage to able

the Kuna Revolution of 1925 and who, through his wisdom, was wisdom, his through who, and 1925 of Revolution Kuna the

man by the non-indigenous, was one of the intellectual authors of authors intellectual the of one was non-indigenous, the by man

bipilele)”. Ologuindibipilele (a Kuna name), known as Simral Co- Simral as known name), Kuna (a Ologuindibipilele bipilele)”.

Civic Day in Commemoration of SIMRAL COLMAN (Ologuindin- COLMAN SIMRAL of Commemoration in Day Civic

Another law is No. 41 which, “declares 5 August each year to be to year each August 5 “declares which, 41 No. is law Another

since Christopher Columbus. Christopher since

interpretation of the existence of indigenous peoples before and before peoples indigenous of existence the of interpretation

future which, at the moment, are not absolutely correct in their in correct absolutely not are moment, the at which, future

enable changes to be made to national history texts in the very near very the in texts history national to made be to changes enable

very significant legal norm. Although it creates no rights, it will it rights, no creates it Although norm. legal significant very

This law was approved following two years of discussion and is a is and discussion of years two following approved was law This

gle of indigenous peoples to preserve their culture and traditions. and culture their preserve to peoples indigenous of gle

recognise 12 October as a day of “reflection”, highlighting the strug- the highlighting “reflection”, of day a as October 12 recognise

becomes one of the few countries in the whole of Abya Yala to Yala Abya of whole the in countries few the of one becomes

other provisions”. It should be noted that, with this law, Panama law, this with that, noted be should It provisions”. other

of Reflection on the Situation of Indigenous Peoples and pronounces and Peoples Indigenous of Situation the on Reflection of

Law No.5 of January 2002 “declares 12 October a National Day National a October 12 “declares 2002 January of No.5 Law

continent of Abya Yala. Abya of continent

peoples throughout history since the arrival of the Europeans on the on Europeans the of arrival the since history throughout peoples

ernment in 2001/2002. Both highlight the struggles of indigenous of struggles the highlight Both 2001/2002. in ernment

Two laws benefiting indigenous peoples were ratified by the gov- the by ratified were peoples indigenous benefiting laws Two

ples

The creation of new laws in favour of indigenous peo- indigenous of favour in laws new of creation The

their inhabitants towards the country’s capital. country’s the towards inhabitants their

studies. Many of these villages have experienced a mass exodus of exodus mass a experienced have villages these of Many studies.

also discouraged many indigenous children from continuing their continuing from children indigenous many discouraged also

staff, who do not wish to continue to put their lives at risk. This has This risk. at lives their put to continue to wish not do who staff,

this area was virtually nil last year due to the fears of the teaching the of fears the to due year last nil virtually was area this

Teaching provision on the part of the Ministry of Education in Education of Ministry the of part the on provision Teaching

and fear. and

and the Kuna Yala Comarca), 2001 was another year of uncertainty of year another was 2001 Comarca), Yala Kuna the and

Kuna who live along the borders with Colombia (Darién Province (Darién Colombia with borders the along live who Kuna ing in Panama fleeing the war and, for the Emberá, Wouanan and Wouanan Emberá, the for and, war the fleeing Panama in ing 1 Embera Wauman 2 Ngobe-Buglé (Approx. locations of indigenous groups mentioned in text) 3 Kuna

Kuna and Emberá bring case before the IACHR

With funding from the World Bank, work began on the Bayano hydro- electric power station (in the south-east of Panama) in 1976, in an area directly inhabited by the Kuna of Bayano, known in law as the Kuna de Madungandi Comarca. In its early stages, the dam affected eight Kuna and three Emberá communities. Along with the communities, cemeteries and sown fields disappeared under the floodwaters and hundreds of forest animals had to be moved to safety. The future of the Panamanian economy was achieved at the expense and sacrifice of one of the poorest and most marginalised sectors of the country. Once all recourse to dialogue had been exhausted and, following years of demanding solutions to their problems, the communities – tired of so many promises – decided to sue the Panamanian state for failure to fulfil its obligations. For this, they granted powers to the

Popular Legal Assistance Centre (CEALP) and the Napguana Asso-

ciation so that, together with the International Human Rights Depart- •

•

ment of the College of Law of the American University, they could •

•

submit a petition for violation of their human rights to the Inter- • •

• American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on their behalf. In •

• 101

• 102 complaint made by the Emberá and Kuna de Madungandi popu- Madungandi de Kuna and Emberá the by made complaint • •

• economic, cultural, spiritual and religious damage in relation to the to relation in damage religious and spiritual cultural, economic, •

•

aim was to research and collect information on the ecological, social, ecological, the on information collect and research to was aim •

•

dungandi comarca, specifically to the community of Akua Yala. The Yala. Akua of community the to specifically comarca, dungandi •

importance during this visit was a tour made of the Kuna de Ma- de Kuna the of made tour a was visit this during importance

visit to Panama from 6-9 June 2001. One of the activities of particular of activities the of One 2001. June 6-9 from Panama to visit

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights undertook a undertook Rights Human on Commission Inter-American The

The IACHR visits Panama visits IACHR The

national courts. national

solution for them, hence the idea to take the government to the inter- the to government the take to idea the hence them, for solution

last twenty years, regardless of party or ideology, none have found a found have none ideology, or party of regardless years, twenty last

negotiate and reach an agreement with the various governments of the of governments various the with agreement an reach and negotiate

the indigenous peoples affected have done everything possible to possible everything done have affected peoples indigenous the

communities and on towards the Darién forests. Despite the fact that fact the Despite forests. Darién the towards on and communities

American Highway, which passes right through the middle of these of middle the through right passes which Highway, American

are invaded each year by settlers. To this must be added the Pan- the added be must this To settlers. by year each invaded are

electricity to these communities and the few lands that are left to them to left are that lands few the and communities these to electricity

have lost their best lands, the Panamanian state is still not providing not still is state Panamanian the lands, best their lost have

In spite of the fact that the indigenous communities of Alto Bayano Alto of communities indigenous the that fact the of spite In

as places where the indigenous people practised their religion. their practised people indigenous the where places as

terms of sacred sites, cemeteries and biological reservoirs, as well as reservoirs, biological and cemeteries sites, sacred of terms

4. Cultural rights: The creation of the lake affected cultural rights in rights cultural affected lake the of creation The rights: Cultural 4.

illnesses such as malaria in the region. the in malaria as such illnesses

led to the appearance of new diseases, and an increase in fatal in increase an and diseases, new of appearance the to led

3. Right to health: The dam caused water to stagnate, which has which stagnate, to water caused dam The health: to Right 3.

to the elements for several days. several for elements the to

enous communities, leaving many indigenous families exposed families indigenous many leaving communities, enous

2. Right to housing: The artificial dam destroyed entire indig- entire destroyed dam artificial The housing: to Right 2.

pying since their relocation in 1975. in relocation their since pying

berá, the state has not legalised the lands they have been occu- been have they lands the legalised not has state the berá,

their lands by non-indigenous settlers. In the case of the Em- the of case the In settlers. non-indigenous by lands their

the Panamanian state has not prevented the illegal invasion of invasion illegal the prevented not has state Panamanian the

which indigenous communities were established. In addition, In established. were communities indigenous which

1. Right to ownership of land: The dam affected the lands on lands the affected dam The land: of ownership to Right 1.

tal human rights in the following ways: following the in rights human tal

peoples affected have declared that the state violated their fundamen- their violated state the that declared have affected peoples

between the government and indigenous leaders. The indigenous The leaders. indigenous and government the between this petition, they also requested fulfilment of the agreements signed agreements the of fulfilment requested also they petition, this lations affected by the construction of the Bayano hydroelectric po- wer station. Of the issues and suggestions dealt with by the Commission, it was noted that it was of great importance to examine the exhaustion of internal legal recourse. For its part, the Kuna de Madungandi General Congress and Emberá representatives ratified their petition before the commissioners, which consisted of compensation for the losses caused by the work, the legalisation of Emberá lands and a true development plan for all of Panama’s indigenous communities.

In search of a friendly solution The IACHR received the lawsuit by means of Petition No. 12354 of 21 September 2001, “Kuna de Madungandi and Emberá of Bayano Panama- nian Indigenous Peoples v. the State of Panama.” In accordance with article 41 of the IACHR regulations, the peti- tioners then requested that a friendly solution be considered with regard to the violation contained in the original petition. This latter was received by the IACHR in a hearing held in November 2001. A first round of meetings took place in January 2002 and conversations are currently being held to seek a friendly solution between the indig- enous peoples and the government of Panama.

New dams on indigenous territories in Panama

The recently created Ngobe-Buglé Comarca (1997) is being threatened by the forthcoming construction of two hydroelectric power stations, Tabasara I and II, following approval of the Environmental Impact Study by the National Environment Authority (ANAM). This study was condemned by indigenous Ngobe and peasant farmers due to its untruths and technical deficiencies and because of the lack of consent obtained from the comarca’s indigenous authorities. In this regard, the Kuna lawyer, Hector Huertas, lodged an appeal to nullify the decision before the Third Court of the Supreme Court of Justice which agreed, by means of a decision dated 21 December 2001, to the request to suspend construction of the first hydro-electric power station until

it was decided as to whether the EIA was violating the laws of the

comarca and environmental laws or not. •

•

In relation to the same issue, the Ombudsman, Juan Antonio Te- •

•

jada, met with a group of indigenous people and peasant farmers • •

• opposed to construction of the hydro-electric projects and stated that •

• 103 • 104 • • • • • •

•

•

Rica.

Friendship Park existing between the countries of Panama and Costa and Panama of countries the between existing Park Friendship

construction would also affect the international international the affect also would construction or Parque Amistad Parque

Teribe 2 hydroelectric power stations have been undertaken. This undertaken. been have stations power hydroelectric 2 Teribe

Bocas del Toro, where studies for the construction of the Teribe 1 and 1 Teribe the of construction the for studies where Toro, del Bocas

territories, such as the future Naso Teribe Comarca in the province of province the in Comarca Teribe Naso future the as such territories,

hydroelectric power stations (dams) is a threat to other indigenous other to threat a is (dams) stations power hydroelectric

Similarly, it is worth mentioning that the construction of new of construction the that mentioning worth is it Similarly,

exhausted, and that he would ensure that this took place. took this that ensure would he that and exhausted, all consultation procedures with the affected communities had to be to had communities affected the with procedures consultation all

SOUTH AMERICA • •

•

•

•

•

• •

• 105

• 106 of this confrontation. this of • •

• who are making tremendous efforts to remain on the margins the on remain to efforts tremendous making are who •

•

ranks, populations who are not involved in the conflict and conflict the in involved not are who populations ranks, •

•

enous, peasant and Afro-Colombian populations into their into populations Afro-Colombian and peasant enous, •

part of all players in the war, trying to incorporate indig- incorporate to trying war, the in players all of part

tions remain subjected to a kind of “armed clientilism” on the on clientilism” “armed of kind a to subjected remain tions

ate victim of the confrontation. Whole territories and popula- and territories Whole confrontation. the of victim ate

1. The civilian population is caught in the crossfire, the deliber- the crossfire, the in caught is population civilian The 1.

are four of the main ways in which this is demonstrated: is this which in ways main the of four are

result of its increasingly disinstitutionalized nature. The following The nature. disinstitutionalized increasingly its of result

The war has intensified in comparison with the previous year as a as year previous the with comparison in intensified has war The

A disinstitutionalized war disinstitutionalized A

the death or desertion of their husband or partner. or husband their of desertion or death the

one per cent of women have become heads of household due to due household of heads become have women of cent per one

placed population, whilst 55% are under the age of 18. Thirty- 18. of age the under are 55% whilst population, placed

lation is to be found in Colombia. Women form 56% of the dis- the of 56% form Women Colombia. in found be to is lation

International, 20% of all the world’s internally displaced popu- displaced internally world’s the all of 20% International,

in 2000. The figures are similar for 2001. According to Amnesty to According 2001. for similar are figures The 2000. in

it is estimated that 31,375 people suffered forced displacement forced suffered people 31,375 that estimated is it

the Department for Displacement and Human Rights, CODHES, Rights, Human and Displacement for Department the

ian crisis in the history of Colombia. According to statistics from statistics to According Colombia. of history the in crisis ian

• Forced displacement has become the most serious humanitar- serious most the become has displacement Forced •

the protection of the most vulnerable sectors of society. of sectors vulnerable most the of protection the

highlighting the fact that the state is unable to guarantee even guarantee to unable is state the that fact the highlighting

67 were children, 93 were young people and 163 were women, were 163 and people young were 93 children, were 67

to guerrilla groups and 4% to the armed forces. Of these victims, these Of forces. armed the to 4% and groups guerrilla to

of these deaths were attributed to the paramilitary forces, 13% forces, paramilitary the to attributed were deaths these of

murder of socially marginalised groups. Eighty-three per cent per Eighty-three groups. marginalised socially of murder

political murder, 264 by forced disappearance and 185 by the by 185 and disappearance forced by 264 murder, political

March 2001, 2,080 were caused by extra-judicial execution or execution extra-judicial by caused were 2,080 2001, March

2,529 civilian deaths recorded in the period October 2000 – 2000 October period the in recorded deaths civilian 2,529

socio-politically motivated deaths among Colombians. Of the Of Colombians. among deaths motivated socio-politically

• Over the last two years, every day has seen an average of 20 of average an seen has day every years, two last the Over •

C

tics for that year speak for themselves: for speak year that for tics

olombia continued to be marked by violence during 2001. Statis- 2001. during violence by marked be to continued olombia COLOMBIA 2. There is a growing importance within the war mechanism of an illegal economy based on the production and marketing of illegal drugs. This can be seen in the overlap between areas of coca and poppy cultivation and the areas of greatest dispute

between the guerrillas and the paramilitaries.

•

•

3. The state’s loss of authority and the absence of alternative •

•

organic projects on the part of the guerrilla insurgents has led • •

• to stagnation in the peace process and the continual expansion •

• 107 • 108 •

•

• biodiversity. 1 •

•

sions for the extraction of natural resources, including their mega- their including resources, natural of extraction the for sions •

•

the focus of attention of transnationals seeking lucrative conces- lucrative seeking transnationals of attention of focus the •

) and collective territories for black communities are now are communities black for territories collective and ) ( resguardos

livestock farming. The peasant reserves, indigenous reservations indigenous reserves, peasant The farming. livestock

landowners who have hogged all the good agro-ecological lands for lands agro-ecological good the all hogged have who landowners

in the Orinoquia, Amazonía and Pacific regions, which benefits which regions, Pacific and Amazonía Orinoquia, the in

mega-projects and the continually expanding agricultural frontier agricultural expanding continually the and mega-projects

els for the African palm, the development of mining of development the palm, African the for els mod industrial

by the neo-liberal model, the establishment of Malaysian-type agro- Malaysian-type of establishment the model, neo-liberal the by

been implementing in order to resist the land privatisations promoted privatisations land the resist to order in implementing been

territorial defence, control and appropriation strategies they have they strategies appropriation and control defence, territorial

bian populations. This situation is causing these groups to change the change to groups these causing is situation This populations. bian

displacements have been either peasant, indigenous or Afro-Colom- or indigenous peasant, either been have displacements

Almost all the victims of the Colombian massacres and forced and massacres Colombian the of victims the all Almost

and a mistrustful population. mistrustful a and

table but with an economy in tatters, an even weaker civil society civil weaker even an tatters, in economy an with but table

violations. This would be followed by a return to the negotiating the to return a by followed be would This violations.

damage to the country’s economic infrastructure and human rights human and infrastructure economic country’s the to damage

civil war may become established, of enormous cost in terms of terms in cost enormous of established, become may war civil

Under such circumstances, Colombians fear that a generalised a that fear Colombians circumstances, such Under

headed the polls, 15 points ahead of Álvaro Uribe. Álvaro of ahead points 15 polls, the headed

scarcely manages to gain 1%. Four months back, Horacio Serpa Horacio back, months Four 1%. gain to manages scarcely

Noemí Sanín (16.9%). Luis E. Garzón, the candidate of the Left, the of candidate the Garzón, E. Luis (16.9%). Sanín Noemí

liberal politician Horacio Serpa (30.7%) and the “independent” the and (30.7%) Serpa Horacio politician liberal

enjoys 39.5% in the opinion polls, above that of the experienced the of that above polls, opinion the in 39.5% enjoys

intervention of foreign troops in the Colombian conflict, currently conflict, Colombian the in troops foreign of intervention

“hard-line” policies against the insurgency and proposals for the for proposals and insurgency the against policies “hard-line”

dential candidate, Álvaro Uribe, who has based his campaign on campaign his based has who Uribe, Álvaro candidate, dential

negotiations with the FARC-EP are becoming stronger. The presi- The stronger. becoming are FARC-EP the with negotiations

from many sectors and those advocating an end to the peace the to end an advocating those and sectors many from

(FARC-EP). The paramilitaries are gaining increasing recognition increasing gaining are paramilitaries The (FARC-EP).

from the Colombian Armed Revolutionary Forces-Popular Army Forces-Popular Revolutionary Armed Colombian the from

advances have enabled them to snatch strategic territories strategic snatch to them enabled have advances Their

gitimate, thus encouraging ever-stronger paramilitary groups. paramilitary ever-stronger encouraging thus gitimate,

the actions of the guerrilla insurgency become increasingly ille- increasingly become insurgency guerrilla the of actions the

4. As intimidation and domination by force of arms grows stronger, grows arms of force by domination and intimidation As 4.

the national territory and even in the large cities. large the in even and territory national the of paramilitary groups, which are now to be found throughout found be to now are which groups, paramilitary of Peoples in resistance

All the successful struggles of the indigenous movement are now in danger, as the war that is currently being fought in Colombia is being played out principally on their lands. The state’s apathy, the clearly anti-indigenist nature of its eco- nomic and social policies, the impossible hope of state behaviour that was closer to the spirit of the 1991 Constituent Assembly and the fact that the National Committee for Coordination and the Commission for Human Rights of the indigenous peoples were being ignored led the National Indigenous Organisation of Colom- bia (ONIC) and the Indigenous Authorities of Colombia (AICO) to break off relations with the government in July 2001. But the mas- sacres of Paece individuals in Cauca, the murder of indigenous leaders in Alto Sinú, Cauca, Chocó, Risaralda, Caldas and Pu- tumayo, along with the forced displacement of some indigenous communities has led them to declare themselves to be Peoples in Resistance.

Resistance strategies In order to guarantee their ethnic survival, the preservation of their territories and the strength of their own governments in the face of any change that may occur in the territorial dynamic of the conflict, indig- enous peoples have began to test out different strategies:

• The establishment of zones of refuge. • The establishment of special zones for the development of basic food security projects. • Direct action on the part of indigenous authorities in the ab- sence of a response from governmental and non-governmental humanitarian agencies. Examples of this are the cases of the search for Kimy Pernía in the paramilitary zone of Tierralta (Córdoba), and the protest demonstration of 30,000 indigenous Paece, Guambiano and Coconuco peoples that descended on Cali, the main city in the south-east of Colombia. • The humanitarian dialogues of the indigenous authorities and

governments in the zones under guerrilla influence.

• Actions of community protection, through the strengthening of •

•

alguaciles or indigenous civic policemen, an age-old institution •

•

of all indigenous peoples and one that was the basis of the • •

• strategy for land recovery in the 1970s and 80s, of territorial •

• 109

• 110 in a number of the country’s regions, the organisations have realised have organisations the regions, country’s the of number a in • •

• Although these strategies for indigenous resistance are taking place taking are resistance indigenous for strategies these Although • •

•

•

Congresses of indigenous peoples indigenous of Congresses •

ready to resist the violence with protests, albeit at great risk. great at albeit protests, with violence the resist to ready

afford them effective protection but also the fact that the people are people the that fact the also but protection effective them afford

the desperation of the people in the face of the state’s “reluctance” to “reluctance” state’s the of face the in people the of desperation the

venting their anger on the civilian population, demonstrate not only not demonstrate population, civilian the on anger their venting

department of Santander, which have prevented armed groups from groups armed prevented have which Santander, of department

region. These and other actions on the part of the population in the in population the of part the on actions other and These region.

bian Self-Defence Units (AUC), well-known paramilitaries, leave the leave paramilitaries, well-known (AUC), Units Self-Defence bian

days, peasant and indigenous villagers demanded that the Colom- the that demanded villagers indigenous and peasant days,

department of Guajira, in the north of the country. Here, for several for Here, country. the of north the in Guajira, of department

and also in Cauca. In January 2002, road blocks were recorded in the in recorded were blocks road 2002, January In Cauca. in also and

peasant and indigenous populations in the municipality of Bolívar, of municipality the in populations indigenous and peasant

its school and a number of houses. This strategy was copied by copied was strategy This houses. of number a and school its

the FARC had destroyed the town’s police station, and along with this with along and station, police town’s the destroyed had FARC the

popular reaction, the FARC was forced to withdraw. Months earlier, Months withdraw. to forced was FARC the reaction, popular

the FARC that was trying to take the town centre. In the face of this of face the In centre. town the take to trying was that FARC the

and organised barricades to block the path of an armed contingent of contingent armed an of path the block to barricades organised and

Caldono in Cauca. Here, the population took to the streets with music with streets the to took population the Here, Cauca. in Caldono

force. One such example is the case of the indigenous municipality of municipality indigenous the of case the is example such One force.

towns and non-combatant civilian populations have been gathering been have populations civilian non-combatant and towns

in the conflict from carrying out barbaric acts against indigenous against acts barbaric out carrying from conflict the in

Over the past few months, demonstrations to prevent those involved those prevent to demonstrations months, few past the Over

Popular mobilisations in defence of their settlements their of defence in mobilisations Popular

the armed conflict. armed the

in the face of the worsening humanitarian situation caused by caused situation humanitarian worsening the of face the in

leaders and organisations in order to coordinate their actions their coordinate to order in organisations and leaders

• Permanent communication between the different indigenous different the between communication Permanent •

present proposed solutions to the country’s armed conflict. armed country’s the to solutions proposed present

2

was to bring together different expressions of civil society to society civil of expressions different together bring to was

indigenous “resguardo” La María in Cauca, the aim of which of aim the Cauca, in María La “resguardo” indigenous

“Space for Co-existence, Dialogue and Negotiation” held in the in held Negotiation” and Dialogue Co-existence, for “Space

in order to seek unity in the face of the conflict, such as the as such conflict, the of face the in unity seek to order in

• The creation of spaces for dialogue with other popular sectors popular other with dialogue for spaces of creation The •

internal control throughout history. throughout control internal and natural resource control during the 1990s and of social of and 1990s the during control resource natural and that they are insufficient to prevent the armed conflict and its mount- ing humanitarian tragedy. There has thus been a renewed desire to join forces with the popular movement in order to discuss a proposal for a “new country”, following the direction and experience of the indigenous peoples of Cauca who, in an alliance with the depart- ment’s popular sectors have been drawing up a proposal for a society in which the excluded and oppressed will become social players, with the capacity to intervene and generate proposals for peace. With this aim, the indigenous organisations convened a National Con- gress of Indigenous Peoples, held in December 2001 in the Cota (Cundina- marca) indigenous reservation. This meeting was organised not as

[A] meeting for ourselves, in order to resolve our problems, for we have said that if there is not peace for all Colombians then nor will there be peace for the indigenous peoples...We do not want peace and justice for ourselves alone, while the rest of the population starve to death on the streets...and so it is logical that we do not want a peace in which we ourselves have to disappear. (Taken from the official announcement)

Prior to the National Congress, the indigenous peoples of Cauca had held an extraordinary Congress because of the difficult situa- tion they were experiencing, with an increase in armed action on the part of both guerrilla and paramilitary forces on their territories, which claimed the lives of around 50 indigenous people in 2001. The last straw was the murder of the historic leader, Cristóbal Sécue, at the hands of the FARC. Approximately 20,000 indigenous people headed for Cauca to demand respect for their lives and autonomy for their authorities. For its part, the National Indigenous Congress reaffirmed the indigenous peoples’ territorial autonomy in the face of the war. It also stated its political will, after several years of isolation, to revive the process of building a Popular Social Block which, as an alterna- tive focus of power, might gain a space for self-expression that could influence the Peace Process and thus avoid it being built behind the backs of the indigenous, peasant and Afro-Colombian communities. In the working groups, the participants emphasised the need to

prevent the communities and organisations from becoming involved

in the armed conflict and the need for the armed players to respect •

•

the authorities and the autonomy of the indigenous peoples on their •

•

own lands. It also endorsed the resistance strategies being imple- • •

• mented and strongly criticised the FARC for discrediting the indig- •

• 111

• 112 FARC (bases and airfields, training camps etc.) with laser-guided with etc.) camps training airfields, and (bases FARC • •

• fleet of 30 aircraft, destroying almost all the logistics centres of the of centres logistics the all almost destroying aircraft, 30 of fleet •

•

had arrived, around 100 air missions had been undertaken by a by undertaken been had missions air 100 around arrived, had •

•

p.m.. That same night and before the early hours of the morning the of hours early the before and night same That p.m.. •

the armed forces to begin to take the demilitarised zone as of 12.00 of as zone demilitarised the take to begin to forces armed the

sions. He spoke at 9.20 p.m. on Wednesday 20 February, ordering February, 20 Wednesday on p.m. 9.20 at spoke He sions.

the end of the peace process, after three and a half years of discus- of years half a and three after process, peace the of end the

With the ink not yet dry on this article, the President announced President the article, this on dry yet not ink the With

Epilogue

vote of the large cities. large the of vote

people foreign to their struggles may be elected by the solidarity the by elected be may struggles their to foreign people

as to who their true representatives are, there is a danger that danger a is there are, representatives true their who to as

playing at politics. Although the indigenous people are very clear very are people indigenous the Although politics. at playing

indigenous struggle will compete against those who are merely are who those against compete will struggle indigenous

people. In these March elections, genuine representatives of the of representatives genuine elections, March these In people.

standing for election to two special constituencies for indigenous for constituencies special two to election for standing

of elections is much more fragmented. Around 15 candidates are candidates 15 Around fragmented. more much is elections of

joint efforts in order to survive the war, the political scene in terms in scene political the war, the survive to order in efforts joint

which demonstrate a unity and a will to continue to undertake to continue to will a and unity a demonstrate which

In spite of these important indigenous resistance strategies, resistance indigenous important these of spite In

their continued existence as peoples. as existence continued their

ity for the continued defence of their territorial autonomy and for and autonomy territorial their of defence continued the for ity

to stand alone, increasingly dependent upon international solidar- international upon dependent increasingly alone, stand to

in this tragic phase of their history, the indigenous people continue people indigenous the history, their of phase tragic this in

ment is, another consequence of the war. But it also showed that, showed also it But war. the of consequence another is, ment

more highlighted just how fragmented Colombia’s popular move- popular Colombia’s fragmented how just highlighted more

participated in the closing ceremony of the Congress. This once This Congress. the of ceremony closing the in participated

of a number of union, peasant and Afro-Colombian leaders who leaders Afro-Colombian and peasant union, of number a of

Nonetheless, popular participation was limited to the presence the to limited was participation popular Nonetheless,

ted States. ted

countries, and various friends from Europe, Canada and the Uni- the and Canada Europe, from friends various and countries,

indigenous people from a number of Central and South American South and Central of number a from people indigenous

president. This congress, which lasted six days, was attended by attended was days, six lasted which congress, This president.

peared leader, Kimy Pernía Domicó, as candidate for Colombian for candidate as Domicó, Pernía Kimy leader, peared

congress also unanimously decided to symbolically run the disap- the run symbolically to decided unanimously also congress

and give new strength to their struggles and protests. The protests. and struggles their to strength new give and power

their disapproval, feed on the experience of others, unite their will- their unite others, of experience the on feed disapproval, their

been yearning for. They needed to talk through their fears, express fears, their through talk to needed They for. yearning been enous civic police. All in all, the meeting was just what people had people what just was meeting the all, in All police. civic enous bombs. In the following three days, more than 250 bombs were dropped, including the 500 pound MK82, largely to destroy tun- nels and underground bunkers. The peasant population began to abandon the countryside and move towards the urban centres, fearing the arrival of parami- litaries accusing them of collaborating with the guerrillas. The scene is one of all-out war and the media are broadcasting images of bombardments in the style of the aerial attacks on Afghanistan. The commander of the air force, General Héctor Fabio Velasco, has stated that the nighttime air raids will be intensified with the help of new helicopters soon to arrive in the country, equipped with night sights that enable high resolution fields of vision. In spite of this euphoria for war that has invaded both the armed forces and a high percentage of Colombians, uncertainty still reigns, as civil- ian victims of these bombardments are already beginning to be reported. No one knows what will now happen in the country, but eve- ryone predicts the worst. President Pastrana ended his speech on Wednesday with the words “....may the archangel Saint Michael protect us”, thus commending the country’s fate to a celestial spi- rit. The archangel Saint Michael is supposed to be the angel of repentance, justice and mercy. We do not know if it was to these attributes that the President was appealing. Because, in the Bible, the Book of Revelations mentions that this archangel was respon- sible for leading the guardian angels in the fight against the devil and for freeing those that had fallen under Satan’s power. And the name given by the generals to this operation, “Operation Thana- tos”, is also a bad omen. But perhaps they are right, as death is now going to pervade the country, through the miserliness of its ruling classes, the arrogance of the guerrillas and the adventurism of the military forces.

Notes

1 The 85 indigenous peoples in the country alone have, in the form of reservations (resguardos), around 20 million hectares, or a fifth of the national territory.

2 It was at one of these meetings in La María that it was decided to hold a

•

Congress of Indigenous Peoples of Colombia. •

•

•

•

•

• •

• 113

• 114 enshrined in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. of Republic Bolivarian the of Constitution the in enshrined • •

• ensure that it reflected the spirit of the rights of indigenous peoples as peoples indigenous of rights the of spirit the reflected it that ensure •

•

The aim was to find out and include observations on the text and to and text the on observations include and out find to was aim The •

•

councils, the Ombudsman, the National Agrarian attorney’s office etc. office attorney’s Agrarian National the Ombudsman, the councils, •

and collaborating bodies such as state governments and legislative and governments state as such bodies collaborating and

National Assembly, with the participation of various indigenist experts indigenist various of participation the with Assembly, National

and Zulia. These workshops and consultations were organised by the by organised were consultations and workshops These Zulia. and

zonas, Anzoátegui, Apure, Bolívar, Delta Amacuro, Monagas, Sucre Monagas, Amacuro, Delta Bolívar, Apure, Anzoátegui, zonas,

communities during the second half of the year in the states of Ama- of states the in year the of half second the during communities

consultation processes undertaken with the indigenous peoples and peoples indigenous the with undertaken processes consultation

and its final result was the product of a number of workshops and workshops of number a of product the was result final its and

enous Peoples. This bill was formulated on the basis of an initial draft initial an of basis the on formulated was bill This Peoples. enous

text of the Legislative Agenda of the Permanent Commission for Indig- for Commission Permanent the of Agenda Legislative the of text

ILO Convention 169, relating to indigenous peoples, within the con- the within peoples, indigenous to relating 169, Convention ILO

discussion with the aim of developing the constitutional norms and norms constitutional the developing of aim the with discussion

was presented to the National Assembly for its plenary its for Assembly National the to presented was Communities Communities

In December 2001, the draft draft the 2001, December In Organic Law on Indigenous Peoples and Peoples Indigenous on Law Organic

and Communities and

Draft Organic Law on Indigenous Peoples Indigenous on Law Organic Draft

and headscarf, announced: “In other words, the struggle continues.” struggle the words, other “In announced: headscarf, and

2

Wayyù representative read the said Act and, wearing a Guajiran Guajiran a wearing and, Act said the read representative Wayyù batola

1

on 5th July 2001 to celebrate the signing of the Act of Independence, the Independence, of Act the of signing the celebrate to 2001 July 5th on

lost. In this respect, in the formal session held in the National Assembly National the in held session formal the in respect, this In lost.

ensure that the space gained within the state’s political structures is not is structures political state’s the within gained space the that ensure

place during the period covered by this report that highlight the need to need the highlight that report this by covered period the during place

In spite of a favourable legislative outlook, a number of events took events of number a outlook, legislative favourable a of spite In

decision-making process within the Venezuelan parliament. Venezuelan the within process decision-making

which the weight of the three indigenous votes made itself felt in the in felt itself made votes indigenous three the of weight the which

vice-president of the National Assembly, in a fierce negotiation in negotiation fierce a in Assembly, National the of vice-president

appointment of Noeli Pocaterra, an indigenous Wayyú deputy, as deputy, Wayyú indigenous an Pocaterra, Noeli of appointment

voice of their representatives and organisations. Proof of this is in the in is this of Proof organisations. and representatives their of voice

public authorities to respect and consider their presence, through the through presence, their consider and respect to authorities public

cestral rights, has forced the different bodies and institutions of the of institutions and bodies different the forced has rights, cestral

nificantly. Recognition of their existence as peoples, and of their an- their of and peoples, as existence their of Recognition nificantly.

S

situation of Venezuela’s indigenous peoples has improved sig- improved has peoples indigenous Venezuela’s of situation

ince approval of the new constitutional text in 1999, the legal the 1999, in text constitutional new the of approval ince VENEZUELA 1 Wayyú 4 Pemón 2 Pumé 5 Yagarana (Approx. locations of indigenous groups mentioned in text) 3 Warao 6 Yanomami

In the text, aspects such as the land and habitat of indigenous peoples and communities, their culture, language, economy, collective intel- lectual property, political and civic participation, bilingual intercul- tural education system, health and traditional medicine and jurisdic- tion are developed, and the creation of the National Institute for

Indigenous Peoples is provided for, to be an autonomous body within

the state enabling indigenous people to control and decide their own •

•

priorities for economic, social and cultural development. • •

•

•

• •

• 115

• 116 and also including the Ministries of the Environment and Natural and Environment the of Ministries the including also and • •

• appointed in accordance with traditional consultation mechanisms consultation traditional with accordance in appointed •

•

Ana Elisa Osorio Granado, and made up of a total of 16 members 16 of total a of up made and Granado, Osorio Elisa Ana •

•

chaired by the Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources, Natural and Environment the for Minister the by chaired •

decreed the creation of the National Demarcation Commission, Demarcation National the of creation the decreed

In this context, on 7 August 2001, the President of the Republic the of President the 2001, August 7 on context, this In

ship of their lands. their of ship

specifies the right of indigenous communities to the collective owner- collective the to communities indigenous of right the specifies

For the first time in Venezuela, this Venezuela, in time first the For The Indigenous World 2000-2001). World Indigenous The

Venezuela in Venezuela see ( Peoples Indigenous of Lands and Habitat the of Guarantee

enous peoples. This was due to approval of the the of approval to due was This peoples. enous Law of Demarcation and Demarcation of Law

national process of demarcation of the habitat and lands of the indig- the of lands and habitat the of demarcation of process national

During 2001, significant progress was made towards achieving the achieving towards made was progress significant 2001, During

The demarcation process demarcation The

proposal may be included at the second and final reading. final and second the at included be may proposal

itants of the Venezuelan Amazon in danger. It is still hoped that the that hoped still is It danger. in Amazon Venezuelan the of itants

now puts the attainment of the ancestral rights of the original inhab- original the of rights ancestral the of attainment the puts now

body at its first reading, without including the said proposal. This proposal. said the including without reading, first its at body

this, the previous draft bill was approved by the regional legislative regional the by approved was bill draft previous the this,

within the region alongside Spanish, amongst other things. In spite of spite In things. other amongst Spanish, alongside region the within

territory, and the use of indigenous languages as official languages official as languages indigenous of use the and territory,

of the indigenous and non-indigenous communities living within its within living communities non-indigenous and indigenous the of

entity whose task it is to guarantee the ethnic and cultural diversity cultural and ethnic the guarantee to is it task whose entity

ration of Amazonas state as a multi-ethnic and pluricultural political pluricultural and multi-ethnic a as state Amazonas of ration

existence of indigenous peoples and communities, such as the decla- the as such communities, and peoples indigenous of existence

legal text. The proposal dealt primarily with aspects impacting on the on impacting aspects with primarily dealt proposal The text. legal

and Autana met to formulate a proposal for inclusion into the said the into inclusion for proposal a formulate to met Autana and

Lara and the indigenous mayors of the municipalities of Manapiare of municipalities the of mayors indigenous the and Lara

the Ombudsman, the indigenous deputies Guillermo Arana and Wilson and Arana Guillermo deputies indigenous the Ombudsman, the

the Regional Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of Amazonas, ORPIA, Amazonas, of Peoples Indigenous of Organisation Regional the

For this reason, in June 2001 in Puerto Ayacucho, representatives of representatives Ayacucho, Puerto in 2001 June in reason, this For

nature of the region in its basic regulatory text. regulatory basic its in region the of nature

were taken into account, ignoring the pluricultural and multi-ethnic and pluricultural the ignoring account, into taken were

of the sector, which form part of the various regional public bodies, public regional various the of part form which sector, the of

opinions of neither the indigenous organisations nor representatives nor organisations indigenous the neither of opinions

submitted for discussion to the State Legislative Council, in which the which in Council, Legislative State the to discussion for submitted

During 2001, a draft Constitution for the State of Amazonas was Amazonas of State the for Constitution draft a 2001, During The Amazonas State Constitution State Amazonas The Resources, Education, Culture and Sports, Defence, External Rela- tions, Energy and Mines, Production and Trade, and Interior and Justice. The aim of this Commission is to promote, supervise, advise, im- plement and coordinate all aspects of the process of demarcating the habitat and lands of the indigenous peoples and communities. On 17 January 2002, as mandated, it thus approved its Internal Regulations governing the way in which it will operate. These regulations are binding both on the members of the commission and on the members of the Regional and Local Commissions, which will be auxiliary management bodies at these levels. Despite the fact that the demarcation of indigenous lands has not been achieved within the time period established in the Constitution (which was two years from December 1999), there are strategic alli- ances, sympathies and spaces within the national public authorities, both state and municipal, that create conditions conducive to encour- aging and guaranteeing its continued progress. In the states of Ama- zonas and Bolívar, the Piaroa and Yekuana ethnic groups are pro- gressing with self-demarcation processes which will be reviewed and considered in line with the law.

Situation of the bilingual intercultural education system

In June 2001, the draft Law on the Education of Indigenous Peoples and Communities and Use of their Languages moved forward, via a process of consultation with the indigenous populations of the states, to its ninth version in which it seeks to develop, for the first time, the right to their own education. This is because the Bilingual Intercultural Education System as it has been implemented to date in Venezuela meets the socio-cultural specifics, values and traditions of these peo- ples, but from a western educational model, which prioritises learn- ing within the spatial boundaries of the school. In this bill of law, a group’s own or traditional education is defined as “the systems of upbringing and socialisation unique to each indig- enous people and community, through which the elements that con- stitute their culture are transmitted and recreated”. In this context,

during 2001 and early 2002, the Pemón and Yekuana Teaching Guides

were published, designed by the teachers as a first step in the reform •

•

of the curricular design, coordinated by the Department for Indig- •

•

enous Affairs (DAI) of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports • •

• and sponsored by UNICEF. •

• 117

• 118 according to the proposal, represent the most valid authority to issue to authority valid most the represent proposal, the to according • •

• ogy and, at local level, the Community General Assemblies which, Assemblies General Community the level, local at and, ogy •

•

serve authorities and the Regional Councils for Science and Technol- and Science for Councils Regional the and authorities serve •

•

organisations with a recognised legitimate base, environmental re- environmental base, legitimate recognised a with organisations •

Indian National Council; at state level, various regional indigenous regional various level, state at Council; National Indian

Technology, Education, Culture and Sport, the Ombudsman and the and Ombudsman the Sport, and Culture Education, Technology,

would involve, at the national level, the Ministries of Science and Science of Ministries the level, national the at involve, would

can obtain the necessary permission. This consultation mechanism consultation This permission. necessary the obtain can

scientific institutions interested in undertaking research in the area the in research undertaking in interested institutions scientific

sity and they establish a wide consultation mechanism by which by mechanism consultation wide a establish they and sity

process of issuing regulations governing the Law on Biological Diver- Biological on Law the governing regulations issuing of process

In this proposal, they ask the National Assembly to speed up the up speed to Assembly National the ask they proposal, this In

netic resources, biodiversity, technological innovation and practice. and innovation technological biodiversity, resources, netic

and protection of ancestral indigenous knowledge in relation to ge- to relation in knowledge indigenous ancestral of protection and

Ministry for Production and Trade regarding the promotion, respect promotion, the regarding Trade and Production for Ministry

to the Autonomous Department for Industrial Property attached to the to attached Property Industrial for Department Autonomous the to

Because of this, in September 2001, ORPIA presented a proposal a presented ORPIA 2001, September in this, of Because

used them as the objects of their study, without their consent. their without study, their of objects the as them used

of the territories into consideration and, what is even more serious, have serious, more even is what and, consideration into territories the of

their experiments and research without taking the original inhabitants original the taking without research and experiments their

A number of national and foreign universities have been carrying out carrying been have universities foreign and national of number A

peoples’ collective intellectual property rights have not been respected. been not have rights property intellectual collective peoples’

that have been implemented over the last three years, in which these which in years, three last the over implemented been have that

ORPIA, raised a voice of protest against the various scientific projects scientific various the against protest of voice a raised ORPIA,

The organised indigenous communities of Amazonas, represented by represented Amazonas, of communities indigenous organised The

Actions for the respect of collective intellectual property intellectual collective of respect the for Actions

body for this area. this for body

Law of Indigenous Peoples and Communities creates a governing a creates Communities and Peoples Indigenous of Law

issues and declare the DAI in a transitional period until the Organic the until period transitional a in DAI the declare and issues

take into account all of civil society that is involved in indigenous in involved is that society civil of all account into take

decree from the national executive to reorganise the DAI, which should which DAI, the reorganise to executive national the from decree

ration of an emergency among indigenous peoples, to demand a demand to peoples, indigenous among emergency an of ration

regard, and following analysis, it was agreed: to demand the decla- the demand to agreed: was it analysis, following and regard,

and the crisis within the DAI, the system’s implementing body. In this In body. implementing system’s the DAI, the within crisis the and

the low level of literacy among the Warao communities, for example, for communities, Warao the among literacy of level low the

cultural system, which was showing serious failings, represented by represented failings, serious showing was which system, cultural

ples and Communities, following 22 years of application of the inter- the of application of years 22 following Communities, and ples

also undertaken by the Permanent Commission for Indigenous Peo- Indigenous for Commission Permanent the by undertaken also During this period, an assessment of the educational situation was situation educational the of assessment an period, this During this kind of authorisation, permit or other type of request for access to collectively-owned ancestral knowledge and genetic resources. The importance of this proposal lies in the fact that, even though the law in this matter has not yet had its governing regulations established, it has generated a feeling of respect in different scientific and academic circles with regard to the opinion of the organised communities in terms of the intellectual property of their genetic resources and ancestral knowl- edge. Over this period of time, a number of consultations for the realisa- tion of various projects were carried out between governmental and non- governmental bodies at national and regional level and the indigenous communities, under the careful watch of ORPIA, as the legitimately recognised grass-roots organisation in the area. In addition, the Permanent Commission for Indigenous Peoples of the National Assembly invited the North American journalist, Patrick Tierney to speak before Parliament. In his book Darkness in El Dorado3 he denounces the research sponsored by the American Atomic Energy Commission that was undertaken with the Yanomami people during the 1960s. He was accompanied by José Seripino and Alfredo Aherowe, representatives of the Yanomami people, who were in the area and declared that they knew the anthropologist Napoleón Chagnon, who was in charge of this research. It was agreed to request the National Assembly to implement concrete actions by which to repair the damage caused. It was also agreed, together with the DAI, to temporarily suspend research permits in the region of Alto Orinoco. Even so, to date the authorities responsible for these accusations have taken no steps in this respect.

Power lines to Brazil

Indigenous opposition to this project did not let up during 2001. In March, renewed clashes occurred between the army and the Pemón communities of Vista Alegre and Kamoiran, due to the establishment of new military posts in the Canaima National Park and the threatening presence of Army officials on territories occu- pied by the Pemón which, on 20 March, forced these communities to close the road leading to Santa Elena de Uairén. Subsequently, and on attempting to establish a dialogue with the Army on 22

March, they were attacked with tear gas and gunfire, seriously

wounding one of the community’s inhabitants and illegally de- •

•

taining its leader, Silviano Castro. This led to urgent action on the •

•

part of the Association of Friends in Defence of the Gran Sabana, • •

• AMIGRANSA, the Venezuelan Programme of Education-Action in •

• 119 • 120 •

•

• use this argument when the time arrives. time the when argument this use 4 •

•

We are very patient. Once more we are giving way, but we will also will we but way, giving are we more Once patient. very are We •

•

indigenous peoples, we have to see if the demands turn into reality. into turn demands the if see to have we peoples, indigenous •

what has been approved or of the fact that his discourse prioritises discourse his that fact the of or approved been has what

let the power line go through. This is not the case. Regardless of Regardless case. the not is This through. go line power the let

Carta Magna. But it must not be interpreted that, in exchange, we exchange, in that, interpreted be not must it But Magna. Carta

Constituent Assembly and approved the indigenous chapter of the of chapter indigenous the approved and Assembly Constituent

President Hugo Chávez gave us participation in the National the in participation us gave Chávez Hugo President

tain government commitments to those affected, clarified: affected, those to commitments government tain

government to paralyse action against the project in exchange for cer- for exchange in project the against action paralyse to government

opposition to the power line and then accepted an agreement with the with agreement an accepted then and line power the to opposition

enous Federation of Bolívar, José Luis González, who first led the led first who González, Luis José Bolívar, of Federation enous

lívar, Delta Amacuro and Monagas states and President of the Indig- the of President and states Monagas and Amacuro Delta lívar,

In this regard, the indigenous deputy for the ethnic groups of Bo- of groups ethnic the for deputy indigenous the regard, this In

taking the affected communities into account. into communities affected the taking

undertaken without suspending the line’s inauguration, and without and inauguration, line’s the suspending without undertaken

writing, this had not yet been published. It should be noted that it was it that noted be should It published. been yet not had this writing,

to be undertaken by the Central University of Venezuela. At the time of time the At Venezuela. of University Central the by undertaken be to

Environment, Ana Elisa Osorio, ordered a socio-cultural impact study impact socio-cultural a ordered Osorio, Elisa Ana Environment,

Given the public resistance this has caused, the Minister for the for Minister the caused, has this resistance public the Given

began to supply energy to the north of Brazil. of north the to energy supply to began

were ignored and, finally, on 13 August 2001, the transformers the 2001, August 13 on finally, and, ignored were

protests of environmental groups and indigenous organisations indigenous and groups environmental of protests

its ancestral rights recognised in the constitutional sphere, the sphere, constitutional the in recognised rights ancestral its

representation in a number of public authority bodies and has had has and bodies authority public of number a in representation

this historic moment when the indigenous movement has gained has movement indigenous the when moment historic this

electric power line” in his electoral campaign, paradoxically, at paradoxically, campaign, electoral his in line” power electric

sident of the Republic, Hugo Chávez, supported the “No to the to “No the supported Chávez, Hugo Republic, the of sident

munities, it was finally inaugurated. Even though the current Pre- current the though Even inaugurated. finally was it munities,

nation and, in addition, an outrage against the indigenous com- indigenous the against outrage an addition, in and, nation

unconstitutional and illegal, representing economic losses for the for losses economic representing illegal, and unconstitutional

of Parks of the National Assembly highlighted this project as being as project this highlighted Assembly National the of Parks of

despite the fact that, in February, a report of the Sub-commission the of report a February, in that, fact the despite

of Bolívar state to the transmission system to the south-east and south-east the to system transmission the to state Bolívar of

In spite of the fierce opposition of the indigenous communities indigenous the of opposition fierce the of spite In

tion of this Natural World Heritage Site. Heritage World Natural this of tion

original inhabitants of the Gran Sabana and to stop the deteriora- the stop to and Sabana Gran the of inhabitants original

sectors of civil society in order to prevent the outrages against the against outrages the prevent to order in society civil of sectors

enous organisations with the aim of raising the awareness of all of awareness the raising of aim the with organisations enous Human Rights and other human rights, environmental and indig- and environmental rights, human other and Rights Human This agreement (see The Indigenous World 2000-2001) was seen as a rupture in the indigenous movement although, for Gon- zález, it was no more than an opportunity to evaluate the or- ganisation’s situation and agree a temporary halt, without im- plying that the struggle was abandoned. What is clear is that the inauguration of the electric power line demonstrates a divide between political discourse, which prioritises the existence of indigenous peoples and communities, and the powerful natio- nal and international economic interests that finally pushed this mega-project through.

Land invasions in Amazonas state

Finally, after three years, the relocation of 200 people of the Diñaku Association has at last been achieved. In 1997, they invaded a sector of the protected zone of the Cataniapo river, territory of the indigenous Manuare and Carinagua communities, causing serious environmen- tal damage and directly and indirectly affecting the mentioned com- munities and the whole population of the town of Puerto Ayacucho, the Cataniapo river being the main source of drinking water in the area. A calculation of the compensation to be paid by those respon- sible for this crime is currently being made, on the basis of the ecologi- cal damage incurred. Another case is that of the Yabarana ethnic group, comprising scarcely 300 members and which, through the Yabarana of the Alto Parucito Organisation (OIYAPAM), demanded the eviction of a Span- ish landowner who had been living on their territory for more than 20 years. After a long drawn-out process, the agrarian authorities passed judgement stating that this person had to leave the territory. Given that this “invader”, who was given two years to leave the Manapiare municipality, has not yet done so, OIYAPAM and repre- sentatives of other ethnic groups approached the president of the National Agrarian Institute to complain about the institute’s deci- sion, taken with no consultation and at the request of the landowner, to grant him two dry seasons for the profitable sale of his cattle, a period that could cover more than 24 months, representing a betrayal

of the right of the original inhabitants of these territories. At the time

of writing, no decision had been taken regarding a reversal of this •

•

decision. • •

•

•

• •

• 121

• 122 have died through lack of medical assistance because, through lack through because, assistance medical of lack through died have • •

• community have denounced the fact that many of their brothers their of many that fact the denounced have community •

•

conditions, and impacting on their quality of life. The leaders of one of leaders The life. of quality their on impacting and conditions, •

•

way of life, causing them to suffer dangerous health and education and health dangerous suffer to them causing life, of way •

mentation of a development model that has infringed upon their upon infringed has that model development a of mentation

indiscriminate extraction of their natural resources and the imple- the and resources natural their of extraction indiscriminate

people towards the urban areas as a consequence of a policy of policy a of consequence a as areas urban the towards people

Amacuro and Monagas, has caused a huge displacement of these of displacement huge a caused has Monagas, and Amacuro

The serious situation of the Warao, living in the states of Delta of states the in living Warao, the of situation serious The

Situation of displacement and violation of rights of violation and displacement of Situation

of the DAI. the of

pension of research permits in the region of Alto Orinoco on the part the on Orinoco Alto of region the in permits research of pension

National Assembly was also noted along with the temporary sus- temporary the with along noted also was Assembly National

Spanish. The North American journalist’s invitation to speak to the to speak to invitation journalist’s American North The Spanish.

agreed, for which reason the text will be translated from English into English from translated be will text the reason which for agreed,

cerning genetic experiments on members of the Yanomami was also was Yanomami the of members on experiments genetic cerning

The need to continue to investigate the Tierney accusations con- accusations Tierney the investigate to continue to need The

by virtue of the Haximú massacre in 1993. in massacre Haximú the of virtue by

government with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Human on Commission Inter-American the with government

People, which forms part of the compensation agreed by the national the by agreed compensation the of part forms which People,

chers and implementation of the Health Plan for the Yanomami the for Plan Health the of implementation and chers

to bilingual intercultural education, the training of Yanomami tea- Yanomami of training the education, intercultural bilingual to

granting of permits for research projects, land demarcation, access demarcation, land projects, research for permits of granting

on points such as the creation of a Yanomami municipality, the municipality, Yanomami a of creation the as such points on

and whose activities have a bearing on the existence of this people, this of existence the on bearing a have activities whose and

ment authorities and non-governmental organisations attending, organisations non-governmental and authorities ment

and education. Binding agreements were signed with the govern- the with signed were agreements Binding education. and

important aspects as health, political participation, environment participation, political health, as aspects important

, intermediary the to meet and express their opinions on such on opinions their express and meet to shabonos

5

This meeting enabled around 700 Yanomami members, including members, Yanomami 700 around enabled meeting This

dency of the Republic. the of dency

was organised by the Yanomami Commission and the vice-presi- the and Commission Yanomami the by organised was

by Patrick Tierney and Tierney Patrick by book the of publication Darkness in El Dorado El in Darkness

out of a need for concrete action around the controversy caused by the by caused controversy the around action concrete for need a of out

Conference as it was held in that sector of the Alto Orinoco. It arose It Orinoco. Alto the of sector that in held was it as Conference

Yanomami sector was organised. This was known as the Shakita the as known was This organised. was sector Yanomami

For the first time, in November 2001, a general conference of the of conference general a 2001, November in time, first the For Yanomami Conference Yanomami of staff, there have been no medical consultations for more than three years. Illnesses causing the most deaths include tuberculosis, diar- rhoea, sickness, dengue and malaria. The Permanent Commission of Indigenous Peoples and Communities drew up a report on the situ- ation of indigenous peoples, in which it requested that the Warao people should be declared in a state of emergency. However, to date there has been no significant progress. Another clear case of displacement is that of the Yukpa and Bari peoples of the Sierra de Perija (Zulia state) who, due to the detention of some of their members by the Colombian paramilitary during Janu- ary and February 2001, have begun to move away from the border, given the lack of a security policy in these areas that takes the exist- ence of these peoples into account. In addition, they have been hounded by the landowners and cattle ranchers of the area, who have been taking the best lands for their farms, leaving them cornered up against the foothills of the Sierra, where they suffer from a lack of water due to a drying up of the sources. But the most serious case took place in the state of Apure during the month of July, when a Pumé family of four people was massacred by cattle owners in the area, with the aim of taking their land from them. The murderers are on trial, having openly confessed to the crime. It is clear that, given the above, the outlook for the indigenous peoples of Venezuela seems contradictory and confusing. Peoples are now recognised as such in the legal sphere, with specific rights that should guarantee their subsistence and quality of life, and represen- tation in the different public authority bodies but, in practice, they have suffered and continue to suffer from an absence of measures and actions that would make the constitutional and legal principles they have been recognised concrete, a situation that is reflected in the outrages they continue to suffer and in the lack of awareness on the part of the rest of the population of the respect that should be given to their ancestral ways of life.

Notes and references

1 A loose dress, usually white, worn by Guajira women. (trans. note) 2 El Nacional, 6 July 2001.

3 Tierney, Patrick. 2000. Darkness in El Dorado. New York: W. W. Norton &

•

Company. •

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4. El Nacional, 19 August 2001. •

•

5 Communal huts. (trans. note) • • •

• 123

• 124 document for the indigenous peoples that we know of in Peru. One Peru. in of know we that peoples indigenous the for document • •

• has been the Action Plan for priority issues, the first public policy public first the issues, priority for Plan Action the been has •

•

NGOs and indigenous organisations. Its most significant result significant most Its organisations. indigenous and NGOs •

•

bled productive joint work to be undertaken between the state, the between undertaken be to work joint productive bled •

been extremely valuable, unprecedented even, in that it has ena- has it that in even, unprecedented valuable, extremely been

The process implemented on the basis of this experience has experience this of basis the on implemented process The

to facilitate the dialogue process. dialogue the facilitate to

National Indigenous Commission of the Amazon (CINA) in order in (CINA) Amazon the of Commission Indigenous National

AIDESEP, decided to form the form to decided AIDESEP, Forest, Peruvian the of Development

digenous organisations affiliated to the Inter-ethnic Association for Association Inter-ethnic the to affiliated organisations digenous

Cooperation for Native Communities were created. The regional in- regional The created. were Communities Native for Cooperation

sion for Native Communities and the Committee for Dialogue and Dialogue for Committee the and Communities Native for sion

On the basis of this initiative, the Special Multisectoral Commis- Multisectoral Special the initiative, this of basis the On

dent Valentín Paniagua and made a number of requests. of number a made and Paniagua Valentín dent

ability being suffered by the Amazonian indigenous peoples to Presi- to peoples indigenous Amazonian the by suffered being ability

Indigenous Peoples, ARPI, explained the serious situation of vulner- of situation serious the explained ARPI, Peoples, Indigenous

ples of the central forest, organised by the Regional Association of Association Regional the by organised forest, central the of ples

In early February, a representative delegation of the indigenous peo- indigenous the of delegation representative a February, early In

the state and indigenous peoples indigenous and state the

The beginnings of a fruitful dialogue between dialogue fruitful a of beginnings The

enous and cultural issues. cultural and enous

chua and has shown a strong personal vocation to work on indig- on work to vocation personal strong a shown has and chua

wife, Eliane Karp, who is half-Belgian/half-French, also speaks Que- speaks also half-Belgian/half-French, is who Karp, Eliane wife,

an anthropologist and very knowledgeable about Andean culture, his culture, Andean about knowledgeable very and anthropologist an

dean village of Cabana in the department of Ancash. Apart from being from Apart Ancash. of department the in Cabana of village dean

rique, won at the second round. Toledo is indigenous, from the An- the from indigenous, is Toledo round. second the at won rique,

In the presidential elections of June 2001, Alejandro Toledo Man- Toledo Alejandro 2001, June of elections presidential the In

participation and agreement. and participation

mocratic state of law and opening up new channels for popular for channels new up opening and law of state mocratic

remarkable for re-establishing the institutions fundamental to a de- a to fundamental institutions the re-establishing for remarkable

ful advisor, Vladimiro Montesinos, the Paniagua government was government Paniagua the Montesinos, Vladimiro advisor, ful

quent flight from the country and the imprisonment of his all-power- his of imprisonment the and country the from flight quent

jimori’s government (see (see government jimori’s ), his subse- his ), The Indigenous World 2000-2001 World Indigenous The

tician from the Popular Action party. After 10 years of Alberto Fu- Alberto of years 10 After party. Action Popular the from tician

T

tional government of Valentín Paniagua Corazao, a Cusco poli- Cusco a Corazao, Paniagua Valentín of government tional

he first half of 2001 was characterised by the impeccable transi- impeccable the by characterised was 2001 of half first he PERU of the real achievements of the work was the official creation of the El Sira Communal Reserve, an important forested area of 616,413 has situated in the departments of Huánuco, Pasco and Ucayali, and re- nowned for housing a great biological wealth and diversity. This re- serve will contribute to the survival and development of the Asháninka, Yanesha, Ashéninka and Shipibo peoples, to name but a few.

In the provisions creating the Reserve, the state recognises and

protects the traditional access right that the Amazonian indig- •

•

enous communities have always had in this area for their subsist- •

•

ence activities and its promulgation is “to ensure their development in • •

• harmony with their social and cultural values”. In addition to the Sira •

• 125

• 126 government “Of all Bloods”, an allusion to an emblematic work by the by work emblematic an to allusion an Bloods”, all “Of government • •

• On 28 July, Alejandro Toledo took power, with the slogan: for a for slogan: the with power, took Toledo Alejandro July, 28 On • •

•

•

possible? ” Bloods all Of “ Peruvian government government Peruvian •

Alejandro Toledo’s government, this committee has yet to sit. to yet has committee this government, Toledo’s Alejandro

of the Peruvian Amazon. However, as of April 2002, after 9 months of months 9 after 2002, April of as However, Amazon. Peruvian the of

created in order to consider the problems of the Indigenous Communities Indigenous the of problems the consider to order in created

PCM by means of which the Permanent Committee for Dialogue was Dialogue for Committee Permanent the which of means by PCM

issues, President Valentín Paniagua issued Supreme Decree 072-2001- Decree Supreme issued Paniagua Valentín President issues,

in which to complete the Action Plan for long-term (and non-priority) (and long-term for Plan Action the complete to which in

In order to ensure continuity in the dialogue and, given the lack of time of lack the given and, dialogue the in continuity ensure to order In

peoples.

8. To respect and protect the collective knowledge of indigenous of knowledge collective the protect and respect To 8.

7. To protect the indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. voluntary in peoples indigenous the protect To 7.

ronmental and social damage. social and ronmental

sources of their environment and the prevention of negative envi- negative of prevention the and environment their of sources

communities in the sustainable exploitation of the natural re- natural the of exploitation sustainable the in communities

6. To guarantee the access, use and participation in benefits of native of benefits in participation and use access, the guarantee To 6.

benefits from, protected natural areas. natural protected from, benefits

5. To guarantee indigenous participation in the management of, and of, management the in participation indigenous guarantee To 5.

nities of the central forest. central the of nities

4. To build conditions of peace and security for the native commu- native the for security and peace of conditions build To 4.

coverage in the native communities. native the in coverage

3. To build an intercultural health system and extend public health public extend and system health intercultural an build To 3.

nities and at all levels: primary, secondary and higher. and secondary primary, levels: all at and nities

2. To extend bilingual intercultural education to all native commu- native all to education intercultural bilingual extend To 2.

native communities of the Amazon. the of communities native

1. To guarantee property rights to land and the legal security of the of security legal the and land to rights property guarantee To 1.

fulfilling eight broad priority objectives defined in the decree creating it: creating decree the in defined objectives priority broad eight fulfilling

Communities. The Action Plan contains government actions aimed at aimed actions government contains Plan Action The Communities.

ciety through the Committee for Dialogue and Cooperation for Native for Cooperation and Dialogue for Committee the through ciety

peoples, and which were agreed jointly between the state and civil so- civil and state the between jointly agreed were which and peoples,

Communities. This plan contains specific actions benefiting indigenous benefiting actions specific contains plan This Communities.

nities publicly presented the Action Plan for the Priority Issues of Native of Issues Priority the for Plan Action the presented publicly nities

On 24 July, the Special Multisectoral Commission for Native Commu- Native for Commission Multisectoral Special the July, 24 On

includes a special system for communal reserves. communal for system special a includes

the regulations governing the Law of Protected Natural Areas, which Areas, Natural Protected of Law the governing regulations the Reserve, another secondary achievement has been the promulgation of promulgation the been has achievement secondary another Reserve, indigenous author, José María Arguedas.1 On 29 July, Toledo made known the Machu Picchu Declaration on Democracy, the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Fight against Poverty, signed by the heads of state of the Andean countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela) during the symbolic acceptance of presidential office held in the Machu Picchu citadel. The said declaration establishes a commitment to promote and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the indigenous peo- ples favouring, in this respect, the formulation and approval of the OAS American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, along with the creation of a Working Group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples within the context of the Andean Community of Nations. For its part, in August, the Indigenous Commission of the Amazon, presided over by the Asháninka leader, Guillermo Ñaco Rosas, organ- ised an international consultation and submitted to the government an Institutional Model for the Indigenous Peoples of Peru, which had been debated and developed in a Workshop with the leaders form various regions of AIDESEP. However, they had to wait until December for a government reac- tion. On 6 December, the National Commission for Andean and Ama- zonian Peoples (CONAPAA) was established, presided over by Elia- ne Karp de Toledo. This body, created by Supreme Decree 111-2001- PCM, presents serious weaknesses in its design and shows that the government has either not taken on board, or has rejected, the insti- tutional set-up suggested by the indigenous sector and has opted for discretional and personal management of the issues by Eliane Karp. CONAPAA, made up of 17 and then 21 honorary members, is aimed not only at “promoting, coordinating, leading, implementing” but also at “supervising and evaluating policies, programmes and pro- jects” of concern to indigenous peoples. This concentration of con- sultative and implementational functions is excessive and hinders the development of a solid and effective institution, capable of design- ing and applying medium and long-term multi-sectoral policies. Toledo described the creation of this working group as an historic act and added that the programmes proposed would be developed in accord with the Andean and Amazonian communities. However, as of mid-April 2002, CONAPAA had still not formally held a second

working session of all its members and nor had the Committee for

Permanent Dialogue, decreed by the previous government, been estab- •

•

lished. • •

•

•

• •

• 127

• 128 from the Doe Run chimneys is everywhere. It chokes you, it stings it you, chokes It everywhere. is chimneys Run Doe the from • •

• We get up at 4 in the morning to graze our animals and the smoke the and animals our graze to morning the in 4 at up get We • •

•

•

communities in an emergency an in communities •

s ’ country the leaves contamination Mining

international events representing Amazonian indigenous women. indigenous Amazonian representing events international

workshops, the Women’s Secretary participated in various national and national various in participated Secretary Women’s the workshops,

work that has been initiated should soon be followed-up. In addition to the to addition In followed-up. be soon should initiated been has that work

women has been huge and demanding and they have requested that the that requested have they and demanding and huge been has women

from a gender perspective. The response and interest from indigenous from interest and response The perspective. gender a from

shops were held in five of the six regional offices, evaluating and training and evaluating offices, regional six the of five in held were shops

lished an Indigenous Women’s Desk. Albeit with insufficient funds, work- funds, insufficient with Albeit Desk. Women’s Indigenous an lished

enous women’s participation. For the first time, in 2001, AIDESEP estab- AIDESEP 2001, in time, first the For participation. women’s enous

Another important area of progress worth mentioning is that of indig- of that is mentioning worth progress of area important Another

projects being implemented on their behalf and on their territories. their on and behalf their on implemented being projects

and to promote indigenous participation in all binational development binational all in participation indigenous promote to and

Shuar and Wampi peoples could visit their families without difficulty without families their visit could peoples Wampi and Shuar

enable free movement over the border so that members of the Awajun, the of members that so border the over movement free enable

They also agreed to request identity cards or safe-conduct cards to cards safe-conduct or cards identity request to agreed also They

nical Council was formed. was Council nical

education and intercultural health, and the Permanent Binational Tech- Binational Permanent the and health, intercultural and education

and trade integration were adopted, along with decisions on bilingual on decisions with along adopted, were integration trade and

Peru. During this event, decisions on sustainable economic development economic sustainable on decisions event, this During Peru.

dor held their Third Binational Meeting in the community of Chapiza, of community the in Meeting Binational Third their held dor

sentatives of the Shuar, Awajun and Wampi peoples of Peru and Ecua- and Peru of peoples Wampi and Awajun Shuar, the of sentatives

From 30 October to 1 November, in the north of the Amazon, repre- Amazon, the of north the in November, 1 to October 30 From

ples in voluntary isolation in the department. the in isolation voluntary in ples

demarcation presented by FENAMAD on behalf of the indigenous peo- indigenous the of behalf on FENAMAD by presented demarcation

area. It was also agreed to speed up the Verification Study for territorial for Study Verification the up speed to agreed also was It area.

the associations of small forestry companies and the population of the of population the and companies forestry small of associations the

National Institute for Natural Resources (INRENA), the National Police, National the (INRENA), Resources Natural for Institute National

tors, and the implementation of a supervisory system shared between the between shared system supervisory a of implementation the and tors,

of forests for permanent production on behalf of the small forest extrac- forest small the of behalf on production permanent for forests of

de Dios. Included among these are the establishment and demarcation and establishment the are these among Included Dios. de

agreements for the sustainable development of the department of Madre of department the of development sustainable the for agreements

of Tahuamanu and Tambopata and the state, on the basis of strategic of basis the on state, the and Tambopata and Tahuamanu of

up a management model agreed between the small logging companies logging small the between agreed model management a up

In October, the Native Federation of Madre de Dios (FENAMAD) drew (FENAMAD) Dios de Madre of Federation Native the October, In Other indigenous progress in coordination in progress indigenous Other your throat. I have come to complain because our rams are dying, soon we will be left with no animals. Our cuycitos 2 are also dying. Before, when they were ill we took them to the vet for treatment and they recovered and got fatter, now no. Since the Doe Run company has been churning out its arsenic and lead-filled smoke, they are worse. Three years ago I had 30 cows, now I only have one. How will I send my children to school? What will we live on? We live on meat, on wool that we sell. Now our animals’ hair is falling out, their meat is contaminated with metals...they are dying there where we graze them.

This is the lament of Antonia Segura López, a community member from Huari, and one of the few farmers who managed to show his animals at the Second Exhibition of animals affected by Metal Ore Mining contamination held on Sunday 11 November in the town of Yauli-La Oroya. Similarly, on 23 and 24 November, in Pasco, the Second International Summit of Communities and Populations of Peru affected by Mining took place, at which more than 600 delegates requested that the government declare a national state of environmental emergency because mining activity was seriously endangering human health through contamination of pastures, rivers, lakes and lagoons, damage to animals, crops and, in addition, a consequent move from the lands, impoverishing the commu- nities living around the mining deposits. The Summit was organised by the National Coordinating Body of Communities Affected by Mining (CONACAMI) with the participation of delegates from ECUARUNARI (Ecuador) and CONAMAQ (Bolivia). The event, named “Godofredo García Baca and martyrs in the struggle against environmental contamination” had the slogan of “Clean Air, Land and Water” and the Pasco Declaration was signed during this summit.

Hydrocarbons and indigenous territories: the government’s Achilles’ heel

In addition, in the north-eastern region of the country, the Otorongo Centre for Holistic Ecology denounced the fact that more than 220,000 inhabitants, including populations from the towns of Tarapoto and

Lamas and 27 titled indigenous communities, would be affected by

the oil exploration due to be carried out on plot 87 by Perupetro and •

•

the Advantage Resources, Selva LLC (Burlington) company, the con- •

•

cession to which has been granted without consultation of the af- • •

• fected populations. •

• 129

• 130 bility in this. in bility led to this tragedy nor did they note the public responsi public the note they did nor tragedy this to led • •

• the bloody event in the crime sections but did not go into the events that events the into go not did but sections crime the in event bloody the •

•

ment of Cajamarca, left 15 settlers dead. The national press highlighted press national The dead. settlers 15 left Cajamarca, of ment •

•

Naranjos Native Community, in the province of San Ignacio, depart- Ignacio, San of province the in Community, Native Naranjos •

January, a clash between settlers and indigenous Aguaruna from the from Aguaruna indigenous and settlers between clash a January,

The year 2002 began tragically. Early in the morning of Thursday 17 Thursday of morning the in Early tragically. began 2002 year The

Violence and death in Los Naranjos, Cajamarca Naranjos, Los in death and Violence

initial proposal) had been removed from the Regulations. the from removed been had proposal) initial

sation, indemnity and economic benefits (to be found in AIDESEP’s in found be (to benefits economic and indemnity sation,

also provided information as to why all sections relating to compen- to relating sections all why to as information provided also

and to the detriment of indigenous rights. The Explanatory Report Explanatory The rights. indigenous of detriment the to and

Hidrocarburos) maintained its position in favour of the companies the of favour in position its maintained Hidrocarburos)

ciples set out in AIDESEP’s draft, the DGH (Dirección General de General (Dirección DGH the draft, AIDESEP’s in out set ciples

nical Office for Indigenous Affairs (SETAI) fully supported the prin- the supported fully (SETAI) Affairs Indigenous for Office nical

In spite of the fact that AIDESEP, the Ombudsman and the Tech- the and Ombudsman the AIDESEP, that fact the of spite In

to the original proposal. original the to

cision to eliminate the term “indigenous peoples”, among other cuts other among peoples”, “indigenous term the eliminate to cision

and Oil Company and Perupetro, which have led to the MEM’s de- MEM’s the to led have which Perupetro, and Company Oil and

and practical” arguments are put forward by the National Mining National the by forward put are arguments practical” and

The text is accompanied by an Explanatory Report in which “legal which in Report Explanatory an by accompanied is text The

posal for regulating hydrocarbon activities on indigenous territories. indigenous on activities hydrocarbon regulating for posal

public consultation. This draft severely mutilates the indigenous pro- indigenous the mutilates severely draft This consultation. public

Communities, Native Communities and Indigenous Populations for Populations Indigenous and Communities Native Communities,

Regulations governing Hydrocarbon Activity on the Lands of Peasant of Lands the on Activity Hydrocarbon governing Regulations

Ministry for Energy and Mines (MEM) distributed Draft Consultative Draft distributed (MEM) Mines and Energy for Ministry

In spite of AIDESEP’s attitude, on 8 February of this year, the year, this of February 8 on attitude, AIDESEP’s of spite In

spect for the indigenous organisations. indigenous the for spect

Amazonian Peoples could guarantee equity, transparency and re- and transparency equity, guarantee could Peoples Amazonian

government of Alejandro Toledo and the Commission for Andean and Andean for Commission the and Toledo Alejandro of government

pation in the national tripartite dialogue on hydrocarbons until the until hydrocarbons on dialogue tripartite national the in pation

For its part, AIDESEP decided in December to suspend its partici- its suspend to December in decided AIDESEP part, its For

group, with a total of 27 titled indigenous communities. indigenous titled 27 of total a with group,

yahuita ethnic group and the Jíbaro family of the Aguaruna ethnic Aguaruna the of family Jíbaro the and group ethnic yahuita

of the Chachapoyas-Lamas group; the Cahuapana family of the Cha- the of family Cahuapana the group; Chachapoyas-Lamas the of

The plot’s area includes three linguistic families: the Quechua family Quechua the families: linguistic three includes area plot’s The

provinces of Alto Amazonas and Ucayali, in the department of Loreto. of department the in Ucayali, and Amazonas Alto of provinces

Picota and Moyobamba, in the department of San Martín, and the and Martín, San of department the in Moyobamba, and Picota

Amazonian forest. It falls within the provinces of San Martín, Lamas, Martín, San of provinces the within falls It forest. Amazonian Plot 87 comprises an area of 753,412 has., of which 70% is primary is 70% which of has., 753,412 of area an comprises 87 Plot The Ombudsman and committees from the Congress of the Republic and government later confirmed that the settlers were living illegally on the indigenous community’s titled lands and that the judicial and police authorities had given up trying to remove them after various attempts had been frustrated. For its part, the Ministry of Agriculture recently decided to declare an old claim of the Naranjos Community legitimate and to cancel the Sub- regional Resolution that granted, in 1997, on behalf of the President of the Republic, one hundred and sixteen property titles on their titled lands.

Important revelations regarding the Camisea Project

On 22 February, the environmental specialist, Patricia Caffrey (USA), presented the preliminary observations of the technical team that has undertaken an Independent Review of the Environmental Impact Studies on the Camisea Gas Project in the Urubamba Valley and Vilcabamba mountain range. It highlighted, firstly, that the said project did not comply with World Bank standards and international practice, as these prohibit the degradation and conversion of primary tropical forest and critical habi- tats and do not permit adverse effects upon indigenous peoples and communities, including very vulnerable groups in voluntary isolation. The rights of the indigenous communities were not being respected due to an insufficient consultation period and process, there was an unfair “negotiation” process, inadequate compensation proposals and it was very likely that the communities would end up in an even worse state due to the Project. Caffrey recommended that changes be made to the management plans in order to strengthen the measures mitigating direct impacts such as contamination and erosion. The fertile layer of the moist tropi- cal forest of Urubamba is very thin and, once extracted, it would be difficult to reforest, even worse if the rain were to wash away the fertile top soil. She also suggested adopting measures for induced impacts, such as control of access and the accumulative impacts of the project.

Progress and counter progress in the affirmation

of indigenous rights •

•

•

•

In March of this year, Eliane Karp de Toledo, President of the National • •

• Commission for Andean and Amazonian Peoples, presented a pro- •

• 131

• 132 ess of recovering their illegally extracted wood, they were able to able were they wood, extracted illegally their recovering of ess • •

• framework. In the long, complex and sometimes disheartening proc- disheartening sometimes and complex long, the In framework. •

•

almost completely unaware of the national organisations and legal and organisations national the of unaware completely almost •

•

defend their rights as they only speak their own language and are and language own their speak only they as rights their defend •

(Nahua) people do not have the cultural resources with which to which with resources cultural the have not do people (Nahua)

Given their scant contact with the national community, the Yora the community, national the with contact scant their Given

side world as he spoke the Yora’s language as well as Spanish. as well as language Yora’s the spoke he as world side

Yaminahua, died. He was the community’s only contact with the out- the with contact only community’s the was He died. Yaminahua,

ties. During one of these visits to Lima, the interpreter, an indigenous an interpreter, the Lima, to visits these of one During ties.

FENAMAD and to explain their problems to the appropriate authori- appropriate the to problems their explain to and FENAMAD

Maldonado (Madre de Dios) and Lima, to call upon the support of support the upon call to Lima, and Dios) de (Madre Maldonado

the Community, made dangerous and gruelling journeys to Puerto to journeys gruelling and dangerous made Community, the

cacique José Dishpopidiwa Waxe and Mario Huidiba, President of President Huidiba, Mario and Waxe Dishpopidiwa José cacique

and the disruption to their way of life caused by the loggers, the loggers, the by caused life of way their to disruption the and

a result of the depredation of their resources, the shortage of animals of shortage the resources, their of depredation the of result a

Due to the desperate situation in which they found themselves as themselves found they which in situation desperate the to Due

located in the forests of Urubamba, Cuzco. Urubamba, of forests the in located

the State Reserve, on behalf of nomadic Nahua Kugapakori groups, Kugapakori Nahua nomadic of behalf on Reserve, State the

timber that had been extracted illegally by loggers from Sepahua in Sepahua from loggers by illegally extracted been had that timber

they managed to get INRENA to return to them part of the recovered the of part them to return to INRENA get to managed they

with the continued support of the Shinai Serjali Group and AIDESEP, and Group Serjali Shinai the of support continued the with

ation of initial contact. After ten months of determined struggle, and struggle, determined of months ten After contact. initial of ation

community, belonging to the Yora (Nahua) people who are in a situ- a in are who people (Nahua) Yora the to belonging community,

vulnerability are forced to make is the case of the Santa Rosa de Serjali de Rosa Santa the of case the is make to forced are vulnerability

One example of the sacrifices these people in extreme situations of situations extreme in people these sacrifices the of example One

auction in May this year on their territories. their on year this May in auction

Camisea Gas and other new plots that will be put up for public for up put be will that plots new other and Gas Camisea

agents, either illegal loggers or companies with concessions from concessions with companies or loggers illegal either agents,

voluntary isolation, who are ridden roughshod over by unscrupulous by over roughshod ridden are who isolation, voluntary

disregard for indigenous peoples in situations of initial contact or in or contact initial of situations in peoples indigenous for disregard

But one factor in particular that continues to cause unease is the is unease cause to continues that particular in factor one But

National Commission, which hopes the error will be rectified. be will error the hopes which Commission, National

this has caused understandable uncertainty and unease within the within unease and uncertainty understandable caused has this

sues into the official version of the draft Constitutional Reform, and Reform, Constitutional draft the of version official the into sues

However, Congress unfortunately failed to incorporate these is- these incorporate to failed unfortunately Congress However,

justice administration, etc. administration, justice

control over natural resources, promotion of economic development, economic of promotion resources, natural over control

poses recognition of collective rights such as ownership of territories, of ownership as such rights collective of recognition poses

with the support of indigenous specialists and organisations, pro- organisations, and specialists indigenous of support the with

The proposal, drawn up during a meeting on indigenous rights indigenous on meeting a during up drawn proposal, The

order to incorporate a range of indigenous rights. indigenous of range a incorporate to order posal for constitutional reform to the Congress of the Republic in Republic the of Congress the to reform constitutional for posal prove the niggardliness and virtually complicit neglect of INRENA staff in the illegal trafficking of timber. The Yora are now faced with pressure from Plus Petrol, Hunt Oil and others who, under the auspices of the current government and with the backing of large financial and hydrocarbon institutions, are hoping to get their claws into new plots adjacent to Camisea. It would seem that these powerful interests, which act to satisfy their own energy market needs, do not care that the extraction of non-renewable resources lying under indigenous territories may mean the destruc- tion of the tropical forests and the misfortune and death of peoples who have lived there since time immemorial and who, without them, cannot survive.

Notes and references

1 Arguedas, José María. 1964. Todas las Sangres. Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, S.A. 2 Cuy, cuyto: guinea pigs. (editor’s note)

BOLIVIA

he great weaknesses being exhibited by the Bolivian state and the T lack of application of the most basic rights for peasant farmers and indigenous peoples with regard to land and natural resources have been the focus of tension for several years now. Aware that this weakness is caused by deep structural difficulties that cannot be resolved through momentary agreements or fleeting regulations, the representative indigenous organisations began some time ago to de- mand reforms of a structural nature.

Peasant mobilisations

•

•

In addition to demanding changes to agrarian legislation in terms of •

•

restricting the land markets, guaranteeing the exclusive provision of •

•

state-declared lands to peasant farmers and indigenous peoples and • •

• 133 • 134 • • • •

•

ness on the part of the state to deal with social demands. social with deal to state the of part the on ness •

•

coordination on the part of the social sectors and a scant willing- scant a and sectors social the of part the on coordination •

in contrast to this capacity, the events also demonstrated a lack of lack a demonstrated also events the capacity, this to contrast in

and the indigenous Aymara of the department of La Paz have. But, have. Paz La of department the of Aymara indigenous the and

farmers of the tropical lowlands of the department of Cochabamba of department the of lowlands tropical the of farmers

Both events ratified the capacity for mobilisation that the coca the that mobilisation for capacity the ratified events Both

sults.

repression and political isolation and achieved no concrete re- concrete no achieved and isolation political and repression

lion dollars. This new demonstration also fell victim to military to victim fell also demonstration new This dollars. lion

stock producers and the granting of credit to an amount of 8 mil- 8 of amount an to credit of granting the and producers stock

the concession of 10,000 tractors for small agricultural and live- and agricultural small for tractors 10,000 of concession the

commitments made by the government to this sector, in particular in sector, this to government the by made commitments

tion, their demands were limited to requesting fulfilment of the of fulfilment requesting to limited were demands their tion,

achieving great national impact. Unlike the previous demonstra- previous the Unlike impact. national great achieving

mainly Aymara from the altiplano, blockaded the roads in La Paz, La in roads the blockaded altiplano, the from Aymara mainly

The following July the peasant farmer sector, which comprises which sector, farmer peasant the July following The

ing no positive results. positive no ing

handled by working committees that stretched on over time provid- time over on stretched that committees working by handled

even considered by the government authorities who left them to be to them left who authorities government the by considered even

in La Paz on 23 April where it found itself isolated, its demands not demands its isolated, itself found it where April 23 on Paz La in

the march which, amidst a complete press silence, managed to arrive to managed silence, press complete a amidst which, march the

rural sectors but this was not to be. The army interceded 12 times in times 12 interceded army The be. to not was this but sectors rural

march would be strengthened through the involvement of urban and urban of involvement the through strengthened be would march

the tropical lowlands of Cochabamba. It had been hoped that the that hoped been had It Cochabamba. of lowlands tropical the

), and the peasant coca producers from producers coca peasant the and ), Indigenous World 2000-2001 World Indigenous

shape in April 2000 in the context of the “water war” (see (see war” “water the of context the in 2000 April in shape The

involved directly in the defence of water resources and which took which and resources water of defence the in directly involved

Body for the Defence of Water, which groups together the sectors the together groups which Water, of Defence the for Body

The April march was primarily organised by the Coordinating the by organised primarily was march April The

agree amendments to the political constitution of the state. the of constitution political the to amendments agree

it proposed the organisation of a Popular Constituent Assembly to Assembly Constituent Popular a of organisation the proposed it

state and Bolivian society, which is affected by a generalised crisis, generalised a by affected is which society, Bolivian and state

Given the need to embark upon structural transformations of the of transformations structural upon embark to need the Given

) that started in the latter part of the 1980s. the of part latter the in started that ) ( process capitalización

munications, energy, transport) alienated during the privatisation the during alienated transport) energy, munications,

domain of strategic sectors of the economy (hydrocarbons, telecom- (hydrocarbons, economy the of sectors strategic of domain

chabamba, heading for La Paz, requested the return to the national the to return the requested Paz, La for heading chabamba,

“For life and sovereignty”, which began on 9 April 2001 in Co- in 2001 April 9 on began which sovereignty”, and life “For

) more transparent and speedy, the peasant farmer march farmer peasant the speedy, and transparent more ) agrario

making the procedure for regularisation of land titles ( titles land of regularisation for procedure the making saneamiento The fight against poverty versus indigenous and peasant farmer demands

Internationally, the Bolivian government was publicising its poverty reduction strategy, the product of a supposed process of national agree- ment known as “social dialogue”, which was undertaken with repre-

sentatives of the Municipal Councils and Watchdog Committees.

The strategy emerging from this “dialogue” was focused on strength- •

•

ening municipal government budgets, particularly the poorest of the •

•

country’s municipalities, with funding equivalent to the sum of the • •

• external debt cancelled by some countries and multilateral organisa- •

• 135

• 136 their titling as there are few people living within the areas of their of areas the within living people few are there as titling their • •

• de Potosí) dates from 1998, there are no great conflicts involved in involved conflicts great no are there 1998, from dates Potosí) de •

•

that their most longstanding demand (Nor Lípez in the department the in Lípez (Nor demand longstanding most their that •

•

volved in the agrarian process later than those of the lowlands, given lowlands, the of those than later process agrarian the in volved •

Although the indigenous peoples of the highlands became in- became highlands the of peoples indigenous the Although

munity) located in the department of Potosí. of department the in located munity)

obtain title to 12,000 hectares, corresponding to the Sicoya Sicoya the to corresponding hectares, 12,000 to title obtain (com- ayllu ayllu

for an area of 9 million hectares, of which they have only managed to managed only have they which of hectares, million 9 of area an for

of the highlands, for their part, have presented 39 territorial demands territorial 39 presented have part, their for highlands, the of

in other words, less than 10% of that claimed. The indigenous peoples indigenous The claimed. that of 10% than less words, other in

as of April 2002, only 2.05 million hectares have been consolidated, been have hectares million 2.05 only 2002, April of as

tling of 52 territories covering a total area of 24.4 million hectares but, hectares million 24.4 of area total a covering territories 52 of tling

The indigenous peoples of the lowlands have demanded the ti- the demanded have lowlands the of peoples indigenous The

to indigenous groups and peasant farmers has been minimal. been has farmers peasant and groups indigenous to

hectares have been dealt with, of which the titling of land and territory and land of titling the which of with, dealt been have hectares

promulgation of the Agrarian Law), over five years on, only 10 million 10 only on, years five over Law), Agrarian the of promulgation

ised over a ten-year period commencing 18 October 1996 (the date of date (the 1996 October 18 commencing period ten-year a over ised

that, of the 103 million hectares of rural lands that were to be regular- be to were that lands rural of hectares million 103 the of that,

The slowness of land regularisation is demonstrated by the fact the by demonstrated is regularisation land of slowness The

peasant access to land and territory. and land to access peasant

its application, leading to scant results in terms of indigenous and indigenous of terms in results scant to leading application, its

Agrarian Reform (INRA) - suffers from innumerable irregularities in irregularities innumerable from suffers - (INRA) Reform Agrarian

regularisation process entrusted by law to the National Institute for Institute National the to law by entrusted process regularisation

complex, the process of regularisation of land titles - through the through - titles land of regularisation of process the complex,

grown because, in addition to being time-wasting, bureaucratic and bureaucratic time-wasting, being to addition in because, grown

tory was concentrated in the lowlands. Tension and conflict has conflict and Tension lowlands. the in concentrated was tory

ever, from the second half of 2001 on, the struggle for land and terri- and land for struggle the on, 2001 of half second the from ever,

level and did not form an effective part of the official agenda. How- agenda. official the of part effective an form not did and level

In this context, the indigenous issue remained relegated to the second the to relegated remained issue indigenous the context, this In

The struggle for land and territory in the lowlands and highlands and lowlands the in territory and land for struggle The

still live, the poverty rate exceeds 90% and extreme poverty 60%. poverty extreme and 90% exceeds rate poverty the live, still

population of the country (mainly indigenous and native peoples) native and indigenous (mainly country the of population

extreme poverty. In rural areas, where more than 50% of the total the of 50% than more where areas, rural In poverty. extreme

Basic Needs, 59% of Bolivia’s population live in poverty and 24% in 24% and poverty in live population Bolivia’s of 59% Needs, Basic

poverty in Latin America. According to the UN index of Unsatisfied of index UN the to According America. Latin in poverty

poverty in a country which is second only to Honduras in terms of terms in Honduras to only second is which country a in poverty

although significant, is still insufficient to reverse the situation of situation the reverse to insufficient still is significant, although

total amount allocated to municipalities by the National Treasury), National the by municipalities to allocated amount total

period. The funding (1,600 million dollars, equivalent to 40% of the of 40% to equivalent dollars, million (1,600 funding The period. tions. This was to be invested in social programmes over a 15-year a over programmes social in invested be to was This tions. Information workshop on land regularisation in a Sirionó community. Photo: CIDDEBENI territorial demands and these are limited to native settlers themselves who have opted for individual titles. Moreover, there is abundant information on the ayllus of the west and their location and so there is no justification for further technical studies. The greatest problems refer more to border conflicts with the jurisdiction of municipal sections since the logic of spatial occupation of indigenous peoples differs from the country’s politico-administrative division. All in all, the handling of these demands could be far easier and less costly as it is sufficient to specify the geographic location of the terri- torial demand and then proceed to demarcate and title it, without entering into the complicated procedure being applied in the lowlands. One thing that cannot be resolved through the regularisation and titling procedure is the quality of lands of the highland indigenous people for, in the majority of cases, they are highly eroded and unpro- ductive lands. According to the technical studies undertaken by the Agrarian Department, more than 80% of all degraded lands in the country (22.8 million has.) are to be found in the highlands, a large

part of them precisely in the areas demanded as indigenous territories

by the native peoples of the west, which thus means that minimal •

•

areas will be available for agricultural and livestock farming. These •

•

levels of degradation have been caused by mining activity, predomi- • •

• nant in the region over the last two decades, and by the excessive •

• 137

• 138 minimal piece of land because, and the state knows this, the land is land the this, knows state the and because, land of piece minimal • •

• peasant farmers and indigenous people who have not even the most the even not have who people indigenous and farmers peasant •

•

Bolivian should own, on average, 13 hectares. However, there are there However, hectares. 13 average, on own, should Bolivian •

•

a population of only 8 million inhabitants. By this reckoning, every reckoning, this By inhabitants. million 8 only of population a •

can exist in Bolivia, a country covering 109 million hectares and with and hectares million 109 covering country a Bolivia, in exist can

The state authorities say it is inexplicable how any landless people landless any how inexplicable is it say authorities state The

conditions of human dignity. human of conditions

apparatus, lack lands and opportunities with which to survive in survive to which with opportunities and lands lack apparatus,

indigenous people and migrants who, displaced from the productive the from displaced who, migrants and people indigenous

emergence of the landless movement, made up of peasant farmers, peasant of up made movement, landless the of emergence

The current failure of the new agrarian process has resulted in the in resulted has process agrarian new the of failure current The

The movement of the landless the of movement The

so far less in order to defend indigenous rights. indigenous defend to order in less far so

culture in line with the demands of the current free market model, and model, market free current the of demands the with line in culture

) and encouraging the modernisation of agri- of modernisation the encouraging and ) ( estates tive latifundios

up to them, not even from the logic of liquidating the large unproduc- large the liquidating of logic the from even not them, to up

bodies are controlled by these same groups, is not prepared to stand to prepared not is groups, same these by controlled are bodies

rights to the indigenous peoples, whilst the state, whose strategic whose state, the whilst peoples, indigenous the to rights

Power groups are not prepared to “grant” recognition of territorial of recognition “grant” to prepared not are groups Power

The situation of other indigenous territorial claims is no different. no is claims territorial indigenous other of situation The

and the indigenous territorial rights only provisional and incipient. and provisional only rights territorial indigenous the and

ment decrees of that time were no more than demagogic declarations, demagogic than more no were time that of decrees ment

lands and the natural resources existing within them. The govern- The them. within existing resources natural the and lands

of cattle farmers, loggers, miners and oil companies controlling the controlling companies oil and miners loggers, farmers, cattle of

nised by supreme decree between 1990 and 1992 still have hundreds have still 1992 and 1990 between decree supreme by nised

department of Beni (country’s southern Amazon region), were recog- were region), Amazon southern (country’s Beni of department

“March for Territory and Dignity” of the indigenous peoples of the of peoples indigenous the of Dignity” and Territory for “March

million hectares) which, by virtue of commitments made following the following made commitments of virtue by which, hectares) million

Proof of this lies in the fact that the eight indigenous territories (2.8 territories indigenous eight the that fact the in lies this of Proof

indigenous peoples. indigenous

the face of the state’s actions in recognising the territorial rights of rights territorial the recognising in actions state’s the of face the

hope and deep international commitment seems to have deflated in deflated have to seems commitment international deep and hope

the verge of exhaustion. What originally represented great national great represented originally What exhaustion. of verge the

The current agrarian process in Bolivia is losing legitimacy and is on is and legitimacy losing is Bolivia in process agrarian current The

The agrarian process in Bolivia on the verge of exhaustion of verge the on Bolivia in process agrarian The

Reform, which has led to an over-use and saturation of the land. the of saturation and over-use an to led has which Reform, division of indigenous property that took place during the Agrarian the during place took that property indigenous of division excessively concentrated. The medium and large-sized businessmen hog 8 times more land than the indigenous and peasant farmer com- munities, despite representing only 1% of the total number of agricul- tural and livestock units. But the medium and large-sized owners not only hold a concentration of land. They have also hogged agricultural and livestock credit and its subsequent writing-off, subsidies and all other advantages, without generating productivity, employment, de- velopment or well-being. On the contrary, a good part of them have devoted themselves to encouraging capital speculation, trafficking in lands and indigenous exploitation through debt bondage. The transformation of this concentrated structure of land and exploitative system of debt bondage is an implicit objective of the agrarian process, which should penalise illegality, return abandoned lands and enable access to the land on the part of those who have little or none. But none of this has been achieved. It is part of the strategy of the power groups to prevent access to land on the part of peasant farmers and indigenous peoples and so not only do they resort to the legal means provided by the procedure itself to delay and bureaucratise the process, and to the Courts of Justice (which represent them and decide in their favour) but they also carry out acts of violence against the indigenous peoples and the organisations supporting them.

Violence as a means of preventing the titling of indigenous lands

Given the meagre progress being made in the regularisation of indig- enous lands, violence began to be witnessed in August 2001 when the indigenous people of the Chiquitano territory in Monte Verde publicly complained of the onslaught of illegal persons onto their territory who, in less than 15 days, had cleared more than 400 hectares of forest. The communities re-established the control posts that had previously been set up in 1998 to prevent invasions, and the Forestry Department (Superintendencia)began inspections to punish those re- sponsible for the illegal clearing. The Department’s commission was intercepted by the supposed owners and threatened at gunpoint to withdraw from the area. The community members at the control posts

were also threatened. The aggression reached its peak on 15 Septem-

ber in the municipality of San Javier, department of Santa Cruz, when •

•

a group of cattle ranchers and armed persons kidnapped and brutally •

•

assaulted a lawyer from the Centre for Legal Studies and Social Re- • •

• search (CEJIS), legal advisor to the Coordinating Body of Ethnic Peo- •

• 139

• 140 area, their titled land having been taken over by a private owner. private a by over taken been having land titled their area, • •

• reserve. In reality, the peasant farmers are settled outside of the Reserve the of outside settled are farmers peasant the reality, In reserve. •

•

ant lands in the Ichilo province, supposedly located in an area of forest of area an in located supposedly province, Ichilo the in lands ant •

•

farming sectors and large landowners and they began to attack peas- attack to began they and landowners large and sectors farming •

was a deployment of paramilitary groups organised by the cattle the by organised groups paramilitary of deployment a was

by force), the violence extended to other areas of the lowlands. There lowlands. the of areas other to extended violence the force), by

offered to defend the department’s lands from the landless peasants landless the from lands department’s the defend to offered

It was then that, under the auspices of the Civic Committees (which Committees Civic the of auspices the under that, then was It

indigenous and peasant farmers of the region. the of farmers peasant and indigenous

Almond Producers (ASPROGOAL) and to the detriment of the 70,000 the of detriment the to and (ASPROGOAL) Producers Almond

estates in favour of 300 members of the Association of Rubber and Rubber of Association the of members 300 of favour in estates

zon, with a view to consolidating the structure of the region’s large region’s the of structure the consolidating to view a with zon,

(rubber and Brazil nut producers) of the north Ama- north the of producers) nut Brazil and (rubber the barraqueros

Some days later, the government signed a Pre-Agreement Act with Act Pre-Agreement a signed government the later, days Some

indigenous and peasant groups. peasant and indigenous

against any intervention on the part of institutions supporting the supporting institutions of part the on intervention any against

against the peasant farmers occupying areas of reserve land and land reserve of areas occupying farmers peasant the against

Bolivia occurred. At the same time, it promised the use of public force public of use the promised it time, same the At occurred. Bolivia

tion in terms of the distribution of agrarian property in the east of east the in property agrarian of distribution the of terms in tion

trafficking). It was during his regime that the worst cases of corrup- of cases worst the that regime his during was It trafficking).

crimes including drugs trafficking, crimes against humanity and land and humanity against crimes trafficking, drugs including crimes

García Meza (now imprisoned in a maximum security prison for prison security maximum a in imprisoned (now Meza García

granted in settler areas or during the de facto regime of General Luis General of regime facto de the during or areas settler in granted

which, being found within protected areas, must have been illegally been have must areas, protected within found being which,

would grant full legal security to the “businessmen’s” properties “businessmen’s” the to security legal full grant would

Pro-Civic Committee, in which it gave the government’s word that it that word government’s the gave it which in Committee, Pro-Civic

Agricultural and Livestock Chamber of the East and the Santa Cruz Santa the and East the of Chamber Livestock and Agricultural

On 27 September, the government signed an Agreement with the with Agreement an signed government the September, 27 On

sional associations. sional

chose to satisfy the demands of the agricultural and livestock profes- livestock and agricultural the of demands the satisfy to chose

sive actions against the coca farmers in the Cochabamba lowlands) Cochabamba the in farmers coca the against actions sive

new government (which had already unleashed significant repres- significant unleashed already had (which government new

In the case of land conflicts in the eastern part of the country , the , country the of part eastern the in conflicts land of case the In

fraudulent documents invalid. documents fraudulent

sion that deliberately tried to deny INRA’s competence to declare the declare to competence INRA’s deny to tried deliberately that sion

dated. These procedures were based on a Constitutional Court deci- Court Constitutional a on based were procedures These dated.

frauds noted during individual titling procedures from being consoli- being from procedures titling individual during noted frauds

indigenous communities have mounted in order to avoid a number of number a avoid to order in mounted have communities indigenous

The reason behind such aggression lies in the strong defence the defence strong the in lies aggression such behind reason The

Monte Verde. Monte

of the demand for titling of the indigenous Chiquitano territory in territory Chiquitano indigenous the of titling for demand the of ples of Santa Cruz and, in this capacity, responsible for legal support legal for responsible capacity, this in and, Cruz Santa of ples Moreover, the reserve is controlled by four landowners (including the then Minister of Justice), six timber companies and three oil companies. The attacks then continued in Canandoa, a settlement located 35 kms. from Santa Cruz, where thirty armed persons attacked peasant farmers, set fire to their houses, burnt one child and evicted them from the area with the aim of leaving the place clear for a soya business to move in. The most serious act, however, took place in the early hours of 9 November, on the estate known as Pananty, located in the Gran Chaco Province, Tarija department, 6 kms. from Yacuiba. That day, the country awoke to the grave news that 40 hired assassins had massacred peasants from the Landless Movement. Six died riddled with bullets, and another 23 were wounded, some of them seriously. One of them died two days later in the Yacuiba Hospital. It was the “Pananty massacre” that finally brought people back to reality, re- vealing the Bolivian agrarian process for the fiction it was. The acts of violence then extended to the country’s southern Amazon. On 29 November, the main indigenous leaders of the Baures people were kidnapped by locals working for the cattle farmers, forcing them to sign away half of their territorial demand. As it could do nothing else, a day later INRA issued a resolution by means of which it withdrew the area signed over under duress from the indigenous claim.

Change of government and the fight against drug trafficking as a smoke screen

During the second half of 2001, there was a change of government. President Hugo Banzer was suffering from an incurable illness and so he was substituted by vice-president Jorge Quiroga who, at the same time, changed more than half of the ministerial cabinet. It was hoped that the new leaders of the state apparatus would renew efforts to agree inte- grated solutions with the social sectors in the face of the deep economic and social crisis affecting the country. But frustrations were great when people realised that the new government had instead chosen to apply a repressive policy by which to avert social demands, the prime victims of this being the peasant coca producers of the Cochabamba lowlands. The so-called “Dignity Plan”, supposedly aimed at controlling

drugs trafficking, has as its main aim that of eradicating coca crops.

Initially, the talk was of eradicating only crops that were surplus to •

•

national traditional consumption but this was then substituted for a •

•

“zero coca” strategy, in other words, the total eradication of the coca • •

• existing in the Yungas (lowlands) of the department of La Paz. An- •

• 141

• 142 the Landless (MST) demanded that the government give clear signals clear give government the that demanded (MST) Landless the • •

• Ayllus and Markas of Quillasuyo (CONAMAQ) and the Movement of Movement the and (CONAMAQ) Quillasuyo of Markas and Ayllus •

•

Ethnic Peoples of Santa Cruz (CPESC), the National Confederation of Confederation National the (CPESC), Cruz Santa of Peoples Ethnic •

•

enous and peasant organisations, such as the Coordinating Body of Body Coordinating the as such organisations, peasant and enous •

tions to the problem of land and territory. Some representative indig- representative Some territory. and land of problem the to tions

ise a Land Summit, in which all social sectors would agree on solu- on agree would sectors social all which in Summit, Land a ise

the request of the Catholic Church, the government decided to organ- to decided government the Church, Catholic the of request the

In the midst of growing disillusionment, conflict and violence, and at and violence, and conflict disillusionment, growing of midst the In

The Land Summit: a government attempt to ease tension ease to attempt government a Summit: Land The

tary repression in the area. the in repression tary

years, 57 coca-producing farmers have been killed due to the mili- the to due killed been have farmers coca-producing 57 years,

dead, and many more wounded and tortured. Over the past few past the Over tortured. and wounded more many and dead,

sheet of military operations, with more than 10 peasant farmers peasant 10 than more with operations, military of sheet

What is perhaps not so surprising in this scenario is the balance the is scenario this in surprising so not perhaps is What

Chapare), equivalent to 75% of the country’s whole military force. military whole country’s the of 75% to equivalent Chapare),

coca-producing area of the Cochabamba lowlands (to the town of town the (to lowlands Cochabamba the of area coca-producing

in the last two months of 2001, 14,000 troops were dispatched to the to dispatched were troops 14,000 2001, of months two last the in

ists”. And it was even more surprising to argue this need given that, given need this argue to surprising more even was it And ists”.

ations where the army cannot cope, they have to resort to “reserv- to resort to have they cope, cannot army the where ations

of the military authorities were surprising to say the least: in situ- in least: the say to surprising were authorities military the of

denounced by the Ombudsman in December 2001. The explanations The 2001. December in Ombudsman the by denounced

irregular paramilitary forces have been activated, as proved and proved as activated, been have forces paramilitary irregular

area. This has led the coca producers to mobilise. Alongside this, Alongside mobilise. to producers coca the led has This area.

army and the creation and strengthening of military barracks in the in barracks military of strengthening and creation the and army

sive apparatus, with significant amounts of money destined for the for destined money of amounts significant with apparatus, sive

But the main component of the Dignity Plan has been the repres- the been has Plan Dignity the of component main the But

one way or another of the government’s strategy. government’s the of another or way one

demand and productivity levels, and this would lead to the failure in failure the to lead would this and levels, productivity and demand

lead to a lack of economic viability for crop substitution, at equivalent at substitution, crop for viability economic of lack a to lead

ondly, that the difference in exchange values on the market would market the on values exchange in difference the that ondly,

that, firstly, such resources would not actually reach them and, sec- and, them reach actually not would resources such firstly, that,

strategies. The coca producers’ organisations, for their part, argued part, their for organisations, producers’ coca The strategies.

who, due to the tin crisis in the mid-1980s, opted for new survival new for opted mid-1980s, the in crisis tin the to due who,

in the region, the vast majority of them migrants from mining regions mining from migrants them of majority vast the region, the in

were completely insufficient for the 40,000 peasant families that live that families peasant 40,000 the for insufficient completely were

The state resources devoted to this purpose (80 million dollars) million (80 purpose this to devoted resources state The

crops, such as citrus fruits, chinchilla, skins and others. and skins chinchilla, fruits, citrus as such crops,

development”, consisting of an incentive to substitute coca with other with coca substitute to incentive an of consisting development”, other component of the Dignity Plan refers to so-called “alternative so-called to refers Plan Dignity the of component other of its political will to find integral solutions, and that it should cancel the Agreement signed with the Agricultural and Livestock Chamber in September 2001. Although, in the event, and given various com- plaints about its scope, the government did not have the courage to fulfil the said Agreement, neither did it dismantle it. The announced Land Summit, finally called the “Meeting for Land”, was held on 29 November 2001. The meeting was attended by indig- enous organisations from the highlands and lowlands, the Landless Movement and a large number of the peasant farmers’ departmental federations. From the side of business, the Agricultural and Livestock Chamber of the East attended, along with the recently formed Confedera- tion of Cattle Ranchers of Bolivia and its federations and departmental and regional associations, and the Forestry Chamber. For the state, the ministries of Sustainable Development, Agriculture, Peasant Farmer and Indigenous Affairs and Justice were present, along with the Agrarian and Forestry Superintendents, the National Director and departmental directors of INRA, the presidents of the Chambers of Deputies and Sena- tors and the members of the National Agrarian Court. In addition, rep- resentatives from the church attended, plus institutions involved in the land issue and international cooperation agencies. The different sectors presented their views on the issue but, leaving no time for debate, the meeting was brought to a close by the President of the Republic. The speeches made were neither summarised nor systematised and the government later proposed to follow-up the meeting with regional events. In spite of the meeting, actions against peasant farmers continued. Peasant leaders in the areas of conflict and survivors of the Pananty massacre were arrested for acts of violence. On 31 December, the National Board of INRA issued an Administrative Resolution modi- fying the technical requirements applicable to the processes of regu- larisation of lands, making the requirements for agribusiness lands and the medium-sized unproductive properties more flexible. This highlighted the fact that not only was there no desire for an agreed solution to the conflict but that, in addition, the Meeting for Land had been a simple mechanism by which to distract attention and encourage application of the measures agreed with the business sector. Indigenous and peasant farmer sectors made their attendance

at regional meetings conditional upon the prior halting of actions

being promoted by businessmen through mercenaries and on the •

•

freeing of the illegally imprisoned peasant leaders. •

•

After much delay, at the end of February 2002, the government re- • •

• established the Meeting but the social sectors did not attend, and so •

• 143

• 144

and that, instead, the instead, that, and made by the heads of a few political parties parties political few a of heads the by made • •

• cover up the reality that changes to the constitution would really be really would constitution the to changes that reality the up cover •

•

denounced the fact that the People’s Council was being used to used being was Council People’s the that fact the denounced •

•

who hoard it and that food production should be protected. They protected. be should production food that and it hoard who •

the land should be for those who work it and not for estate owners estate for not and it work who those for be should land the

concessions over natural resources should no longer be granted, that granted, be longer no should resources natural over concessions

had their own proposals for guaranteeing their territorial rights, rights, territorial their guaranteeing for proposals own their had that

parties’ monopoly”. They stated that the native peoples and nations and peoples native the that stated They monopoly”. parties’

offered “some sweeteners such as the elimination of the political the of elimination the as such sweeteners “some offered

that they would never agree with them even though they were being were they though even them with agree never would they that

proposed reforms sought to consolidate the neo-liberal model and model neo-liberal the consolidate to sought reforms proposed

“stained by corruption and a lack of credibility”, stating that the that stating credibility”, of lack a and corruption by “stained

that it related to an agreement between the leaders of political parties political of leaders the between agreement an to related it that

planned constitutional reform, the organisations denounced the fact the denounced organisations the reform, constitutional planned

the town of Vinto, Cochabamba, in August 2001. With regard to the to regard With 2001. August in Cochabamba, Vinto, of town the

The first phase of this process culminated in a national meeting in meeting national a in culminated process this of phase first The

a project by President Banzer, prior to his resignation. his to prior Banzer, President by project a

form, the debate of which had begun with the formal presentation of presentation formal the with begun had which of debate the form,

analysis and internal agreement of proposals for constitutional re- constitutional for proposals of agreement internal and analysis

with the rural sectors, the organisations embarked upon a process of process a upon embarked organisations the sectors, rural the with

For their part, with the support of private institutions working institutions private of support the with part, their For

holding departmental and sectoral workshops. sectoral and departmental holding

reform, gathering the contributions of the different social sectors by sectors social different the of contributions the gathering reform,

People’s Council – with the mandate of formulating proposals for the for proposals formulating of mandate the with – Council People’s

stalled government formed a committee of civic “dignitaries” – the – “dignitaries” civic of committee a formed government stalled

agreed, with the aim of channelling social protest. The recently in- recently The protest. social channelling of aim the with agreed,

of the State aimed at broadening civil and political rights was also was rights political and civil broadening at aimed State the of

Electoral Court, the approval of a reform of the Political Constitution Political the of reform a of approval the Court, Electoral

overcome the crisis. In addition to changing the composition of the of composition the changing to addition In crisis. the overcome

which the political parties made commitments regarding actions to actions regarding commitments made parties political the which

consensus. In June 2001, an Act of Understanding was signed by signed was Understanding of Act an 2001, June In consensus.

vention of the Catholic Church in the search for a party political party a for search the in Church Catholic the of vention

government coalition parties and opposition parties, led to the inter- the to led parties, opposition and parties coalition government

takes the form of a deep institutional crisis and confrontation between confrontation and crisis institutional deep a of form the takes

government and which, in addition to an economic and social crisis, social and economic an to addition in which, and government

The crisis in the country, which came about long before the change in change the before long about came which country, the in crisis The

Reforms of the Political Constitution of the State the of Constitution Political the of Reforms

various conflicts for which it was established. was it which for conflicts various the government initiative died a death having resolved not one of the of one not resolved having death a died initiative government the reforms should be the product of a wide meeting by means of a Con- stituent Assembly.

The proposal presented by the People’s Council

The proposal for reform from the People’s Council was formally presented to the President of the Republic last November. By then, the government was in a tight spot with regard to the holding of the Land Summit and the social sectors were hounded by legal persecution and violence. It was not until the first months of this year that the indigenous and peasant farmer sectors heard the People’s Council proposals. The general criticism that has been made of the proposals relates to the fact that, in spite of including some participatory mechanisms and social rights, they have a markedly neo-liberal slant, permitting broad guar- antees to foreign investors that go against the national interest, seri- ously affecting the possibility of indigenous and peasant farmers gaining access to territorial and agrarian property:

The agrarian system The substitution of “primary control (dominio originario) of the nation” over agrarian lands with “primary control of the state” is proposed along with the elimination of the state power of distribution, regroup- ing and redistribution of agrarian property. Alongside this, the fun- damental principle that “the land is for those who work it”, the right of peasant farmers to land provision and the requirement for compli- ance with the economic and social function of medium and large- sized properties would be eliminated. These amendments would mean the end of the Agrarian Reform, as the state would not intervene to guarantee lands to indigenous and peasant communities, and would allow the current concentrated land and unproductive estate structure to be consolidated. In the regulari- sation processes, for individuals who claimed property within indig- enous lands, whether legally or illegally, the lands would automati- cally be consolidated in their favour leaving only the poorest and most isolated lands for the indigenous. In short, the distribution of

land would remain subject, firstly, to the law of the strongest and,

secondly, exclusively to the laws of the market. •

•

In line with the demands of the development model, it is proposed •

•

to eliminate the indivisible and non-seizable nature of peasant and • •

• small-scale lands, and the state’s obligation to provide a line of pro- •

• 145

• 146 amendments proposed by the People’s Council, provide absolutely no absolutely provide Council, People’s the by proposed amendments • •

• Although one of the main justifications for a constitutional reform, the reform, constitutional a for justifications main the of one Although •

• Social and political rights political and Social •

•

•

rights still not regularised, are home to the country’s greatest wealth. greatest country’s the to home are regularised, not still rights

enous and native peoples given that their territories, with their property their with territories, their that given peoples native and enous

panies. These are the regulations that most seriously affect the indig- the affect seriously most that regulations the are These panies.

pose of all the nation’s wealth, allocating it to national or foreign com- foreign or national to it allocating wealth, nation’s the all of pose

would be able to freely dis- freely to able be would Departments, the through state, the ments,

of ownership of mines and hydrocarbon deposits. With these amend- these With deposits. hydrocarbon and mines of ownership of

serve them, along with placing a prohibition on the transfer or allocation or transfer the on prohibition a placing with along them, serve

non-renewable natural resources and the obligation to protect and pre- and protect to obligation the and resources natural non-renewable

eliminate the limits on the state in terms of disposing of renewable and renewable of disposing of terms in state the on limits the eliminate

would it Departments, the of constitutionalisation the Alongside

power of control over these institutions. these over control of power

not function to the benefit of the rights of the communities, there is no is there communities, the of rights the of benefit the to function not

and, apart from the legal system, which does which system, legal the from apart and, Departments the of lutions

resources. The limits established by law are constantly lowered by reso- by lowered constantly are law by established limits The resources.

ereign manner, without any control, disposing of the country’s natural country’s the of disposing control, any without manner, ereign

because they act in a sov- a in act they because Departments of system the against protested

ral resources. Both indigenous and peasant farmers have repeatedly have farmers peasant and indigenous Both resources. ral

supervision of the exploitation of land, forests, water and all other natu- other all and water forests, land, of exploitation the of supervision

constitutional level as autonomous bodies for the regulation, control and control regulation, the for bodies autonomous as level constitutional

Departments to Departments the elevating proposes Council People’s the area this In

Natural resources Natural

hope for settlement lands in the lowlands. the in lands settlement for hope

highlands, where land is scarce and seriously eroded, as they cannot they as eroded, seriously and scarce is land where highlands,

ously affect the indigenous and peasant farmer communities of the of communities farmer peasant and indigenous the affect ously

in terms of the rational distribution of population. This would seri- would This population. of distribution rational the of terms in

natural resources and, instead, would only take on this responsibility this on take only would instead, and, resources natural

of organising settlement plans for a better distribution of land and land of distribution better a for plans settlement organising of

Finally, the People’s Council proposes eliminating the state’s role state’s the eliminating proposes Council People’s the Finally,

credit taken out for that purpose. that for out taken credit

lands, unable to produce profitably on them or unable to repay the repay to unable or them on profitably produce to unable lands,

ers, it can easily be seen that the peasant farmers would soon lose their lose soon would farmers peasant the that seen be easily can it ers,

very difficult for small producers because of the lack of import barri- import of lack the of because producers small for difficult very

fact that market conditions for agricultural and livestock produce are produce livestock and agricultural for conditions market that fact

to commercial banks, providing their property as security. Given the Given security. as property their providing banks, commercial to motional credit to the peasant farmers, leaving them forced to resort to forced them leaving farmers, peasant the to credit motional guarantee that the sought objectives will be fulfilled. In spite of intro- ducing procedures for semi-direct democracy, such as legislative initia- tive, referenda and plebiscites, decisions emanating from such proce- dures nonetheless still remain dependent upon a high majority agree- ment in parliament and the will of the executive power. Reforms to the Political Constitution of the State were excluded from the people’s initia- tive for legislative change and consultation. In the party political system, the parties’ monopoly remains unchanged in the national sphere, which is where they control resources and economic policies. With regard to citizens’ rights, it is established that the individu- al’s equality before the law supposes it to be a state duty to adopt measures of positive action to eliminate inequalities but specific measures are not established in favour of the social sectors tradition- ally marginalised from development. And, likewise, in terms of the right of association, movement and private property, the proposal for reform results in a criminalisation of social protest, and of the intervention of organisations that undertake it, along with the resolution of land conflicts in favour of the supposed owners of lands that are claimed by indigenous and peasant farmer communities and the criminalisation of de facto actions for their recovery.

Indigenous and peasant farmer reaction: the March for Popular Sovereignty, Territory and Natural Resources

Following the failure of the Meeting for Land, the indigenous and peasant organisations concentrated their efforts on issues of consti- tutional reform. Coordination Committees held by indigenous and peasant organisations of the high and lowlands in January, February and March openly challenged the proposals of the People’s Council and demanded that, for reforms to the Constitution, a Constituent Assembly should be organised in which the social sectors could participate without the mediation of the political parties. In the face of such fierce opposition to the People’s Council pro- posal, the political parties with greatest representation in Parliament worked to find a consensus on constitutional reform, urged by the President of the Republic to approve the Law before the general elec-

tions on 30 June 2002. In the last week of April, it was announced that

there was a consensus with regard to reform, although its substance •

•

was not made known. At the same time, the Chamber of Deputies •

•

approved a draft Law on Sustainable Development. This put the • •

• indigenous and peasant organisations and environmental sectors on •

• 147

• 148 in the Amazon, and cover 20% of the area of that region. that of area the of 20% cover and Amazon, the in • •

• sponding to 17,508,334 hectares. Most of the indigenous lands are lands indigenous the of Most hectares. 17,508,334 to sponding •

•

Another 130 territories are in the process of demarcation, corre- demarcation, of process the in are territories 130 Another •

•

hectares and representing 11.55% of the whole national territory. national whole the of 11.55% representing and hectares •

420 indigenous lands have been demarcated, covering 87,000,000 covering demarcated, been have lands indigenous 420

political landscape. political

zilian population but play an important role in the country’s the in role important an play but population zilian

of society. Indigenous people represent scarcely 0.2% of the Bra- the of 0.2% scarcely represent people Indigenous society. of

voluntary isolation who live without regular contact with the rest the with contact regular without live who isolation voluntary

180 languages. There is proof of the existence of 42 peoples in peoples 42 of existence the of proof is There languages. 180

ples, with an approximate population of 350,000 people speaking people 350,000 of population approximate an with ples,

Brazil is inhabited by 216 officially recognised indigenous peo- indigenous recognised officially 216 by inhabited is Brazil

BRAZIL

added their voices to the demands for a Constituent Assembly. Constituent a for demands the to voices their added

electoral debate, many social sectors throughout the country have country the throughout sectors social many debate, electoral

from the beginning of this new march, and in the middle of a heated a of middle the in and march, new this of beginning the from

embarked upon on 13 May from Santa Cruz. Almost three weeks on weeks three Almost Cruz. Santa from May 13 on upon embarked

which indigenous groups, peasant farmers, settlers and the landless the and settlers farmers, peasant groups, indigenous which

of the March for Popular Sovereignty, Territory and Natural Resources Natural and Territory Sovereignty, Popular for March the of

their rights to land, territory and natural resources, were the slogan the were resources, natural and territory land, to rights their

together with the approval of other measures for the full validity of validity full the for measures other of approval the with together

by the government and INRA, known as the “agrarian package”, “agrarian the as known INRA, and government the by

on Sustainable Development and the rejection of the rules anticipated rules the of rejection the and Development Sustainable on

mediation of the political parties”, the definitive filing of the draft Law draft the of filing definitive the parties”, political the of mediation

ent Assembly with the participation of all social sectors without the without sectors social all of participation the with Assembly ent

rejection of the constitutional reform and the demand for a “Constitu- a for demand the and reform constitutional the of rejection

enous groups, peasant farmers and environmentalists. Their joint Their environmentalists. and farmers peasant groups, enous

This news not only provoked strong denunciation from indig- from denunciation strong provoked only not news This

consolidate the regularisation of cattle ranches. cattle of regularisation the consolidate

regulation” increasing the area of land per head of cattle in order to order in cattle of head per land of area the increasing regulation”

tive and illegal properties, and that INRA would approve a “technical a approve would INRA that and properties, illegal and tive

tioned rules with which to encourage the consolidation of unproduc- of consolidation the encourage to which with rules tioned

regulations governing the INRA Law, introducing previously ques- previously introducing Law, INRA the governing regulations

ment would soon be issuing a Supreme Decree amending the current the amending Decree Supreme a issuing be soon would ment

reduction of the registration fee. They also found out that the govern- the that out found also They fee. registration the of reduction the alert because it benefited the forest concession holders with a 50% a with holders concession forest the benefited it because alert the VII General Assembly of COIAB

he VII General Assembly of COIAB (the Coordinating Body of T Indigenous Organisations of the Brazilian Amazon) took place from 28 to 31 May 2001 in Santarém, Pará state. 147 indigenous delegates took part in the Assembly, representing 50 peoples and 38 regional organisations from the nine states of the region of Amazonía. During the VII General Assembly, the progress of the indigenous movement of the Brazilian Amazon was evaluated, particularly in the areas of health, education, land and economic alternatives. Goals and actions for the coming years were defined and a new Executive Com- mittee for 2001 was elected.1 The General Assembly decided that, for the coming three years, COIAB should prioritise, amongst other things:

• Internal organisation, administration and resource manage- ment; • Coordination with grass-roots organisations; • The demarcation of indigenous territories; • The implementation of differentiated indigenous health and school education systems; • Support to indigenous rights at national and international level, including the Statute of Indigenous Peoples.

The VII General Assembly of COIAB also decided to create the Centre for Production and Culture of the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon with the aim of “improving the living conditions of the indigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon and protecting their natural herit- age, spreading their socio-economic and cultural alternatives to soci- ety in general”. It was also decided to create a women’s department which, together with the indigenous women’s organisations already in existence, would encourage the promotion of the rights and inter- ests of women and support their coordination at regional level in order to undertake subsequent interventions at national and interna- tional level. The VII General Assembly also decided to establish COIAB repre- sentation in Brasilia, the federal capital, given that this city is the

political centre of the country, where decisions that impact directly on

the lives of the indigenous communities are taken. •

•

The office was established in October 2001 and has a team of two •

•

leaders, a lawyer, a communications advisor and a secretary. • •

• •

• 149

• 150 of human resources for work in different cultural backgrounds, over- backgrounds, cultural different in work for resources human of • •

• of social control, training of indigenous health workers, development workers, health indigenous of training control, social of •

•

vention and control of sexually transmissible diseases, strengthening diseases, transmissible sexually of control and vention •

•

health service organisations, health monitoring, strategies for the pre- the for strategies monitoring, health organisations, service health •

for indigenous health care in the fields of management models and models management of fields the in care health indigenous for

COIAB’s involvement was decisive in the definition of proposals of definition the in decisive was involvement COIAB’s

Health.

takes place every four years, under the auspices of the Ministry of Ministry the of auspices the under years, four every place takes

recommendations for their improvement. The National Conference National The improvement. their for recommendations

aims are to evaluate public health policies at national level and present and level national at policies health public evaluate to are aims

in other words: 50% indigenous and 50% non-indigenous. Its main Its non-indigenous. 50% and indigenous 50% words: other in

area. The composition of the Conference is based on principles of parity, of principles on based is Conference the of composition The area.

and employees of the public and private institutions working in that in working institutions private and public the of employees and

institutions providing health services to the indigenous communities indigenous the to services health providing institutions

is a body made up of representatives of the indigenous peoples, public peoples, indigenous the of representatives of up made body a is

enous Health, held from 14 to 18 May 2001. The National Conference National The 2001. May 18 to 14 from held Health, enous

COIAB also participated in the National Conference on Indig- on Conference National the in participated also COIAB

drop in the communities’ mortality rates. mortality communities’ the in drop

ers. This is improving the quality of services, and has even led to a to led even has and services, of quality the improving is This

2

nursing auxiliaries, laboratory assistants and indigenous health work- health indigenous and assistants laboratory auxiliaries, nursing

communities. Teams were hired comprising doctors, dentists, nurses, dentists, doctors, comprising hired were Teams communities.

they obtained funding for primary health care in the indigenous the in care health primary for funding obtained they

ganisations signed agreements with FUNDASA, by means of which of means by FUNDASA, with agreements signed ganisations

COIAB, its grassroots organisations and non-governmental or- non-governmental and organisations grassroots its COIAB,

example, basic sanitation. basic example,

resources from other programmes devoted to health in general, for general, in health to devoted programmes other from resources

and in 2001 it was R$ 100,000,000.00 (US$ 40 million), in addition to addition in million), 40 (US$ 100,000,000.00 R$ was it 2001 in and

expenditure was R$ 26,000,000.00 (approximately US$10,400,000) (approximately 26,000,000.00 R$ was expenditure

voted to indigenous health. Prior to 1999, the maximum value of this of value maximum the 1999, to Prior health. indigenous to voted

The federal government increased the specific annual budget de- budget annual specific the increased government federal The

account when creating each district. each creating when account

the geographic distribution of the indigenous peoples, were taken into taken were peoples, indigenous the of distribution geographic the

reality. The cultural, social and linguistic characteristics, along with along characteristics, linguistic and social cultural, The reality.

created with the aim of defining programmes in line with indigenous with line in programmes defining of aim the with created

Thirty-four Special Indigenous Health Districts – DSEIS – were – DSEIS – Districts Health Indigenous Special Thirty-four

tional Health Foundation-FUNDASA. Health tional

indigenous peoples over to the Ministry of Health, through the Na- the through Health, of Ministry the to over peoples indigenous

administering and managing programmes related to the health of health the to related programmes managing and administering

One of the first changes was a decision to hand responsibility for responsibility hand to decision a was changes first the of One

Public indigenous health care policies were reformulated in 1999. in reformulated were policies care health indigenous Public COIAB activity in the health sector health the in activity COIAB medication and traditional practices, research ethics, intellectual pro- perty and patents, production and marketing of food in the communities.

Ex-COIAB leader elected General Coordinator of COICA

The VI Congress of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organisa-

tions of the Amazonian Basin – COICA, held in Leticia, Colombia

from 11 to 15 June 2001, elected Sebastiao Haji Machineri as its gen- •

•

eral coordinator for the period 2001/2004. Machineri held the post of •

•

COIAB’s coordinator from 1994 to 1996. • •

• •

• 151

• 152 cism served as a trigger for internal discussions on the discrimination the on discussions internal for trigger a as served cism • •

• Apart from its international emphasis, the World Conference on Ra- on Conference World the emphasis, international its from Apart • •

•

•

rights in Brazil in rights ’ and indigenous peoples indigenous and •

The World Conference on Racism on Conference World The

solutions that include the village and communities’ points of view. of points communities’ and village the include that solutions

standing of the problem of climate change and to work in search of search in work to and change climate of problem the of standing

decided, finally, to arrive at a common denominator in an under- an in denominator common a at arrive to finally, decided,

had not been included as an instrument for “clean development” and development” “clean for instrument an as included been not had

the Kyoto Protocol. They also regretted that the native tropical forests tropical native the that regretted also They Protocol. Kyoto the

sions and decision-making on climate change and the negotiations on negotiations the and change climate on decision-making and sions

issue that none of them had adequately participated in the discus- the in participated adequately had them of none that issue

ing the biodiversity and native tropical forests. They also raised the raised also They forests. tropical native and biodiversity the ing

tional ways of life that are in harmony with the environment, protect- environment, the with harmony in are that life of ways tional

the importance of village and community knowledge, and their tradi- their and knowledge, community and village of importance the

The indigenous and local leaders present at the Forum reaffirmed Forum the at present leaders local and indigenous The

in favour of indigenous peoples and other inhabitants of the forests. the of inhabitants other and peoples indigenous of favour in

governments and other sectors to alleviate it and to define common policies common define to and it alleviate to sectors other and governments

problem of climate change, to discuss the measures being proposed by proposed being measures the discuss to change, climate of problem

Assistance) and other institutions. The aim of the event was to analyse the analyse to was event the of aim The institutions. other and Assistance)

COICA, with support from the Amazon Alliance, GTZ (German Technical (German GTZ Alliance, Amazon the from support with COICA,

October 2001 in Manaus, was organised by COIAB, in association with association in COIAB, by organised was Manaus, in 2001 October

The Amazonian Indigenous Forum on Climate Change, held from 8 to 11 to 8 from held Change, Climate on Forum Indigenous Amazonian The

Amazonian Indigenous Forum on Climate Change Climate on Forum Indigenous Amazonian

Indigenous Issues and associations and alliances. and associations and Issues Indigenous

3

protected areas and indigenous territories, the UN Permanent Forum on Forum Permanent UN the territories, indigenous and areas protected

ces, regularisation of indigenous land titles, sustainable development, sustainable titles, land indigenous of regularisation ces,

ge, biodiversity, the protection of traditional knowledge, genetic resour- genetic knowledge, traditional of protection the biodiversity, ge,

resources on indigenous territories (oil, mining, timber etc.), climate chan- climate etc.), timber mining, (oil, territories indigenous on resources

to the challenges raised by issues such as the exploitation of natural of exploitation the as such issues by raised challenges the to

years, the VI Congress defined areas of work and proposals to respond to proposals and work of areas defined Congress VI the years,

undertaken by the different indigenous organisations over the last 4 last the over organisations indigenous different the by undertaken

After outlining an assessment of indigenous reality and the work the and reality indigenous of assessment an outlining After

COIAB delegation participating in this event comprised 15 leaders. 15 comprised event this in participating delegation COIAB

support organisations in Europe, North and South America. The America. South and North Europe, in organisations support

pated in the VI Congress, along with a number of representatives from representatives of number a with along Congress, VI the in pated Ninety indigenous delegates from the Amazonian countries partici- countries Amazonian the from delegates indigenous Ninety to which indigenous peoples and other sectors of Brazilian society are subjected. In this respect, the federal government established the “Na- tional Committee for the preparation of Brazilian participation in the World Conference on Racism”, with the participation of representatives from public bodies and civil society, including indigenous peoples. The Committee held the National Conference on Racism on 7 and 8 July in Rio de Janeiro, in order to present proposals to the Presidency of the Republic aimed at orienting Brazil’s participation in the World Conference. Representatives from the Black, indigenous and disabled communities, among other different social sectors affected by racism and discrimination, participated in the National Conference. The conference approved various proposals that were sent to the Presi- dency of the Republic. Most of the proposals were approved by Presi- dent Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Some of the proposals approved were:

• Urgent approval by the National Congress of a new Amerin- dian and Indigenous Communities’ Statute; • Finalisation of the demarcation of Indigenous Lands – territo- rial protection and eviction of invaders; • Restructuring of the National Amerindian Foundation; • Approval by the Federal Government and National Congress of measures for the protection of indigenous and traditional knowledge and genetic heritage, including protection of the biodiversity; • Organisation of a census of the indigenous population by the Federal Government; • Ratification and implementation of international treaties guar- anteeing indigenous rights, such as ILO Convention 169, the UN International Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peo- ples, and the OAS American Declaration on the Rights of Indig- enous Peoples; • Creation of a Permanent Forum on Afro-indigenous Native Rights.

The official Brazilian delegation took prominent part in the areas on indigenous peoples in the World Conference on Racism, which ap-

proved the Declaration and Programme of Action against Racism, par-

ticularly with regard to adoption of the expression “indigenous peo- •

4 •

ples”. Through these documents, the states recognised that the indig- •

•

enous peoples are victims of racism and discrimination and high- • •

• lighted the need to adopt constant measures to combat these problems. •

• 153

• 154 by CONTAG. by • •

• the legal validity of the request that was made in an action organised action an in made was that request the of validity legal the •

•

republished MP demonstrate that the federal government recognises government federal the that demonstrate MP republished •

•

terms of § 6 of article 31 of the Federal Constitution. Alterations to the to Alterations Constitution. Federal the of 31 article of 6 § of terms •

of the Union must be regulated by a complementary law, under the under law, complementary a by regulated be must Union the of

measure provides that the hypothesis of outstanding public interest public outstanding of hypothesis the that provides measure

enous lands, in the second paragraph of article 17, the republished the 17, article of paragraph second the in lands, enous

When dealing with access to genetic heritage located on indig- on located heritage genetic to access with dealing When

quent approval. quent

5

was now for the Chamber of Deputies to discuss it for its subse- its for it discuss to Deputies of Chamber the for now was

is Senator Marine Silva (PT-AC), to deal with this issue, and it and issue, this with deal to (PT-AC), Silva Marine Senator is

had already approved bill of law no. 306/95, the author of which of author the 306/95, no. law of bill approved already had

National Congress. The Senate, after four years of discussion, of years four after Senate, The Congress. National

other things, it did not respect the discussions underway in the in underway discussions the respect not did it things, other

members of parliament, were against the MP because, among because, MP the against were parliament, of members

Brazilian society, including NGOs, indigenous organisations and organisations indigenous NGOs, including society, Brazilian

genetic heritage and its associated knowledge. Various sectors of sectors Various knowledge. associated its and heritage genetic

MP no. 2,186 in June 2000, with the aim of regulating access to access regulating of aim the with 2000, June in 2,186 no. MP

The Presidency of the Republic published the first version of version first the published Republic the of Presidency The

effect following its conversion by the National Congress. National the by conversion its following effect

republish it in order to renew its effect. An MP comes into permanent into comes MP An effect. its renew to order in it republish

effect. When the MP comes to the end of its validity, it is possible to possible is it validity, its of end the to comes MP the When effect.

the Republic that serves to govern urgent issues and is of temporary of is and issues urgent govern to serves that Republic the

The provisional measure (MP) is a normative act of the President of President the of act normative a is (MP) measure provisional The

Provisional measure on access to genetic heritage genetic to access on measure Provisional

Chamber of Deputies during 2001. during Deputies of Chamber

Meanwhile, the bill of law remained formally paralysed in the in paralysed formally remained law of bill the Meanwhile,

incapable of civil acts. civil of incapable

discriminates against indigenous peoples insofar as it considers them considers it as insofar peoples indigenous against discriminates

Conference recognising, among other things, that the current law current the that things, other among recognising, Conference

included in the official Brazilian document presented to the World the to presented document Brazilian official the in included

bat discrimination against indigenous peoples. This commitment was commitment This peoples. indigenous against discrimination bat

approve the new Statute of Indigenous Peoples as a measure to com- to measure a as Peoples Indigenous of Statute new the approve

held in Durban, South Africa, the federal government promised to promised government federal the Africa, South Durban, in held

In 2001, during events related to the World Conference on Racism on Conference World the to related events during 2001, In

Communities, has been with the National Congress since 1991. since Congress National the with been has Communities,

Draft bill of law no. 2,057/91, instituting the Statute of Indigenous of Statute the instituting 2,057/91, no. law of bill Draft Amerindian Statute Amerindian The MP reasonably protects indigenous interests but it needs per- fecting. In this respect, the approval of a law is essential as it would be the most appropriate legal instrument to offer such protection.

The Council for the Management of Genetic Heritage

The federal government published Decree 3,945/01 governing Provi- sional Measure No. 2,186 of August 2001, which provides regulations on access to genetic heritage and deals with the composition and powers of the Council for the Management of Genetic Heritage. The Council will be made up of representatives of 17 federal public bodies but will not include the participation of indigenous peoples, local communities or any other sector of civil society.6 The decree contradicted the demands of indigenous peoples and organisations, who have been fighting for their participation in bod- ies dealing with their rights and interests. It also went against the dis- cussions that were taking place within the United Nations, which rec- ommended that the states strengthen indigenous participation in those bodies related to the management and protection of the genetic resources existing on indigenous lands and related traditional knowledge. The indigenous organisations, together with other civil society organisations, are protesting against this government decision and continue to demand their participation in this Council.

Third grade training for indigenous teachers

In July 2001, the State University of Mato Grosso – UNEMAT – created the 3rd grade indigenous teacher-training course, on which 200 stu- dents from 35 indigenous peoples of various regions of Brazil are enrolled. The course is of great importance because it responds to the demands of the indigenous communities for indigenous teaching that is in accordance with their cultures and for indigenous teachers to be trained to take charge of the classrooms. From 7 to 11 November 2001, a “Legal course for indigenous lawyers” was held by the Coordinating Body for the Defence of Indig-

enous Rights – CGDDI - of the National Amerindian Foundation –

FUNAI, and the University of Brasilia – UNB, with the support of the •

•

Socio-environmental Institute – ISA. The course was held in the au- •

•

ditorium of the University of Brasilia and dealt with indigenous con- • •

• stitutional rights, specifically tackling territorial rights, biodiversity •

• 155

• 156 tion on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Indigenous of Rights the on tion • •

• 6. We recommend that countries approve the UN Draft Declara- Draft UN the approve countries that recommend We 6. •

•

Intellectual Property and other bodies; other and Property Intellectual •

•

erty Organisation (WIPO), the Intergovernmental Committee on Committee Intergovernmental the (WIPO), Organisation erty •

tion on Biological Diversity (CBD), the World Intellectual Prop- Intellectual World the (CBD), Diversity Biological on tion

on biodiversity and traditional knowledge, such as the Conven- the as such knowledge, traditional and biodiversity on

pate fully in national and international decision-making spaces decision-making international and national in fully pate

ernment and international organisations our right to partici- to right our organisations international and ernment

5. We, indigenous representatives, firmly reassert before the gov- the before reassert firmly representatives, indigenous We, 5.

communities and organisations; and communities

related knowledge, discussing this fully with the indigenous the with fully this discussing knowledge, related

tions governing access to genetic resources and traditional and traditional and resources genetic to access governing tions

4. That the Brazilian government should establish legal regula- legal establish should government Brazilian the That 4.

the Management of Genetic Heritage; Genetic of Management the

digenous communities’ representation within the Council for Council the within representation communities’ digenous

3. That the Brazilian government should create the space for in- for space the create should government Brazilian the That 3.

cultural, spiritual and economic value; economic and spiritual cultural,

part of the world’s biological diversity and are of great social, great of are and diversity biological world’s the of part

knowledge because our lands and territories contain a major a contain territories and lands our because knowledge

sion process on access to biodiversity and related traditional related and biodiversity to access on process sion

2. As indigenous representatives, we are important in the discus- the in important are we representatives, indigenous As 2.

knowledge;

1. That our forests have been preserved thanks to our age-old our to thanks preserved been have forests our That 1.

states:

de Maranhão Charter” Maranhão de was approved which, among other things, other among which, approved was

sations involved in the issue. At the end of the meeting, the “São Luís “São the meeting, the of end the At issue. the in involved sations

tions, plus guests from governmental and non-governmental organi- non-governmental and governmental from guests plus tions,

ers, indigenous lawyers and representatives of indigenous organisa- indigenous of representatives and lawyers indigenous ers,

indigenous people participated in this event, including spiritual lead- spiritual including event, this in participated people indigenous

ples and the genetic resources existing on their lands. Twenty-two lands. their on existing resources genetic the and ples

als on the protection of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peo- indigenous of knowledge traditional the of protection the on als

in São Luis, Maranhão state, in order to discuss and channel propos- channel and discuss to order in state, Maranhão Luis, São in

and science and industrial property: reflection and debate” took place took debate” and reflection property: industrial and science and

From 4 to 6 December 2001, the “Meeting of of “Meeting the 2001, December 6 to 4 From Indigenous wisdom Indigenous Pajés.

s s é Paj the of Meeting

7

attended this course. this attended

tion. Seven indigenous lawyers and seven indigenous law students law indigenous seven and lawyers indigenous Seven tion. and traditional knowledge protection, the right to health and educa- and health to right the protection, knowledge traditional and 7. As indigenous representatives, we affirm our opposition to all forms of patent granting that stems from the use of traditional knowledge and we request the creation of punitive mecha- nisms to prevent the theft of our diversity; 8. We recommend the creation of a fund financed by governments and administered by an indigenous organisation, the aim of which would be to subsidize research undertaken by commu- nity members.

The Meeting had a great impact in the national and international press. The document approved during the meeting is now the main reference work for Brazil’s indigenous peoples when dealing with issues related to protection of the genetic resources existing on their territories and their traditional knowledge.

Federal Union and FUNAI ordered to compensate indig- enous Panará

The Regional Federal Court of the 3rd Circuit of the Region issued its decision ordering the Federal Union and FUNAI to pay compensation to the Panará, of Pará state, for damage (humiliation and terror) and 170 deaths caused during the 1970s when they were contacted and evicted from their lands due to the construction of the Cuiaba/Santa- rém highway. The decision entered into force, in other words, it be- came irreversible, on 21 November 2001. It is unprecedented because, for the first time, the courts ordered the government to pay compen- sation to an indigenous community for damage caused to them. The value of the compensation was set at approximately one mil- lion reals, and although this amount cannot repair all the damage caused by the Brazilian state, it will serve to strengthen the self-esteem of the Panará and to support the implementation of restructuring projects for the community. In addition, the decision constitutes a precedent that can be used by other indigenous people when appealing to the courts. The Panará community lodged the claim for compensation in 1994, with the support of lawyers from ISA. At the same time, the Panará, assisted by ISA lawyers, lodged a legal action requiring rec-

ognition of their territory. In 1997, the Ministry of Justice published

a decree determining the physical demarcation of the land, adminis- •

•

tratively recognising the territorial rights of the Panará. Gradually, •

•

this community is re-establishing its rights and recovering its dignity • •

• for the future. •

• 157

• 158 people in Río Negro do not hold electoral cards and can thus not thus can and cards electoral hold not do Negro Río in people • •

• estimates from the local authorities, approximately 5,000 indigenous 5,000 approximately authorities, local the from estimates •

•

tuguese, often cannot even obtain their birth certificate. According to According certificate. birth their obtain even cannot often tuguese, •

•

taining documentation and even difficulty in communicating in Por- in communicating in difficulty even and documentation taining •

of the region who, through problems of transportation, costs in ob- in costs transportation, of problems through who, region the of

to facilitate the access to basic documentation for indigenous people indigenous for documentation basic to access the facilitate to

Human Rights, an organisation of the Ministry of Justice. The aim is aim The Justice. of Ministry the of organisation an Rights, Human

Negro – FOIRN, came to an agreement with the State Department for Department State the with agreement an to came FOIRN, – Negro

In September 2001, the Federation of Indigenous Organisations in Río in Organisations Indigenous of Federation the 2001, September In

” Negro o í R in Citizenship Indigenous “ of Programme

public services that fall within its sphere of responsibility. of sphere its within fall that services public

sarily require its reform and updating in order to be able to provide the provide to able be to order in updating and reform its require sarily

that are taking place in the sphere of the public administration neces- administration public the of sphere the in place taking are that

insufficient, the changes in indigenist legislation and general reforms general and legislation indigenist in changes the insufficient,

officials to deal with all the indigenous communities, its budget is budget its communities, indigenous the all with deal to officials

FUNAI’s reform is necessary for various reasons: it has scarcely 2,300 scarcely has it reasons: various for necessary is reform FUNAI’s

ating the Working Group responsible for proposing reforms to FUNAI. to reforms proposing for responsible Group Working the ating

On 1 November, the Ministry of Justice approved Decree No. 1,006 cre- 1,006 No. Decree approved Justice of Ministry the November, 1 On

Reform of FUNAI of Reform

thors of the genocide during the course of the trial. the of course the during genocide the of thors

and international campaigns demanding condemnation of the au- the of condemnation demanding campaigns international and

The Ticuna people, COIAB and allied bodies undertook national undertook bodies allied and COIAB people, Ticuna The

genocide and thus fell under the competence of an ordinary magistrate. ordinary an of competence the under fell thus and genocide

by jury, the understanding prevailing in the end that it was a crime of crime a was it that end the in prevailing understanding the jury, by

or state competence. state or There was also a discussion on the need for a trial a for need the on discussion a also was There

9 9

discussion as to whether consideration of the case came under federal under came case the of consideration whether to as discussion

The delay in bringing the trial was due, among other things, to a to things, other among due, was trial the bringing in delay The

the killing of an animal (bovine) by landowners in the area. the in landowners by (bovine) animal an of killing the

8

prised in an ambush when they were peacefully meeting to discuss to meeting peacefully were they when ambush an in prised

Porto Lima, Bom Pastor and Porto Espiritual communities were sur- were communities Espiritual Porto and Pastor Bom Lima, Porto

massacre, representatives from the Ticuna de San Leopoldo, Novo Leopoldo, San de Ticuna the from representatives massacre,

to the Brazilian border with Colombia and Peru. On the day of the of day the On Peru. and Colombia with border Brazilian the to

municipality of Benjamín Constant, in the Alto Solimões region, close region, Solimões Alto the in Constant, Benjamín of municipality

This massacre, which took place on 28 March 1998, occurred in the in occurred 1998, March 28 on place took which massacre, This Condemned for the massacre of indigenous Ticuna indigenous of massacre the for Condemned participate in political elections. The project also aims to consider other problems restricting the exercise of indigenous citizenship and suggest solutions to resolve them. From November to December 2001, campaigns were held in the town of San Gabriel de Cachoeira and in different communities lo- cated along the rivers of the Río Negro basin, in which 2,435 people received birth certificates, identity cards, physical registration papers, work permits and electoral cards, plus civil marriage certificates. In line with the provisions of the project, from 21 to 25 January 2002, FOIRN, together with the Socio-environmental Institute, organ- ised a seminar on “Indigenous Rights in the Río Negro”, in which 155 representatives from 49 organisations forming part of FOIRN partici- pated, in addition to technicians and officials from various institu- tions involved in this area. The issues tackled were the demarcation of lands, documentation rights, water resource protection, the genetic resources existing on indigenous lands and traditional knowledge, support programmes for the sustainable economic development of the indigenous commu- nities and public policies in the areas of health and education. On the basis of the discussions, a document on factors restricting indigenous citizenship was drawn up and proposals for overcoming those factors made.10 FOIRN decided to send a proposal to the State Department for Human Rights, highlighting the need to continue the project which, according to the Department, stands a good chance of being accepted. FOIRN’s experience, apart from meeting the needs of the Río Negro communities, will serve as a reference for the federal government and other indigenous organisations when helping other indigenous com- munities and even non-indigenous people from the Amazon who have similar problems.

Conclusion

The above information shows that the situation of Brazil’s indigenous peoples is clearly improving. Lands are being demarcated, indig- enous communities are participating in organisations dealing with

their interests, the justice system is taking important decisions to

protect indigenous rights, the indigenous organisations are becoming •

•

stronger and guaranteeing their own autonomy and the government •

•

is decreeing important measures that will benefit the indigenous com- • •

• munities. •

• 159 • 160 •

• found in the documents approved by the World Conference on Racism on Conference World the by approved documents the in found •

• 4 For the indigenous peoples of Brazil, the adoption of this expression as expression this of adoption the Brazil, of peoples indigenous the For 4 •

•

3 Resolution nos. I and II of the VI Congress of COICA – June 2001. June – COICA of Congress VI the of II and I nos. Resolution 3 •

• communities.

2 Indigenous health workers are being trained to provide care in their in care provide to trained being are workers health Indigenous 2

1 COIAB report 2001. COIAB, March 2002. March COIAB, 2001. report COIAB 1

Notes and references and Notes

influence.

the indigenous communities and villages, this body can have real have can body this villages, and communities indigenous the

and truly promote the restructuring of FUNAI so that, together with together that, so FUNAI of restructuring the promote truly and

it committed during events related to the World Conference on Racism on Conference World the to related events during committed it

The federal government needs to implement the actions to which to actions the implement to needs government federal The

programmes of monitoring and supervision to avoid new invasions. new avoid to supervision and monitoring of programmes

indigenous people living illegally on indigenous lands and creating and lands indigenous on illegally living people indigenous

problems, such as finalising the land demarcation, evicting the non- the evicting demarcation, land the finalising as such problems,

The government thus needs to adopt measures to overcome these overcome to measures adopt to needs thus government The

drinking water. drinking

activities, are scarce and there are even difficulties in accessing clean accessing in difficulties even are there and scarce are activities,

problems and where health and education, along with economic with along education, and health where and problems

through to other regions of the country, where there are serious land serious are there where country, the of regions other to through

made by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon has still not filtered not still has Amazon the of peoples indigenous the by made

more support for their consolidation. In addition to this, the progress the this, to addition In consolidation. their for support more

and sustainable development are being implemented but still require still but implemented being are development sustainable and

with no legislative powers. Policies in the area of health, education health, of area the in Policies powers. legislative no with

those where they do participate this is only in a consultative manner, consultative a in only is this participate do they where those

participating in the bodies dealing with their interests and even in even and interests their with dealing bodies the in participating

The government continues to exclude indigenous people from people indigenous exclude to continues government The

consistent measures with which to take them forward. them take to which with measures consistent

announced proposals to reform indigenist policy but is not adopting not is but policy indigenist reform to proposals announced

” (gold prospectors). The government has government The prospectors). (gold ” “ and fishermen garimpeiros

addition to frequent invasions on the part of logging companies, logging of part the on invasions frequent to addition

already demarcated are being invaded by landowners and others, in others, and landowners by invaded being are demarcated already

processes for many lands are paralysed and even others that are that others even and paralysed are lands many for processes

taken or cases are not brought before the courts; the demarcation the courts; the before brought not are cases or taken

many cases, administrative measures to re-establish them are not are them re-establish to measures administrative cases, many

ties since 1994; the rights of indigenous peoples are violated and, in and, violated are peoples indigenous of rights the 1994; since ties

of Indigenous Peoples has been held up within the Chamber of Depu- of Chamber the within up held been has Peoples Indigenous of

controversies to be resolved. The bill of law instituting the new Statute new the instituting law of bill The resolved. be to controversies Despite all this, it must be borne in mind that there remain many remain there that mind in borne be must it this, all Despite signifies a step forward, as there had previously been fierce internal resistance on the part of some sectors of the government, who alleged that its use created the possibility of external interference in the sover- eignty of the country. With this new step, it is hoped that Brazilian legislation will also begin to consider the Amerindians as indigenous peoples. 5 Lima, André, Socio-environmental Institute. Personal communication. June 2001. 6 Toledo, Lilia Diniz and Fernando Mathias Batista, Socio-environmental Institute. Personal communication. 7 Pajés: shamans. (Editor’s note) 8 Toledo, Lilia Diniz and Fernando Mathias Batista. Personal communica- tion. 9 The case reached the Supreme Federal Court– STF, the highest body of judicial power, which decided in favour of Federal Justice to hear and judge the case. 10 The main problems highlighted were related to a lack of lawyers to defend indigenous rights, the need to finalise the demarcation of lands in Río Negro and to support economic development projects, and problems of invasion of the rivers by fishermen. (Final Report of the Indigenous Citizenship Project in the Río Negro – FOIRN, March 2002)

PARAGUAY

he government’s initiative to reform Law 904/81, the Statute of T Indigenous Communities, which was announced by the Ministry for the Reform of the Presidency of the Republic on 18 October 2000, is a result of the national indigenist policy of the last 3 years and, in turn, the clearest signal of the state’s attitude over this period: one of denying indigenous peoples their rights, their very existence even, giving them the least attention possible in terms of funding and policies.

Reforms to Law 904/81

•

•

Approval of the Statute of Indigenous Communities in 1981, which rec- •

•

ognised the legal existence of the indigenous communities and their •

•

right to own their land, indicating a minimum restoration basis of 100 • •

• 161

• 162 which it was drawn up, noting the fact that indigenous peoples were peoples indigenous that fact the noting up, drawn was it which • •

• not only criticised the content of the bill but also the procedure by procedure the also but bill the of content the criticised only not •

•

this draft bill. The observations formally relayed to the government the to relayed formally observations The bill. draft this •

•

), the 19 April movement (M19A) and INDI itself all questioned all itself INDI and (M19A) movement April 19 the ), nista” •

of Organisations at the Service of Indigenous Peoples (“ Peoples Indigenous of Service the at Organisations of Red Indige- Red

Coordinating Body of Leaders of the Bajo Chaco (CLBC), the Network the (CLBC), Chaco Bajo the of Leaders of Body Coordinating

Earlier in the year, the Paraguayan Episcopal Conference (CEP), the (CEP), Conference Episcopal Paraguayan the year, the in Earlier

Presidency of the Republic, various voices have spoken out against it. against out spoken have voices various Republic, the of Presidency

Since the draft bill was issued by the Ministry of Reform of the of Reform of Ministry the by issued was bill draft the Since

allies have been amassing in favour of a reform of Law 904/81. Law of reform a of favour in amassing been have allies

reasons and arguments as to why the government and its landowner its and government the why to as arguments and reasons

historic corruption and inefficacy of INDI. These are all undisclosed all are These INDI. of inefficacy and corruption historic

and political cost to central government. All this can be added to the to added be can this All government. central to cost political and

to have greater budgets for their welfare programmes, of less economic less of programmes, welfare their for budgets greater have to

economic power; and, lastly, the demands of departmental governments departmental of demands the lastly, and, power; economic

tion of lands within the country, which forms the basis of political and political of basis the forms which country, the within lands of tion

legality of the Constitution and ILO Convention 169, the unjust distribu- unjust the 169, Convention ILO and Constitution the of legality

and organisations, which have questioned, based on the legitimacy and legitimacy the on based questioned, have which organisations, and

quence of the increasingly prominent role of indigenous communities indigenous of role prominent increasingly the of quence

public space now available for indigenous territorial demands, a conse- a demands, territorial indigenous for available now space public

revenue that has accumulated over recent years; secondly, the greater the secondly, years; recent over accumulated has that revenue

firstly, the wider process of state reforms motivated by the shortfall in shortfall the by motivated reforms state of process wider the firstly,

functioning of mechanisms responsible for national indigenist policy”: indigenist national for responsible mechanisms of functioning

González Macchi’s government has proposed a draft bill “Governing the “Governing bill draft a proposed has government Macchi’s González

There are a number of underlying reasons as to why President Luis President why to as reasons underlying of number a are There

constitutional criteria or by international standards. international by or criteria constitutional

less, land restoration is, in practice, governed by Law 904/81, not by not 904/81, Law by governed practice, in is, restoration land less,

needs of their peoples (Art. 64 of the National Constitution). Nonethe- Constitution). National the of 64 (Art. peoples their of needs

determined not simply by an arbitrary figure but by the socio-cultural the by but figure arbitrary an by simply not determined

Paraguayan state and their right to community ownership of areas of ownership community to right their and state Paraguayan

recognising their condition as peoples, their existence prior to the to prior existence their peoples, as condition their recognising

even more guarantees to the indigenous communities of Paraguay, of communities indigenous the to guarantees more even

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries”, extended Countries”, Independent in Peoples Tribal and Indigenous

with Law 234/93, which ratified ILO Convention 169 “Concerning 169 Convention ILO ratified which 234/93, Law with

Chapter V of the subsequent National Constitution of 1992, along 1992, of Constitution National subsequent the of V Chapter

ited validity in practice. in validity ited

policy. However, this was no more than another “good” law, of lim- of law, “good” another than more no was this However, policy.

theory, a body with the administrative powers to apply indigenist apply to powers administrative the with body a theory,

of the National Indigenous Institute (INDI) established, at least in least at established, (INDI) Institute Indigenous National the of

an unprecedented legal milestone for its time. Moreover, the creation the Moreover, time. its for milestone legal unprecedented an

which also recognised the validity of indigenous customary law, was law, customary indigenous of validity the recognised also which hectares per family in the Chaco and 20 in the Eastern Region, and Region, Eastern the in 20 and Chaco the in family per hectares neither consulted nor informed about this reform, as required of sig- natories to ILO Convention 169 (articles 6 and 7) when attempting to approve or change laws directly affecting indigenous peoples. In terms of its content, for example, the draft does not recognise the indigenous people’s existence prior to the Paraguayan state as does

the National Constitution, a principle that forms the basis for the

return of their lands, their right to self-determination and to their own •

•

identity. The bill also reduces the minimum amount of land the state •

•

is required to give each indigenous family by 50% in relation to the • •

• criteria stipulated in Law 904/81. This demonstrates an intention to •

• 163

• 164 defining policies of concern to them. to concern of policies defining • •

• enous participation, particularly that of indigenous women, when women, indigenous of that particularly participation, enous •

•

(CONAMURI), also demanded that the government provide for indig- for provide government the that demanded also (CONAMURI), •

•

the National Coordinating Body of Rural and Indigenous Women Indigenous and Rural of Body Coordinating National the •

National Meeting of Indigenous Women, held under the auspices of auspices the under held Women, Indigenous of Meeting National

cern and claimed the need for consultation with the communities. The communities. the with consultation for need the claimed and cern

the Eastern Region, a number of organisations expressed their con- their expressed organisations of number a Region, Eastern the

mobilisation in order to force the government to comply with them. In them. with comply to government the force to order in mobilisation

the above demands and agreed on the idea of organising a mass a organising of idea the on agreed and demands above the

guay by members of the Commission for Self-determination ratified Self-determination for Commission the of members by guay

Two other meetings held in August in Boquerón and Alto Para- Alto and Boquerón in August in held meetings other Two

the time of the CLBS assembly, held at the end of July. of end the at held assembly, CLBS the of time the

signing an agreement with the Commission for Self-determination at Self-determination for Commission the with agreement an signing

nally, the API joined the protest to extend the period to one year, one to period the extend to protest the joined API the nally,

pation and representation not exclusively mediated by the API. Fi- API. the by mediated exclusively not representation and pation

demanding a one-year period for the consultation and wider partici- wider and consultation the for period one-year a demanding

Commission for Self-determination and other organisations, who were who organisations, other and Self-determination for Commission

take a consultation process. This was a point of disagreement with the with disagreement of point a was This process. consultation a take

and the Minister for Women - a period of 30 days in which to under- to which in days 30 of period a - Women for Minister the and

the API leaders agreed - with the Minister for Education and Culture and Education for Minister the with - agreed leaders API the

81. President González Macchi promised them this involvement and involvement this them promised Macchi González President 81.

Congress demanding greater involvement in the reform of Law 904/ Law of reform the in involvement greater demanding Congress

representatives, who arrived in the capital and camped in front of front in camped and capital the in arrived who representatives,

At the beginning of June, the API convened more than 250 indigenous 250 than more convened API the June, of beginning the At

Indigenous mobilization Indigenous

enous consultation and a one-year period in which to organise this. organise to which in period one-year a and consultation enous

of its consideration within Congress, along with a nation-wide indig- nation-wide a with along Congress, within consideration its of

demanded the withdrawal of the government’s draft bill and/or deferral and/or bill draft government’s the of withdrawal the demanded

mination in order to participate in the reforms to Law 904/81, and 904/81, Law to reforms the in participate to order in mination

and the Eastern Region formed a Commission for Indigenous Self-deter- Indigenous for Commission a formed Region Eastern the and

various indigenous organisations and representatives from the Chaco the from representatives and organisations indigenous various

sent it to four committees for their consideration. At the end of May, of end the At consideration. their for committees four to it sent

controversial draft bill to the Chamber of Senators, which automatically which Senators, of Chamber the to bill draft controversial

- API) on 30 April 2001, the government presented its presented government the 2001, April 30 on API) - lidades Indígenas lidades

and of the Association of Indigenous Supporters ( Supporters Indigenous of Association the of and Asociación de Parcia- de Asociación

proposal making known the criticisms of the indigenist organisations indigenist the of criticisms the known making proposal

In spite of this, and in spite of the fact that INDI itself drew up a up drew itself INDI that fact the of spite in and this, of spite In

satisfying the constitutional criterion of article 64. article of criterion constitutional the satisfying

returned to indigenous people by the state, which is currently far from far currently is which state, the by people indigenous to returned minimise, and/or legitimise, the shortfall in territories and lands and territories in shortfall the legitimise, and/or minimise, Meanwhile, 3 out of the 4 committees of the Chamber of Senators that had received the draft bill from the government were of the opinion that it should be rejected. To their concerns were added questions regarding the formulation and content of the draft bill, put to the Paraguayan state by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the ILO. On 11 and 12 October, in Pozo Colorado, a mobilisation of ap- proximately 5,000 people from communities from all over the Chaco took place, organised by the Commission for Self-determination. Prior to this, a negotiating committee had met with the President of the Republic, Luis González Macchi, the Minister for Justice and Work, Silvio Ferreira, and the Governor of Boquerón, Orlando Penner. The head of state agreed to make the participation of indigenous people, both men and women, possible by means of a consultation process, arguing that the draft bill could not be withdrawn but that it could be “frozen” in Congress, and recommending a period of one month within which to undertake the consultation by means of a single national indigenous congress in Boquerón, where the indigenous proposal for the law would be approved. Other indigenous demands that were also at the root of the mobilisation were not considered at this meeting, such as payment for land claims already administratively settled. In the end, the Commission for Self-determination prepared a pro- posal for consultation that envisages studying a draft law and sub- sequently discussing it in regional assemblies throughout the coun- try, culminating in a national indigenous congress. Funding will be requested from the government for the assemblies and congress, which will also enable the binding nature of its results to be assured.

Indigenous territorial claims

During 2001, there was no funding available with which to pay compensation for properties that are the object of indigenous claims and, consequently, no claims have been resolved.1 INDI was initially allocated a budget for its minimum operational costs up until June and, following a request for extra funding that was favourably received by Parliament, it obtained additional funding with which to complete the year. The draft bill on the General Budget

for National Expenditure for 2002, presented to Parliament by the

government, envisages the sum of 4,049 million guaraníes for INDI •

•

(approximately US$880,000), half of what was allocated the previous •

•

year. Counterpart funds for the purchase of indigenous lands, re- • •

• quired of the Paraguayan government as part of the plans for mitigat- •

• 165

• 166 of Public Works and Communications (MOPC). This obviously led to led obviously This (MOPC). Communications and Works Public of • •

• be effected by INDI itself, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry the and Interior the of Ministry the itself, INDI by effected be •

•

opposite the lands claimed, ordering implementation of this notice to notice this of implementation ordering claimed, lands the opposite •

•

community, stipulated their eviction from their roadside settlement, roadside their from eviction their stipulated community, •

cepción, while considering a criminal complaint made against the against made complaint criminal a considering while cepción,

Martínez Caimén, the criminal judge of the judicial district of Con- of district judicial the of judge criminal the Caimén, Martínez

2001, in an event of the most serious nature, Ramón Ángel de la Cruz la de Ángel Ramón nature, serious most the of event an in 2001,

posed title holders above those of the community. Finally, on 29 Aug. 29 on Finally, community. the of those above holders title posed

president, Olga Rojas de Báez, who defended the interests of the sup- the of interests the defended who Báez, de Rojas Olga president,

arrive at a satisfactory agreement because of the action of the INDI the of action the of because agreement satisfactory a at arrive

being the community’s traditional habitat but it was not possible to possible not was it but habitat traditional community’s the being

were held. In principle, the state recognised the lands claimed as claimed lands the recognised state the principle, In held. were

between state representatives, indigenous peoples and their lawyers their and peoples indigenous representatives, state between

requested a friendly solution and, in this regard, a number of meetings of number a regard, this in and, solution friendly a requested

hunting and gathering rights on the disputed lands, the Government the lands, disputed the on rights gathering and hunting

an arbitrary decision of the Supreme Court of Justice against their against Justice of Court Supreme the of decision arbitrary an

(18,179 hectares), which was submitted to the IACHR last year due to due year last IACHR the to submitted was which hectares), (18,179

In another case, relating to the claim of the Yakye Axa community Axa Yakye the of claim the to relating case, another In

end of the year, there will be an official proposal for these land claims. land these for proposal official an be will there year, the of end

quested a friendly solution to both cases and it is hoped that, by the by that, hoped is it and cases both to solution friendly a quested

refusal. Following the intervention of this body, the Government re- Government the body, this of intervention the Following refusal.

Paraguayan state to the IACHR for the arbitrary nature of the said the of nature arbitrary the for IACHR the to state Paraguayan

ing to the Enxet people, resulted in these communities reporting the reporting communities these in resulted people, Enxet the to ing

tares) and Xakmok Kásek communities (10,700 hectares), both belong- both hectares), (10,700 communities Kásek Xakmok and tares)

to reject the expropriation requests of the Sawhoyamaxa the of requests expropriation the reject to (14,404 hec- (14,404

2

tary committee and later confirmed by a plenary sitting of the Senate, the of sitting plenary a by confirmed later and committee tary

The decision, taken last year by the above mentioned parliamen- mentioned above the by year last taken decision, The

validity of its legal system within its own borders. own its within system legal its of validity

making equal access to productive resources possible but also the also but possible resources productive to access equal making

pality are settled, questions not only the work of the government in government the of work the only not questions settled, are pality

158,000 hectares on which half the civilian population of the munici- the of population civilian the half which on hectares 158,000

interventions on the part of various national authorities to secure the secure to authorities national various of part the on interventions

Moon Sect in the Chaco. This decision, along with the unconvincing the with along decision, This Chaco. the in Sect Moon

request relates to part of the one million hectares acquired by the by acquired hectares million one the of part to relates request

population includes approximately 2,000 indigenous Maskoy. This Maskoy. indigenous 2,000 approximately includes population

population of Puerto Casado in the department of Alto Paraguay. This Paraguay. Alto of department the in Casado Puerto of population

cided against the expropriation of the 158,000 hectares claimed by the by claimed hectares 158,000 the of expropriation the against cided

The Agrarian Reform Committee of the Chamber of Senators de- Senators of Chamber the of Committee Reform Agrarian The

eted for. eted

by the Inter-American Development Bank) have so far not been budg- been not far so have Bank) Development Inter-American the by

(funded in the Eastern Region by the World Bank and in the Chaco the in and Bank World the by Region Eastern the in (funded ing the socio-environmental impacts of road infrastructure projects infrastructure road of impacts socio-environmental the ing the immediate withdrawal of the community and its delegated repre- sentatives from the process of finding a friendly solution, and they requested preventive measures from the IACHR to avoid their eviction. In an unprecedented act, the IACHR declared the requested pre- ventive measures, ordering the Paraguayan state to suspend all ad- ministrative judicial orders involving the eviction or removal of the community’s dwellings. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice requested Judge Martínez to freeze the decision and petitioned MOPC and the Ministry of the Interior to act in accordance with the IACHR’s requests. On this basis, a final decision is pending from the Supreme Court with regard to the continuation of the proceedings against the Yakye Axa community and the judge’s decision. Some 250 people from the Ypa’u Señorita community of the Mbya people installed themselves in Asunción on 18 April 2001 to demand implementation of an eviction notice issued against the landless pea- sants who had been occupying their 2,199 hectares of land since 1993. Innumerable days of protest, and negotiations with a wide range of authorities (heads of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, ministers, presidents of the IBR and of INDI) and with representatives of the peasant sector, finally culminated on 25 June in the peaceful eviction of the occupants and their relocation to other lands. The dam- age caused to this community’s habitat and to the very physical and psycho-social integrity of its members over the years this occupation lasted is, however, largely irreversible. This conflict is the only one in which some kind of solution has been achieved. Yet there are another 10 indigenous communities in the Eastern Region with lands occupied, without any intervention ever having been undertaken on their behalf.

Violations of other rights

Another situation, related to the above, is that of the migration of men, women and children of the Mbya and Ava Guaraní peoples to the country’s large urban centres, where they occupy one of the lowest levels on the scale of urban marginalisation. The causes of this migra- tion are many: a lack of security in their native communities, a lack of subsistence alternatives and of official support, unemployment, outsiders profiting from the prostitution of children, etc. Even cultural

3

causes are given, such as a reformulation of the oguata culture, or •

•

respect for personal autonomy, which is also extended to the children. •

•

Certainly, all these causes are contributory but the fact that the • •

• state has not guaranteed sufficient lands to the indigenous peoples of •

• 167

• 168 is totally ignored, as in the case of the criminal proceedings against proceedings criminal the of case the in as ignored, totally is • •

• in some proceedings it is applied, in others not, and in some cases it cases some in and not, others in applied, is it proceedings some in •

•

tion. However, application of this legislation has been totally erratic, totally been has legislation this of application However, tion. •

•

indigenous customary law and the new criminal procedural legisla- procedural criminal new the and law customary indigenous •

the victims and the supposed murderers, in accordance with both with accordance in murderers, supposed the and victims the

empo’o, a conciliatory agreement was reached between the families of families the between reached was agreement conciliatory a empo’o,

husband, and the murder of Heinrich Loewen, an Enlhet from Pese- from Enlhet an Loewen, Heinrich of murder the and husband,

the murder of a pregnant Ayoreo woman that was attributed to her to attributed was that woman Ayoreo pregnant a of murder the

In two cases of crimes committed within indigenous communities, indigenous within committed crimes of cases two In

scarcely 800 million guaraníes, or approximately US$174,000. approximately or guaraníes, million 800 scarcely

worth noting that the total amount spent on indigenous education is education indigenous on spent amount total the that noting worth

guayan school education within the indigenous communities”. It is It communities”. indigenous the within education school guayan

“there is no such thing as an indigenous education, only a Para- a only education, indigenous an as thing such no is “there

Education, a Guaraní teacher summarised the situation as follows, as situation the summarised teacher Guaraní a Education,

enous. With regard to education, at the first Congress of Indigenous of Congress first the at education, to regard With enous.

of every three Hanta virus sufferers recorded this year were indig- were year this recorded sufferers virus Hanta three every of

indigenous population of the Chaco suffers from jiggers, and two out two and jiggers, from suffers Chaco the of population indigenous

one of the highest in the world. According to official data, 80% of the of 80% data, official to According world. the in highest the of one

from tuberculosis is ten times higher than the national average, and average, national the than higher times ten is tuberculosis from

can Health Organisation, the number of indigenous people suffering people indigenous of number the Organisation, Health can

thus worth mentioning: according to an official from the Pan-Ameri- the from official an to according mentioning: worth thus

number of indicators published this year are a good illustration and illustration good a are year this published indicators of number

With regard to the health situation of the indigenous peoples, a peoples, indigenous the of situation health the to regard With

more damaging to indigenous women and children. and women indigenous to damaging more

a search for survival, and that urban marginalisation is undoubtedly is marginalisation urban that and survival, for search a

indigenous communities and the cities, between marginalisation and marginalisation between cities, the and communities indigenous

remains clear is that there is an increasingly walked path between the between path walked increasingly an is there that is clear remains

children or that they were benefiting from their prostitution. their from benefiting were they that or children What

4

without it having been proven that they were sexually abusing the abusing sexually were they that proven been having it without

and council of INDI were absolved and the indigenous adults freed adults indigenous the and absolved were INDI of council and

prisons, the boys and girls returned to their communities, the president the communities, their to returned girls and boys the prisons,

council for failing to intervene. Finally, following a long journey around journey long a following Finally, intervene. to failing for council

and even the prosecution of the president and members of INDI’s of members and president the of prosecution the even and

enous boys and girls, and involved the arrest of 11 indigenous adults indigenous 11 of arrest the involved and girls, and boys enous

for Children, Cristina Arévalos, included the “rescue” of 58 indig- 58 of “rescue” the included Arévalos, Cristina Children, for

the criminal prosecutor, Rafael Fernández, and the Advocate-General the and Fernández, Rafael prosecutor, criminal the

to bring this “disaster” to an end. The most striking, undertaken by undertaken striking, most The end. an to “disaster” this bring to

munities. At least two legal proceedings were implemented in order in implemented were proceedings legal two least At munities.

mately one thousand indigenous people were returned to their com- their to returned were people indigenous thousand one mately

“return” operations with scant resources, during which approxi- which during resources, scant with operations “return”

considered fundamental. According to the media, INDI carried out 17 out carried INDI media, the to According fundamental. considered the Eastern Region for their material and cultural subsistence must be must subsistence cultural and material their for Region Eastern the the Yakye Axa community mentioned above. It must be noted that in a number of cases of crimes and attacks against indigenous people no progress whatsoever has been made in their investigation, such as the murder of Francisco Arce, a community member, which took place on the farm where he was working.

Conclusions and recommendations

The result of the Law 904/81 reform process - whether it supports or not the indigenous consultation and its results - will be the indicator by which to determine whether policy in the future will be, once and for all, genocidal or a progressive indigenist policy. Given the above, we recommend supporting the indigenous con- sultation and recognising the binding nature of its results, with the aim of establishing an adequate indigenist policy not only in legal terms but in terms of the effective provision of institutional, financial and administrative instruments to ensure the return of indigenous territories and the validity of the rights to self-determination and to the development of indigenous peoples. While this process is being implemented, the state must use all alternative methods possible to satisfy the indigenous territorial demands and needs, as well as their demands for improvements in health, education, sustainable devel- opment from a cultural and gender perspective, access to justice etc. For this reason, all the different levels of state power must consider themselves responsible for implementing this.

Notes

1. The indigenous demands presented to the Institute for Rural Welfare (IBR) are in excess of a million hectares, to which must be added the many communities with little or no guaranteed land and which, to date, have no information or advice with which to begin a process of territo- rial recovery. This overall perspective indicates that, of the 500 indig- enous communities – in round figures – existing in the country, 6% have little or no titled lands. 2. On the date of its anniversary (19 April), M19A organised more than 500

people to set up a roadblock at the Sawhoyamaxa community in order

to protest against the refusal to expropriate lands and to demand •

•

indigenous participation in the law reform. •

•

3. This distinctive nature of the Guaraní results in their condition of travel- •

•

lers, transitory in their passage through the world and, in addition, in • •

• 169

• 170

•

private savers and decreed a local currency devaluation of 40%, a 40%, of devaluation currency local a decreed and savers private •

• declared a financial default in December, confiscated the deposits of deposits the confiscated December, in default financial a declared • •

•

fusal to consider a further request from Argentina, the government the Argentina, from request further a consider to fusal •

•

ures heralded the final collapse. Faced with the creditor bank’s re- bank’s creditor the with Faced collapse. final the heralded ures

levels of insecurity, corruption and generalised impunity, these meas- these impunity, generalised and corruption insecurity, of levels

ment of 18.3% and underemployment of 16.3%, never before seen before never 16.3%, of underemployment and 18.3% of ment

In a country with a poverty rate of 50%, overall average unemploy- average overall 50%, of rate poverty a with country a In

health, education and social welfare. social and education health,

national budget, with serious consequences for areas as important as important as areas for consequences serious with budget, national

reduction in state salaries and pensions and a 30% reduction in the in reduction 30% a and pensions and salaries state in reduction

a criminal offence. In July, the government decreed a 13% compulsory 13% a decreed government the July, In offence. criminal a

sion, arrest and prosecution of demonstrators. Social protest became protest Social demonstrators. of prosecution and arrest sion,

tional stoppages, etc. The response was one of indiscriminate repres- indiscriminate of one was response The etc. stoppages, tional

”), strikes, marches, na- marches, strikes, ”), (“ employees government of houses escraches

of social protests: the blocking of roads, demonstrations outside the outside demonstrations roads, of blocking the protests: social of

methods adopted, leading to greater indebtedness and a proliferation a and indebtedness greater to leading adopted, methods

The year 2001 was marked by consecutive failures of the economic the of failures consecutive by marked was 2001 year The

The course to final collapse final to course The

sales of key natural resources and a flexibilization of the workforce. the of flexibilization a and resources natural key of sales

state reforms and enforced economic adjustment policies, privatisations, policies, adjustment economic enforced and reforms state

blinded by their own greed, successive governments have implemented have governments successive greed, own their by blinded

increase since the 1990s. Forced to face up to a huge foreign debt and debt foreign huge a to up face to Forced 1990s. the since increase

consequent rise in poverty and absolute poverty, which have been on the on been have which poverty, absolute and poverty in rise consequent

This crisis is the result of a high concentration of wealth and a and wealth of concentration high a of result the is crisis This

chaos.

T

economic crisis in the country: social protest, violence and political and violence protest, social country: the in crisis economic

his report has been written during a period of serious political and political serious of period a during written been has report his

ARGENTINA

prosecutor’s file contained not one medical assessment stating this. stating assessment medical one not contained file prosecutor’s

4. Whilst children bearing the signs of sexual abuse were reported, the reported, were abuse sexual of signs the bearing children Whilst 4.

are not limited or restricted to adults. to restricted or limited not are the importance for the community ethos of visits between groups that groups between visits of ethos community the for importance the currency which, for the previous ten years, had maintained a one-to- one parity with the US dollar. The population saw this as daylight

robbery; supermarkets and businesses were looted, and demands

made for a change in economic policy and for the resignation of the •

•

nation’s president only two years after taking office. The protests, •

•

which began peacefully with saucepan-beating in the streets, were • •

• brutally repressed by the security forces. In just one day, there were •

• 171

• 172 ment employees, the majority remain unaware of the legal framework legal the of unaware remain majority the employees, ment • •

• ance of, indigenous peoples in Argentina on the part of some govern- some of part the on Argentina in peoples indigenous of, ance •

•

Whilst it is clear that there is greater information about, and accept- and about, information greater is there that clear is it Whilst •

•

Ideology •

their affairs. We will look at this in more detail below. detail more in this at look will We affairs. their

growing trend towards training and education on issues related to related issues on education and training towards trend growing

between peoples can be seen, with joint demands being made and a and made being demands joint with seen, be can peoples between

to be gaining fresh impetus. A greater interest in making contact making in interest greater A impetus. fresh gaining be to

in indigenous self-awareness, and their organisational strength seems strength organisational their and self-awareness, indigenous in

rights to them, have been observed. Alongside this, there was a growth a was there this, Alongside observed. been have them, to rights

tion and destruction of their natural resources, ignoring indigenous ignoring resources, natural their of destruction and tion

tions of indigenous lands and territories, along with the appropria- the with along territories, and lands indigenous of tions

groups more than other sectors of the population. Increased occupa- Increased population. the of sectors other than more groups

social welfare programmes have, in some cases, affected indigenous affected cases, some in have, programmes welfare social

underemployment and poverty, along with restricted budgets for state for budgets restricted with along poverty, and underemployment

ily be seen within the context of the above events. Unemployment, events. above the of context the within seen be ily

Any evaluation or assessment of the indigenous year must necessar- must year indigenous the of assessment or evaluation Any

Gobernment policy and the rights of indigenous peoples indigenous of rights the and policy Gobernment

moment - a positive sign that democracy continues to be exercised. be to continues democracy that sign positive a - moment

these assemblies, or what results they may have, they are – for the for – are they have, may they results what or assemblies, these

cated monies. Although it is impossible to predict the ultimate fate of fate ultimate the predict to impossible is it Although monies. cated

members of the Supreme Court of Justice and the return of all confis- all of return the and Justice of Court Supreme the of members

political officials by means of a general election, the impeachment of impeachment the election, general a of means by officials political

assemblies’, which are demanding the replacement of all corrupt all of replacement the demanding are which assemblies’,

many respects, very interesting: this relates to the ‘neighbourhood the to relates this interesting: very respects, many

danger. Secondly, a social phenomenon is taking place that is, in is, that place taking is phenomenon social a Secondly, danger.

earlier days, whilst institutionality is clearly in crisis, it is not in not is it crisis, in clearly is institutionality whilst days, earlier

an attitude of fierce defence of the democratic system and, unlike in unlike and, system democratic the of defence fierce of attitude an

still some points worth mentioning. Firstly, the people have adopted have people the Firstly, mentioning. worth points some still

Although the situation is one of generalised uncertainty, there are there uncertainty, generalised of one is situation the Although

received no legitimacy from the people. the from legitimacy no received

cal situation of having a person running the government who has who government the running person a having of situation cal

who lost the election in 1999. This leaves the country in the paradoxi- the in country the leaves This 1999. in election the lost who

trolled by one of the main parties, gave office to Dr. Eduardo Duhalde, Eduardo Dr. to office gave parties, main the of one by trolled

course of just one week. A decision of the Legislative Assembly, con- Assembly, Legislative the of decision A week. one just of course

political crisis was such that Argentina had three presidents in the in presidents three had Argentina that such was crisis political 29 atrocious civilian deaths and murders on the part of the police. The police. the of part the on murders and deaths civilian atrocious 29 for protecting the special rights of indigenous peoples. Key areas such as the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, responsible for approving hydro- carbon exploration, are unaware that indigenous consultation and participation is a constitutional right protected by international law, by virtue of ILO Convention 169. To this ignorance must be added a lack of understanding, or a failure to recognise, the specific nature of indigenous cultures and thus, when proposing and adopting measures targeting indigenous peoples, they continue to implement a reactionary integrationalist/ paternalist programme. The deterioration in indigenous territorial rights is considered a “development” problem. So, overlooking the constitu- tional principle of “traditionally occupied lands” and self-determina- tion (Convention 169), a recent Senate bill prescribed the use the communities must make of their lands (“agricultural and livestock farming, forestry, mining, industry and crafts”).

INAI: no structure, no adequate budget, no indigenous participation The National Institute for Indigenous Affairs (INAI) was established by law in 1985 as a decentralised organisation with indigenous par- ticipation, but the law was never implemented. Two decrees of the National Executive Power in 1991 and 1994 reduced its powers, transforming it into an office dependent upon other bodies. In August 2000, a ruling of the national courts ordered its constitution, within a period of 30 days, within the terms of the law. As of February 2002, this period of time long expired, its legal position remains irregular: it lacks both a structure and its own budget. It has no indigenous participation and its resources are paltry. As a decentralised state organisation, it requires a minimum of US$ 10,000,000 per year and yet, in 2001, it received US$ 500,000. Consequently, it was unable to fulfil one of its main objectives, which was to be involved in the processes of demarcation and delivery of lands, and very few indig- enous projects received funding.

Current plans and programmes: state of progress In 1996, the National Plan for Regularisation of State Lands (approxi-

mately 2,000,000 hectares) was launched for indigenous communities

living in the provinces of Chubut, Jujuy and Río Negro. Agreements •

•

were signed with the respective provinces and money was transferred •

•

for their implementation. Almost six years on, the situation is as • •

• follows: •

• 173 • 174 • •

• mation of its Implementing Body. Implementing its of mation •

•

(Mapuche) and Tucumán (Diaguita-Calchaquí), is still awaiting the for- the awaiting still is (Diaguita-Calchaquí), Tucumán and (Mapuche) •

•

Bank, WB), which focuses on the provinces of Salta (Kolla), Neuquén (Kolla), Salta of provinces the on focuses which WB), Bank, •

(World Development of Indigenous Communities and Biodiversity Protection Protection Biodiversity and Communities Indigenous of Development

implemented in spite of bureaucratic prevarications. The project for project The prevarications. bureaucratic of spite in implemented

in the provinces of Chaco, Jujuy, Salta and Formosa, continues to be to continues Formosa, and Salta Jujuy, Chaco, of provinces the in

ment Bank, IDB), which covers some of the indigenous communities indigenous the of some covers which IDB), Bank, ment

of Assistance to Vulnerable Populations (Inter-American Develop- (Inter-American Populations Vulnerable to Assistance of

of the Programme the of Component of Assistance to the Indigenous Population Indigenous the to Assistance of Component

lack of leadership amongst the management and technical staff. The staff. technical and management the amongst leadership of lack

most critical stage, caused by delays in the allocation of funds and a and funds of allocation the in delays by caused stage, critical most

at Wichí communities in the Formosa province. It has survived its survived has It province. Formosa the in communities Wichí at

(European Union, EU) is targeted is EU) Union, (European Lista Integrated Development Project Development Integrated Lista

Three programmes are receiving international support. The The support. international receiving are programmes Three Ramón

International cooperation International

have been made, nor titles issued. titles nor made, been have

tion-sharing meetings with the communities but no measurements no but communities the with meetings tion-sharing

enous people has enabled progress to be made in achieving informa- achieving in made be to progress enabled has people enous

The formation of a Field Coordinating Team run by indig- by run Team Coordinating Field a of formation The Río Negro: Río

all aspects of the said programme in this province. this in programme said the of aspects all

Commission for Indigenous Participation (CPI), which will consider will which (CPI), Participation Indigenous for Commission

peoples met in a grand assembly of more than 300 people to form the form to people 300 than more of assembly grand a in met peoples

and implementation capacity, the Atacama, Kolla and Omaguaca and Kolla Atacama, the capacity, implementation and

the 2001 elections. In contrast to the province’s lack of management of lack province’s the to contrast In elections. 2001 the

of INAI, native of the province and candidate for national senator in senator national for candidate and province the of native INAI, of

the Minister for Social Development, at that time president in charge in president time that at Development, Social for Minister the

During 2001, this was the province that benefited the most from most the benefited that province the was this 2001, During Jujuy:

issue sets no limits or deadlines. or limits no sets issue

period of twenty years, whilst the constitutional article governing this governing article constitutional the whilst years, twenty of period

enous rights as it establishes a ban on the transfer of the lands for a for lands the of transfer the on ban a establishes it as rights enous

los Cual community (9,082 has), is flawed and in violation of indig- of violation in and flawed is has), (9,082 community Cual los

without consultation. The only property title issued, to the Mallín de Mallín the to issued, title property only The consultation. without

confusing information to the communities and imposes boundaries imposes and communities the to information confusing

for Settlement ( Settlement for ) provides scarce and scarce provides ) Instituto Autárquico de Colonización de Autárquico Instituto

ess, there has been no indigenous involvement; the Autarchic Institute Autarchic the involvement; indigenous no been has there ess,

of an indigenous mediator in the verification and measurement proc- measurement and verification the in mediator indigenous an of

Despite provincial decree 109/97, which created the figure the created which 109/97, decree provincial Despite Chubut: Some of the year’s events

In contrast to the meagreness of the budget for support to indigenous projects and for paying grants to indigenous students, which have been behind schedule since 2000, INAI did have sufficient resources to undertake “events”. In this context, it organised a number of work- shops with indigenous communities in different provinces and funded indigenous representatives to travel to meetings of interest to them. Two of these events are described below, by way of example:

Return of the remains of chief Mariano Rosas to the Rankülche people Panghitruz Güor, born in 1825 and captured by the army in 1834, was handed over to General Juan Manuel de Rosas who acted as his patron, giving him his surname. In 1840, he managed to escape and return to his people. Upon his death in 1877, he was buried in Leu- bucó where he remained until, in 1879, his grave was desecrated by members of the Desert Conquest expedition and his skull was given to a researcher. For 123 years, it remained in the Natural History Museum of the La Plata National University, from where it was trans- ferred in July 2001 to its original burial place. This act of restitution is worth highlighting as it was not only one of the Rankülche people’s demands but also forms an important precedent for future indigenous claims over their historical and cultural heritage.

National Census of Population, Homes and Housing 2001 In fulfilment of a national law, the National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC) included a question within a general census of the population aimed at detecting homes with at least an indigenous component.1 In order to initiate joint work, INDEC decided to consult the indigenous peoples on the way in which the census work should be undertaken and in order to create a basis on which to design and plan the 2002 additional survey. Five meetings were held with repre- sentatives from indigenous organisations and communities. The in- digenous point of view in all of the meetings was that there had been no participation in the formulation of the law nor in its implementa-

tion. In spite of the fact that INDEC consulted various peoples, the

majority considered the process lacking in legitimacy. At a national •

2 •

meeting, they therefore produced a document and the Commission of •

•

Indigenous Lawyers in Argentina (CJIA) presented an appeal on the • •

• grounds of a violation of constitutional rights, requesting deferral of •

• 175 • 176 • •

• disputes here but we will take three examples. three take will we but here disputes •

•

tions of the indigenous communities. It is not possible to list all the all list to possible not is It communities. indigenous the of tions •

•

ing the situation of legal defencelessness and the daily living condi- living daily the and defencelessness legal of situation the ing •

As mentioned above, the delay in issuing property titles is aggravat- is titles property issuing in delay the above, mentioned As

Worsening of conflict over territorial rights territorial over conflict of Worsening

increase.

plaints and legal actions concerning violations of their rights will rights their of violations concerning actions legal and plaints

plans and programmes for integration will continue. And the com- the And continue. will integration for programmes and plans

special rights. Meanwhile, with masking tape and Band-aids, the Band-aids, and tape masking with Meanwhile, rights. special

recognition of their cultural identity and consequent respect for their for respect consequent and identity cultural their of recognition

vated it will be impossible to guarantee indigenous peoples true peoples indigenous guarantee to impossible be will it vated

enous demands. If the required political mechanisms are not acti- not are mechanisms political required the If demands. enous

successive Argentinean governments are refusing to listen to indig- to listen to refusing are governments Argentinean successive

With neither budget nor political will, it is now clear that the that clear now is it will, political nor budget neither With

a lack of resources. of lack a

form the Council of Peoples, an initiative that came to nothing due to due nothing to came that initiative an Peoples, of Council the form

attempted – with no success – to convene indigenous delegates to delegates indigenous convene to – success no with – attempted

ties within these areas. With regard to participation, in 2001 INAI 2001 in participation, to regard With areas. these within ties

capital investment for the establishment of various production activi- production various of establishment the for investment capital

very same state is encouraging a policy of foreign and/or national and/or foreign of policy a encouraging is state same very

resources thus continues without state control. On the other hand, the hand, other the On control. state without continues thus resources

digenous lands by individuals, and the destruction of their natural their of destruction the and individuals, by lands digenous

it is powerless to avoid the occupation and misappropriation of in- of misappropriation and occupation the avoid to powerless is it

munities will continue to increase. On the one hand, the state admits state the hand, one the On increase. to continue will munities

Until these demands are met, the legal defencelessness of the com- the of defencelessness legal the met, are demands these Until

all issues of concern to them. to concern of issues all

involvement of indigenous peoples in the decision-making regarding decision-making the in peoples indigenous of involvement

urgent issuing of property titles over their territories and 2) the direct the 2) and territories their over titles property of issuing urgent

Indigenous demands to INAI were essentially confined to two: 1) the 1) two: to confined essentially were INAI to demands Indigenous

By way of summary of way By

stage has been completed. been has stage

that INDEC has agreed not to make the results public until the second the until public results the make to not agreed has INDEC that

trainers. In spite of this, many of them denied its validity, so much so much so validity, its denied them of many this, of spite In trainers.

with the direct participation of indigenous census enumerators and enumerators census indigenous of participation direct the with

and goings, alien to indigenous peoples, the census was carried out carried was census the peoples, indigenous to alien goings, and the census. The Courts rejected this appeal and, after some comings some after and, appeal this rejected Courts The census. the The Lhaka Honhat Association of Indigenous Communities versus the Argentinean State Proceedings in case no. 12094 of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights are continuing. This relates to the complaint made by 35 communities of five hunter-gatherer peoples from a territory of 330,00 has of adjoining lands in the Chaco area of Salta province. In 2000, a friendly settlement procedure was initiated between the parties, which was sud- denly cut short in 2001 by the government’s refusal to recognise the spatial needs of the communities. Alongside this friendly settlement procedure, it continued to pester the communities in order to force a crack in the chiefs’ unity such that they would accept its underhand commu- nity by community proposal “immediately and for a much reduced area of land”3. While awaiting a further meeting between the parties, super- vised by the IACHR, the Association has pieced together a map with which to precisely define the areas of traditional use and to demonstrate scientifically the basis of their complaint. Meanwhile, the Salta govern- ment is secretly authorising a team of engineers to undertake apocryphal agreements between criollos and the indigenous people using arbitrary measurements, and the national government is planning to build a road through the indigenous territory.

Mapuche people versus Repsol-YPF The historic lawsuit of the Painemil and Kaxipayiñ communities re- garding contamination of their lands continues. The conflict concerns the Loma de la Lata gas deposit, the largest in South America. In March 2001, they reiterated their formal complaints concerning contamination of the water table and the “uncontrolled opening of paths, new pipe- lines and works” without any consultation, despite the fact that it had been agreed that any new works “would be approved by the Mapuche authorities through the Monitoring and Supervisory Committee”. The company ignored the committee, and did not take these de- mands into consideration. For its part, the government of Neuquén province, legally bound to provide clean water to the communities, is failing to do so. In October, during a demonstration, “children, preg- nant women and male members of the communities”4 were suppressed and the Lonko5 arrested. Within the context of a case that the Children’s

Ombudsman of the Province of Neuquén is taking to the IACHR, a

working meeting was held in November in Washington with the at- •

•

tendance of both parties. Faced with the impossibility of reaching an •

•

agreement, the IACHR decided to convene a further meeting and un- • •

• dertake a visit “in loco” to verify the complaints. •

• 177

• 178 decide on policies and projects to be undertaken by the member states member the by undertaken be to projects and policies on decide • •

• binational and trinational bodies linked to the Pilcomayo basin, which basin, Pilcomayo the to linked bodies trinational and binational •

•

tina, Bolivia and Paraguay) and its demand for participation in the in participation for demand its and Paraguay) and Bolivia tina, •

•

the the (Argen-

Committee of Indigenous Peoples of the River Pilcomayo Basin Pilcomayo River the of Peoples Indigenous of Committee • 6 6

groups within regional bodies. This is illustrated by the formation of formation the by illustrated is This bodies. regional within groups

unity can be achieved, there are indications of a consolidation of consolidation a of indications are there achieved, be can unity

though it would - for the moment - seem unlikely that a nation-wide a that unlikely seem - moment the for - would it though

ership but also that of the community members. Nonetheless, al- Nonetheless, members. community the of that also but ership

increased political awareness at all levels, not only that of the lead- the of that only not levels, all at awareness political increased

ticipation in, the regional meetings on the census demonstrates an demonstrates census the on meetings regional the in, ticipation

worthy of mention. On the one hand, the conduct of, and mass par- mass and of, conduct the hand, one the On mention. of worthy

ment is coming up with a number of responses and initiatives that are that initiatives and responses of number a with up coming is ment

Interestingly, given the general state of affairs, the indigenous move- indigenous the affairs, of state general the given Interestingly,

The indigenous movement indigenous The

and the supply re-established. supply the and

and now no one knows what will happen when the repairs are finished are repairs the when happen will what knows one no now and

(ENERGAS) was aware of the situation, it did not supervise the company the supervise not did it situation, the of aware was (ENERGAS)

turned the earth to brick. Whilst the National Gas Regulatory Body Regulatory Gas National the Whilst brick. to earth the turned

4 has of forest were completely scorched and the effect of the heat has heat the of effect the and scorched completely were forest of has 4

impact. Luckily, at that time there were no people in the area. However, area. the in people no were there time that at Luckily, impact.

the forest. In January 2002, another explosion occurred, amplifying its amplifying occurred, explosion another 2002, January In forest. the

ple and causing damage to the whole community of San Andrés and to and Andrés San of community whole the to damage causing and ple

habitation. In March 2001, the gas pipeline exploded, terrifying the peo- the terrifying exploded, pipeline gas the 2001, March In habitation.

rently runs 70 kms over the indigenous territory, very close to the area of area the to close very territory, indigenous the over kms 70 runs rently

request was ignored and the gas pipeline was finished in 1999. It cur- It 1999. in finished was pipeline gas the and ignored was request

lands, subject to strong seismic pressures and occasional landslips. This landslips. occasional and pressures seismic strong to subject lands,

gers that would result from its construction on geologically complex geologically on construction its from result would that gers

and Greenpeace Argentina requested a change of route due to the dan- the to due route of change a requested Argentina Greenpeace and

safeguard a species of native wildlife in danger of extinction. Tinkunaku extinction. of danger in wildlife native of species a safeguard

constitutional rights being undertaken in their defence and in order to order in and defence their in undertaken being rights constitutional

out the community’s agreement in spite of a case for protection of their of protection for case a of spite in agreement community’s the out

pipeline, which transports gas to Chile, was built on their territory with- territory their on built was Chile, to gas transports which pipeline,

have been affected by two explosions on the Norandino gas pipeline. The pipeline. gas Norandino the on explosions two by affected been have

sation (San Andrés, Río Blanquito, Los Naranjos and Angosto de Paraní) de Angosto and Naranjos Los Blanquito, Río Andrés, (San sation

tinues, the communities making up the Tinkunaku indigenous organi- indigenous Tinkunaku the up making communities the tinues,

donation made to the community by the El Tabacal sugar refinery con- refinery sugar Tabacal El the by community the to made donation

Whilst the case initiated by the Seabort Corporation for revocation of the of revocation for Corporation Seabort the by initiated case the Whilst

dino gas pipeline gas dino Kolla Tinkunaku community versus Seabort Corporation /Noran- Corporation Seabort versus community Tinkunaku Kolla

Mapping team showing the maps to the Lhaka Honhat communitiy. Photo: Morita Carrasco

•

•

•

AFter the explosion of the gas pipeline. Photo: Greepeance Argentina • •

•

• •

• 179 • 180 • • • • • •

•

•

[email protected]

9 More information can be obtained from: obtained be can information More 9

8 More information can be obtained from: [email protected] from: obtained be can information More 8

7 More information can be obtained from: [email protected] from: obtained be can information More 7

6 More information can be obtained from: [email protected] from: obtained be can information More 6

5 Lonko: traditional leader among the Mapuche. the among leader traditional Lonko: 5

be obtained from: [email protected] from: obtained be

4 Communiqué released by the two communities. More information can information More communities. two the by released Communiqué 4

[email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected]

information can be obtained from: obtained be can information

3 Map of the Coordinating Body of Lhaka Honhat for the IACHR. More IACHR. the for Honhat Lhaka of Body Coordinating the of Map 3

page: www.geocities.com/RainForest/Andes/8976 page:

ing the 2001 National Census) can be consulted at the following web following the at consulted be can Census) National 2001 the ing

(Statement of Indigenous Peoples of Argentina regard- Argentina of Peoples Indigenous of (Statement Nacional 2001” Nacional

2 The The 2 “Manifiesto de los Pueblos Indígenas de Argentina frente al Censo al frente Argentina de Indígenas Pueblos los de “Manifiesto

in the first stage. first the in

order to find out the number and composition of all households noted households all of composition and number the out find to order

1 It is planned to complete the study with an “Additional Survey 2002” in 2002” Survey “Additional an with study the complete to planned is It 1

Notes and references and Notes

Commission of Indigenous Lawyers in Argentina. in Lawyers Indigenous of Commission

9

jointly organized by the by organized jointly of reflection on the rights of indigenous peoples indigenous of rights the on reflection of

the Council of Indigenous Organisations of Jujuy, and the the and Jujuy, of Organisations Indigenous of Council the First days First

events such as the the as such events , organised by organised National Meeting of Indigenous Leaders Indigenous of Meeting National

8 8

the United Nations programme of human rights training, and by and training, rights human of programme Nations United the

by some to participate in the World Conference against Racism and Racism against Conference World the in participate to some by

the international arena. This is demonstrated by the grants obtained grants the by demonstrated is This arena. international the

regard their rights can be seen, with a view to the process ongoing in ongoing process the to view a with seen, be can rights their regard

same time, a greater concern to deepen self-training with self-training deepen to concern greater a time, same the At

an awareness-raising campaign around the census. the around campaign awareness-raising an

7

movement of cultural recovery and who have spread their voice through voice their spread have who and recovery cultural of movement

tion”), made up of young Mapuche who have begun an interesting an begun have who Mapuche young of up made tion”),

in the said basin. Another is the group group the is Another basin. said the in (“Self-asser- Autoafirmación

CHILE

he current situation of Chile’s indigenous peoples, and of the T Mapuche in particular, is one of dangerous and oppressive stag- nation, caused by a lack of progress in the country in the processing of their demands and arriving at an understanding with the main social and political actors. This situation is the result of the cultural resistance that exists within different sectors of national society, along with a lack of flexibility in the politico-institutional system in Chile, which prevents achievement of the necessary reforms by which to satisfy indigenous land and territorial demands, the search for their constitutional recognition and approval of ILO Convention 169. In addition, Mapuche demands have suffered from a growing process of criminalization, which is attempting to detract credibility and legitimacy from them. Those sectors most opposed to the indig- enous movement are promoting images of supposed separatist inten- tions and links, thus far unproven, with radical far left groups. This campaign has been promoted by newspapers supportive of the busi- ness groups in conflict with the Mapuche. Since the September 11 events in New York, these papers have even circulated stories, un- founded, of supposed links between Mapuche organisations and the fundamentalist leader Osama Bin Laden. The media have also attempted to conclude that the radicalisation of the Mapuche conflict is due to its links with the EZLN1 in Mexico and ETA2 in the Spanish Basque country. For the Mapuche, this strategy of stigmatisation only seeks to encourage greater police repression, along with the violation of their basic rights and legitimate demands.

Mobilisations and demands

Whilst the year 2000 was relatively quiet in terms of mobilisations and incidents related to the conflict between the Mapuche communities and the government and forestry companies, 2001 was, on the contrary, one of serious clashes, some of which resulted in many arrests and serious injuries. Such was the case of the police shooting of 4 Mapuche in the

commune of Tirúa and the shots fired at two other community members

in Galvarino and Victoria respectively. To this can be added various raids •

•

and police arrests, all characterised by unusually high levels of violence. •

•

Of the most violent events, the raid on the headquarters of the • •

• Consejo de Todas las Tierras (on 19 July) has to be mentioned. This is •

• 181

• 182 a situation which the government is investigating. is government the which situation a • •

• istrative problems in the purchase of land for Mapuche communities, Mapuche for land of purchase the in problems istrative •

•

demands, has fallen into disrepute, accused of corruption and admin- and corruption of accused disrepute, into fallen has demands, •

•

CONADI, weakened and with little capacity to respond to indigenous to respond to capacity little with and weakened CONADI, •

whose task it is to promote the development of indigenous peoples. indigenous of development the promote to is it task whose

ration for Indigenous Development (CONADI), a government body government a (CONADI), Development Indigenous for ration

affected by the severe crisis being experienced by the National Corpo- National the by experienced being crisis severe the by affected

The general situation of Mapuche demands has been adversely been has demands Mapuche of situation general The

the municipal rubbish tips existing on their lands. their on existing tips rubbish municipal the

ties from Temuco, Purén and Gorbea have tried, unsuccessfully, to close to unsuccessfully, tried, have Gorbea and Purén Temuco, from ties

dam have continued in the Alto Bío-Bío. Similarly, Mapuche communi- Mapuche Similarly, Bío-Bío. Alto the in continued have dam

environmentalists’ protests against the ENDESA multinational’s Ralco multinational’s ENDESA the against protests environmentalists’

mentation of a Mapuche student policy. Meanwhile, the Pewenche and Pewenche the Meanwhile, policy. student Mapuche a of mentation

Apart from the issue of student homes, they were also demanding imple- demanding also were they homes, student of issue the from Apart

pressurise the authorities into finding a rapid solution to the problem. the to solution rapid a finding into authorities the pressurise

The pupils “took” the cathedral and organised a hunger strike to strike hunger a organised and cathedral the “took” pupils The

gered a wave of protest on the part of Mapuche university students. university Mapuche of part the on protest of wave a gered

In Temuco, the closure of the home for indigenous students trig- students indigenous for home the of closure the Temuco, In

government did not enforce the Law of Internal State Security. State Internal of Law the enforce not did government

tions of force, threatening to take justice into their own hands if the if hands own their into justice take to threatening force, of tions

previous years, some of the large forest owners showed demonstra- showed owners forest large the of some years, previous

forestry companies, leading to serious clashes with the police. As in As police. the with clashes serious to leading companies, forestry

as did the communities’ protests against private individuals and individuals private against protests communities’ the did as

In Malleco province (Araucanía Region), the land claims continued, claims land the Region), (Araucanía province Malleco In

in heavy police repression and serious incidents in the town’s streets. town’s the in incidents serious and repression police heavy in

people and paralysing the main arteries of the town. The march ended march The town. the of arteries main the paralysing and people

nities and civil society organisations, bringing together some 1,500 some together bringing organisations, society civil and nities

the Ninth Region and was supported by numerous Mapuche commu- Mapuche numerous by supported was and Region Ninth the

mobilisation was organised by the main Mapuche organisations of organisations Mapuche main the by organised was mobilisation

communities and organisations claiming their territorial rights. The rights. territorial their claiming organisations and communities

violence caused by the police and judicial operations against the against operations judicial and police the by caused violence

(July 25). Its aim was to condemn the harassment and repressive and harassment the condemn to was aim Its 25). (July

mon front”, which convened a mass march in the town of Temuco of town the in march mass a convened which front”, mon

Mapuche organisations, and brought about the formation of a “com- a of formation the about brought and organisations, Mapuche

The raid led to an unprecedented wave of solidarity among the among solidarity of wave unprecedented an to led raid The

people, of attacking police officers. police attacking of people,

(November 29) was still in prison accused, along with five other five with along accused, prison in still was 29) (November

among them the leader Aucán Huilcamán who, several months later months several who, Huilcamán Aucán leader the them among

leading to a violent police reaction resulting in arrests and injuries, and arrests in resulting reaction police violent a to leading

tion took place, annoying the leaders who then opposed the action, the opposed then who leaders the annoying place, took tion

with the the with . A dramatic police opera- police dramatic A . Arauco-Malleco Coordinating Body Coordinating Arauco-Malleco one of the country’s most influential Mapuche organisations, along organisations, Mapuche influential most country’s the of one Convention 169 and reforms to procedural criminal law

Legal cases and the new procedural criminal system are two issues of

deep concern to Chile’s indigenous peoples. However, ILO Convention •

•

169 has still not been ratified. After more than nine years of processing, •

•

it has been approved by the Chamber of Deputies and is currently to • •

• be found with the Senate. Due to complaints made by right-wing mem- •

• 183

• 184 conditions of extreme poverty in which the rural indigenous popula- indigenous rural the which in poverty extreme of conditions • •

• Survey (CASEN) were made known. They revealed – once again – the – again once – revealed They known. made were (CASEN) Survey •

• In July, the results of the National Socio-Economic Characterisation Socio-Economic National the of results the July, In •

•

•

Poverty and development projects development and Poverty

ability and decision-making capacity of the way in which it was run. was it which in way the of capacity decision-making and ability

addition, would comprise an international guarantor, to ensure the vi- the ensure to guarantor, international an comprise would addition,

sion” in which all the authorities would be represented and which, in which, and represented be would authorities the all which in sion”

proposed the idea of replacing this organisation with a “State Commis- “State a with organisation this replacing of idea the proposed

mission. The Mapuche organisations that preferred to remain outside remain to preferred that organisations Mapuche The mission.

were to be found among the organisations that did finally join the Com- the join finally did that organisations the among found be to were

and criticisms of, the initiative. The main Mapuche territorial identities territorial Mapuche main The initiative. the of, criticisms and

did not participate until October as they had a number of objections to, objections of number a had they as October until participate not did

The Commission sat in session throughout the year but the Mapuche the but year the throughout session in sat Commission The

detail for the autonomous drafting of proposals to the Commission. the to proposals of drafting autonomous the for detail

of work was anticipated in which to gather the historical background historical the gather to which in anticipated was work of

and development, plus one sub-commission for each people. Six months Six people. each for sub-commission one plus development, and

for a new deal. Two thematic sub-commissions have been formed on law on formed been have sub-commissions thematic Two deal. new a for

peoples. Its mandate is to review the past and to formulate proposals formulate to and past the review to is mandate Its peoples.

made up of intellectuals and leaders from all the country’s indigenous country’s the all from leaders and intellectuals of up made

sided over by the ex-president of the Republic, Patricio Aylwin, and Aylwin, Patricio Republic, the of ex-president the by over sided

) was established, pre- established, was ) in Chile (see The Indigenous World 2000-2001 World Indigenous The

In January 2001, the Commission for Historical Truth and a New Deal New a and Truth Historical for Commission the 2001, January In

Historical truth and a new deal new a and truth Historical

judiciary and right-wing politicians. right-wing and judiciary

customary law. This proposal has been rejected by members of the of members by rejected been has proposal This law. customary

enable the acceptance and validity of an alternative law based on based law alternative an of validity and acceptance the enable

need to reform the system, incorporating a legal plurality that will that plurality legal a incorporating system, the reform to need

as the Konapewman group of Mapuche professionals, have raised the raised have professionals, Mapuche of group Konapewman the as

sidering it discriminatory and degrading. Some organisations, such organisations, Some degrading. and discriminatory it sidering

canía. The Mapuche organisations have questioned this system, con- system, this questioned have organisations Mapuche The canía.

number of the country’s regions, one of which is the region of Arau- of region the is which of one regions, country’s the of number

a new procedural system is now being applied as a pilot model in a in model pilot a as applied being now is system procedural new a

Within the context of the modernisation of the Chilean judiciary, Chilean the of modernisation the of context the Within

those sectors in favour of its approval are unlikely to gain. to unlikely are approval its of favour in sectors those

difficult as it requires 4/7 of the Senate to pass it, a percentage which percentage a it, pass to Senate the of 4/7 requires it as difficult bers to the Constitutional Court, its approval has now become more become now has approval its Court, Constitutional the to bers tion live. The survey showed that the Ninth Region, which contains the greatest concentration of rural Mapuche in Chile, is the poorest in the country, with 32.7% below the poverty line. The poverty indicators show a levelling off, even a worsening, of the economic situation of the rural Mapuche population, with figures of those in poverty reach- ing 50% in some of the communes with the highest levels of Mapuche population. In the First Region, where the greatest percentage of the country’s Aymara population live, poverty has increased by almost four percentage points in relation to 1998. For indigenous leaders, the results of the survey, which measures levels of education, employ- ment, income, health and housing, are proof of the failure of govern- ment social policies, imposed with little or no criteria for participation or respect for the cultural differences of the indigenous peoples. In terms of reducing indigenous poverty, President Lagos’ govern- ment negotiated a loan with the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB. The loan, approved on 28 Feb. 2001, will finance the Integrated Development Programme for Indigenous Communities with a credit line of 80 million dollars targeted at benefiting 12,000 indigenous families in 600 Aymara, Atacameña and Mapuche communities. Its objectives in- clude the strengthening of local institutions, an increase in agricultural production and improvements in health and education services. Al- though the initiative has generally been well received, some Mapuche organisations have criticised its lack of participatory mechanisms by which the communities can define their own priorities and strategies.

Notes and Sources

1 EZLN: Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional – the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. 2 ETA: Euzkadi ta Azkatasuna – “The Basque Country and Freedom”, the Basque liberation movement.

La Tercera daily newspaper El Mercurio daily newspaper El Austral de Temuco daily newspaper www.mapuche.cl www.mapuexpress.net www.mapuche.nl

www.mideplan.cl

•

www.iadb.org • •

•

•

•

• •

• 185 • 186 • • • • • • • •

AUSTRALIA AND

•

THE PACIFIC •

•

•

•

•

• •

• 187

• 188 if they did not allow Australians allow not did they if so opportunistic, so extreme,

grateful, grateful, •

• The shrill excess is clear. Surely white reactions would not be so be not would reactions white Surely clear. is excess shrill The • •

• to show one’s moral seriousness and political correctness. political and seriousness moral one’s show to •

•

to propose. As with September 11, 2001, one must speak first of outrage of first speak must one 2001, 11, September with As propose. to •

to keep them from families – was too extreme for usually sensible people sensible usually for extreme too was – families from them keep to

while no measure – e.g., locking up local black men in razor wire cages wire razor in men black local up locking e.g., – measure no while

and children. Interest in other topics labelled one an idler or fool, or idler an one labelled topics other in Interest children. and

any indigenous subject but the physical and sexual abuse of women of abuse sexual and physical the but subject indigenous any

In the meltdown from mid-June, it became impossible to speak of speak to impossible became it mid-June, from meltdown the In

cried; it is time for black people to do something! do to people black for time is it cried;

Let’s not hear about history, poverty, suffering and lack of funds, they funds, of lack and suffering poverty, history, about hear not Let’s

social and economic reforms – and get busy solving their problems. their solving busy get and – reforms economic and social

– stop wasting our time with proposals for political, constitutional, political, for proposals with time our wasting stop –

callers and hosts demanded that Aborigines act now, and stop talking stop and now, act Aborigines that demanded hosts and callers

communities and families. Editorials, commentators, talkback radio talkback commentators, Editorials, families. and communities

white friends for allegedly “accepting” or ignoring the misery of misery the ignoring or “accepting” allegedly for friends white

public opinion denounced Aborigines – especially leaders – and their and – leaders especially – Aborigines denounced opinion public

within Aboriginal society became the key issues. The lions of white of lions The issues. key the became society Aboriginal within

of violence against women and children and women against violence of and The acceptance extent

“hidden” this unpleasant information. unpleasant this “hidden”

their non-indigenous friends and supporters were accused of having of accused were supporters and friends non-indigenous their

tralia have been appearing for many years. Worse, Aborigines and Aborigines Worse, years. many for appearing been have tralia

books, articles, oral and visual reports about the real Aboriginal Aus- Aboriginal real the about reports visual and oral articles, books,

because country. the around items TV and articles lengthy Feigned

feigned surprise and outrage at horror stories now widely reported in reported widely now stories horror at outrage and surprise feigned

Whites, including politicians, newspaper editors and commentators and editors newspaper politicians, including Whites,

Uproar, hypocrisy and denial and hypocrisy Uproar,

O’Shane’s brother. Uproar followed. Uproar brother. O’Shane’s

children had been abused by an Aboriginal politician, soon said to be to said soon politician, Aboriginal an by abused been had children

the former head of Aboriginal Reconciliation, Evelyn Scott, said her said Scott, Evelyn Reconciliation, Aboriginal of head former the

O’Shane, commented that many women make up rape stories. Then, stories. rape up make women many that commented O’Shane,

years earlier. Then, a high-profile Aboriginal magistrate, Ms. Pat Ms. magistrate, Aboriginal high-profile a Then, earlier. years

vivid press reports to have been involved in four rapes of women 20 women of rapes four in involved been have to reports press vivid

elected head of the national Aboriginal administration, was said in said was administration, Aboriginal national the of head elected

A

policy worlds were blown away in mid-June 2001. Geoff Clark, Geoff 2001. mid-June in away blown were worlds policy

ustralia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander politics and politics Islander Strait Torres and Aboriginal ustralia’s AUSTRALIA the chance to express themselves vehemently on these issues – and at no moral or material cost. Other people, not we ourselves, are to blame for our worst and most shameful national problem! We are so good and concerned that we can now be openly upset about it; wallow in weekend newspaper cover stories, features, and photos, a pornogra- phy of violence; and overlook the role of our settlement, land and funding policies that have created the whole mess.

North-East corner

The most thorough and painful exploration of indigenous community violence in recent years was the work of Professor Boni Robertson and other indigenous women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Task Force on Violence, 1999, sponsored by the Queensland state gov-

1

ernment. However, the report did not receive the official urgency •

•

required so Brisbane Courier-Mail journalists Margaret Wenham, Tony •

•

Koch and others continued with tough press reports. The Premier • •

• said he was moved and launched another inquiry in 2001, headed by •

• 189

• 190 wouldn’t have thought it so daunting. When I deal with lawyers, with deal I When daunting. so it thought have wouldn’t • •

• As a nation, we’ve got to find the courage to face that prospect and I and prospect that face to courage the find to got we’ve nation, a As • •

•

•

call for a treaty between the government and us. and government the between treaty a for call •

our future under government control, that we have reawakened the reawakened have we that control, government under future our

It is because of these uncertainties, and the insecurities of our lives and lives our of insecurities the and uncertainties, these of because is It

thrown in the bin. the in thrown

moment we are a bit like toys that have been discarded but not yet not but discarded been have that toys like bit a are we moment

especially since Federation, have kept us as ... playthings [.] At the At [.] playthings ... as us kept have Federation, since especially

[P]olicy options of governments over the past 200 years or so, and so, or years 200 past the over governments of options [P]olicy

year of Australia’s Federation (i.e., 2001): (i.e., Federation Australia’s of year

lated the Inuit case of Nunavut to Aboriginal needs in the centenary the in needs Aboriginal to Nunavut of case Inuit the lated

leading moral force for Reconciliation, Patrick Dodson, the latter re- latter the Dodson, Patrick Reconciliation, for force moral leading

ally televised event, with Australia’s Aboriginal elder statesman and statesman elder Aboriginal Australia’s with event, televised ally

when Okalik spoke in Canberra at the National Press Club, a nation- a Club, Press National the at Canberra in spoke Okalik when

problem-solving and genuine human reconciliation. On August 15, August On reconciliation. human genuine and problem-solving

indigenous politics were, after all, only practical openings for humble for openings practical only all, after were, politics indigenous

on matters indigenous. He stressed that the political landmarks in landmarks political the that stressed He indigenous. matters on

tralia, where decibels have been more characteristic of recent debate recent of characteristic more been have decibels where tralia,

audience. Okalik’s quiet charisma evoked much comment in Aus- in comment much evoked charisma quiet Okalik’s audience.

progress in their regions. their in progress Many government officials were in the in were officials government Many

4 4

Brisbane Custom House and told an appreciative audience of the of audience appreciative an told and House Custom Brisbane

navut’s Inuit premier Paul Okalik shared a lunchtime stage at the at stage lunchtime a shared Okalik Paul premier Inuit navut’s

violence came on August 13, 2001, when Noel Pearson and Nu- and Pearson Noel when 2001, 13, August on came violence

A quiet public moment in this year of slanging and sorrow over sorrow and slanging of year this in moment public quiet A

and accessibly stated the practical needs and urgency of his approach. his of urgency and needs practical the stated accessibly and

3

(25 Oct. 2001), Pearson strongly Pearson 2001), Oct. (25 misery, mass incarceration and early death early and incarceration mass misery,

However, in his most full and recent presentation, presentation, recent and full most his in However, On the human right to right human the On

an approach that has led many to doubt his wisdom. his doubt to many led has that approach an Labour confrères,

public speeches stirring up partisan animosities by his attacks on old on attacks his by animosities partisan up stirring speeches public

Pearson himself has led a national debate through a series of strong of series a through debate national a led has himself Pearson

region led by Noel Pearson, a high profile national Aboriginal leader. Aboriginal national profile high a Pearson, Noel by led region

and prestige, and by local groups in the troubled communities of the of communities troubled the in groups local by and prestige, and

government departments whipped along by the Premier’s personal drive personal Premier’s the by along whipped departments government

cal pragmatic mix of good intentions and practical cooperation between cooperation practical and intentions good of mix pragmatic cal

Premier’s department, the the department, Premier’s a sort of anti-ideologi- of sort a Cape York Partnerships, York Cape

Cape York is already the focus of a special effort by the Queensland the by effort special a of focus the already is York Cape

Judge Tony Fitzgerald’s Fitzgerald’s Tony Judge is now online. now is Cape York Study York Cape

2

on the Cape York Peninsula, the great north-eastern point of Australia. of point north-eastern great the Peninsula, York Cape the on a respected white male but with limited working time and regional focus regional and time working limited with but male white respected a Prime Minister Howard visiting Kofi Annan in New York. Leahy in Courier Mail, Brisbane 5.09.2000

business people, Aboriginal and other groups in society, there are contracts often involved.

A treaty is necessary to…

Recognise Aboriginal people as people with rights to the same stand- ard of service expected by others, but also our rights to be indigenous and to manage our own societies on our own lands at our own pace and in our own way.

... But ultimately, a treaty would represent real “practical reconcilia- tion”…

It will come when we realise that the only alternatives are fear, racism,

ignorance and continuing social dislocation.5

•

•

“Practical reconciliation” is the Howard government’s phrase for the •

•

trickle of welfare state programs, its substitute for addressing the • •

• agenda of Aboriginal leaders. •

• 191

• 192 emphasis today on piecemeal approaches, however understandable in understandable however approaches, piecemeal on today emphasis • •

• the other; both frameworks and daily needs must be addressed. The addressed. be must needs daily and frameworks both other; the •

•

self-government. Neither of these two approaches is workable without workable is approaches two these of Neither self-government. •

•

seek to convert government program relationships into something like something into relationships program government convert to seek •

key issues are political and constitutional relationships, while others while relationships, constitutional and political are issues key

at the University of Queensland in September 2001. September in Queensland of University the at For some, the some, For tion

7 7

tion was evident at the conference conference the at evident was tion Rethinking Indigenous Self-Determina- Indigenous Rethinking

the discussion of self-determina- of discussion the up opening divide Another within

ian government representative spoke up for the benefits of colonialism. of benefits the for up spoke representative government ian

end of the world racism summit (WCAR) in September 2001, the Austral- the 2001, September in (WCAR) summit racism world the of end

determination and its spirit at the United Nations. For instance, at the tail the at instance, For Nations. United the at spirit its and determination

enous policy goals, goals never nearly reached. They also oppose self- oppose also They reached. nearly never goals goals, policy enous

over-optimistically used by earlier governments to dignify their indig- their dignify to governments earlier by used over-optimistically

in such minds, was minds, such in with conflated term, That people. riginal separatism

for the problems and violence suffered by Abo- by suffered violence and problems the for blaming self-determination self-determination

The Howard government and some right-wing commentators have been have commentators right-wing some and government Howard The

Self-Determination home and away and home Self-Determination

compared with Aborigines will evaporate. will Aborigines with compared

tive title they have few rights. Then their supposed “moderation” supposed their Then rights. few have they title tive

landers will realise that despite recent ceremonial handovers of na- of handovers ceremonial recent despite that realise will landers

whether a development project approval or pollution accident, Is- accident, pollution or approval project development a whether

than it does. The danger for governments is that someday, in a crisis, a in someday, that is governments for danger The does. it than

case widely misunderstood as recognising more indigenous rights indigenous more recognising as misunderstood widely case

acquitted of confiscating the fish catch of non-indigenous fishers, a fishers, non-indigenous of catch fish the confiscating of acquitted

In 2001, Islanders won a sensational court case in which they were they which in case court sensational a won Islanders 2001, In

seas of their region with its hazardous reefs and rich fishing grounds. fishing rich and reefs hazardous its with region their of seas

Islanders, sea rights and the power to manage what happens in the in happens what manage to power the and rights sea Islanders,

However, they do not place much emphasis on the major issue for issue major the on emphasis much place not do they However,

moderate and workable. and moderate

fit within Australia’s constitutional structure. The proposals are proposals The structure. constitutional Australia’s within fit

ment for all regional residents, regardless of ethnic background, to background, ethnic of regardless residents, regional all for ment

sultations, was published in October 2001. October in published was sultations, They want a govern- a want They

6 6

resulting from extensive community con- community extensive from resulting Strait Territory Government, Government, Territory Strait

rights within Australia. Their latest political proposal, proposal, political latest Their Australia. within rights A Torres A

continued to seek regional political autonomy and recognised sea recognised and autonomy political regional seek to continued

lanesian Islanders of the islands and shores of Torres Strait, have Strait, Torres of shores and islands the of Islanders lanesian

At the tip of Cape York, Australia’s second indigenous people, Me- people, indigenous second Australia’s York, Cape of tip the At Torres Strait Islanders Strait Torres the current Australian climate, risks becoming a form of official micro- management and continued obsessive control of indigenous people. The cancelled meeting of the Commonwealth of Nations (former British Empire) heads of government (CHOGM) of October 2001 is to take place in March 2002. Whereas the original plan was for many public events and much scope for local and international cultural, social, and political input, Howard is clearly happier with the new approach hidden far from public gaze (in the name of security since September 11, of course) at a resort north of Brisbane. Unfortunately, the new Commonwealth Association of Indigenous Peoples (CAIP) has been unable to organise itself in time to contribute greatly. How- ever, the moral energy of Honourable Margaret Reynolds, retired Aus- tralian senator, minister and part-time academic, who now spear- heads much of the Commonwealth’s human rights work, and Helena Whall running the Indigenous Rights in the Commonwealth Project, Uni- versity of London, 8 have seen clear proposals put forward for this meeting. The Commonwealth is one of the few international organi- sations that has not adopted a commitment to indigenous issues but, with 54 member countries, including many of the best and worst indigenous contexts, there is much scope for active precedent.

Orphan of the Pacific

Australian television news on February 5, 2002, featured foreign mi- nister Alexander Downer meeting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. Downer said he told Mrs Robinson that Australia’s tough stand against asylum seeking “boat people” was strongly supported by the Australian public. Mrs Robinson was then shown with a sad and gentle smile saying that human rights were not about “popularity”. Downer, often portrayed by political cartoon- ists, those scathing and shrewd chroniclers of Australia’s national life, as an oversized and not very bright schoolboy, now looked more the part than ever compared with Robinson as the kind but firm school- teacher. It was a picture of the Australian situation today. Having nothing to say or argue but only prejudice to incite, Ho- ward is left simply abusing Mary Robinson as in the Downer case

above (Radio interview transcript, Prime Minister’s Media Centre, 6

February 2002), or anyone else who disagrees with him. Since the •

•

beginning of 2000 (see The Indigenous World, 1999-2000 and 2000- •

•

2001), Howard has openly opposed international human rights proc- • •

• esses and standards, even warning UN head Kofi Annan not to speak •

• 193

• 194 is blaming subordinates, while forbidding Defence officials to com- to officials Defence forbidding while subordinates, blaming is • •

• typically. (1) He has blamed a former minister, and his government his and minister, former a blamed has He (1) typically. •

•

ment is such a “John Howard” thing to do! Howard has responded has Howard do! to thing Howard” “John a such is ment •

•

image and rights of vulnerable people for political self-aggrandise- political for people vulnerable of rights and image •

2002). Scepticism among the public is great because trashing the trashing because great is public the among Scepticism 2002).

manipulate political and electoral affairs (all news media, 12-15 Feb. 12-15 media, news (all affairs electoral and political manipulate

untrue, while it misused military and civil personnel and powers to powers and personnel civil and military misused it while untrue,

that its lurid tales of boat people throwing children overboard were overboard children throwing people boat of tales lurid its that

government knew for a month or more during the election campaign election the during more or month a for knew government

Several sources and an official report have found that the Howard the that found have report official an and sources Several

Now, in mid-February 2002, some chickens are coming home to roost. to home coming are chickens some 2002, mid-February in Now,

Conclusions

policies (including rejection of the Kyoto accords). Kyoto the of rejection (including policies

America through free trade and full support for Bush’s wars and foreign and wars Bush’s for support full and trade free through America

macro-facts and is now trying to simplify by signing Australia over to over Australia signing by simplify to trying now is and macro-facts

community and obligation apart from the global economic and military and economic global the from apart obligation and community

Meanwhile, Howard rejects notions of international of notions rejects Howard Meanwhile, Howard’s idées fixes. fixes. idées

rigines and other minorities serve only the populism of the moment and moment the of populism the only serve minorities other and rigines

many of whom have already drowned off Northern Australia, and Abo- and Australia, Northern off drowned already have whom of many

Rather, desperate people floating around in leaky overcrowded boats, overcrowded leaky in around floating people desperate Rather,

of omission or commission towards “the Other” make no impression. no make Other” “the towards commission or omission of

of conscience or the brutalising effects on domestic society of brutal acts brutal of society domestic on effects brutalising the or conscience of

Australia, although he freely admits using those that suit him. Dictates him. suit that those using admits freely he although Australia,

Howard cares little for international agreements freely entered into by into entered freely agreements international for little cares Howard

has defected from the “first world” moral community. moral world” “first the from defected has

ism, and that is the problem of the Howard era and government. It government. and era Howard the of problem the is that and ism,

clever race strategy using Aborigines or Afghans is still official rac- official still is Afghans or Aborigines using strategy race clever

at home and abroad. It is the central feature of his politics. politics. his of feature central the is It abroad. and home at However,

9

the fuss, posing as defender of Australian prejudice against “elites” against prejudice Australian of defender as posing fuss, the

Nauru have now become an international scandal. Howard enjoys Howard scandal. international an become now have Nauru

Solution” of buying prison camp space in poor mini-nations like mini-nations poor in space camp prison buying of Solution”

humanity, his refusal to let further boat people ashore and his “Pacific his and ashore people boat further let to refusal his humanity,

tempts to throw overboard the spirit of international law and basic and law international of spirit the overboard throw to tempts

August 2001, his government’s intimidation of the captain and at- and captain the of intimidation government’s his 2001, August

use of military “special forces” to storm the ship ship the storm to forces” “special military of use at sea in sea at Tampa Tampa

camps where asylum seekers are held for long periods, and Howard’s and periods, long for held are seekers asylum where camps

aggressively childish approach (see drawing). But the desert prison desert the But drawing). (see approach childish aggressively

ploys. Howard’s UN visit in 2000 allowed cartoonists to ridicule his ridicule to cartoonists allowed 2000 in visit UN Howard’s ploys. of these matters in Australia and saying they were domestic partisan domestic were they saying and Australia in matters these of ment. (2) He has said there is no issue at all but only Labour whining over the 2001 election they lost. (3) And in his “puffer fish” mode he has proclaimed pompously that, “I don’t apologise for anything that was done in defence of the national interest”. Another day of national uproar, later he tells the country that attempts to know the truth are “politically motivated”, an unseasonable sensitivity in a man who reduces almost all to partisan ploys. The real issue is credibility, integrity, and the fitness to govern of leaders. As Mike Carlton sums up (Sydney Morning Herald, 16 Feb. 2002),

What is starkly clear ... is that senior ministers – most culpably the Prime Minister – did not seek the truth of the matter because the lie suited their political purposes very well, thank you. They were engaged in one of the nastiest stratagems of authoritarian government, which is to shore up that authority by vilifying a minority racial or religious group and inflaming the populace against it. In a multicultural society such as ours, this is almost criminal irresponsibility.

The Howard government’s official motives and statements on human rights, indigenous peoples and asylum seekers are not credible, at home or abroad. There is also a total failure or refusal of imagination and empathy, and of moral solidarity, with fellow human beings. Given the recent behaviour of Howard and his ministers, one may well imagine how they would act if caged together in the desert for a few months, or sardined into a leaky boat drifting in the Indian Ocean.

Notes and references

1 Report online: http://www.qldwoman.qld.gov.au/publications/main.html 2 Report online: http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/about/community/ capeyorkreport.htm 3 Report online: http://www.capeyorkpartnerships.com/noelpearson/ index.htm 4 Report online: http://www.brisinst.org.au/papers/okalik_paul_dialogue/ 5 The Age, Melbourne, 16 August. 2001.

6 Report online: (http://www.tsra.gov.au/4001.pdf

7 Proceedings will be published by conference organiser and editor Geoff •

•

Stokes, Deakin University. •

•

8 Website: http://www.cpsu.org.uk/projects/indigenous.html •

•

9 See e.g. David Solomon. 2002. “Media Manipulation”. Howard’s Race, • •

ed. David Solomon. Sydney: Harper Collins. • 195

• 196

rum’s portrayal of the potential social effects when one looks at the at looks one when effects social potential the of portrayal rum’s •

• But Pacific civil society and observers remain unconvinced at the Fo- the at unconvinced remain observers and society civil Pacific But • •

• effects but claims the impact “is expected to be small” and temporary. and small” be to expected “is impact the claims but effects •

•

The Forum acknowledged that there may be some adverse social adverse some be may there that acknowledged Forum The •

trade.

form to WTO trade rules by gradually opening their economies to free to economies their opening gradually by rules trade WTO to form

legally binding agreements will thus make Pacific islands states con- states islands Pacific make thus will agreements binding legally

viser, Trade Development Officer and a Fiscal Reform Officer. These Officer. Reform Fiscal a and Officer Development Trade viser,

funding three experts for the Forum Secretariat, a Trade Policy Ad- Policy Trade a Secretariat, Forum the for experts three funding

assistance for the reforms in the respective Forum countries, and countries, Forum respective the in reforms the for assistance

implementation of the Pacific free trade area by providing technical providing by area trade free Pacific the of implementation

area with each of the three sub-regions. The EU is facilitating the facilitating is EU The sub-regions. three the of each with area

communicated to the ACP countries that it wants to create a free trade free a create to wants it that countries ACP the to communicated

to have a trade regime that conforms to WTO rules. It has therefore has It rules. WTO to conforms that regime trade a have to

and Pacific (ACP) countries until 2006 but that, after that, it intends it that, after that, but 2006 until countries (ACP) Pacific and

of its preferential trading arrangements with the African, Caribbean African, the with arrangements trading preferential its of

The EU has indicated that it would seek another five-year waiver five-year another seek would it that indicated has EU The

Agreement.

begins free trade negotiations with Pacific States under the Cotonou the under States Pacific with negotiations trade free begins

triggered as early as September 2002, when the European Union (EU) Union European the when 2002, September as early as triggered

of member countries to become effective, PICTA and PACER may be may PACER and PICTA effective, become to countries member of

Organisation (WTO). Although they require ratification by a majority a by ratification require they Although (WTO). Organisation

rely as stepping stones towards full compliance with the World Trade World the with compliance full towards stones stepping as rely

Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) sees both agreements me- agreements both sees (PANG) Globalisation on Network Pacific

pare members’ economies to respond to globalisation, the NGO-based the globalisation, to respond to economies members’ pare

for increasing regional integration and as a means to effectively pre- effectively to means a as and integration regional increasing for

While the Forum hailed these agreements as providing the basis the providing as agreements these hailed Forum the While

island countries after a 10-year transition period. transition 10-year a after countries island

New Zealand, establish a free trade area among the other 14 Forum 14 other the among area trade free a establish Zealand, New

economic relations, while the PICTA will, excluding Australia and Australia excluding will, PICTA the while relations, economic

members that sets out the Forum region’s vision on future trade and trade future on vision region’s Forum the out sets that members

PACER is an economic cooperation agreement amongst all Forum all amongst agreement cooperation economic an is PACER

and the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER). Relations Economic Closer on Agreement Pacific the and

ratification, the Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) Agreement Trade Countries Islands Pacific the ratification,

I

South Pacific Forum) endorsed, and opened for signature and signature for opened and endorsed, Forum) Pacific South

n August 2001, the Pacific Islands Forum (formerly known as the as known (formerly Forum Islands Pacific the 2001, August n

Controversy over PACER and PICTA and PACER over Controversy

Pacific Free Trade Area: Trade Free Pacific THE PACIFIC REGION PACIFIC THE experience and impact of liberalisation and free trade areas in other regions of the world. Non-governmental organisations, community and church groups have expressed concern at the non-transparent manner in which discussions on a free trade area have been conducted. PANG is particularly concerned about the impact of free trade on the ownership of and access to land. The Pacific region’s system of communally-owned land directly conflicts with the view that the resources should be used by those who can put them to the most productive or profitable use and that all should have equal access to the globe’s resources. In response to the Forum, PANG expressed concerns at the impact of free trade on small island communities and called on Pacific gov- ernments:

• Not to ratify PICTA and PACER. • To withdraw from the agreements if already ratified. • To refer decisions on PICTA and PACER to national parlia- ments and encourage public debate.

The Pacific faces waves of asylum seekers

In the Pacific, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Is- lands, Tuvalu and Papua New Guinea are signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention (although Papua New Guinea has listed reser- vations to certain articles in the Convention). The signature of France, the United States and the United Kingdom cover their colonies in the region. Nauru has not signed the Convention, even though the gov- ernment of Nauru has agreed to set up a camp for refugees seeking asylum in Australia. Compared to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, there are relatively few refugees in the Pacific islands. But it is a growing problem for the region as refugees flee from conflict into neighbouring countries (e.g. from West Papua to Papua New Guinea; Bougainville to Solomon Islands, Timor Lorosa’e to West Timor). Thousands of people have also been internally displaced within countries (e.g. in Bougainville, Solomon Islands and Fiji).

Australia, however, has restricted the rights of refugees from neigh-

bouring countries. With the exception of a handful of West Papuans •

•

who have successfully claimed protection and permanent residency, •

•

successive Australian governments have refused to consider requests • •

• from West Papuans seeking refugee status in Australia. •

• 197

• 198 money out of the refugee situation, and Australia is tying the refugee the tying is Australia and situation, refugee the of out money • •

• It is understood that many Pacific governments are trying to make to trying are governments Pacific many that understood is It •

•

neighbours as processing centres for refugees. for centres processing as neighbours •

•

position and bigger land mass, there was no need to exploit its Pacific its exploit to need no was there mass, land bigger and position •

cause of Australia’s comparatively superior financial and economic and financial superior comparatively Australia’s of cause

enter its territories, many non-government groups believed that be- that believed groups non-government many territories, its enter

Pacific countries like Fiji have an obligation to look after refugees who refugees after look to obligation an have Fiji like countries Pacific

cial councils. While the Fiji Human Rights Commission stated that stated Commission Rights Human Fiji the While councils. cial

study the question, it received strong criticism from chiefs and provin- and chiefs from criticism strong received it question, the study

When the Fijian government established a task force in October to October in force task a established government Fijian the When

provincial government and creating animosity among the people. the among animosity creating and government provincial

been taken, said the refugee problem was putting pressure on the on pressure putting was problem refugee the said taken, been

A local village chief from Manus province, where the refugees have refugees the where province, Manus from chief village local A

tralia has the capacity and resources to deal with the problem itself”. problem the with deal to resources and capacity the has tralia

request to take more asylum seekers “based on the belief that Aus- that belief the on “based seekers asylum more take to request

Minister sacked the Foreign Minister after he rejected Australia’s rejected he after Minister Foreign the sacked Minister

refugee issue is creating tension and uncertainty. In PNG, the Prime the PNG, In uncertainty. and tension creating is issue refugee

detention camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG). But the But (PNG). Guinea New Papua and Nauru in camps detention

By January 2002 over 1,550 asylum seekers had been located in located been had seekers asylum 1,550 over 2002 January By

under international law. international under

a “dumping” ground and at the same time evading its obligations its evading time same the at and ground “dumping” a

so-called “Pacific Solution” is just another way of using the Pacific as Pacific the using of way another just is Solution” “Pacific so-called

to long-term development priorities. For Pacific peoples, Australia’s peoples, Pacific For priorities. development long-term to

ney as a bribe rather than a considered policy that would allocate aid allocate would that policy considered a than rather bribe a as ney

ance to neighbouring island countries, many people regard this mo- this regard people many countries, island neighbouring to ance

ognising Australia’s responsibility to provide development assist- development provide to responsibility Australia’s ognising

Australia offered $20 million to the Nauruan government. While rec- While government. Nauruan the to million $20 offered Australia

As well as paying for the costs of establishing camps in Nauru, in camps establishing of costs the for paying as well As

as to whether they did leave voluntarily. leave did they whether to as

ers was stopped, making it impossible to obtain accounts from people from accounts obtain to impossible it making stopped, was ers

it would only accept voluntary arrivals. Media access to asylum seek- asylum to access Media arrivals. voluntary accept only would it

move 12 Iraqi leaders, despite Nauruan Government statements that statements Government Nauruan despite leaders, Iraqi 12 move

lock was broken when the Australian Government used force to re- to force used Government Australian the when broken was lock

to an Australian-built detention centre on Nauru. The dead- The Nauru. on centre detention Australian-built an to Manoora Manoora

weeks by refusing to be taken off the Australian warship warship Australian the off taken be to refusing by weeks HMAS

defied the Australian Government for two for Government Australian the defied boat Indonesian Aceng

incident in August 2001 escalated when 224 asylum seekers from the from seekers asylum 224 when escalated 2001 August in incident

for Australian shores. The current crisis that began with the Tampa the with began that crisis current The shores. Australian for

ing centres” in its effort to curtail the flow of asylum seekers heading seekers asylum of flow the curtail to effort its in centres” ing

strongly opposed Australia‘s plans to use Pacific islands as “process- as islands Pacific use to plans Australia‘s opposed strongly

Pacific peoples including chiefs, church leaders and NGOs have NGOs and leaders church chiefs, including peoples Pacific Pacific peoples reject Australia’s “Pacific Solution” “Pacific Australia’s reject peoples Pacific Prime Minister Howard and the refugee ship: Leahy in Courier Mail, Brisbane 18.02.2002 issue into aid deals and benefits, and financial incentives. Many Pacific governments have undertaken or are undertaking to receive the refugees without wide national consultation on the issue. A joint statement by the Pacific Conference of Churches and regional non-governmental organisations appealed to Pacific governments to carefully consider the long-term consequences and impacts of accepting aid deals in connection with refugees. For civil society organisations, accepting refugees bound for Australia for the sake of money will only add more problems and will have adverse impacts on Pacific communi- ties, as well as on the sovereignty of Pacific nations. The statement further adds that accepting Australian aid deals will “make Pacific island gov- ernments part of the process that solicits money/profits out of trade in human trafficking, and in this case the asylum seekers”.

Ten Uses the World has for a Pacific island

1. A testing ground for atomic and hydrogen bombs – bravo!!!

2. A target for ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads.

3. A country club for military personnel. •

•

4. An incinerator for unused chemical weapons. •

•

5. A dump for toxic and radioactive waste. • •

• 6. A ghetto to put the people whose villages get in the way of 1-5. •

• 199

• 200 tially helped American researchers discover the plant-derived poten plant-derived the discover researchers American helped • •

• derived from the use of this compound to the people of Samoa who Samoa of people the to compound this of use the from derived •

•

that the agreement will return 20 percent of any commercial revenue commercial any of percent 20 return will agreement the that •

•

group, AIDS ReSearch Alliance of America (ARA), has announced has (ARA), America of Alliance ReSearch AIDS group, •

The experimental compound is called Prostratin. The research The Prostratin. called is compound experimental The

from the bark of the Samoan “mamala” tree. “mamala” Samoan the of bark the from

ment of an experimental but promising anti-HIV/AIDS compound anti-HIV/AIDS promising but experimental an of ment

that will guarantee 20 percent of revenue received from the develop- the from received revenue of percent 20 guarantee will that

Samoa has signed a “landmark agreement” with a US research group research US a with agreement” “landmark a signed has Samoa

The example of Samoa of example The

tions more vulnerable to international bio-piracy. international to vulnerable more tions

tual property at national and regional level makes small Pacific na- Pacific small makes level regional and national at property tual

But ultimately the absence of adequate legal protection of intellec- of protection legal adequate of absence the ultimately But

the custodians of indigenous knowledge. indigenous of custodians the

benefit-sharing between bio-prospectors and communities that are that communities and bio-prospectors between benefit-sharing

forced individual governments to initiate measures of protection and protection of measures initiate to governments individual forced

able legislation to protect its intellectual property rights, reality has reality rights, property intellectual its protect to legislation able

However, while the Pacific Region awaits a proper and enforce- and proper a awaits Region Pacific the while However,

adjusted to their different country circumstances in order to be enacted. be to order in circumstances country different their to adjusted

endorsed, would be taken by Pacific countries in the next few years and years few next the in countries Pacific by taken be would endorsed,

piracy rights. The model law and a model policy framework, once framework, policy model a and law model The rights. piracy

intellectual property rights that would encompass cultural and bio- and cultural encompass would that rights property intellectual

In June 2001, Forum Economic Ministers discussed a model law for law model a discussed Ministers Economic Forum 2001, June In

of traditional knowledge and cultural expressions. cultural and knowledge traditional of

prehensive regional legal framework for the promotion and protection and promotion the for framework legal regional prehensive

Pacific Islands Forum finally taken to task the development of a com- a of development the task to taken finally Forum Islands Pacific

agenda of Pacific governments for decades. But only recently has the has recently only But decades. for governments Pacific of agenda

The protection of the rights to intellectual property has been on the on been has property intellectual to rights the of protection The

Intellectual Property Rights: For a better protection better a For Rights: Property Intellectual

international responsibilities and try to win elections. win to try and responsibilities international

10. A centre to process (read “dump”) refugees to avoid your avoid to refugees “dump”) (read process to centre A 10.

and announcing the latest… the announcing and

9. Somewhere to sell your food to when it’s past its use-by date. use-by its past it’s when to food your sell to Somewhere 9.

8. Someone to bully when you’re too small to bully anyone else. anyone bully to small too you’re when bully to Someone 8.

dise colony far away from home. from away far colony dise para 7. As a model of a beautiful and pristine environment…and a environment…and pristine and beautiful a of model a As 7. life-saving therapy. ARA said the agreement provides a share in the potential proceeds from the first compound ever licensed by the Natio- nal Cancer Institute (NCI) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for development by a non-profit research institution. Signed in September 2001 by the ARA and Samoa Prime Min- ister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, the agreement gives the Samoan government 12.5 percent of the profits. Another 6.7 percent goes to the village Savai’i, next to the Falealupo Rainforest where the heal- ers who provided the initial health information that eventually led to this agreement live. The Associated Press said that the families of two Samoan women, who died in their eighties after passing on their knowledge of the tree’s healing powers, will each receive 0.4 percent. The NIH also gets 5 percent of any profits. In licensing the compound for development, the NCI requested that there be negotiations with the Samoan government for benefits for the Samoan people. ARA, a non-profit group based in West Hollywood, California licensed Prostratin from the NCI in order to explore the compound’s ability to protect cells from HIV and to activate a virus that lays dormant in the body and beyond the reach of currently available HIV drugs. After paying out according to the agreement, the ARA will use any revenue it derives from Prostratin for additional HIV/AIDS research.

KA PAE’AINA (HAWAI’I)

US Army threatens Makua Valley

akua Valley is a sacred place. It is the birthplace of Kanaka M Maoli, the indigenous peoples of Ka Pae’Aina (Hawaii). To the United States Army, Makua Valley is a sorely needed training area,

where troops from the 25th Infantry Division could fire rifles, mortars

and howitzers in the closest approximation to combat short of war. •

•

The US Army plans to resume combat training in Hawaii’s Makua • •

•

Valley but local indigenous groups, residents and environmentalists •

• say the training is destroying the valley’s cultural, historic and envi- •

• 201

• 202 not consider a variety of issues, including whether there were alter- were there whether including issues, of variety a consider not • •

• The less time-consuming environmental assessment, they said, did said, they assessment, environmental time-consuming less The •

•

conduct a more rigorous and expensive environmental impact study. impact environmental expensive and rigorous more a conduct •

•

This time, the residents contended that the Army had failed to failed had Army the that contended residents the time, This •

round of protests and a new lawsuit. new a and protests of round

ley’s historic sites and environment, but the plan provoked a new a provoked plan the but environment, and sites historic ley’s

the training to minimize, if not eliminate, the effects on Makua Val- Makua on effects the eliminate, not if minimize, to training the

The 25th Division’s commanders argued that they had designed had they that argued commanders Division’s 25th The

ducting operations and firing weapons in narrowly drawn zones. drawn narrowly in weapons firing and operations ducting

albeit in a more limited way, with units of more than 100 soldiers con- soldiers 100 than more of units with way, limited more a in albeit

Army announced in December 2000 that it planned to resume training, resume to planned it that 2000 December in announced Army

notified the public in advance. After more than two years of study, the study, of years two than more After advance. in public the notified

weapons in Makua until it had reviewed any potential impact and impact potential any reviewed had it until Makua in weapons

The Army ultimately settled the lawsuit, agreeing not to resume firing resume to not agreeing lawsuit, the settled ultimately Army The

training was having on the valley. the on having was training

mental Policy Act and conduct a thorough review of the impact that impact the of review thorough a conduct and Act Policy mental

lawsuit demanding that the Army comply with the National Environ- National the with comply Army the that demanding lawsuit

and an advocacy group, the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, filed a filed Fund, Defense Legal Earthjustice the group, advocacy an and

It was then that the Army’s legal battle began. A group of residents of group A began. battle legal Army’s the that then was It

of plants and animals in or near the valley. the near or in animals and plants of

and Wildlife Service about the threat posed to 41 endangered species endangered 41 to posed threat the about Service Wildlife and

ber 1998 raised concerns among officials with the United States Fish States United the with officials among concerns raised 1998 ber

The fires that prompted the Army to suspend training in Septem- in training suspend to Army the prompted that fires The

from residents and, increasingly, the attention of federal regulators. federal of attention the increasingly, and, residents from

impunity. In recent years, however, the training has drawn protests drawn has training the however, years, recent In impunity.

otherwise carried out training exercises in Makua Valley with relative with Valley Makua in exercises training out carried otherwise

For decades, the Army and the other services bombed, strafed and strafed bombed, services other the and Army the decades, For

ranchers who lived there. It still occupies nearly 4,200 acres today. acres 4,200 nearly occupies still It there. lived who ranchers

in and around the valley to train troops for World War II, evicting II, War World for troops train to valley the around and in

the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, the Army confiscated 6,600 acres 6,600 confiscated Army the Harbour, Pearl on attack Japanese the

to the 1920s, when the service installed gun emplacements there. After there. emplacements gun installed service the when 1920s, the to

bush fires sparked by gunfire. The Army’s presence in the valley dates valley the in presence Army’s The gunfire. by sparked fires bush

two and a half years ago amid a public outcry that followed several followed that outcry public a amid ago years half a and two

The Army suspended training at the Makua Military Reservation Military Makua the at training suspended Army The

including the remnants of temples where humans were once sacrificed. once were humans where temples of remnants the including

gered species. The valley floor is peppered with archaeological ruins, archaeological with peppered is floor valley The species. gered

volcanic bluffs of the Waianae Mountains, home to a multitude of endan- of multitude a to home Mountains, Waianae the of bluffs volcanic

The Makua Valley rises from the leeward coast of Oahu into the into Oahu of coast leeward the from rises Valley Makua The

“They’re bombing the Earth Mother.” Earth the bombing “They’re

leeward coast resident and outspoken opponent of the Army’s plans. Army’s the of opponent outspoken and resident coast leeward

stand the significance of Makua Valley,” said William J. Aila Jr., a Jr., Aila J. William said Valley,” Makua of significance the stand ronmental legacy. “Our problem with the military is they don’t under- don’t they is military the with problem “Our legacy. ronmental native sites for military training. After protests that included a rau- cous community meeting in the town of Waianae in January, the division’s commanders withdrew their plan, saying they wanted more time to consult with residents and others. The Army also tried to have the lawsuit dismissed but, on March 1 2001, a federal judge in Honolulu refused.

TE AO MAOHI (FRENCH POLYNESIA)

Tavini makes gains - but Flosse wins again

resident Gaston Flosse was returned to power on 6 May 2001, in P elections to the Territorial Assembly in Te Ao Maohi (French Polynesia). Bolstered by French Government funding, Flosse’s party Tahoeraa Huiraatira increased its majority by one seat, winning 28

seats in the 49-seat assembly, with the President returning for his fifth

term in office. •

•

The pro-independence party, Tavini Huiraatira, won 13 seats in the • •

•

elections, an increase of two from the last vote in 1996. The autonomist •

• party, Fetia Api, promising a “third way”, won seven seats, while •

• 203

• 204 dangers of political independence. political of dangers • •

• Fiji and Papua New Guinea, in a not-so-subtle suggestion of the of suggestion not-so-subtle a in Guinea, New Papua and Fiji •

•

outlets regularly highlighted current crises in the Solomon Islands, Solomon the in crises current highlighted regularly outlets •

•

the President’s media office!). In the lead up to the elections, media elections, the to up lead the In office!). media President’s the •

interviewers on the station seemed to be using question scripted by scripted question using be to seemed station the on interviewers

TNTV for his electoral campaign (critics of the President noted that noted President the of (critics campaign electoral his for TNTV

in the municipality of Faa’a. Flosse extensively used the new station new the used extensively Flosse Faa’a. of municipality the in

, the pro-independence radio station radio pro-independence the , to only access free Te Reo o Tefana o Reo Te

media, and pro-independence politicians are regularly censored, with censored, regularly are politicians pro-independence and media,

The French Government or French corporations control the major the control corporations French or Government French The

majority, to ensure that their government employment would be renewed. be would employment government their that ensure to majority,

short-term contracts were encouraged to campaign for Flosse’s ruling Flosse’s for campaign to encouraged were contracts short-term

reports that some 500 government workers on workers government 500 some that reports magazine Tahiti Pacifique Tahiti

ministers and Flosse has used government patronage to gain support. The support. gain to patronage government used has Flosse and ministers

opponents over to the majority – in the last government, there were 17 were there government, last the in – majority the to over opponents

Flosse has used his control of the territory’s administration to woo to administration territory’s the of control his used has Flosse

a post-nuclear economy. post-nuclear a

Flosse for ten years after the end of testing, to ease the transition into transition the ease to testing, of end the after years ten for Flosse

President Jacques Chirac guaranteed a similar amount of revenue to revenue of amount similar a guaranteed Chirac Jacques President

the key source of revenue for the Flosse administration, and French and administration, Flosse the for revenue of source key the

funding of almost US$200 million a year to the colony. The CEP was CEP The colony. the to year a million US$200 almost of funding

(CEP) in 1996, France has provided has France 1996, in (CEP) d’Expérimentations du Pacifique Pacifique du d’Expérimentations

Since the closure of France’s nuclear testing centre, the the centre, testing nuclear France’s of closure the Since Centre

). station radio pro-independence the of tor Te Reo o Tefana o Reo Te

Marius Raapato and Vito Maamaatua (direc- Maamaatua Vito and Raapato Marius of Tefaarere A Tia i Mua, i Tia A

elected on the Tavini list included former trade union leader Hiro leader union trade former included list Tavini the on elected

mara Bopp du Pont were elected on the Tavini list. Other candidates Other list. Tavini the on elected were Pont du Bopp mara

pro-independence women such as Tea Hirshon, Tina Cross and Ta- and Cross Tina Hirshon, Tea as such women pro-independence

well as longstanding leaders like Oscar Temaru and James Salmon, James and Temaru Oscar like leaders longstanding as well

law requiring parity between men and women on electoral lists. As lists. electoral on women and men between parity requiring law

Another feature of these elections was the new French electoral French new the was elections these of feature Another

but also critical of Gaston Flosse’s corruption and mismanagement. and corruption Flosse’s Gaston of critical also but

of Arue. Leontieff, a former Flosse minister, is opposed to independence to opposed is minister, Flosse former a Leontieff, Arue. of

in recent years. This benefited benefited This years. recent in led by Boris Leontieff, the Mayor the Leontieff, Boris by led Fetia Api, Fetia

politician, Emile Vernaudon, who has come out in opposition to Flosse to opposition in out come has who Vernaudon, Emile politician,

tions, aiming for 18 seats, but the big loser was long-time autonomist long-time was loser big the but seats, 18 for aiming tions,

Pro-independence forces had hoped for a better showing in the elec- the in showing better a for hoped had forces Pro-independence

- 3.4 per cent; cent; per 3.4 - - 0.7 per cent. per 0.7 - Ai’a Api Api Ai’a Taparu Amui no Tahaa Pae Tahaa no Amui Taparu

- 25.4 per cent; cent; per 25.4 - - 13.1 per cent; per 13.1 - Tavini Huiraatira no Te Ao Maohi Ao Te no Huiraatira Tavini Fetia Api Fetia

of votes for the major parties was: was: parties major the for votes of - 48.8 per cent; per 48.8 - Tahoeraa Huiraatira Huiraatira Tahoeraa

pelago, won the final position in the assembly. Overall, the percentage the Overall, assembly. the in position final the won pelago, Chantal Flores, running as an independent in the Australs archi- Australs the in independent an as running Flores, Chantal Pro-independence candidates sought to mobilise on the ground. On 1 May, just days before the election, hundreds of Tavini supporters rallied and marched around Tahiti carrying the blue and white inde- pendence flag, marked with five gold stars (symbolising the five ar- chipelagos of Te Ao Maohi). A major advantage for the ruling Tahoeraa party is the electoral gerrymander that ensures that a vote in the outer archipelagos of the far-flung country weighs far more heavily than a vote in Tahiti or the heavily-populated Windward islands. As a member of the French National Assembly, Emile Vernaudon had sought electoral reform in 2000 to remove this imbalance but legislative changes only led to an expansion of the Territorial parliament from 41 to 49 seats. Politicians from the pro-independence parties are faced with enormous con- straints in terms of finance, travel and communications to reach voters in the outer islands, in a country as large as western Europe. In contrast, Flosse used government resources to travel and offer inducements for voting in the isolated archipelagos. In contrast, 32 of the 49 assembly seats are found in the Windward islands (including the two main islands of Tahiti and Moorea). It was

here that Tavini polled best, as Oscar Temaru noted: “In many towns

of Tahiti, the opposition still has more support than Tahoeraa.” •

•

•

•

•

•

• •

• 205

• 206

Rabuka pulled out of the elections citing personal reasons. On the other the On reasons. personal citing elections the of out pulled Rabuka •

• supremacy was not needed. Former Prime Minister and 1987 coup leader coup 1987 and Minister Prime Former needed. not was supremacy • •

• supported a review of the 1997 Constitution, they said that Fijian political Fijian that said they Constitution, 1997 the of review a supported •

•

moderate stand opposing the SDL blueprint as racist and, while they while and, racist as blueprint SDL the opposing stand moderate •

the Conservative Alliance. Now led by Filipe Bole, the party took a more a took party the Bole, Filipe by led Now Alliance. Conservative the

had to struggle as many of their members had defected to the SDL and SDL the to defected had members their of many as struggle to had

party, which ruled the country from 1992 to 1999 under Sitiveni Rabuka, Sitiveni under 1999 to 1992 from country the ruled which party,

(SVT) The card. trump a as Fijians” Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei ni Vakavulewa ni Soqosoqo

was holding their “Blueprint for affirmative action for indigenous for action affirmative for “Blueprint their holding was

land. The SDL party, led by caretaker Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, Laisenia Minister Prime caretaker by led party, SDL The land.

what policies must be put in place for Fijian development in their own their in development Fijian for place in put be must policies what

Tied to the question of political paramountcy was the question of question the was paramountcy political of question the to Tied

mountcy.

change the constitution to guarantee indigenous Fijians political para- political Fijians indigenous guarantee to constitution the change

(SDL), thus announced their intention to intention their announced thus (SDL), soqo ni Duavata Lewenivanua Duavata ni soqo

(Conservative Alliance Party) and the the and Party) Alliance (Conservative the ners, Soqo- Vanua Matanitu

wake of the attempted 2000–coup, and which emerged as frontrun- as emerged which and 2000–coup, attempted the of wake

Constitution. Two of the new Fijian political parties formed in the in formed parties political Fijian new the of Two Constitution.

Central to the debate on Fijian rights and interests was the 1997 the was interests and rights Fijian on debate the to Central

people.

good leadership, ideals and development that will benefit the Fijian the benefit will that development and ideals leadership, good

after the 19 May 2000 coup. It also reflected the continuing search for search continuing the reflected also It coup. 2000 May 19 the after

of provincialism and in-fighting among Fijians that were heightened were that Fijians among in-fighting and provincialism of

rights and interests. But the number of parties also reflected attitudes reflected also parties of number the But interests. and rights

indigenous Fijians with regard to what is needed to safeguard their safeguard to needed is what to regard with Fijians indigenous

perhaps of the various differences in politics and policies among the among policies and politics in differences various the of perhaps

cal parties with an array of ideas, attitudes and personalities. A sign A personalities. and attitudes ideas, of array an with parties cal

Voters for the 23 Fijian communal seats were wooed by over 20 politi- 20 over by wooed were seats communal Fijian 23 the for Voters

The Fijian parties and their voters their and parties Fijian The

Rotuman and 25 Open seats. Open 25 and Rotuman

communal seats, 19 Indo-Fijian communal seats, 3 General Voters, 1 Voters, General 3 seats, communal Indo-Fijian 19 seats, communal

were to be contested under the preferential voting system: 23 Fijian 23 system: voting preferential the under contested be to were

move for fresh general elections in August 2001. Seventy-one seats Seventy-one 2001. August in elections general fresh for move

A

Constitution remains the supreme law of the land set Fiji on the on Fiji set land the of law supreme the remains Constitution

ruling by the Court of Appeal in March 2001 that the 1997 the that 2001 March in Appeal of Court the by ruling

A better Fiji through the ballot? the through Fiji better A FIJI ISLANDS FIJI hand, the 19 May 2000 coup leader George Speight and his accomplices Ratu Timoci Silatolu and Ilisoni Ligairi were granted permission by the Court to contest the August elections. Speight and Silatolu contested under the Conservative Alliance banner while former British SAS soldier Ligairi stood as an independent candidate. Moderate Fijian political parties like the Fijian Association Party under Adi Kuini Speed, the Party of National Unity (PANU) and the New Labour United Party (all formerly part of the deposed People’s Coalition government) decried the idea of Fijian political paramountcy but called for better Fijian leadership. These parties, together with the Labour Party, have a more multiracial character, although both the Conservative Alliance and SDL also fielded Indo-Fijian candidates and said they too believed in multiracialism, as long as Fijian interests and rights were safeguarded to their liking. But among the Fijian political parties, there were many that were clearly provincial in nature, and banking on their strongholds in the provinces from which they were created to pull them through. The country’s minority groups, called “general electors”, had three communal seats in Parliament, which were contested by the United General Party and the General Voters Party.

Land and resource ownership, and land and resource use, re-

mained a key issue. Who should make the decisions on these and how •

•

should these decisions be made, as well as how the benefits should •

•

be distributed were key questions. Critical in this was the role of the • •

• Native Lands Trust Board (NLTB), which is the trustee of all Fijian- •

• 207

• 208 tional issues, an exhausted and weary public simply seemed deter- seemed simply public weary and exhausted an issues, tional • •

• After a year of debate and discussion on political and constitu- and political on discussion and debate of year a After •

•

economic and social relief. social and economic •

•

many political parties also released manifestos promising voters promising manifestos released also parties political many •

added tax and privatisation, education benefits, housing, land etc., land housing, benefits, education privatisation, and tax added

strong on economic and social issues such as removal of value of removal as such issues social and economic on strong

which the Labour party emerged victorious through a manifesto a through victorious emerged party Labour the which

affirmative action and land. But, learning from the 1999 elections, in elections, 1999 the from learning But, land. and action affirmative

political parties prior to the elections was on the 1997 Constitution, 1997 the on was elections the to prior parties political

Due to the events of 19 May 2000 and following, the focus of focus the following, and 2000 May 19 of events the to Due

ny were simply concerned with economic and social issues. social and economic with concerned simply were ny

manner, either through compensation or resettlement schemes. Ma- schemes. resettlement or compensation through either manner,

to see the plight of tenant cane farmers resolved in a satisfactory a in resolved farmers cane tenant of plight the see to

jian politicians as ‘discriminatory’ towards them. They also wanted also They them. towards ‘discriminatory’ as politicians jian

Singh had called the affirmative action blueprints presented by Fi- by presented blueprints action affirmative the called had Singh

country many of them call “home”. Leaders like Chaudhry and Attar and Chaudhry like Leaders “home”. call them of many country

For Indo-Fijians, the issues were also about their rights in a in rights their about also were issues the Indo-Fijians, For

unhappy with each other’s leadership. other’s each with unhappy

and ideas but because politicians do not like each other, or are or other, each like not do politicians because but ideas and

political parties in Fiji not because people have different policies different have people because not Fiji in parties political

different personalities. In fact, it can be argued that there are many are there that argued be can it fact, In personalities. different

won remained to be seen, as the two parties have similar policies but policies similar have parties two the as seen, be to remained won

leadership of Chaudhry. How this would affect the number of seats of number the affect would this How Chaudhry. of leadership

a New Labour United Party made up of members unhappy with the with unhappy members of up made Party United Labour New a

Deputy Prime Minister and Labour stalwart Dr Tupeni Baba leading Baba Tupeni Dr stalwart Labour and Minister Prime Deputy

an uphill battle as the party had recently split in two factions, former factions, two in split recently had party the as battle uphill an

support in the cane belt areas to see it through. But Labour also faced also Labour But through. it see to areas belt cane the in support

express commitment to workers and the poor, and continued strong continued and poor, the and workers to commitment express

1999 election, continued to bank on its multiracial platform, its platform, multiracial its on bank to continued election, 1999

The former ruling Labour party, which overwhelmingly won the won overwhelmingly which party, Labour ruling former The

had decided to stand under the banner of Fijian parties. Fijian of banner the under stand to decided had

from the breakaway Labour faction and from those Indo-Fijians that Indo-Fijians those from and faction Labour breakaway the from

trade unionist Attar Singh. Some challenges, though, were expected were though, challenges, Some Singh. Attar unionist trade

Mahendra Chaudhry or to the National Federation Party, now led by led now Party, Federation National the to or Chaudhry Mahendra

votes for the communal seats would go to the Labour Party under Party Labour the to go would seats communal the for votes

the Indo-Fijians remained with the historical question of whether their whether of question historical the with remained Indo-Fijians the

Unlike their Fijian neighbours who had a lot of parties to choose from, choose to parties of lot a had who neighbours Fijian their Unlike

The Indo-Fijian parties and their voters their and parties Indo-Fijian The

final word on any legislation that affects indigenous Fijians. indigenous affects that legislation any on word final owned land, and the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), which has the has which (GCC), Chiefs of Council Great the and land, owned mined to see a government committed to addressing good govern- ance, rule of law and economic and social well-being. But security and stability remained in the back of people’s minds as the political upheaval of 2000 continued to haunt Fiji.

Elections highlight Fiji’s political racial rift

After two years of dramatic changes, Fiji’s political landscape changed again when the three-month-old Soqosoqo Ni Duavata ni Leweni- vanua (SDL) party won the August 2001 general elections. Led by former interim Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, SDL won 32 seats in the 71-member Parliament. The Fiji Labour Party, which governed for a year after their overwhelming victory in the May 1999 elections before being deposed in May 2000 by the George Speight-led attempted coup, came in a close second with 27 seats. The Labour Party was always expected to emerge as a strong force after the elections given that its support among the Indo-Fijian voters remained largely intact, and that for the 19 Indo-Fijian communal seats it faced only the struggling National Federation Party and the newly-formed breaka- way New Labour Unity Party. But the SDL’s overwhelming win among the 23 Fijian communal seats surprised many as they faced over 10 Fijian political parties and, in winning, SDL completely wiped out well-established Fijian politi- cal parties such as the former ruling Soqosoqo Ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) party, once led by Sitiveni Rabuka and the Fijian Asso- ciation Party under former Deputy Prime Minister Adi Kuini Speed. The Matanitu Vanua Conservative Alliance, like the SDL only months old, also broke ground winning six seats, including all the communal Fijian seats in Fiji’s second largest island Vanua Levu. The party’s imprisoned candidate, George Speight, won his seat from his strong- hold. The Conservative Alliance stood in support of the ‘cause’ of the 19 May 2000 coup, namely the paramountcy of Fijian rights and interests, and called for the release of and amnesty for George Speight and fellow leaders of the coup imprisoned on Nukulau island. The breakaway New Labour Unity Party led by former Labour stalwart and Deputy Prime Minister Tupeni Baba won only two seats

and, in essence, only succeeded in undermining the Fiji Labour Par-

ty’s chances of victory. Baba, who broke away from former Prime •

•

Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, is now facing a leadership challenge •

•

within his own party with one of their two MPs insisting on being part • •

• of Qarase’s cabinet. •

• 209

• 210 basis especially with regard to key issues and policies”. and issues key to regard with especially basis • •

• decision-making in government should be on a consensus–seeking, a on be should government in decision-making •

•

forward to working with the SDL to rebuild Fiji, and that “cabinet that and Fiji, rebuild to SDL the with working to forward •

•

in his response that “in a spirit of national reconciliation” he looked he reconciliation” national of spirit a “in that response his in •

To Qarase’s stunned surprise, Chaudhry accepted the offer, citing offer, the accepted Chaudhry surprise, stunned Qarase’s To

with you in my cabinet”. my in you with

opposed, there was no “sufficient basis for a workable partnership workable a for basis “sufficient no was there opposed,

he did so, grudgingly pointing out that since their policies were policies their since that out pointing grudgingly so, did he

Qarase was obliged to invite the party to join him in cabinet, which cabinet, in him join to party the invite to obliged was Qarase

With Labour the only party reaching this 10 per cent threshold, cent per 10 this reaching party only the Labour With

consult each other in the governing of the nation. the of governing the in other each consult

a multiparty cabinet as a way of getting opposing political parties to parties political opposing getting of way a as cabinet multiparty a

The framers of the 1997 Constitution had included the concept of concept the included had Constitution 1997 the of framers The

to form a multi-party government. multi-party a form to

invite any party that won 10 per cent of the votes to join him in cabinet in him join to votes the of cent per 10 won that party any invite

the elections when he was required under the 1997 Constitution to Constitution 1997 the under required was he when elections the

not work with Chaudhry. This statement put him in hot water after water hot in him put statement This Chaudhry. with work not

and now Prime Minister Qarase stated that he could not and would and not could he that stated Qarase Minister Prime now and

Even before the results of the elections were known, SDL leader SDL known, were elections the of results the before Even

Fijian communal seats. communal Fijian

going to the Conservative Alliance. The Labour party won all 19 Indo- 19 all won party Labour The Alliance. Conservative the to going

won 18 of the possible 23 Fijian communal seats, with the other five other the with seats, communal Fijian 23 possible the of 18 won

of the two parties are also strongly opposed to each other. The SDL The other. each to opposed strongly also are parties two the of

and unity in Fiji. The personalities and ideals among the leadership the among ideals and personalities The Fiji. in unity and

ferent proposals and policies as to how to achieve progress, stability progress, achieve to how to as policies and proposals ferent

with the ideals and policies of SDL. Labour and SDL have very dif- very have SDL and Labour SDL. of policies and ideals the with

main strongly with Labour, while Fijians have grouped themselves grouped have Fijians while Labour, with strongly main

major ethnic groups are clearly politically divided. Indo-Fijians re- Indo-Fijians divided. politically clearly are groups ethnic major

Labour won 8. The results of the communal seats confirm that the that confirm seats communal the of results The 8. won Labour

Labour in their last preferences. The SDL won 13 open seats while seats open 13 won SDL The preferences. last their in Labour

after victory to the SDL in the open seats when they put SDL before SDL put they when seats open the in SDL the to victory after

closer and more in line with the Fiji Labour Party, they handed victory handed they Party, Labour Fiji the with line in more and closer

were still not ready for it. While the policies of the ‘Moderates’ was ‘Moderates’ the of policies the While it. for ready not still were

corrupted and manipulated by political parties, and that Fiji’s voters Fiji’s that and parties, political by manipulated and corrupted

saying for some time, that the preferences system was flawed, easily flawed, was system preferences the that time, some for saying

Labour leader Chaudhry.It also emphasised what many had been had many what emphasised also Chaudhry.It leader Labour

the preferences of the moderate parties who had ganged up against up ganged had who parties moderate the of preferences the

tell much but show that the SDL (like Labour in 1999) benefited from benefited 1999) in Labour (like SDL the that show but much tell

victors of the communal seats. Victories in the 25 open seats did not did seats open 25 the in Victories seats. communal the of victors

The reading of the 2001 elections can be measured by looking at the at looking by measured be can elections 2001 the of reading The Analysing the election results election the Analysing Qarase, borrowing from Chaudhry’s decision in 1999 to exclude the SVT from his government as they had imposed conditions, responded by advising the President that he commanded the majority and the swearing in of his new government should begin. This was immedi- ately done. After successfully negotiating with the smaller parties and independents, including the Conservative Alliance whom he browbeat to drop their demands for amnesty for George Speight and his group, Qarase now had the numbers to form a government. But pulling the smaller parties and independents in to join him meant the former banker had to give them some ministerial portfolios. If the Labour Party were then to also join him in government with an entitlement to 38 per cent of the cabinet line-up, he would have faced a situation where the SDL would have become a minority in the Cabinet even though they won the election. In his response to Chaudhry, Qarase stated that the Labour leader had imposed conditions that were unacceptable to him, and would render his government unworkable. Chaudhry responded that he had accepted the invitation to join the Cabinet unconditionally. What irks many observers is that there was no dialogue or attempt at negotiation in the “spirit of the constitution”, just a simple offer of invitation, accepted but then rejected.

KANAKY (NEW CALEDONIA)

New government in Kanaky

new President and Vice-President were elected on 5 April 2001 A in Kanaky (New Caledonia), as former President Jean Lèques chose to step down following recent municipal elections. Lèques was replaced by Pierre Frogier, also of the conservative settler party Ras- semblement Pour la Calédonie dans la République (RPCR). In a significant

move, Kanak independence activist, Déwé Gorodé, was elected Vice-Presi-

dent of the Government of New Caledonia, replacing Leopold Joredié of •

•

the Fédération des Comités de Co-ordination des Indépendentistes (FCCI). • •

•

Lèques, the long serving mayor of the capital, Nouméa, was re- •

• elected in municipal elections in March. He announced that he would •

• 211

• 212 of FLNKS candidate Tino Manuohalalo to the new government. new the to Manuohalalo Tino candidate FLNKS of • •

• The ruling related to FCCI’s formal protest against the election the against protest formal FCCI’s to related ruling The •

•

ernment •

•

ernment, thus curtailing the representation of FLNKS in the gov- the in FLNKS of representation the curtailing thus ernment, •

which invalidated the appointment of a FLNKS as member of gov- of member as FLNKS a of appointment the invalidated which

sion was sparked by a ruling in Paris by the French State Council, State French the by Paris in ruling a by sparked was sion

and instructed its members to boycott cabinet sessions. The deci- The sessions. cabinet boycott to members its instructed and

In October 2001, FLNKS decided to withdraw from government from withdraw to decided FLNKS 2001, October In

FLNKS boycotts New Caledonia Government Caledonia New boycotts FLNKS

coalition winning in Maré, and the RPCR winning in Poya). in winning RPCR the and Maré, in winning coalition

loss of two municipalities to the Right (with an LKS-RPCR-FCCI an (with Right the to municipalities two of loss

internal divisions, leading to a splitting of electoral lists and the and lists electoral of splitting a to leading divisions, internal

lost ground because of because ground lost party independence Union Calédonienne Union

port for the pro-independence party Palika The other major pro- major other The Palika party pro-independence the for port

The votes for municipal councils saw a major increase in sup- in increase major a saw councils municipal for votes The

1999 elections. 1999

increased number of women in the Congress following the May the following Congress the in women of number increased

in the pro-independence coalition FLNKS. It also highlighted the highlighted also It FLNKS. coalition pro-independence the in

tion of her work in the first government and the strength of Palika of strength the and government first the in work her of tion

activist Déwé Gorodé as Vice-President was an important affirma- important an was Vice-President as Gorodé Déwé activist

pendence forces in the country. The election of poet, writer and writer poet, of election The country. the in forces pendence

ernment reflect the ongoing balance between pro- and anti-inde- and pro- between balance ongoing the reflect ernment

The municipal elections and the composition of the new gov- new the of composition the and elections municipal The

seven RPCR/FCCI coalition members. coalition RPCR/FCCI seven

and Gérald Cortot. The 11-member government further consisted of consisted further government 11-member The Cortot. Gérald and

UC), Déwé Gorodé, Tino Manuohalalo Tino Gorodé, Déwé UC), the of sident Union Calédonienne Union

FLNKS pro-independence umbrella) were elected: Roch Wamytan (Pre- Wamytan Roch elected: were umbrella) pro-independence FLNKS

(theoretically a member of the of member a (theoretically one and FLNKS three Union Calédonienne Union

members while the FLNKS had four. In the April 2001 vote in Congress, in vote 2001 April the In four. had FLNKS the while members

established under this Accord in 1999, the RPCR and FCCI had seven had FCCI and RPCR the 1999, in Accord this under established

and French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin). In the first government first the In Jospin). Lionel Minister, Prime French and

between FLNKS, anti-independence RPCR leader, Jacques Lafleur, Jacques leader, RPCR anti-independence FLNKS, between

work to implement the 1998 Nouméa Accord (signed in May 1998 May in (signed Accord Nouméa 1998 the implement to work

majority in the government did not override the need for “collegial” for need the override not did government the in majority

litical battles over the last two years to ensure that the RPCR/FCCI the that ensure to years two last the over battles litical

Déwé Gorodé’s election as Vice-President reflected legal and po- and legal reflected Vice-President as election Gorodé’s Déwé

government positions. government

of the country, and his resignation meant a change in all eleven all in change a meant resignation his and country, the of prefer to focus on the municipality rather than continue as President as continue than rather municipality the on focus to prefer Manuohalalo is a member of the Rassemblement Démocratique Océa- nien, which is made up of Wallisians and Futunians who support independence for Kanaky. FCCI claimed their candidate, Raphael Mapou, had won the same number of votes as Manuohalalo but had lost the election on a technicality. FCCI’s anger over the elec- tion in part reflects the showing in the March 2001 municipal elections, when they lost their mayoral positions in Yaté, Canala and Belep to pro-independence candidates. The State Council’s decision means that FCCI gains one more seat (it now has eight) and FLNKS loses one of its seats. The tribunal, which is France’s highest jurisdiction, did not follow a request that was contained in FLNKS’ submission: the pro-inde- pendence party’s President Roch Wamytan wanted the govern- ment to be dissolved altogether. In reaction to the decision, a special FLNKS meeting resolved that as a result of Tino Manuohalalo’s invalidation, Déwé Go- rodey, Vice-President, and Roch Wamytan, in charge of customary and traditional affairs would not take part in the government until the stance was reviewed at the FLNKS annual congress. The decision to boycott by the Kanak independence movement

was the culmination of months of protest against failure on the

part of its partners in the Nouméa Accord, the anti-independence •

•

coalition RPCR and the French State, to uphold the “spirit” of the •

•

Accord and implement the principle of “collegiality” and power- • •

• sharing in government. •

• 213

• 214

elected politicians selling their votes and political stance to the high- the to stance political and votes their selling politicians elected •

• into dismay for many Solomon Islanders as they witnessed newly- witnessed they as Islanders Solomon many for dismay into • •

• National joy at holding an almost incident-free election quickly turned quickly election incident-free almost an holding at joy National •

•

•

Silence greets election of new Prime Minister Prime new of election greets Silence

with a great future to one that is in doubt. in is that one to future great a with

years have radically changed the Solomons historically from a nation a from historically Solomons the changed radically have years

as they prepared for national elections on 5 December 2001. The last four last The 2001. December 5 on elections national for prepared they as

This was the security picture and social dimensions that voters faced voters that dimensions social and picture security the was This

walking around freely. The number of criminal acts mounted daily. mounted acts criminal of number The freely. around walking

was quickly arrested, he was released just as quickly and was soon seen soon was and quickly as just released was he arrested, quickly was

and later found brutally murdered at Mount Austin. Although a suspect a Although Austin. Mount at murdered brutally found later and

over, questioned and arrested. A former Isatabu militant was arrested was militant Isatabu former A arrested. and questioned over,

along Honiara’s streets with little fear that the drivers would be pulled be would drivers the that fear little with streets Honiara’s along

stripped of their number plates, many stolen, were brazenly running brazenly were stolen, many plates, number their of stripped

rearming with guns stolen from the Tangarare armory. Buses and cars, and Buses armory. Tangarare the from stolen guns with rearming

criminals to stop stealing vehicles: cars, buses and trucks. Militants were Militants trucks. and buses cars, vehicles: stealing stop to criminals

Solomons’ basic security remained weak. The police was “requesting” was police The weak. remained security basic Solomons’

same practices made a strong comeback with the new administration. new the with comeback strong a made practices same

become normal operating practice during past governments. Yet these very these Yet governments. past during practice operating normal become

lenging the corruption, mismanagement and outright thievery that had that thievery outright and mismanagement corruption, the lenging

opposition members were beginning to experience a world that was chal- was that world a experience to beginning were members opposition

investment in development, which were not to their liking. Too many Too liking. their to not were which development, in investment

gerly pushing for greater transparency, financial accountability and equity and accountability financial transparency, greater for pushing gerly

The Solomon Islands Alliance for Change (SIAC) Government was gin- was Government (SIAC) Change for Alliance Islands Solomon The

as a quick way of changing a world that was quickly shifting about them. about shifting quickly was that world a changing of way quick a as

Some of the Solomon Island’s elite saw this police-aided civilian coup civilian police-aided this saw elite Island’s Solomon the of Some

in government—citizens no longer accept this authority. this accept longer no government—citizens in

structive element, however, has been the undermining of people’s trust people’s of undermining the been has however, element, structive

far less education, health, transport and social assistance. Its most de- most Its assistance. social and transport health, education, less far

of money became available, there were fewer jobs than before, certainly before, than jobs fewer were there available, became money of

the coup almost destroyed the national economy—only small amounts small economy—only national the destroyed almost coup the

tated its social fabric—people found it hard to trust one another. In itself, In another. one trust to hard it found fabric—people social its tated

T

Island’s nation for everyone, the coup leaders included. It devas- It included. leaders coup the everyone, for nation Island’s

he civilian coup of June 2000 literally destroyed the Solomon the destroyed literally 2000 June of coup civilian he

A nation in doubt in nation A SOLOMON ISLANDS SOLOMON est bidder. In less than two weeks, the country once again repeated the deadly process of shooting itself in public. The country’s recent his- tory of self-inflicted wounds once more reared its ugly head. While the whole world watched, dozens of international election observers from the Commonwealth, United Nations, the Pacific Is- lands Forum and citizens from more than a dozen nations toured polling booths across the nation and officially declared the Solomon Islands’ sixth national election “fair and free”. In spite of the island’s vast ocean distances, scattered remote polling booths and poor trans- portation infrastructure, the election results took less than three days to complete. However, no sooner had the election results been con- firmed by the Governor General than the jockeying for political power took up the total attention of the 50 newly-elected members. The nation rightfully congratulated itself on a job well done. In spite of the threat of high-powered guns in some constituencies and physical difficulties faced by polling authorities, the International Monitors gave the national election the thumbs up. Although there were some minor incidents of voters unable to find their names on the electoral role, improper sealing of ballot boxes and other small distur- bances, on the whole, the task of electing the new parliamentarians

went off without any major hitch.

However, many quickly became distressed with the 50 newly- •

•

elected members when almost immediately they began to flex their •

•

newly-found political muscle irresponsibly. The new parliament saw • •

• 18 members from the previous parliament retain their seats, while a •

• 215

• 216

in the Bougainville war and the North Solomons’ provincial government. provincial Solomons’ North the and war Bougainville the in •

O • Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government, the various groups that fought that groups various the Government, (PNG) Guinea New Papua • •

• n August 2001, a peace agreement was signed between the between signed was agreement peace a 2001, August n •

•

•

Legal challenges for Bougainville for challenges Legal

BOUGAINVILLE

centre stage. centre

coming for a while but that, once again, “business as usual” will take will usual” as “business again, once that, but while a for coming

Prime Minister confirms the view that positive change may not be not may change positive that view the confirms Minister Prime

The people’s stunned silence on hearing the election of the new the of election the hearing on silence stunned people’s The

throw-back to the past rather than a step to the future. the to step a than rather past the to throw-back

better was asked for. However, a number of those elected were a were elected those of number a However, for. asked was better

message. The country had suffered grievously and change for the for change and grievously suffered had country The message.

nation wanted a radical change from the past. That was the primary the was That past. the from change radical a wanted nation

But it was clear for all who wanted to see that voters across the across voters that see to wanted who all for clear was it But

in others who had closely aligned themselves with the coup masters. coup the with themselves aligned closely had who others in

of the men who had been overthrown in the June 2000 coup but voted but coup 2000 June the in overthrown been had who men the of

in others of dubious reputations. It brought back to the house many house the to back brought It reputations. dubious of others in

backbenchers who had practically ruined the country but also voted also but country the ruined practically had who backbenchers

signals. It completely threw out the former government ministers and ministers government former the out threw completely It signals.

The 2001 electorate, unfortunately, had sent a series of mixed of series a sent had unfortunately, electorate, 2001 The

aged the nation in donor eyes and confused the people all the more. the all people the confused and eyes donor in nation the aged

personal integrity and obsessive self-centeredness have seriously dam- seriously have self-centeredness obsessive and integrity personal

effectively won. But the excessive political shenanigans, the lack of lack the shenanigans, political excessive the But won. effectively

Sir Allan Kemakeza gained 29 votes on the first ballot count and count ballot first the on votes 29 gained Kemakeza Allan Sir

confusion. Five men with various party backing ran for the position. the for ran backing party various with men Five confusion.

election of a new Prime Minister, the nation was thrown into political into thrown was nation the Minister, Prime new a of election

In the two weeks that separated the national election and the and election national the separated that weeks two the In

tunity to return some of this investment to their “backers”. their to investment this of some return to tunity

had spent much more and the political stalemate was a golden oppor- golden a was stalemate political the and more much spent had

stipulate that they stay within the $5,000 bracket, many candidates many bracket, $5,000 the within stay they that stipulate

serious debt to win a seat. Although campaign financing regulations financing campaign Although seat. a win to debt serious

They had spent their last dollar campaigning and some had gone into gone had some and campaigning dollar last their spent had They

number of the newly-elected members arrived in Honiara flat broke. flat Honiara in arrived members newly-elected the of number whopping 32 new members got elected. It seems evident that a good a that evident seems It elected. got members new 32 whopping The PNG Parliament was adjourned and it was decided to dedicate a special session to discussing the Bougainville peace plans. Prime Minister Mekere Morauta said the aim of the special sitting was to ensure that Parliament was not distracted by other issues and party politics. In January 2002, the PNG Parliament finally voted in favour of the Peace Agreement and unanimously passed constitutional amend- ment bills that will pave the way for an autonomous Bougainville Government by the end of the year, and a referendum on independ- ence for the island in 10-15 years. The vote is the first vote on the issue, with the second and final one later in 2002. Apart from the legal and other constitutional hurdles that first had to be overcome in order to reach this important result, the thorny issues of the disposal of weapons by former combatants and recon- ciliation had to be addressed. Village chiefs were therefore asked to exercise their authority in carrying out the weapons disposal plan, and traditionally-based reconciliation ceremonies were used to bring victims and perpetrators together in order to heal their communities who, after a decade long civil war, have been left bitterly divided. The key provisions of the bills are that they will give effect to establishing an autonomous government on Bougainville, and will allow the island to have its own disciplined forces, banking system, its own constitution, and its own aviation and shipping rights. It also allows the island to conduct foreign relations and external migration, and have its own post and telecommunication networks.

PNG and US object to Bougainville lawsuit against Rio Tinto

The Papua New Guinea and United States governments have both opposed the multi-million dollar class action lawsuit brought against mining giant Rio Tinto by Bougainville landowners led by Francis Ona. Bougainville landowners have taken action against Rio Tinto for alleged genocide and environmental damage in operating the giant Pan- guna copper mine on Bougainville. The lawsuit was mounted in the US Federal District Court before Justice Margaret Morrow in April 2001.

The lawsuit alleges that Rio Tinto, acting in concert with the PNG

Government, was responsible for despoiling the environment of Bou- •

•

gainville, committing “various atrocities” and “war crimes”, includ- •

•

ing a military blockade that kept medical supplies from the island as • •

• well as killing, bombing, rape and pillage. The action is being mounted •

• 217 • 218

•

•

easily routed by Dutch marines. But the US administration of Presi- of administration US the But marines. Dutch by routed easily •

• by launching a series of cross-border incursions. The invaders were invaders The incursions. cross-border of series a launching by • •

•

and set up a local legislature on 1 December 1961. Indonesia reacted Indonesia 1961. December 1 on legislature local a up set and •

The Netherlands announced it would grant statehood to Papua to statehood grant would it announced Netherlands The

are either Christians or animists. or Christians either are

Melanesians. While 85 percent of Indonesians are Muslims, Papuans Muslims, are Indonesians of percent 85 While Melanesians.

donesia’s mainly Malay inhabitants, Papuans are racially distinct racially are Papuans inhabitants, Malay mainly donesia’s

ethnic, linguistic or cultural links with the other islands. Unlike In- Unlike islands. other the with links cultural or linguistic ethnic,

archipelago in 1949, they retained control of Papua, arguing it had no had it arguing Papua, of control retained they 1949, in archipelago

When the Dutch originally granted independence to the Indonesia the to independence granted originally Dutch the When

ing the western half of New Guinea Island were intentionally excluded. intentionally were Island Guinea New of half western the ing

I

tribal chiefs admitted publicly that most citizens of the province cover- province the of citizens most that publicly admitted chiefs tribal

n November 2001, UN officials who conducted the 1969 vote by vote 1969 the conducted who officials UN 2001, November n

was a sham a was ” Choice Free of Act 1969 “ admit: officials UN

WEST PAPUA WEST

policy interests. policy

further adjudication of the case might adversely affect US foreign US affect adversely might case the of adjudication further

by the Bougainville landowners with a statement of interest saying interest of statement a with landowners Bougainville the by

On March 25 2002, Justice Morrow dismissed the action brought action the dismissed Morrow Justice 2002, 25 March On

approval for the lawsuit. the for approval

Peter Donigi, and Attorney-General Francis Damem to withdraw their withdraw to Damem Francis Attorney-General and Donigi, Peter

the PNG Government forced its Ambassador to the United Nations, United the to Ambassador its forced Government PNG the

it would affect US relations with PNG. The documents also show that show also documents The PNG. with relations US affect would it

judge hearing the case, saying that if the class action suit went ahead, went suit action class the if that saying case, the hearing judge

In an unprecedented move, the US State Department wrote to the to wrote Department State US the move, unprecedented an In

peace process on Bougainville Island could be derailed by the action. the by derailed be could Island Bougainville on process peace

ahead in the US District Court. It had also warned that the current the that warned also had It Court. District US the in ahead

could be seriously undermined if it allowed the class action to go to action class the allowed it if undermined seriously be could

ments show that PNG had warned the United States that relations that States United the warned had PNG that show ments

The PNG Government has been trying to block the lawsuit. Docu- lawsuit. the block to trying been has Government PNG The

millionaire from successful suits against cigarette-maker Philip Morris. Philip cigarette-maker against suits successful from millionaire by the legal “czar” of US civil class actions, Steve Berman, a multi- a Berman, Steve actions, class civil US of “czar” legal the by dent Kennedy feared a military defeat could drive Indonesia into the Communist bloc and pressured the Dutch to hand over the colony. The Dutch eventually agreed and, in 1962, the United Nations was brought in to prepare a “one man, one vote” referendum for self-deter- mination by 1969. Within a year, however, the world body relinquished administration of the region to Jakarta, and left Suharto’s military dictatorship in charge of preparing for a democratic plebiscite. The Indonesians, sensing overwhelming opposition to the takeover, decided to canvass only 1,025 handpicked supporters. The result, not surprisingly, was a unanimous vote for integration. Lobbied intensely by Washington, the UN Security Council endorsed the vote. “Suharto was a terrible dictator,” a former UN official said. “How could anyone have seriously believed that all voters unanimously de- cided to join his regime? Unanimity like that is unknown in democra- cies.” “It wasn’t our most glorious hour,” said Brian Urquhart, another retired UN undersecretary general. “It was arranged to have the UN put the seal of good housekeeping on the easiest but not necessarily most democratic way to resolve the problem.”

Papua Council rejects autonomy

Opposition to rule from Jakarta appears almost universal among •

•

Papuans. Independence activists galvanized by the UN-supervised •

•

referendum in 1999 that allowed nearby East Timor to break away • •

• from Indonesia and become independent after years of fighting Indo- •

• 219

• 220 to stop their “habit” of using repressive military operations and operations military repressive using of “habit” their stop to •

•

• The Indonesian military and police were urged were police and military Indonesian The strengthen unity”. strengthen •

•

policy of divide and rule and to do everything in their power to power their in everything do to and rule and divide of policy •

•

and urged all Papuans to “resist all forms of provocation and the and provocation of forms all “resist to Papuans all urged and •

They urged the OPM to work together and press for peaceful efforts, peaceful for press and together work to OPM the urged They

ent Papua, the Presidium called for an end to armed confrontation. armed to end an for called Presidium the Papua, ent

spect” for the 36-year guerrilla struggle by the OPM for an independ- an for OPM the by struggle guerrilla 36-year the for spect”

Free Papua Movement (OPM). While expressing the “highest re- “highest the expressing While (OPM). Movement Papua Free

operations by the Indonesian military and armed resistance by the by resistance armed and military Indonesian the by operations

The Presidium urged for a stop to the intensification of military of intensification the to stop a for urged Presidium The

Call for non-violence for Call

Free Choice” that robbed Papuans of their sovereignty. their of Papuans robbed that Choice” Free

their role in the political conspiracy in the 1969 so called “Act of “Act called so 1969 the in conspiracy political the in role their

and the United Nations to honestly and responsibly reconsider responsibly and honestly to Nations United the and

again urged the Dutch Government, Indonesia, the United States United the Indonesia, Government, Dutch the urged again

their solidarity and support for the Papuan people’s struggle, and struggle, people’s Papuan the for support and solidarity their

ers and people of the member states of the Pacific Islands Forum for Forum Islands Pacific the of states member the of people and ers

As such the Presidium expressed deep appreciation to the lead- the to appreciation deep expressed Presidium the such As

dialogue to rectify history, within West Papua and internationally. and Papua West within history, rectify to dialogue

civil and political rights by peaceful means, while giving priority to a to priority giving while means, peaceful by rights political and civil

the Presidium Council to represent the Papuan struggle to uphold their uphold to struggle Papuan the represent to Council Presidium the

tive Assembly and the Second Papuan Congress in 2000 had mandated had 2000 in Congress Papuan Second the and Assembly tive

rights and sovereignty of the Papuan people”. The Papuan Consulta- Papuan The people”. Papuan the of sovereignty and rights

a peaceful and democratic struggle for the restoration of the political the of restoration the for struggle democratic and peaceful a

stated that it “firmly rejects special autonomy for Papua and will wage will and Papua for autonomy special rejects “firmly it that stated

In a statement released after their meeting, the Presidium Council Presidium the meeting, their after released statement a In

the fate of the Papuan people has been decided by others…” by decided been has people Papuan the of fate the

enactment of the law [...] is yet another example of the way in which in way the of example another yet is [...] law the of enactment

understanding of the real substance of the Papuan question...The Papuan the of substance real the of understanding

ignoring the aspirations of the Papuan people and showing “no showing and people Papuan the of aspirations the ignoring

Presidium Council dismissed the special autonomy provisions as provisions autonomy special the dismissed Council Presidium

Meeting on 19-20 October before the bill was passed, the Papuan the passed, was bill the before October 19-20 on Meeting

the main issue for West Papuans. West for issue main the

power and revenue, but full independence and human rights remains rights human and independence full but revenue, and power

West Papua on 23 October giving the much neglected province greater province neglected much the giving October 23 on Papua West

The Indonesian Parliament passed a special autonomy bill for bill autonomy special a passed Parliament Indonesian The

nation’s biggest and home to rich natural resources. natural rich to home and biggest nation’s

the Indonesian Government is adamant about holding the region, the region, the holding about adamant is Government Indonesian the nesian forces, are demanding a similar plebiscite for West Papua. But Papua. West for plebiscite similar a demanding are forces, nesian adopt a more humane approach that respects the dignity of the Papuan people and their basic rights. The mysterious killing on 10 November 2001 of Theys Eluay, a prominent pro-independence politician, has, however, added to tensions. Many Papuans accuse the government of responsibility for the death of Chief Eluay, who was found strangled after attend- ing a dinner with Indonesian army commanders.

Papuans lobby for observer status at Forum

Papua Council is seeking observer status at the Forum, especially after the Tarawa Communiqué of October 2000, which for the first time took account of the West Papua issue and the Forum’s subsequent decision to accept Indonesia’s request to be a Post-Forum dialogue partner. In July 2001, a West Papuan delegation visiting Fiji as part of a regional consultation with Forum member countries held consulta- tions with the Forum Secretariat and the interim government of Fiji to “discuss among other things, agenda prospects for the upcoming Fo- rum meeting in August to be held in Nauru”. Besides consultations at government level, the Papuan delegation also met with the NGO com- munity to update on the current political situation in West Papua and the implications of the ongoing leadership crisis in Indonesia. When asked whether the acceptance of Indonesia as a post-Forum Dialogue Partner is seen as a threat, Franzalbert Joku, the Presidium’s international spokesperson, said that the Papua Council sees the inclu- sion of Indonesia as a positive move towards peaceful resolution of the West Papuan conflict. The Papuan delegation also acknowledged the importance and long-standing support of the NGO community in ad- vocating Papuan right to self-determination and independence and renewed its call for greater and more active support in the lead up to the next Forum meeting. But while the Papua Council is lobbying for representation at the Forum, Indonesia has called on Forum member countries to be prudent in dealing with the West Papua issue, and strongly opposes the idea of admitting West Papua as an observer “because West Papua was already represented by Indonesia”. How- ever Joku warned that the equation would not be complete if Papuan

leaders were not consulted over the future of West Papua, hence the

need to invite them to the negotiation table. •

•

West Papua’s call for independence from Indonesia has gained •

•

considerable support among Pacific countries and leaders and will • •

• certainly remain on the agenda of the Pacific Islands Forum for the •

• 221

• 222

cises in waters near Guam. near waters in cises •

• way, as shown by new military deployments, and military exer- military and deployments, military new by shown as way, • •

• There is evidence that this build-up on Guam is already under- already is Guam on build-up this that evidence is There •

•

peninsula and fewer American troops are needed or wanted there. wanted or needed are troops American fewer and peninsula •

basing more US forces, the study said, if peace is achieved on the Korean the on achieved is peace if said, study the forces, US more basing

strategy” recommended for the region. Hawai’i could also end up end also could Hawai’i region. the for recommended strategy”

in the region”. A big Guam build-up is part of an “integrated regional “integrated an of part is build-up Guam big A region”. the in

deployment of as many as 50 bombers and 150 fighter jets “anywhere jets fighter 150 and bombers 50 as many as of deployment

other equipment should be collected on Guam, sufficient to support to sufficient Guam, on collected be should equipment other

The report urges that a large stockpile of munitions, spare parts and parts spare munitions, of stockpile large a that urges report The

jection throughout Asia”. throughout jection

and Korea, Guam “should be built up as a major hub for power pro- power for hub major a as up built be “should Guam Korea, and

uncertainty about future basing privileges in Japan, the Philippines the Japan, in privileges basing future about uncertainty

as many as 200 fighters and bombers to the island’s forces. Because of Because forces. island’s the to bombers and fighters 200 as many as

The study recommends a huge Air Force build-up on Guam, adding Guam, on build-up Force Air huge a recommends study The

Asia and other countries close to Taiwan. to close countries other and Asia

mends shifting US forces towards Guam, the Philippines, South-east Philippines, the Guam, towards forces US shifting mends

expresses concerns about growing opposition to US troops and recom- and troops US to opposition growing about concerns expresses

released by the Pentagon in 2001, in Pentagon the by released New US Strategy and Force Posture” Force and Strategy US New

The Rand Corporation report, “ report, Corporation Rand The The United States and Asia: Toward a Toward Asia: and States United The

strategic balance in the Asia-Pacific region”. Asia-Pacific the in balance strategic

to examine how America will project power and secure a favourable a secure and power project will America how examine to

released Rand study clearly states that “there will be renewed energy renewed be will “there that states clearly study Rand released

Hawai’i hosts the US Pacific Command and 7 and Command Pacific US the hosts Hawai’i Fleet. A recently A Fleet.

th

Atoll in the Marshall Islands is used for US ballistic missile tests and tests missile ballistic US for used is Islands Marshall the in Atoll

A

US military deployments in the Asia-Pacific region - Kwajalein - region Asia-Pacific the in deployments military US

s in the past, the islands of the north Pacific are a crucial site for site crucial a are Pacific north the of islands the past, the in s

Guam at centre of Pacific military build-up military Pacific of centre at Guam

GUAHAN (GUAM) GUAHAN

ognise the West Papuan people’s right to self-determination. to right people’s Papuan West the ognise

that Pacific governments, through the Forum, will be persuaded to rec- to persuaded be will Forum, the through governments, Pacific that

will grant West Papua the status of “observer” at its future summits and summits future its at “observer” of status the Papua West grant will

als. In particular, the Papua Presidium Council is hopeful that the Forum the that hopeful is Council Presidium Papua the particular, In als. coming years thanks to the support of regional civil society and individu- and society civil regional of support the to thanks years coming New deployments In August 2000, the US Air Force confirmed that it had moved “an unspecified number” of conventional air-launched cruise missiles to Guam, which air force officials said “will allow the USA to respond more quickly to crises, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region” (Jane’s Defence Weekly, 6 September 2000). Guam is used for stopovers by US vessels after military exercises, and during transit to the Indian Ocean. In April 2001, the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk visited Guam for flight training exercises and rest and relaxation for more than 5,000 crewmembers. The US Navy will homeport three Los Angeles class nuclear fast- attack submarines in Guam, starting in 2002. The USS Corpus Christi will arrive in April, followed by the USS San Francisco in September 2002. The Navy has yet to decide on the third submarine. There will be some military construction for submarine repair and port facili- ties at Apra Harbour, and the Guam-based submarine tender USS Frank Cable and a support squadron will provide maintenance sup- port.

Military exercises •

•

As well as basing US troops, the Pacific is a major area for military war •

•

games. In 2001, US Pacific Command held 300 military exercises with • •

• 37 countries in the region (New York Times, 17 May 2001). •

• 223 • 224 • • • • • •

•

•

ground by American soldiers who were sent to Kosovo in the late 1990s. late the in Kosovo to sent were who soldiers American by ground

tions in Asian countries and the Persian Gulf. It was used as a training a as used was It Gulf. Persian the and countries Asian in tions

ing and target practice by the US military, in preparation for interven- for preparation in military, US the by practice target and ing

in the surrounding reef. Farallon de Medenilla has been used for bomb- for used been has Medenilla de Farallon reef. surrounding the in

Medenilla, an island north of Saipan, has caused serious destruction serious caused has Saipan, of north island an Medenilla,

series of US military bombing exercises in the area of Farallon de Farallon of area the in exercises bombing military US of series

But officials in neighbouring Saipan have expressed concern that a that concern expressed have Saipan neighbouring in officials But

its atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. in Nagasaki and Hiroshima on attacks bomb atomic its

tary base during World War II. It was from Tinian that the US launched US the that Tinian from was It II. War World during base tary

gence and telecommunication purposes. Tinian was used as a mili- a as used was Tinian purposes. telecommunication and gence

military operations in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly for intelli- for particularly region, Asia-Pacific the in operations military

Juan Babauta, suggested that Tinian be considered for sophisticated for considered be Tinian that suggested Babauta, Juan

In June 2001, the Northern Marianas’ representative in Washington, in representative Marianas’ Northern the 2001, June In

ships and 200 aircraft took part in the exercise). the in part took aircraft 200 and ships

the United States, involving more than 22,000 military personnel; 50 personnel; military 22,000 than more involving States, United the

tralia, Canada, Chile, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Kingdom United the Korea, South Japan, Chile, Canada, tralia,

Guam Naval Station (RIMPAC 2000 included participants from Aus- from participants included 2000 (RIMPAC Station Naval Guam

Guam and would conclude with port visits for several navies at the at navies several for visits port with conclude would and Guam

final phase of RIMPAC 2002 would be conducted in the waters off waters the in conducted be would 2002 RIMPAC of phase final

Admiral Thomas B. Fargo, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said the said Fleet, Pacific US the of commander Fargo, B. Thomas Admiral

will be conducted for the first time in waters near Guam. Last May, Last Guam. near waters in time first the for conducted be will In 2002, the biennial Rim of the Pacific military exercise (RIMPAC) exercise military Pacific the of Rim biennial the 2002, In

EAST ASIA &

•

•

SOUTHEAST ASIA •

•

•

•

• •

• 225

• 226

the implementation of each of the measures defined by the law. the by defined measures the of each of implementation the •

• discussion between the Ainu people and the Japanese Government on Government Japanese the and people Ainu the between discussion • •

• good proposal because it will create an opportunity for a domestic a for opportunity an create will it because proposal good •

•

achieved, and what remained the same after enactment. This was a very a was This enactment. after same the remained what and achieved, •

Japanese Government to include in the next report what was promoted, was what report next the in include to Government Japanese

motion Law in 1997. In its Concluding Observations, CERD asked the asked CERD Observations, Concluding its In 1997. in Law motion

Aborigines in Hokkaido, and the enactment of the Ainu Culture Pro- Culture Ainu the of enactment the and Hokkaido, in Aborigines

the abolishment of the notorious law, the Protection Law for Former for Law Protection the law, notorious the of abolishment the

One of the greatest changes following ratification of the treaty was treaty the of ratification following changes greatest the of One

kaido, which is untrue. is which kaido,

nese Government that only few Ainu people live outside of Hok- of outside live people Ainu few only that Government nese

circumstances. Also, there is an assumption on the part of the Japa- the of part the on assumption an is there Also, circumstances.

not want to be members because they live in strong discriminatory strong in live they because members be to want not

all the Ainu people are organized within its membership. Some do Some membership. its within organized are people Ainu the all

lies as possible in its area to interview the members. However, not However, members. the interview to area its in possible as lies

reality, each AAH branch organization visits as many member fami- member many as visits organization branch AAH each reality,

the budget for the surveys, and the AAH undertakes the surveys. In surveys. the undertakes AAH the and surveys, the for budget the

Government provides the Hokkaido Prefectural Government with Government Prefectural Hokkaido the provides Government

accurate because the sampling system is as follows. The Japanese The follows. as is system sampling the because accurate

discriminatory incidents indicated in such surveys has never been never has surveys such in indicated incidents discriminatory

the population of the Ainu people and the number of victims of victims of number the and people Ainu the of population the

ment. To date, the AAH has pointed out that the basic data, such as such data, basic the that out pointed has AAH the date, To ment.

survey that was conducted by the Hokkaido Prefectural Govern- Prefectural Hokkaido the by conducted was that survey

For the reports, the Japanese Government used the results of the of results the used Government Japanese the reports, the For

the actual situation, feelings and aspirations of the Ainu people. Ainu the of aspirations and feelings situation, actual the

lobby the committee members by providing them with information on information with them providing by members committee the lobby

egates to the UN Geneva Office to observe the deliberations and to and deliberations the observe to Office Geneva UN the to egates

The Ainu Association of Hokkaido (AAH) decided to dispatch del- dispatch to decided (AAH) Hokkaido of Association Ainu The

CERD Considerations CERD

port in March 2001 in Geneva. in 2001 March in port

initial and second reports were combined. CERD considered the re- the considered CERD combined. were reports second and initial

Discrimination on Dec. 15, 1995. The author does not know why the why know not does author The 1995. 15, Dec. on Discrimination

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial of Forms All of Elimination the on Convention International

Racial Discrimination (CERD) for the first time since ratification of the of ratification since time first the for (CERD) Discrimination Racial

I

second periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Elimination the on Committee the to reports periodic second

n late 2000, the Japanese Government submitted the initial and initial the submitted Government Japanese the 2000, late n JAPAN CERD also pointed out that there were many differences between the surveys in government reports and the information provided by NGOs.

It is hoped that, in the preparation for the third periodic report, the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs will build a constructive relationship with •

•

the NGOs that are making efforts to combat discrimination. •

•

In the “Comments of the Japanese Government on the Concluding • •

• Observations adopted by the CERD on March 20, 2001, regarding the •

• 227

• 228

”, which is not a correct translation when translation correct a not is which ”, not generally considered generally not •

•

• In the comment, the Japanese Government uses the term, “ term, the uses Government Japanese the comment, the In they are they •

•

race from the Japanese. the from race •

•

indigenous people; they have never insisted that they are a different a are they that insisted never have they people; indigenous •

Japan. Our friends from Okinawa only ask to be recognized as an as recognized be to ask only Okinawa from friends Our Japan.

ment to avoid declaring Okinawans as an indigenous people of people indigenous an as Okinawans declaring avoid to ment

pointed out as a great misunderstanding that allows the govern- the allows that misunderstanding great a as out pointed

ethnic difference. This is not only confusing but also has to be to has also but confusing only not is This difference. ethnic

difference and “cultural characteristics” should be used to refer to refer to used be should characteristics” “cultural and difference

term “biological characteristics” should be used to refer to racial to refer to used be should characteristics” “biological term

understand the differences between racial and ethnic groups. The groups. ethnic and racial between differences the understand

in the same phrase also indicates that the government does not does government the that indicates also phrase same the in

Furthermore, discussing “biological and cultural characteristics” cultural and “biological discussing Furthermore,

were no differences between them. between differences no were

Government uses the terms “race” and “ethnic group” as if there if as group” “ethnic and “race” terms the uses Government

ernment was not clear as to who considers this to be so. The Japanese The so. be to this considers who to as clear not was ernment

cultural characteristics from the Japanese race.” However, the gov- the However, race.” Japanese the from characteristics cultural

generally considered to be a group who share different biological or biological different share who group a be to considered generally

people of Japan. The Japanese Government also wrote, “they are not are “they wrote, also Government Japanese The Japan. of people

from the Japanese race”. They claim that they are an indigenous an are they that claim They race”. Japanese the from

some people claim that the population in Okinawa is a different race different a is Okinawa in population the that claim people some

The Japanese Government was mistaken to write, “We know that know “We write, to mistaken was Government Japanese The

biological or cultural characteristics from the Japanese race. Japanese the from characteristics cultural or biological

not generally considered to be a group of people who share different share who people of group a be to considered generally not

prefecture or natives of Okinawa are of the Japanese race, and they are they and race, Japanese the of are Okinawa of natives or prefecture

Okinawa. Also, as described in 1(2)(a), those who live in Okinawa in live who those 1(2)(a), in described as Also, Okinawa.

that this claim represents the will of the majority of the people in people the of majority the of will the represents claim this that

is a different race from the Japanese race; however, we do not believe not do we however, race; Japanese the from race different a is

1) We know that some people claim that the population in Okinawa in population the that claim people some that know We 1)

paragraph 7: paragraph

tion on the island leads to acts of discrimination against it” in it” against discrimination of acts to leads island the on tion

nized as a specific ethnic group and claims that the existing situa- existing the that claims and group ethnic specific a as nized

With regard to “the population in Okinawa seeks to be recog- be to seeks Okinawa in population “the to regard With

therefore, we do not consider them to be covered by the Convention. the by covered be to them consider not do we therefore,

biological or cultural characteristics under social convention, and convention, social under characteristics cultural or biological

prefectures, they are not considered to be a group of people who share who people of group a be to considered not are they prefectures,

the Japanese race, and generally, in the same way as natives of other of natives as way same the in generally, and race, Japanese the

Those who live in Okinawa prefecture or natives of Okinawa are of are Okinawa of natives or prefecture Okinawa in live who Those

Japanese Government stated as follows: as stated Government Japanese initial and second periodic report of the Japanese Government”, the Government”, Japanese the of report periodic second and initial compared with the comment in the Japanese language version. In the Japanese version they use “shakai-tsunen-jo”, which means “in a general social sense”. This means that mainstream Japanese nation- als do not regard the Okinawan people as different from them but as belonging to the same ethnic group. It is quite strange that the majority of Japanese nationals should decide which ethnic group is indigenous and which is not. This is a way of oppressing indig- enous peoples that is common around the world. Despite the enactment of the Ainu Culture Promotion Law, the Japanese Government has not clarified whether or not they recog- nize the Ainu people as an indigenous people of Japan. The text below illustrates this very well. It is taken from a document that was mistakenly passed on to a Japanese NGO and includes paragraphs that were later deleted. It shows the government’s attempt to suppress any mention of the Ainu people as an indigenous people of Japan.

14. In relation to “the Committee recommends the State party to take steps to further promote the rights of the Ainu, as indigenous people”, in paragraph 17: 1) As is incorporated in the Basic Policies on Measures for the Protection of the Ainu Culture and for the Dissemination and Advocacy for the Traditions of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture (Prime Minister’s Office Announcement No. 25 of September 18, 1997), in Japan, the Ainu, who lived in Hokkaido before the arrival of Wajin1 at least at the end of medieval times, have been recognized as a race that has original traditions and that developed a unique culture including the Ainu language, which is based on a different linguistic system from the Japanese language, as well as original manners and customs. 2) However, since there is no fixed international definition of the term “indigenous people”, the question of whether the people of Ainu are actually “indigenous people” in the sense mentioned above needs to be examined carefully. 3) At any rate, in order to smoothly promote the Utari welfare measures, which are implemented by the government of Hokkaido Prefecture for improving the social and economic status of the Ainu people, the Japanese Government established the Joint Meeting of the Ministers concerned in the Hokkaido Utari Measures in May 1974 and has been

striving to enhance the various measures while keeping close contact

among the related ministries. In addition, the Japanese Government •

•

is engaged in various schemes relating to the Ainu people, such as •

•

advancement of measures for promoting Ainu culture as well as • •

• disseminating knowledge and raising awareness of the Ainu tradi- •

• 229

• 230 and attended common Japanese schools. He is from Obihiro City, Obihiro from is He schools. Japanese common attended and • •

• from Japanese nationals in that the Ainu people spoke Japanese spoke people Ainu the that in nationals Japanese from •

•

assimilated into the Japanese. He meant they were not different not were they meant He Japanese. the into assimilated •

•

spondents in Tokyo, stated that the Ainu people were completely were people Ainu the that stated Tokyo, in spondents •

Mr. Suzuki, in a press conference at the Club of Foreign Corre- Foreign of Club the at conference press a in Suzuki, Mr.

level of Japanese politicians. Japanese of level

spite being a member of the Cabinet. This indicates the intellectual the indicates This Cabinet. the of member a being spite

tion Law or other measures implemented by the government, de- government, the by implemented measures other or Law tion

ple. He did not know of the enactment of the Ainu Culture Promo- Culture Ainu the of enactment the of know not did He ple.

mono-ethnic country, unlike the US, which included Hispanic peo- Hispanic included which US, the unlike country, mono-ethnic

1980s that Japan was intellectually excellent because it was a was it because excellent intellectually was Japan that 1980s

ignorance as former Prime Minister Nakasone, who stated in the in stated who Nakasone, Minister Prime former as ignorance

War II had been so smooth and quick. He was displaying the same the displaying was He quick. and smooth so been had II War

ethnic country that the economic rehabilitation following World following rehabilitation economic the that country ethnic

domain of the Ainu people, that it was because Japan was a mono- a was Japan because was it that people, Ainu the of domain

Mr. Hiranuma stated in his speech in Sapporo, the traditional the Sapporo, in speech his in stated Hiranuma Mr.

Agency, both made discriminatory statements on the same day. same the on statements discriminatory made both Agency,

Suzuki, the former Chief of the Hokkaido & Okinawa Development Okinawa & Hokkaido the of Chief former the Suzuki,

ranuma, the Minister of Economy and Industry, and Mr. Muneo Mr. and Industry, and Economy of Minister the ranuma,

On July 2, 2001, two very influential politicians, Mr. Takeo Hi- Takeo Mr. politicians, influential very two 2001, 2, July On

of the Liberal Democratic Party Democratic Liberal the of

Discriminatory statements by three politicians three by statements Discriminatory

it immediately. it

tion is considered to include too many difficulties for Japan to ratify to Japan for difficulties many too include to considered is tion

of the Convention at the International Labor Conference. The Conven- The Conference. Labor International the at Convention the of

lation, the Japanese Government abstained from the vote for adoption for vote the from abstained Government Japanese the lation,

Convention still includes provisions that conflict with Japan’s legis- Japan’s with conflict that provisions includes still Convention

the protection of workers, which is mandated to the ILO, and the and ILO, the to mandated is which workers, of protection the

Since the ILO Convention includes many provisions other than other provisions many includes Convention ILO the Since

ples”, in paragraph 17: paragraph in ples”,

as guidance the ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peo- Tribal and Indigenous on 169 Convention ILO the guidance as

15. In relation to “the State party is also encouraged to ratify and or use or and ratify to encouraged also is party State “the to relation In 15.

contribute to development of diverse culture in Japan. in culture diverse of development to contribute

Ainu people is respected and having the Ainu culture and traditions and culture Ainu the having and respected is people Ainu

was established for building a society in which the racial pride of the of pride racial the which in society a building for established was

of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture (Law No. 52 of May 14, 1997) that 1997) 14, May of 52 No. (Law Culture Ainu the and Ainu the of

Culture and for the Dissemination and Advocacy for the Traditions the for Advocacy and Dissemination the for and Culture tion among the public, based on the Law for the Promotion of the Ainu the of Promotion the for Law the on based public, the among tion Hokkaido and has some Ainu friends. He knows well of the activi- ties of the AAH Obihiro branch in terms of passing on their tradi- tion, worship, and culture (such as dances, songs, the Ainu lan- guage, rituals and art crafts) in order to rebuild their identity as an ethnic group. Even so, Mr. Suzuki neglects such efforts and denies the significance of those activities. The AAH, the most comprehensive organization of the Ainu people, sent petitions to the two speakers. However, it failed to make it clear to the public as to why those statements were dis- criminatory against the Ainu people. It is sad that the content of the discussions between the AAH and the speakers has not yet been made public, not only to members of the AAH but also to the general public. Mr. Omi, the current Chief of the Hokkaido & Okinawa Devel- opment Agency, made an additional discriminatory statement se- veral months later. He also stated that Japan was a mono-ethnic country. If the incidents related to the former discriminatory state- ments by Mr. Hiranuma and Mr. Suzuki had been sincerely settled, this would not have happened again.

Note

1. The Wajin who came from Honshu Island were the first Japanese settlers on Hokkaido. (Editor’s note)

CHINA

China and Xinjiang in the wake of September 11

ast year’s fall-out in Afghanistan has put China in a difficult

L position, but it has also given the Chinese leadership more room

for manoeuvre against what they characterize as terrorist activities in •

•

Xinjiang, China’s huge westernmost province, whose official name is •

•

Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. China had retained friendly ties • •

• with the Taliban regime and had developed lively trading links with •

• 231

• 232 some commentators to wonder if the Chinese authorities wanted to wanted authorities Chinese the if wonder to commentators some • •

• news dispatches, are named by their Chinese names. This has led has This names. Chinese their by named are dispatches, news •

•

crackdowns have been against groups whose leaders, in the Chinese the in leaders, whose groups against been have crackdowns •

•

going on for the last five years. But curiously, in several cases, the cases, several in curiously, But years. five last the for on going •

means new. A campaign of “high pressure, strike hard” has been has hard” strike pressure, “high of campaign A new. means

The Chinese campaign against ethnic unrest in Xinjiang is by no by is Xinjiang in unrest ethnic against campaign Chinese The

and set up secret cells of resistance to Chinese domination. Chinese to resistance of cells secret up set and

groups, had trained groups of militants who had returned to Xinjiang to returned had who militants of groups trained had groups,

bin Laden, in cooperation with other Central and West Asian terrorist Asian West and Central other with cooperation in Laden, bin

more. The report furthermore stated that, since the late 1990s, Osama 1990s, late the since that, stated furthermore report The more.

Movement for more than 200 terrorist attacks over the last ten years or years ten last the over attacks terrorist 200 than more for Movement

ernment blamed an organization called the East Turkistan Islamic Turkistan East the called organization an blamed ernment

In a report that was released in January 2002, the Chinese gov- Chinese the 2002, January in released was that report a In

term to terrorist activities. terrorist to term

kistan” out loud. The intention was clearly to link those who use this use who those link to clearly was intention The loud. out kistan”

Chinese side, who until then would not utter the name “East Tur- “East name the utter not would then until who side, Chinese

from the from terminological a is This terrorists”. Turkistan volte-face

James Kelly, that China was battling against what he called “East called he what against battling was China that Kelly, James

stressed in a meeting with the American Assistant Secretary of State, of Secretary Assistant American the with meeting a in stressed

Then, in October 2001, the Chinese Foreign Minister, Tang Jiaxuan, Tang Minister, Foreign Chinese the 2001, October in Then,

China was committed to the international battle against terrorism. against battle international the to committed was China

Minister of Public Security, Jia Chunwang, had already stated that stated already had Chunwang, Jia Security, Public of Minister

terrorism for its own purposes. By September 19 last year, the Chinese the year, last 19 September By purposes. own its for terrorism

The Chinese government was quick to exploit the new front against front new the exploit to quick was government Chinese The

the six states in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek in October last year. last October in Bishkek capital Kyrgyz the in states six the

for Cooperation (SOC), by staying away from an emergency meeting of meeting emergency an from away staying by (SOC), Cooperation for

tent with the Shanghai-6, formally called the Shanghai Organization Shanghai the called formally Shanghai-6, the with tent

intelligence sharing, etc. Uzbekistan in particular showed their discon- their showed particular in Uzbekistan etc. sharing, intelligence

foothold in the region by promising the US bases, overflight rights, overflight bases, US the promising by region the in foothold

kistan and Kyrgyzstan gave the US an opportunity to gain a military a gain to opportunity an US the gave Kyrgyzstan and kistan

American influence. But following September 11, Kazakhstan, Uzbe- Kazakhstan, 11, September following But influence. American

by Russia and China to keep the region under control and counter and control under region the keep to China and Russia by

Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), may be seen as an effort an as seen be may Tajikistan), and Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan, stan,

made up of Russia, China and four Central Asian states (Kazakh- states Asian Central four and China Russia, of up made

in Central Asia. The cooperation of the so-called “Shanghai-6”, so-called the of cooperation The Asia. Central in

On a strategic level as well, September 11 has led to a realignment a to led has 11 September well, as level strategic a On

from China to obtain military training in bin Laden’s camps. Laden’s bin in training military obtain to China from

media had, on several occasions, interviewed Uighurs who had come had who Uighurs interviewed occasions, several on had, media

Xinjiang. And China’s worries were not unfounded. Western news Western unfounded. not were worries China’s And Xinjiang.

training ground for Uighurs who wanted to fight the Chinese rule in rule Chinese the fight to wanted who Uighurs for ground training

same time, China was worried that Afghanistan was serving as a as serving was Afghanistan that worried was China time, same Afghanistan, without recognizing the regime diplomatically. At the At diplomatically. regime the recognizing without Afghanistan, blame the Moslems for criminal activities, while they are actually cracking down on Chinese-led criminal gangs. In March 2002, Amnesty International published a report on the situation in Xinjiang which stated that China had, over the past six months, detained several thousand of people, closed mosques, and required key community leaders, including imams, to attend classes for so-called political education. In the report, Amnesty accuses the Chinese government for using the yardstick of “terrorism” for any mild form of protest against Chinese misrule of the region.

TIBET

fter more than 50 years of Chinese occupation, Tibetans are still

•

being denied their fundamental right to self-determination. As •

A • •

inhabitants of an occupied country, which is increasingly being colo- •

•

nized by China and in which the number of Chinese settlers continues • •

• 233

• 234 tional Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in (ICESCR) Rights Cultural and Social Economic, on Covenant tional • •

• development supersedes all other rights, China ratified the Interna- the ratified China rights, other all supersedes development •

•

to justify its human rights abuses. While still claiming that economic that claiming still While abuses. rights human its justify to •

•

as “Western notions”, China continues to call on cultural relativism cultural on call to continues China notions”, “Western as •

people. Brushing aside the accepted norms of civil and political rights political and civil of norms accepted the aside Brushing people.

development” and stability over all other freedoms and rights of the of rights and freedoms other all over stability and development”

doors in Beijing. This high-level meeting placed top-down “economic top-down placed meeting high-level This Beijing. in doors

In June 2001, the Fourth Tibet Work Forum was held behind closed behind held was Forum Work Tibet Fourth the 2001, June In

were accredited by ECOSOC to participate in a UN conference. UN a in participate to ECOSOC by accredited were

tember 2001. This was the first time that NGOs involved with Tibet with involved NGOs that time first the was This 2001. tember

World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in Sep- in Africa South Durban, in Racism Against Conference World

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, participated in the in participated Democracy, and Rights Human for Centre Tibetan

Two Tibet NGOs, the International Campaign for Tibet and the and Tibet for Campaign International the NGOs, Tibet Two

minded Western nations did not sponsor the USA’s resolution on China. on resolution USA’s the sponsor not did nations Western minded

against China’s “no action motion” or did not vote. The EU and like- and EU The vote. not did or motion” action “no China’s against

and China. However, 30 out of 53 of the member states either voted either states member the of 53 of out 30 However, China. and

China blocked a debate on the current human rights situation in Tibet in situation rights human current the on debate a blocked China

At the 57 the At meeting of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, in Commission Rights Human the of meeting th

own populace and in occupied territories, including Tibet. including territories, occupied in and populace own

the WTO sanctioned China’s well-documented abuses against its against abuses well-documented China’s sanctioned WTO the

Ignoring world opinion, the Olympic selection panel and members of members and panel selection Olympic the opinion, world Ignoring

for 2008 and to its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Organization Trade World the to accession its to and 2008 for

were a central feature of international opposition to its Olympic bid Olympic its to opposition international of feature central a were

In 2001, China’s continued and widespread human rights abuses rights human widespread and continued China’s 2001, In

towards “political crimes”. “political towards

tences increased. In Tibet, the campaign has primarily been directed been primarily has campaign the Tibet, In increased. tences

security has already been tightened and the number of death sen- death of number the and tightened been already has security

in Tibet. During the “strike hard campaign” of the last couple of years, of couple last the of campaign” hard “strike the During Tibet. in

be seen whether this will increase the number of human rights abuses rights human of number the increase will this whether seen be

it labels “separatists”, including Uighurs and Tibetans. It remains to remains It Tibetans. and Uighurs including “separatists”, labels it

internal repression and to step up government actions against those against actions government up step to and repression internal

China has taken advantage of the 11th September incident to justify to incident September 11th the of advantage taken has China

Ongoing human rights abuses rights human Ongoing

although he is asking for less than independence. than less for asking is he although

government on the issue of Tibet’s future have not been successful been not have future Tibet’s of issue the on government

Dalai Lama’s continued efforts to enter into dialogue with the Chinese the with dialogue into enter to efforts continued Lama’s Dalai

most Tibetans want the return of their former independence. The independence. former their of return the want Tibetans most

peoples the world over. Regarding themselves as an occupied nation, occupied an as themselves Regarding over. world the peoples to grow, the Tibetans share many characteristics with indigenous with characteristics many share Tibetans the grow, to Tibet Autonomous Region Areas with Tibetan Autonomous Status in Quinghai, Gansu, Sichuan an Yunnan Provinces Additional territories claimed by the Tibetan Exile Government

foto

•

•

Placard in Lhasa showing the Chinese conception of the 50 years celebration of “The peaceful •

liberation of Tibet” in 1951. Deng Xiaoping, Mao Zedong and Jiang Zemin with the Potala •

•

Palace and a typical Tibetan landscape as background. Photo: Vivi Walter •

• •

• 235

• 236 approximately 95% of the schools until recently. The level of educa- of level The recently. until schools the of 95% approximately • •

• of education in Tibetan primary schools. Tibetan was the medium in medium the was Tibetan schools. primary Tibetan in education of •

•

The Chinese authorities have introduced Chinese as the medium the as Chinese introduced have authorities Chinese The •

•

regions but also at integrating them further into China. into further them integrating at also but regions •

programme”, which not only aims at boosting the economy of the poorer the of economy the boosting at aims only not which programme”,

The construction of the railway is part of China’s “Western development “Western China’s of part is railway the of construction The

primarily Han, already dominate the population in major urban centres. urban major in population the dominate already Han, primarily

China and increase the number of Chinese settlers in Tibet. Chinese, Tibet. in settlers Chinese of number the increase and China

railway will further facilitate the economic integration of Tibet into Tibet of integration economic the facilitate further will railway

capital Lhasa and Golmud in Qinghai began. Tibetans fear that the that fear Tibetans began. Qinghai in Golmud and Lhasa capital

In 2001, the construction of the controversial railway between the between railway controversial the of construction the 2001, In

Chinese migrants. Chinese

ence given to those fluent in Chinese and preferential treatment of treatment preferential and Chinese in fluent those to given ence

eas. This includes a wide-ranging bias in employment with prefer- with employment in bias wide-ranging a includes This eas.

trates discrimination against Tibetans, particularly in the urban ar- urban the in particularly Tibetans, against discrimination trates

development of their country. The influx of Chinese settlers perpe- settlers Chinese of influx The country. their of development

but Tibetans are not consulted on, or meaningfully involved in, the in, involved meaningfully or on, consulted not are Tibetans but

population. Not only is there an official neglect of their basic needs basic their of neglect official an there is only Not population.

region and benefit Chinese migrants to the detriment of the Tibetan the of detriment the to migrants Chinese benefit and region

infrastructure are designed to consolidate Chinese control over the over control Chinese consolidate to designed are infrastructure

China claims to be boosting Tibet economically but policies and policies but economically Tibet boosting be to claims China

sources, from which very few benefits flow back to the Tibetan people. Tibetan the to back flow benefits few very which from sources,

ronmental destruction caused by China’s intensive exploitation of re- of exploitation intensive China’s by caused destruction ronmental

greatest threats to traditional Tibetan livelihoods is the ongoing envi- ongoing the is livelihoods Tibetan traditional to threats greatest

lack of opportunity in relation to employment and business. One of the of One business. and employment to relation in opportunity of lack

of life. Tibetans in urban areas experience severe discrimination and a and discrimination severe experience areas urban in Tibetans life. of

ing of grasslands, which may eventually destroy their traditional way traditional their destroy eventually may which grasslands, of ing

country. Nomads are, for example, facing excessive taxation and fenc- and taxation excessive facing example, for are, Nomads country.

Tibetans continue to be denied their right to livelihood in their own their in livelihood to right their denied be to continue Tibetans

Development, marginalisation and repression and marginalisation Development,

self-determination.

life, there has been a total disregard for the Tibetan people’s right to right people’s Tibetan the for disregard total a been has there life,

nation over Tibet’s political, economic, social, cultural and religious and cultural social, economic, political, Tibet’s over nation

nomic, social and cultural development. Throughout China’s domi- China’s Throughout development. cultural and social nomic,

tion - to freely determine their political status and pursue their eco- their pursue and status political their determine freely to - tion

international covenants is the right of all peoples to self-determina- to peoples all of right the is covenants international

China became a signatory to the document. At the heart of these two these of heart the At document. the to signatory a became China

Rights (ICCPR) remains to be ratified more than three years after years three than more ratified be to remains (ICCPR) Rights February 2001. The International Covenant on Civil and Political and Civil on Covenant International The 2001. February tion continues to be low among Tibetans, partly because many more remote areas do not have schools and parents are reluctant to send children to boarding schools, and partly because many parents can- not pay the school fees. A considerable number of children are sent across the border to the Tibetan exile community in India each year in order to secure them a proper Tibetan education. The new educa- tion policy in China has led to the closure of all country-level teacher- training colleges in Tibet’s Autonomous Region (TAR). Consequently, more and more Chinese teachers are being employed. The repression of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet has reached new heights. In addition to the prohibition against possessing a picture of the Dalai Lama, the prohibition against celebrating his birthday was severely enforced in 2001. In at least two cases, monasteries - Serthar and Yachen - in eastern Tibet were partly destroyed by work units. The destruction has especially affected the houses of religious prac- titioners, who did not originate from the region. Thousands of prac- titioners, including Chinese Buddhists, have been prohibited from continuing their religious education. In Lhasa, the young Pawo Rin- poche1 from Nenang monastery near Lhasa was forced to leave his monastery as a consequence of the Karmapa’s2 escape to India in January 2000. In many other cases, monks and nuns have been ex- pelled from their monasteries or their education obstructed by work units and regulations. It is increasingly impossible to pursue a full Buddhist education in Tibet. China celebrated the 50th anniversary of its “peaceful liberation” of Tibet during the summer of 2001. As a symbol of the “liberation”, a 37 metre high monument representing an “abstraction of Mount Everest” was erected on a prominent spot in front of the Dalai Lama’s old winter palace, the Potala in Lhasa. Several thousand Tibetans were asked to attend a ceremony on the square in front of the Potala to celebrate the “liberation” of Tibet, which for them symbolizes the loss of their freedom. At the same time, most Tibetans were told to stay at home and security precautions were extremely tight. The number of Tibetans in prison for political reasons continues to be high. According to some sources, the number of political prison- ers rose to 254 in 2001. The 11th Panchen Lama, now 12, is still under house arrest and international human rights organisations are not

allowed to visit him. Chadrel Rinpoche, who was in charge of the

mission looking for the Panchen Lama and who was imprisoned in •

•

1995, was not released in 2001 although he had served his 6 year •

•

sentence. Several deaths have occurred among prisoners, including a • •

• 28 year-old nun, who was serving the last year of a 10 year prison •

• 237

• 238

dissidents, later gaining a certain affinity with the opposition party, the party, opposition the with affinity certain a gaining later dissidents, •

• indigenous movement first joined a “non KMT” stream of political of stream KMT” “non a joined first movement indigenous • •

• KMT era. Like many other activists in Taiwan, the protagonists of the of protagonists the Taiwan, in activists other many Like era. KMT •

•

The present indigenous movement in Taiwan started in the late the in started Taiwan in movement indigenous present The •

ture a token “indigenous elite”. “indigenous token a ture

programs. And under its superficial democracy, all it did was to nur- to was did it all democracy, superficial its under And programs.

similationist as pursued rather but policies indigenous real no had KMT

(KouMinTang, the Nationalist Party) was the only ruling party. The party. ruling only the was Party) Nationalist the (KouMinTang,

present day. In the first 50 years of the current regime, the KMT the regime, current the of years 50 first the In day. present

I

change, from the Chin Dynasty and Japanese colonization to the to colonization Japanese and Dynasty Chin the from change,

ndigenous peoples in Taiwan have lived through many regimes of regimes many through lived have Taiwan in peoples ndigenous

TAIWAN

Buddhism.

school and is regarded as the third in the overall hierarchy of Tibetan of hierarchy overall the in third the as regarded is and school

2 The Karmapa is the head of one of the four Tibetan Buddhist kagyupa Buddhist Tibetan four the of one of head the is Karmapa The 2

Buddhist teachers (lamas), and for heads of monasteries. of heads for and (lamas), teachers Buddhist

1 “Rinpoche” is an honorary title meaning “precious”. It is often used for used often is It “precious”. meaning title honorary an is “Rinpoche” 1

Notes

ingly reluctant to provide Tibetans with legal papers for Nepal. for papers legal with Tibetans provide to reluctant ingly

out a valid visa as illegal. The Chinese authorities have become increas- become have authorities Chinese The illegal. as visa valid a out

centre in Kathmandu. The authorities regard foreigners in Nepal with- Nepal in foreigners regard authorities The Kathmandu. in centre

continue into exile in India after a short time in the refugee reception refugee the in time short a after India in exile into continue

Tibetans do not have refugee status in Nepal. They are expected to expected are They Nepal. in status refugee have not do Tibetans

Tibetan refugees back into the hands of the Chinese border police. border Chinese the of hands the into back refugees Tibetan

gency in Nepal. Nepalese border police send an increasing number of number increasing an send police border Nepalese Nepal. in gency

security controls have been tightened partly due to the state of emer- of state the to due partly tightened been have controls security

2,500 Tibetans manage to escape to Nepal every year but this year this but year every Nepal to escape to manage Tibetans 2,500

Tibetans trying to cross the border into Nepal in 2001. Approximately 2001. in Nepal into border the cross to trying Tibetans

The Chinese authorities claim to have arrested approximately 2,500 approximately arrested have to claim authorities Chinese The

Tibetans were executed in TAR. in executed were Tibetans

attempting to flee Tibet. During the “strike hard” campaign at least 6 least at campaign hard” “strike the During Tibet. flee to attempting sentence and a monk in his early twenties who was arrested while arrested was who twenties early his in monk a and sentence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). In 1999, when DPP can- didate Chen Shuibian (now president) was campaigning for his presidency, several in- digenous activists organized to encourage him to sign the “Treaty of A New Partnership Between the Indigenous Peo- ples and Government of Tai- wan” (the Treaty) with repre- sentatives from different in- digenous communities. Sign- ing this treaty, President Chen promised to promote the au- tonomy of indigenous peo- ples. Since then, autonomy, a decades-long dream, has finally been included on the government’s agenda.

New partnership and DPP government

Chen stepped into office for his 4-year term in May 2000. Following his promise made during the campaign, in the Guiding Principle of Gov- ernment 2001, his prime minister included “mapping out indigenous autonomy” and “investigating and recovering indigenous traditional territories” on his agenda. The head of the Aborigine Peoples’ Council (APC, highest administrative body for indigenous affairs) was also assigned to Yohani Iskakavut, who has long been an indigenous activ- ist and one of the indigenous representatives who signed the Treaty. In his 18-month term of office (from May 2000 to December 2001), Yohani focused on several important issues, such as the Draft Act on Indigenous Self-Government, Indigenous Language Proficiency Test, Investigation of Traditional Territories and the Revival of Pingpu Com- munities (the highly assimilated indigenous communities on the plains). Although indigenous activists continue to question whether it is ap-

propriate for APC to predominate in the design of indigenous political

systems, and although no satisfactory answer has yet been found, •

•

indigenous autonomy is, at least, no longer an illusion. Ideas on •

•

autonomy have become more concrete during the course of all these • •

• debates. •

• 239

• 240 responsible for indigenous affairs, the DPP government, which made which government, DPP the affairs, indigenous for responsible • •

• With regard to APC, the government’s administrative institution administrative government’s the APC, to regard With •

•

rights for their people. their for rights •

•

own political status within their party than with the fight for the for fight the with than party their within status political own •

which means these individuals may be more concerned with their with concerned more be may individuals these means which

are highly dependent on political parties dominated by Han people, Han by dominated parties political on dependent highly are

thermore, given the party nomination system, the indigenous elites indigenous the system, nomination party the given thermore,

ties have no chance of getting involved and being represented. Fur- represented. being and involved getting of chance no have ties

under the existing “democratic” system, most indigenous communi- indigenous most system, “democratic” existing the under

major indigenous communities. The results once more indicate that, indicate more once results The communities. indigenous major

seats and two from the party list) who, however, represent only three only represent however, who, list) party the from two and seats

tion resulted in ten indigenous members of parliament (eight reserved (eight parliament of members indigenous ten in resulted tion

representation was left far behind in the election campaign. The elec- The campaign. election the in behind far left was representation

Due to competing political interests, the idea of autonomy and autonomy of idea the interests, political competing to Due

munity in the Treaty, he has so far paid only lip service to this. to service lip only paid far so has he Treaty, the in munity

Chen also promised a national representative for each indigenous com- indigenous each for representative national a promised also Chen

in six APC-recognized indigenous communities. Although President Although communities. indigenous APC-recognized six in

parliament. However, there are fewer than this number of qualified voters qualified of number this than fewer are there However, parliament.

candidates need more than 7,000 votes in order to obtain a seat in seat a obtain to order in votes 7,000 than more need candidates

other worrying aspect of this doubtfully “democratic” system is that the that is system “democratic” doubtfully this of aspect worrying other

lous categorization of mountain or plains indigenous peoples. An- peoples. indigenous plains or mountain of categorization lous

enous communities. The seats are allocated according to the ridicu- the to according allocated are seats The communities. enous

liamentary seats does not allow for the representation of all indig- all of representation the for allow not does seats liamentary

prevails among the ruling Han people. This reservation of eight par- eight of reservation This people. Han ruling the among prevails

has been made, which reflects the assimilationist mentality that still that mentality assimilationist the reflects which made, been has

the Mountain Indigenous People and the Plains Indigenous People, Indigenous Plains the and People Indigenous Mountain the

ten groups are recognized by APC), a simple division into two groups, two into division simple a APC), by recognized are groups ten

Instead of recognizing the diversity of indigenous peoples (more than (more peoples indigenous of diversity the recognizing of Instead

APC, these communities mean nothing in the general political system. political general the in nothing mean communities these APC,

ent communities is generally recognized. However, except for the for except However, recognized. generally is communities ent

indigenous peoples. The fact that indigenous people belong to differ- to belong people indigenous that fact The peoples. indigenous

doubtful as to whether this ensures proper representation of Taiwan’s of representation proper ensures this whether to as doubtful

Although eight seats are reserved for indigenous representatives, it is it representatives, indigenous for reserved are seats eight Although

At the end of 2001, elections for members of parliament took place. took parliament of members for elections 2001, of end the At

indigenous activists’ endeavours may not last long. last not may endeavours activists’ indigenous

by both sides whenever political realities change, and that the fruit of fruit the that and change, realities political whenever sides both by

Chinese settlers). This means that the agreement can be reconsidered be can agreement the that means This settlers). Chinese

cal party dominated by the majority Han people (descendents of (descendents people Han majority the by dominated party cal

is the result of negotiations between indigenous activists and a politi- a and activists indigenous between negotiations of result the is

One thing that should never be forgotten is that the present situation present the that is forgotten be never should that thing One The cabinet reshuffle after the parliamentary election parliamentary the after reshuffle cabinet The promises to indigenous communities in order to gain their support, initially did appoint an indigenous activist to the position of head of APC. But when the cabinet was reshuffled in accordance with the new parliamentary composition of January 2002, given the upcoming pre- sidential elections in 2004, the DPP assigned the position to a KMT member. This person belongs to an indigenous elite that has been “brought up” by the KMT. Although he was a mayor in a county with a large indigenous population for eight years, he showed little interest in the most pressing indigenous issues, such as self-government, land claims, etc. Accordingly, the work left unfinished by the previous APC leadership may again be postponed indefinitely. In the late KMT era, indigenous activists selectively cooperated with the DPP, and the DPP showed some openness. But the cabinet reshuffle clearly shows that, given the DPP’s desire to remain in power, the country’s 1.5% indigenous people are too small a vote bank to provide the DDP with sufficient motive to carry out a more decent and progressive indigenous policy.

Call for a Pangcah local chief: the demand for self-government from the grassroots

Apart from the parliamentary elections, another important recent event were the elections for local chiefs and councillors. The elections were more like a head-to-head fight, since the role of local officials is more relevant to the daily lives of people, and the competition of interests even more severe. Again, the election system for local chiefs in indigenous regions is no less questionable than that of indigenous members of parliament. With the same assimilationist mentality, the indigenous regions are divided into two kinds of administrative areas, the Mountain Xiang (a xiang is the lowest administrative body) and the Plain Xiang. The positions of local chiefs in Mountain Xiangs are reserved for their indigenous inhabitants, but the Plain Xiangs are without such reser- vation. So under the existing political system Han settlers have long since replaced the indigenous headmen in Plain Xiangs. Lacking an understanding of indigenous culture, the local Han chiefs very often

deny or ignore the needs and rights of the indigenous inhabitants.

During the elections for local chiefs in early 2002, a movement to gain •

•

a Pangcah local chief was pushed to the fore by some Pangcah teachers •

•

in Fongbin Xiang. This is a Plain Xiang, in which 70% of the population • •

• is indigenous and most of them belong to the Pangcah community, the •

• 241

• 242 dent Chen in the Treaty. But it is very likely that electoral considera- electoral that likely very is it But Treaty. the in Chen dent • •

• addressing the issues proposed by activists and promised by Presi- by promised and activists by proposed issues the addressing •

•

It cannot as yet be said whether the new cabinet will carry on carry will cabinet new the whether said be yet as cannot It •

•

shuffle was actually no more than expected. than more no actually was shuffle •

few votes it may gain from indigenous supporters. The recent cabinet recent The supporters. indigenous from gain may it votes few

indigenous policy might offend its Han voters against the comparably the against voters Han its offend might policy indigenous

power, the DDP has to weigh up the possibility that a progressive a that possibility the up weigh to has DDP the power,

in 2004 have caused things to change. Driven by a desire to stay in stay to desire a by Driven change. to things caused have 2004 in

previous presidential contest, but the upcoming presidential elections presidential upcoming the but contest, presidential previous

parties. They did receive a positive response from the DPP in the in DPP the from response positive a receive did They parties.

different political parties as well as their own relations to different to relations own their as well as parties political different

present political situation, by manipulating the relations between relations the manipulating by situation, political present

Indigenous activists tried to grab the chance offered them by the by them offered chance the grab to tried activists Indigenous

in Taiwan. But the debates long revolved around mere concepts. mere around revolved long debates the But Taiwan. in

the issues promoted by indigenous activists of different generations different of activists indigenous by promoted issues the

Autonomy, self-determination or self-government have always been always have self-government or self-determination Autonomy,

Conclusion

with the indigenous activists in future struggles. future in activists indigenous the with

extremely important foundations on which to support and cooperate and support to which on foundations important extremely

tonomy and the organization of the grassroots will no doubt form doubt no will grassroots the of organization the and tonomy

mote the idea of indigenous autonomy fully. The demand for au- for demand The fully. autonomy indigenous of idea the mote

enous political elites have limited opportunity or willingness to pro- to willingness or opportunity limited have elites political enous

nationalist mobilization. Under the present party system, the indig- the system, party present the Under mobilization. nationalist

again, the local people had for the first time experienced a Pangcah a experienced time first the for had people local the again,

Although, in the end, a Han candidate won the election once election the won candidate Han a end, the in Although,

government in the campaign. the in government

pation of Pangcah members, and for promotion of indigenous self- indigenous of promotion for and members, Pangcah of pation

munity member taking up the position, and it called for more partici- more for called it and position, the up taking member munity

has long existed. It merely supported the idea of an indigenous com- indigenous an of idea the supported merely It existed. long has

system, nor did it ask to change the questionable constituency that constituency questionable the change to ask it did nor system,

system. The movement did not aim to radically transform the political the transform radically to aim not did movement The system.

Such a demand is in itself a compromise with the existing political existing the with compromise a itself in is demand a Such

to call for a Pangcah local chief in Fongbin. in chief local Pangcah a for call to

found, these Pangcah teachers from different Plain Xiangs organized Xiangs Plain different from teachers Pangcah these found,

Pangcah candidate not belonging to any political party could be could party political any to belonging not candidate Pangcah

Pangcah indigenous activists and local people, and assuming that a that assuming and people, local and activists indigenous Pangcah

Stimulated by fierce debates on self-government among young among self-government on debates fierce by Stimulated

tury, not one local chief in Fongbin has been of Pangcah origin. Pangcah of been has Fongbin in chief local one not tury, largest indigenous community in Taiwan. And yet for the last half cen- half last the for yet And Taiwan. in community indigenous largest tions and tactics will ultimately prevail over the commitments made when signing the Treaty, a commitment to redress and compensate for the mistreatment of indigenous peoples and the errors committed by previous Han rulers. Indigenous activists may not have the chance to manipulate party politics as they have done in the past. The test now will be to see whether indigenous activists can mobilize and cooper- ate with the grassroots in order to gain a better bargaining position with the Han-dominated political parties in the future.

PHILIPPINES

uch hope was generated among indigenous peoples in the Phil- M ippines and their supporters by the promulgation of the Indig- enous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) in 1997, during the presidency of Fidel Ramos. The bubble immediately burst, however, with glitches and clashes in setting up the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) tasked to spearhead implementation of the IPRA, Congress’ passing (or not passing) of the budget, working out of the relationship with the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the like. Many of the problems were attributed to a lack of political will on the part of the Joseph Estrada adminis- tration at that time, which generally enjoyed popularity among grass- roots sectors, and even among the indigenous peoples. Then along came January 2001 and a change in national leader- ship, with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo taking over the reins. As part of her efforts to solidify her government, the new president built upon the tasks upon which Estrada was deemed lacking, among them poverty reduction and the plight of the indigenous peoples.

New President designates Presidential Adviser

for Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs

In fact, President Arroyo’s first executive order established the Office • •

•

of the Presidential Adviser for Indigenous Peoples Affairs (OPAIPA), •

•

which aimed to make the promises of the IPRA concrete. Howard Q. Dee, •

• •

• 243

• 244 each of five of the seven ethnographic regions (as defined by the IPRA), the by defined (as regions ethnographic seven the of five of each •

•

• ultimately came up with a shortlist of three candidates for candidates three of shortlist a with up came ultimately

Committee Committee •

• Selection

venor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC). The The (NAPC). Commission Anti-Poverty National the of venor •

•

social anthropologist, an indigenous leader and headed by the Con- the by headed and leader indigenous an anthropologist, social •

Dee formed a Selection Committee composed of the DENR Secretary, a Secretary, DENR the of composed Committee Selection a formed Dee

ures for the selection of 6 Commissioners. 6 of selection the for ures proced and qualifications

and indigenous rights advocates, the group came up with a set of set a with up came group the advocates, rights indigenous and

series of consultations with indigenous peoples’ organisations peoples’ indigenous with consultations of series

A working group was formed for this purpose. Derived from a from Derived purpose. this for formed was group working A

was a task that President Arroyo entrusted to the OPAIPA. the to entrusted Arroyo President that task a was

2003), thus giving President Arroyo a free hand in this matter. This matter. this in hand free a Arroyo President giving thus 2003),

of Estrada’s rule and so his three-year term would not be over until over be not would term three-year his so and rule Estrada’s of

(one of the seven Commissioners was appointed just before the end the before just appointed was Commissioners seven the of (one

that the terms of most of the Commissioners ended in February 2001 February in ended Commissioners the of most of terms the that

upright and working Commission. The timing was right in the sense the in right was timing The Commission. working and upright

Any recommendations would come to nothing without a complete, a without nothing to come would recommendations Any

Selection of new commissioners new of Selection

consultation and interaction with the possible appointees.” possible the with interaction and consultation

officials of the region are accorded sufficient time to conduct ample conduct to time sufficient accorded are region the of officials

hold the oath-taking of the new commissioners until the “political the until commissioners new the of oath-taking the hold

Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) asking the President to with- to President the asking (CAR) Region Autonomous Cordillera

tial palace, signed by twenty Congressmen from Regions 1, 2 and the and 2 1, Regions from Congressmen twenty by signed palace, tial

haunting the OPAIPA. A letter was sent to Malacañang, the presiden- the Malacañang, to sent was letter A OPAIPA. the haunting

Pressure from various politicians and interest groups was always was groups interest and politicians various from Pressure

appointed just before that time. that before just appointed

the said date, even though the Commissioner to fill the last vacancy was vacancy last the fill to Commissioner the though even date, said the

new Commission was formed, whichever came first. Dee held office until office held Dee first. came whichever formed, was Commission new

The timeframe given to OPAIPA was until October 31, 2001, or until a until or 2001, 31, October until was OPAIPA to given timeframe The

response to emergency IP issues – and formed working groups for these. for groups working formed and – issues IP emergency to response

(CFPIC) and Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), and a rapid a and (CADT), Title Domain Ancestral of Certificates and (CFPIC)

communities to obtain Certificates of Free Prior and Informed Consent Informed and Prior Free of Certificates obtain to communities

the Commission, review and revision of the procedures for indigenous for procedures the of revision and review Commission, the

Commissioners, formation of the the of formation Commissioners, IPRA-mandated Consultative Body to Body Consultative IPRA-mandated

concerns that the OPAIPA should should OPAIPA the that concerns address – the selection of of selection the – address new NCIP new

tions and indigenous l indigenous and tions eaders. Together, they decided on the pressing the on decided they Together, eaders.

participation in this endeavour; he called on NGOs, peoples’ organisa- peoples’ NGOs, on called he endeavour; this in participation

sen to head this office. Dee’s approach was to harness civil society civil harness to was approach Dee’s office. this head to sen

Philippine rebels and renowned for his integrity and wisdom, was cho- was wisdom, and integrity his for renowned and rebels Philippine a former member of the government panel for peace negotiations with the with negotiations peace for panel government the of member former a from which the President could appoint the Commissioner for each of these regions. No candidates could be presented for the 6th ethno- graphic region where the DENR Secretary comes from, since he came up with his own candidates. Eventually, President Arroyo exercised her presidential prerogative to make a direct appointment of a Commissioner for that region with whom she had personal ties and one who was not so controversial that indigenous peoples and indigenous rights supporters would make a noise about it.

The selection process illustrated the kind of dynamics that the

OPAIPA and its working groups had to contend with. For outputs •

•

to be meaningful and practical, continuous balancing had to be •

•

accomplished: the IPRA provisions (which could not be easily • •

• changed and were a long-term prospect), the guidelines of the •

• 245

• 246 these, a process for the selection of the Consultative Body gradually Body Consultative the of selection the for process a these, • •

• ethnographic region during mid-2001. In the course of undertaking of course the In mid-2001. during region ethnographic •

•

initial outputs of the different OPAIPA workshops were held in each in held were workshops OPAIPA different the of outputs initial •

•

Consultations with indigenous peoples’ organisations on the on organisations peoples’ indigenous with Consultations •

resentation?

sub-groups and communities. What then could be the bases of rep- of bases the be could then What communities. and sub-groups

including the thorny matter of how to distinguish between groups, between distinguish to how of matter thorny the including

sive work on the total number of indigenous groups in the country, the in groups indigenous of number total the on work sive

on projections of estimates. For another, there had been no conclu- no been had there another, For estimates. of projections on

indigenous peoples existed. For one, the population count was based was count population the one, For existed. peoples indigenous

face-to-face with the realization that no hard data on Philippine on data hard no that realization the with face-to-face

indigenous peoples and indigenous rights advocates were brought were advocates rights indigenous and peoples indigenous

had to deal with the complicated issue of representation. Again, representation. of issue complicated the with deal to had

Apart from the dynamics mentioned earlier, the working group working the earlier, mentioned dynamics the from Apart

oup on the Consultative Body tackled. Body Consultative the on oup gr working

The lack of more specific directives was something that the OPAIPA the that something was directives specific more of lack The

region, and that gender and sectoral representation had to be ensured. be to had representation sectoral and gender that and region,

Body would be composed of 35 members, 5 from each ethnographic each from 5 members, 35 of composed be would Body

Consultative Body. The IRR merely stipulated that the Consultative the that stipulated merely IRR The Body. Consultative

very vague in describing the specifics for selecting the members of the of members the selecting for specifics the describing in vague very

overseeing functions. Another was that both the IPRA and IRR were IRR and IPRA the both that was Another functions. overseeing

do so (or not) as it saw fit. It could not therefore have significant have therefore not could It fit. saw it as not) (or so do

the Commission could convene the Consultative Body, and it could it and Body, Consultative the convene could Commission the

There were many problems in relation to this. One was that only that was One this. to relation in problems many were There

dated by the IPRA, which the first Commission did not establish. not did Commission first the which IPRA, the by dated

this could be done was by activating the Consultative Body as man- as Body Consultative the activating by was done be could this

search for ways of overseeing NCIP performance. One possible way possible One performance. NCIP overseeing of ways for search

The negative experience with the first Commission had prompted a prompted had Commission first the with experience negative The

Formation of the Consultative Body to the Commission the to Body Consultative the of Formation

record of service to indigenous peoples within civil society. civil within peoples indigenous to service of record

who had undergone a negotiated selection process and had a had and process selection negotiated a undergone had who

Commission since it was, for the most part, comprised of people of comprised part, most the for was, it since Commission

By the end of the OPAIPA term, there was great hope in the new the in hope great was there term, OPAIPA the of end the By

to be as participatory and broad-based as possible. as broad-based and participatory as be to

straints of a lack of time and financial resources vis-à-vis the desire the vis-à-vis resources financial and time of lack a of straints

of the various indigenous peoples’ organisations and the con- the and organisations peoples’ indigenous various the of

approaches of the myriad NGOs involved and, of course, the stands the course, of and, involved NGOs myriad the of approaches

but which, however, may take some time), the varied development varied the time), some take may however, which, but Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR, which may be revised be may which (IRR, Regulations and Rules Implementing evolved. Indigenous peoples’ organisations were unanimous in de- claring that ethnographic regional consultative bodies should be convened. It was also generally agreed that these ethnographic re- gional consultative bodies would exist independently of the Na- tional Consultative Body; i.e., they could convene even without the bidding of the NCIP. Each ethnographic region would determine the manner by which the members of its consultative body would be selected, many of them opting for representation of major groups at the provincial level first. Then each ethnographic regional consulta- tive body would be responsible for determining how to select the five representatives of each ethnographic region to the Consultative Bo- dy at the national level. Some recommendations for selection that emerged related to the need or issue to consult about, rotation or election. The round of consultations ended with a preliminary listing of members of each ethnographic regional consultation. The list again revealed the problems of determining representation: lack of mecha- nisms for small groups to be included, town-based politicised lead- ers versus community-based traditional leaders, multiple represen- tation by major groups at the expense of other groups, gender and sector based representation viewed as arbitrary given traditional male-dominated leadership, etc. And there was the added problem of who would finance these ethnographic regional formations, as they were not within the IPRA and IRR, and therefore could not be allocated a regular budget. As all these had the status of recommendations, by the end of OPAIPA’s days, it was left to the new Commission to carry on the work regarding formation of the Consultative Body. To date, how- ever, there has been no movement on this matter. The new Commis- sion declared that its more pressing concerns lay with the finaliza- tion of policies on the awarding of recognition to ancestral domains and lands and of Certificates of Free, Prior and Informed Consent, as well as the reorganization of the NCIP. A crucial factor to keep in mind is that the National Anti-poverty Commission (NAPC) has a council for each of the 14 basic sectors, each with its own consultative council, and that the indigenous peoples are one of these sectors. From the very start of the Arroyo

administration, the approach of the NAPC was to synchronize and

coordinate NAPC and NCIP thrusts as much as possible. Allegedly, •

•

one of the urgent calls of the NAPC Indigenous Peoples Sectoral •

•

Council is for the NCIP to immediately convene the Consultative • •

• Body. •

• 247

• 248 up appointed positions, reconciling the IPRA-defined ethnographic IPRA-defined the reconciling positions, appointed up • •

• implementation, regional politicians who play a heavy hand in filling in hand heavy a play who politicians regional implementation, •

•

that there is money for employees’ salaries but none for program for none but salaries employees’ for money is there that •

•

positions, a Congress that has still not passed the NCIP budget such budget NCIP the passed not still has that Congress a positions, •

that confine indigenous leaders with no formal schooling to janitorial to schooling formal no with leaders indigenous confine that

in coping with government bureaucracy, civil service requirements service civil bureaucracy, government with coping in

have to deal with so many issues, among them their own inexperience own their them among issues, many so with deal to have

ness and corruption. To address this situation, the Commissioners the situation, this address To corruption. and ness

an NCIP bureaucratic structure, well-known for its entrenched inept- entrenched its for well-known structure, bureaucratic NCIP an

One of the major burdens of the new Commission is that it inherited it that is Commission new the of burdens major the of One

Reorganization of the NCIP the of Reorganization

ment was downscaled in a recent cabinet meeting to 100,000 hectares. 100,000 to meeting cabinet recent a in downscaled was ment

not issued a single CADT. Aware of these difficulties, the SONA commit- SONA the difficulties, these of Aware CADT. single a issued not

technical know-how, much less funding, the NCIP had, by April 2002 still 2002 April by had, NCIP the funding, less much know-how, technical

race against time, the 100 CADTs seem an impossible dream. Lacking dream. impossible an seem CADTs 100 the time, against race

As the SONA commitment to indigenous peoples desperately tries to tries desperately peoples indigenous to commitment SONA the As

ment to releasing 100 CADTs to the indigenous peoples within a year. a within peoples indigenous the to CADTs 100 releasing to ment

of the Nation Address (SONA), President Arroyo committed the govern- the committed Arroyo President (SONA), Address Nation the of

during the opening of the Philippine Congress and the President’s State President’s the and Congress Philippine the of opening the during

the incoming NCIP commissioners as recommendations. In June 2001, June In recommendations. as commissioners NCIP incoming the

of procedures for the granting of these certificates, to be presented to presented be to certificates, these of granting the for procedures of

An OPAIPA working group was formed to review and propose a set a propose and review to formed was group working OPAIPA An

one single ancestral domain received a title during their time in office. in time their during title a received domain ancestral single one

departure, the actual granting was not pushed through, such that not that such through, pushed not was granting actual the departure,

former Commissioners had approved nine CADTs on the eve of their of eve the on CADTs nine approved had Commissioners former

CFPICs, many of them under spurious conditions. And while the while And conditions. spurious under them of many CFPICs,

regard. It granted over 300 CALTs and an undetermined number of number undetermined an and CALTs 300 over granted It regard.

Consent (CFPIC). But the first Commission failed miserably in this in miserably failed Commission first the But (CFPIC). Consent

tral Land Title (CALT) and Certificates of Free, Prior and Informed and Prior Free, of Certificates and (CALT) Title Land tral

Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), Certificates of Ances- of Certificates (CADT), Title Domain Ancestral of Certificates

portant provisions of the IPRA, through the NCIP’s processing of processing NCIP’s the through IPRA, the of provisions portant

and informed consent. Such recognition is thus among the very im- very the among thus is recognition Such consent. informed and

projects that affect their communities are there with their free, prior free, their with there are communities their affect that projects

nition of their ancestral domains and lands and by ensuring that ensuring by and lands and domains ancestral their of nition

is respect for indigenous peoples’ self-determination through recog- through self-determination peoples’ indigenous for respect is

A concrete expression of the upholding of indigenous peoples’ rights peoples’ indigenous of upholding the of expression concrete A

to obtain land titles land obtain to Review and revision of the procedures the of revision and Review regions with the geo-political regional structure within which the Philippine government functions, and many more. Now that the new Commission has issued the policies for CADTs/CALTs and CFPICs, it has said that its next priority is NCIP reorganization. An Admin- istrative Order of President Arroyo will provide additional support and will serve as the legal basis for the NCIP restructuring.

Diverging views and approaches

This article is not meant to convey the impression that the indigenous peoples of the Philippines and their supporters all stand behind the IPRA and are jointly struggling for its full implementation. There is a broad range of responses to the IPRA, ranging from those who believe that it sells out indigenous convictions regarding self-determination and the recognition of ancestral domain and land rights, and who therefore do not want to have anything to do with it, to those who see its many shortcomings but are willing to take this opening to further indigenous peoples’ rights within the mainstream, and those who like the law and contend that what is merely lacking is its proper implementation. Then there are the opposing forces, such as mining, logging or agri- business companies as well as political interests that would love to see the IPRA disappear so that they can continue their exploitation of indig- enous peoples’ ancestral domains. They would like nothing more than to see the new NCIP fail so that the abrogation of the IPRA can be justified. In the words of a former key person within the OPAIPA, never before had the indigenous peoples of the Philippines such an array of oppor- tunities within the government: a Supreme Court that has already twice defeated the constitutional challenge to the IPRA; a President who has spelt out specific targets for the upliftment of the indigenous peoples and is willing to allocate a budget for this; and a Commission most of whose members are from the ranks of those recognised to have worked within civil society for indigenous peoples’ rights. Whether or not President Arroyo is doing this out of political expediency or because of a genuine commitment to indigenous peoples’ self-determination is beside the point if one is to read the situation as presenting indigenous peoples with more choices and opportunities within the mainstream. Within the common

vision of indigenous peoples’ self-determination, all these conditions

shape their hopes and frustrations. At this point in time, the NCIP is •

•

being closely watched by all forces. It is a critical factor in determining •

•

whether or not hope once again becomes cemented into frustration. • •

• •

• 249

• 250 December 2001. This escalation to tribal war was partly instigated by instigated partly was war tribal to escalation This 2001. December • •

• Betwagan and Bugnay led to the onset of full-scale tribal war on war tribal full-scale of onset the to led Bugnay and Betwagan •

•

particular, the longstanding boundary dispute between the people of people the between dispute boundary longstanding the particular, •

•

Province has been recorded since the year 2001 to the present. In present. the to 2001 year the since recorded been has Province •

An alarming increase in tribal conflict in Kalinga and Mountain and Kalinga in conflict tribal in increase alarming An

of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. the of Forces Armed the of

military unit involved in all these atrocities is the 22 the is atrocities these all in involved unit military Special Force Special

nd

certain Sgt. Joel Torallo, based in Besao, Mountain Province. The Province. Mountain Besao, in based Torallo, Joel Sgt. certain

wood in the forest. In addition, a 17-year-old student was raped by a by raped was student 17-year-old a addition, In forest. the in wood

they were mistaken for rebel forces while they were gathering fire- gathering were they while forces rebel for mistaken were they

Tocucan, Bontoc were also the victims of indiscriminate firing when firing indiscriminate of victims the also were Bontoc Tocucan,

Sadanga, Mountain Province on August 9, 2001. Three children of children Three 2001. 9, August on Province Mountain Sadanga,

execution of Mr. Johnny Camareg, a 55-year-old farmer of Betwagan, of farmer 55-year-old a Camareg, Johnny Mr. of execution

Military operations in the Cordillera hinterlands led to the brutal the to led hinterlands Cordillera the in operations Military

instability than peace in the region. the in peace than instability

to the military establishment. Many fear that this will lead to more to lead will this that fear Many establishment. military the to

justice, has now coddled this vigilante group, adding more bad eggs bad more adding group, vigilante this coddled now has justice,

of CPLA atrocities feel that the new government, instead of providing of instead government, new the that feel atrocities CPLA of

nal activities such as robbery and extortion. The families of the victims the of families The extortion. and robbery as such activities nal

leaders and members of the CPLA have also been identified in crimi- in identified been also have CPLA the of members and leaders

and staff of development NGOs between 1987 and 1992. Several 1992. and 1987 between NGOs development of staff and

several leaders and members of the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) Alliance Peoples’ Cordillera the of members and leaders several

CPLA elements have been responsible for the political killings of killings political the for responsible been have elements CPLA

this measure as an act of grave injustice to the people of the the of people the to injustice grave of act an as measure this . Cordillera

Cause-oriented groups and human rights advocates denounced advocates rights human and groups Cause-oriented

Cordillera. It has allocated 60 million pesos to the integration process. integration the to pesos million 60 allocated has It Cordillera.

According to the government, this order is meant to build peace in the in peace build to meant is order this government, the to According

others have joined the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU). Unit Geographical Forces Armed Civilian the joined have others

264 CPLA regulars have since become part of the AFP, while 528 while AFP, the of part become since have regulars CPLA 264

Army (CPLA) into the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Around (AFP). Philippines the of Forces Armed the into (CPLA) Army

Order No. 18 on the integration of the Cordillera Peoples’ Liberation Peoples’ Cordillera the of integration the on 18 No. Order

In September 2001, President Macapagal Arroyo issued Executive issued Arroyo Macapagal President 2001, September In

which alarmed even the UN Commission on Human Rights. Human on Commission UN the even alarmed which

number of human rights violations against the indigenous peoples, indigenous the against violations rights human of number

Agusan province on Mindanao. There is growing concern at the at concern growing is There Mindanao. on province Agusan

petrated on indigenous communities in Bukidnon, Zamboanga and Zamboanga Bukidnon, in communities indigenous on petrated

sion and other forms of oppression. Deaths and massacres were per- were massacres and Deaths oppression. of forms other and sion

ing, the indigenous peoples had no respite from development aggres- development from respite no had peoples indigenous the ing,

In the meantime, while all this planning and preparation was ongo- was preparation and planning this all while meantime, the In

and development aggression development and The ongoing crisis: militarization crisis: ongoing The elements of the CPLA based in Bugnay. Five individuals have already been killed and three wounded as a result of this conflict. Other conflicts are related to boundary delineation, resource-use competi- tion over forests and water sources and criminal incidents. The Bo- dong Pongors Organization (BPO) of tribal elders and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance have been holding series of workshops with elders for the peaceful settlements of tribal conflicts and calling for a stop to tribal wars. The indigenous peoples of Itogon, especially the Ibaloy of Da- lupirip, remain very anxious as construction of the San Roque Dam is due to be completed by mid-2002. In June 2001, an independent evaluation of the NCIP on the dam construction confirmed that there was no Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) given by the indig- enous peoples affected by the dam project. The FPIC is a legal require- ment under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). On March 15, 2002, the Itogon Inter-Baranggay Alliance (IIB-A) submitted a petition to the NCIP to issue a cease and desist order on the ongoing construc- tion of the San Roque Dam. The affected communities have been lobbying the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the funder of the dam project, to withdraw its financial support from the project. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company is set to expand its min- ing operations within Mankayan towards Bakuna and Buguias in Benguet, and Tadian, Bauko and Bontoc in the Mountain Province. Residents of Colalo, Mankayan are protesting at the expansion of the Lepanto tailings dam complex because it will cover their farms and residential lots. Meanwhile, farmers living below the tailings dam complex believe that the massive silting of the Abra river, and the periodic flooding along its banks, are due to the build-up of Lepanto tailings in the river. There is now growing opposition to the Lepanto’s operation from farmers along the Abra River, and those in the expan- sion area of Lepanto’s operation.

The situation in Palawan

The biggest challenge faced by indigenous organizations and NGOs in Palawan at present is the establishment of a nickel refinery by Rio

Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. (RTNMC). Mining activities by RTNMC

are presently located in the municipality of Bataraza. The proponent, •

•

RTNMC, intends to maximise its operations by utilising the existing •

•

low-grade nickel ores currently stored in open dumpsites within its • •

• concession. This would justify the establishment of a nickel refinery •

• 251

• 252 •

• a full member of the UN. the of member full a •

O •

- the Land of the Rising Sun - a fully independent nation, and nation, independent fully a - Sun Rising the of Land the - •

•

n May 20 2002, East Timor will finally become Timor Lorosa’e Timor become finally will Timor East 2002, 20 May n •

•

TIMOR LOROSA’E (EAST TIMOR) (EAST LOROSA’E TIMOR

(FAO) of the United Nations. United the of (FAO)

2000/1, Food and Agriculture Organization Agriculture and Food 2000/1, Settlement and Cooperatives and Settlement

in in Future?” a there Is Philippines: the island, Palawan Land Reform: Land Reform: Land

“Recognition of Ancestral Domain Claims on Claims Domain Ancestral of “Recognition . Novellino, Dario. 2000 Dario. Novellino,

b

48: 347-72. 48: Studies

in in Palawan” in Conservation “Forest Philippine . Novellino, Dario. 2000 Dario. Novellino,

a

Official Publication of CPA. of Publication Official HAPIT-

References and sources and References

DENR.

(PCSD) in December 2001, and now awaits final approval from approval final awaits now and 2001, December in (PCSD)

endorsed by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Sustainable for Council Palawan the by endorsed

thermal metallurgical processing plant application was favorably was application plant processing metallurgical thermal

and Natural Resources (DENR). It would appear that the hydro- the that appear would It (DENR). Resources Natural and

and has been submitted by PNNI to the Department of Environment of Department the to PNNI by submitted been has and

against RTNMC was jointly signed by indigenous representatives, indigenous by signed jointly was RTNMC against

communities affected and the local NGOs. As a result, a petition a result, a As NGOs. local the and affected communities

15 2001, various consultations took place between the indigenous the between place took consultations various 2001,

ELAC (Environmental Legal Assistance Center). From January 9 to 9 January From Center). Assistance Legal (Environmental ELAC

been acquired by both BPP (Bangsa Palawan, Philippines, Inc.) and Inc.) Philippines, Palawan, (Bangsa BPP both by acquired been

environmentally destructive practices, and field information have information field and practices, destructive environmentally

a major fight against RTNMC. Photographic evidence of RTNMC’s of evidence Photographic RTNMC. against fight major a

the PNNI (the Palawan NGOs Network, Inc.), launched Inc.), Network, NGOs Palawan (the PNNI the by headed

Between 2001/2002, non-government organizations in Palawan, in organizations non-government 2001/2002, Between

tuöd, Barangay Iwahig and Rio Tuba proper. Tuba Rio and Iwahig Barangay tuöd,

areas under serious threat include: Sitio Gutok, Sarung and Kulan- and Sarung Gutok, Sitio include: threat serious under areas

livelihoods of several Pälawan indigenous communities. Some of the of Some communities. indigenous Pälawan several of livelihoods

stone quarrying operations, with disastrous consequences for the for consequences disastrous with operations, quarrying stone plant, of a support hydrogen sulphide production plant and lime- and plant production sulphide hydrogen support a of plant, The territory of Timor Lorosa’e is made up of four parts: the mainland, i.e. the eastern half of the island of Timor, 16,384 sq.kms; the Oecusse enclave, which lies on the northern coast of West Timor (Indonesia) 2,461 sq.kms; the island of Atauro, 23 kilometres off the northern coast of East Timor and its capital Dili; and the tiny island of Jaco, 8 sq.kms east of the eastern tip of the mainland. The total population is esti- mated at around 800,000. After almost 24 years of Indonesian occupation, and deeply marked materially and spiritually by the outbreak of violence following the UN-organised referendum in August 1999 (see The Indigenous World 2000-2001), East Timor has, since October 1999, been administrated by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) in preparation for independence.

Successful elections

The first step was the elections for the Constituent Assembly, which

took place on 30 August 2001 as the country’s first elections since

the end of Indonesian rule. •

•

Fretilin, the Timorese Front for National Liberation, the party that •

•

declared East Timor independent in 1975 and the largest single force • •

• in the long fight against occupation, won 57 per cent of the votes, •

• 253

• 254 Indonesia would set back reform efforts and democracy in Indonesia in democracy and efforts reform back set would Indonesia • •

• to the September 11 attack on the US. Renewing military relations with relations military Renewing US. the on attack 11 September the to •

•

tration not to strengthen ties with the Indonesian military in reaction in military Indonesian the with ties strengthen to not tration •

•

Human Rights Network (IHRN) have also urged the Bush adminis- Bush the urged also have (IHRN) Network Rights Human •

violations, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) and the Indonesia the and (ETAN) Network Action Timor East the violations,

Citing ongoing human rights abuses and lack of accountability for accountability of lack and abuses rights human ongoing Citing

ing presence in East Timor during 2002-2003. during Timor East in presence ing

say they plan to increase hostilities when the UN reduces its peacekeep- its reduces UN the when hostilities increase to plan they say

from their bases in the West Timor refugee camps. Many militia leaders militia Many camps. refugee Timor West the in bases their from

tias continue to destabilize East Timor by launching cross-border raids cross-border launching by Timor East destabilize to continue tias

Border security is another issue. Indonesian military-backed mili- military-backed Indonesian issue. another is security Border

controlled refugee camps, mostly in Indonesian West Timor. West Indonesian in mostly camps, refugee controlled

refugees - continues to be held in Indonesian military and militia- and military Indonesian in held be to continues - refugees

approximately one-tenth of East Timor’s population – or about 80,000 about or – population Timor’s East of one-tenth approximately

Relations with Indonesia are marked by the continuing refugee crisis: refugee continuing the by marked are Indonesia with Relations

Relations with Indonesia with Relations

the challenges of the future. the of challenges the

ber 2001, the new nation now faces both the legacies of the past and past the of legacies the both faces now nation new the 2001, ber

establishment of the Second Transitional Administration on Septem- on Administration Transitional Second the of establishment

get rid of the Indonesians. Now this problem is gone but since the since but gone is problem this Now Indonesians. the of rid get

For 24 years, the East Timorese had one overriding problem: how to how problem: overriding one had Timorese East the years, 24 For

Legacies of the past and challenges of the future the of challenges and past the of Legacies

adopted.

members of the Assembly must approve the constitution for it to be to it for constitution the approve must Assembly the of members

Fretilin vote, such a strategy is now not so easy. At least 60 of the 88 the of 60 least At easy. so not now is strategy a such vote, Fretilin

onstitution in the assembly. Given the considerable non- considerable the Given assembly. the in onstitution c the draft to

Fretilin had hoped that it would win a large enough majority to be able be to majority enough large a win would it that hoped had Fretilin

six seats. six

tively. The Social Democratic Association of Timor (ASDT) will also hold also will (ASDT) Timor of Association Democratic Social The tively.

second largest block of seats after after seats of block largest second Fretilin, with 7 and 6 seats respec- seats 6 and 7 with Fretilin,

Party received strong votes in many districts, and they now have the have now they and districts, many in votes strong received Party

newer parties. The Democratic Party (PD) and the Social Democratic Social the and (PD) Party Democratic The parties. newer

sembly. This reflects considerable public openness and interest in the in interest and openness public considerable reflects This sembly.

Twelve parties are now represented in the 88-seat Constituent As- Constituent 88-seat the in represented now are parties Twelve

predicting.

yet the results still fell short of the 85-90 per cent the party had been had party the cent per 85-90 the of short fell still results the yet gaining 12 of the 13 district seats and 43 of the 75 national seats. And seats. national 75 the of 43 and seats district 13 the of 12 gaining while undermining East Timor’s security, the groups said. The US has withheld most military assistance from Indonesia since the Indone- sian military and militia razed East Timor in September 1999 after it voted overwhelmingly for independence.

Reconstruction and development The country faces a huge reconstruction task. The Indonesian reprisal in 1999 left the infrastructure (roads, health clinics, hospitals, schools, etc.) in a very poor condition and many houses are in ruins. People lost their livelihoods. Fields and crops were burnt, livestock killed, tools stolen, equipment smashed. Nearly everyone must find the capital, equipment and stock needed to start again. There is widespread poverty, and poor health services, especially in the rural areas where the majority of the population lives. Maternal and infant mortality rates are high. New figures produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in early 2002 show that twice as many women die in childbirth in East Timor than anywhere else in East Asia or the Western Pacific. According to the health organisation, there are only 196 midwives available for a population of 800,000. Illiteracy rates - particularly among women – are very high. Over 147,000 children are currently attending primary schools in the country’s 13 districts. Yet the absence of a standard syllabus, the shortage of trained schoolteachers and school facilities are major problems facing primary education. A new educational system and new school books are also needed since education, until 1998, was based on Indonesian material.

The language issue One of the greatest challenges lies in the choice of language for East Timor: at least four languages are used and/or preferred, and more than thirty dialects are spoken. While Portuguese has been chosen as the country-to-be’s official language, to be used in all official business, the vast majority of the population is not fluent in Portuguese, and Tetun (an Indo-European idiom similar to Malay but with strong Portuguese and other influences) remains the national lingua franca, spoken by most East Timorese at home alongside their provincial

dialects. While this may not be a huge problem , a greater difficulty

is posed by the fact that, as all official business as well as education •

•

has been conducted in Malay (the so-called Bahasa Indonesia) for the •

•

last 26 years, this remains the language to which most civil servants • •

• are accustomed, including of course teachers - and their textbooks. •

• 255

• 256 ary law favours men over women. Among the practices that East that practices the Among women. over men favours law ary •

•

• East Timorese society, tradition and custom- and tradition society, Timorese East In relationship. gender •

•

Another problem faced by East Timorese women is the unequal the is women Timorese East by faced problem Another •

•

were brought to East Timor as “trans-migrants”. as Timor East to brought were •

number of East Timorese low while more Indonesians from Indonesia from Indonesians more while low Timorese East of number

change the demographic composition of the population, keeping the keeping population, the of composition demographic the change

out their knowledge and consent. The purpose of this policy was to was policy this of purpose The consent. and knowledge their out

were sterilised when they came to state-run health clinics, often with- often clinics, health state-run to came they when sterilised were

) - many Timorese women Timorese many - ) ( program KB Program Keluarga Berencana Keluarga Program

As a result of the Indonesian special family planning policy - the - policy planning family special Indonesian the of result a As

stigmatised - as well as fatherless. as well as - stigmatised

if the relationship had produced a child, the child would also be also would child the child, a produced had relationship the if

from 1975 to 1999. Many were furthermore socially stigmatised and, stigmatised socially furthermore were Many 1999. to 1975 from

they suffered during the Indonesian military occupation military Indonesian the during suffered they treatment

Many are deeply traumatised by the sexual abuse and degrading and abuse sexual the by traumatised deeply are Many

their country’s future constitution. But their problems are far from over. from far are problems their But constitution. future country’s their

organise themselves, and now they will participate in the shaping of shaping the in participate will they now and themselves, organise

dictatorship ruled their lives. Now they may speak out, now they may they now out, speak may they Now lives. their ruled dictatorship

speak out, not allowed to organise themselves. A brutal and foreign and brutal A themselves. organise to allowed not out, speak

For many years, the women of East Timor were not allowed to allowed not were Timor East of women the years, many For

women’s rights charter into the constitution would be their next goal. next their be would constitution the into charter rights women’s

East Timor hailed the development and said the incorporation of a of incorporation the said and development the hailed Timor East

but only 23 of them actually took their places. Women’s rights groups in groups rights Women’s places. their took actually them of 23 only but

into East Timorese politics. Overall, women won 24 seats in the assembly the in seats 24 won women Overall, politics. Timorese East into

The elections to the Constituent Assembly marked the entry of women of entry the marked Assembly Constituent the to elections The

Women make their mark their make Women

zations. English is the working language of UNTAET. of language working the is English zations.

civil administration) and of international non-governmental organi- non-governmental international of and administration) civil

personnel presence (9,000 in the Peacekeeping forces; 2,000 in the in 2,000 forces; Peacekeeping the in (9,000 presence personnel

trendy language of the youth, after almost three years of massive UN massive of years three almost after youth, the of language trendy

replace either. To complicate things further, English has become the become has English further, things complicate To either. replace

instead. A few would like to see Tetun become a written language to language written a become Tetun see to like would few A instead.

compatriots may still favour the practical use of Indonesia’s language Indonesia’s of use practical the favour still may compatriots

would not dream of any alternative, many of their less educated less their of many alternative, any of dream not would

an official language. While most leaders - especially former exiles - exiles former especially - leaders most While language. official an

Many East Timorese still doubt the effectiveness of Portuguese as Portuguese of effectiveness the doubt still Timorese East Many

not been fully developed as a language. a as developed fully been not

while replacing it with Tetun would be impracticable, since Tetun has Tetun since impracticable, be would Tetun with it replacing while Replacing it with Portuguese in the short term would be impossible, be would term short the in Portuguese with it Replacing Timorese women’s rights activists want scrapped is the traditional dowry system, which they say reinforces a patriarchal society system. According to Manuela Leong Pereira, the director of Fokupers, the East Timorese Women’s Communication Forum, an independent NGO, domestic violence has existed in East Timor for a long time, though largely hidden from public view or discussion. She states:

We rarely read about non-public violence, such as that which takes place inside the home and which is actually more pervasive. This silence is extremely dangerous. East Timor has inherited Indonesia’s legal code in which there is no specific reference to domestic violence. The law must also give protection to women facing violence.

Preparing the future

As one of its first actions, the Second Transitional Administration has put a Commission on Planning in place to steer the preparation of the National Development Plan so that it is ready before Independence Day, 20 May 2002. One of its components is the Consultative Commis- sion of Civil Society on Development (CCCSD). The process for the preparation of a National Development Plan has two core objectives: (1) to fully reflect the needs and aspirations of the Timorese people; and (2) to focus on an action plan for reducing poverty. The CCCSD is responsible for advising on how institutional ele- ments of civil society, both traditional and modern, can use their networks to maximise the participation of the East Timorese people in the consultation process. The consultation’s major output will be the compilation of the people’s vision for East Timor for the medium (2002-2005) to long term (2020), which, in turn, is expected to be incorporated into the final plan for the development of the nation for the next two decades.

References and sources

Retbøll, Torben. 2001. Report from Networking Trip. IWGIA. Retbøll, Torben. 2002. “The Women of East Timor”. Paper prepared for the

East Timor Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, 21 May 2002.

•

Pacific News Bulletin. Vol.16,9 (September 2001), Vol.17,1 (January 2002). •

•

Maurizio Giuliani. Personal communication. 2002. •

•

Timor Aid: www.timoraid.org • • •

• 257 • 258 •

•

While the discourse of the “blue collar” movements for regional au- regional for movements collar” “blue the of discourse the While •

• deeply entrenched in the old power structures of the Soeharto regime. Soeharto the of structures power old the in entrenched deeply • •

•

the politics of repression) but rather in the local elites, many of them of many elites, local the in rather but repression) of politics the •

tion were not based in civil society (which had had to suffer most from most suffer to had had (which society civil in based not were tion

Soeharto, yet the major forces behind the call for radical decentraliza- radical for call the behind forces major the yet Soeharto,

repression and abuse by the centralised and authoritarian state led by led state authoritarian and centralised the by abuse and repression

outright secession. These pressures were a reaction to decades of decades to reaction a were pressures These secession. outright

not just for autonomy but an even looser federal state or, in some cases, some in or, state federal looser even an but autonomy for just not

thing of a panic measure at a time of rising pressure from the regions the from pressure rising of time a at measure panic a of thing

regional and village government from 1974 and 1979. and 1974 from government village and regional It was some- was It

1

1999 on Regional Government replaced the two New Order laws on laws Order New two the replaced Government Regional on 1999

was decentralization. Passed under President Habibie, Law No. 22 of 22 No. Law Habibie, President under Passed decentralization. was

One very significant reform, which was carried through energetically, through carried was which reform, significant very One

empowering indigenous peoples? indigenous empowering

– regions the Empowering

ples of the Archipelago. the of ples

or the Alliance of Indigenous Peo- Indigenous of Alliance the or Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara Adat Masyarakat Aliansi

the formation of a national umbrella organization called AMAN called organization umbrella national a of formation the ,

tives from all over the country. The major result of this meeting was meeting this of result major The country. the over all from tives

in this regard was the meeting in March 1999 in Jakarta of representa- of Jakarta in 1999 March in meeting the was regard this in

parts of Indonesia to begin to reclaim their rights. A watershed event watershed A rights. their reclaim to begin to Indonesia of parts

This also provided a new opportunity for indigenous peoples in all in peoples indigenous for opportunity new a provided also This

freedoms in key areas such as the press and political organization. political and press the as such areas key in freedoms

Order and the repression that was its hallmark led to unprecedented to led hallmark its was that repression the and Order

pable of protecting themselves. Nevertheless, the end of the New the of end the Nevertheless, themselves. protecting of pable

interests within the bureaucracy and the political system proved ca- proved system political the and bureaucracy the within interests

T

New Order regime did not generally materialize, as entrenched as materialize, generally not did regime Order New

he high hopes for fundamental reforms after the fall of Soeharto’s of fall the after reforms fundamental for hopes high he

INDONESIA

peace/etimor/etimor

UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET): www.un.org/ (UNTAET): Timor East in Administration Transitional UN East Timor Action Network (ETAN): www.etan.org (ETAN): Network Action Timor East tonomy led by these circles demanded the claiming of “traditional rights”, the ethnic groups whom they wanted to enfranchise were mainly the locally-dominant ones, not the often politically and socially marginal indigenous communities. Any discussion of the merits and shortcomings of “regional autonomy” in Indonesia, therefore, must take note that the official (and, indeed, also the NGO movement’s) category of adat-based (traditional) rights is much broader than the standard notion of indigenous rights in international legal discourse. The new law went quite far in devolving power to the districts (kabupaten), while the powers granted to the provinces themselves were narrowly circumscribed, concerned only with managing matters not assigned to the districts, or involving cross-boundary affairs. As the main beneficiary of decentralization, the district became a fully self-governing entity (unlike before, when it was also an administra- tive unit under the province and the state) with potentially extensive powers to manage its lands and natural resources as well as to raise revenues (provided for under a separate law). Reflecting the consid- erable demographic and economic growth of the preceding decades, and harking back to pre-existing autonomous polities from the colo- nial and pre-colonial period, many New Order districts were divided up into smaller entities, bringing autonomous government signifi- cantly closer to local communities. Those local communities, i.e. villages, were themselves also to a

significant extent reorganized under the new law. In a tone very

different from the village law of 1979, the new law declares that the •

•

village has “authority to regulate and manage the interests of the •

•

local community based on its origins and local customs and tradi- • •

• tions that are recognized within the system of national government” •

• 259

• 260 and, of course, for going too far in dismantling centralized state power state centralized dismantling in far too going for course, of and, • •

• been criticized for its ambiguities and the poor quality of its drafting its of quality poor the and ambiguities its for criticized been •

•

While the new legislation on regional and local autonomy has autonomy local and regional on legislation new the While •

•

honoured in accordance with evolving epochs and civilization.” and epochs evolving with accordance in honoured • 4

“Cultural identity and the rights of traditional communities are to be to are communities traditional of rights the and identity “Cultural

entitled to protection against such discriminating treatment”, and (3) and treatment”, discriminating such against protection to entitled

to be free from discriminating treatment on whatever grounds and grounds whatever on treatment discriminating from free be to

Particularly relevant sections are Article 28I (2): “Everyone is entitled is “Everyone (2): 28I Article are sections relevant Particularly

cance to indigenous peoples is a new chapter on Human Rights. Human on chapter new a is peoples indigenous to cance

Another extensive addendum to the Constitution of great signifi- great of Constitution the to addendum extensive Another

for arguing their continuing relevance in given situations. given in relevance continuing their arguing for

nition of such rights in the Constitution provides an important basis important an provides Constitution the in rights such of nition

may have the potential to nullify them, the novel and explicit recog- explicit and novel the them, nullify to potential the have may

While traditional rights are thus subject to certain qualifications that qualifications certain to subject thus are rights traditional While

laws.

3

Republic of Indonesia as a unitary state, as they are regulated by regulated are they as state, unitary a as Indonesia of Republic

in line with the development of society as well as the principles of the of principles the as well as society of development the with line in

their traditional rights as far as these remain a living reality and are and reality living a remain these as far as rights traditional their

adat adat law communities as well as well as communities law the honours and recognizes state The

clause is especially interesting: especially is clause

was greatly expanded and clarified. In the present context, the last the context, present the In clarified. and expanded greatly was

were passed in the year 2000, the chapter on Regional Government Regional on chapter the 2000, year the in passed were

It is noteworthy that in amendments to the Constitution, which Constitution, the to amendments in that noteworthy is It

origins, as well as customs and traditions of the village (Article 111). (Article village the of traditions and customs as well as origins,

is also stated that district bylaws must recognize and honour the rights, the honour and recognize must bylaws district that stated also is

body in planning, implementation and monitoring (Article 110). It 110). (Article monitoring and implementation planning, in body

have a duty to involve the village government and representative and government village the involve to duty a have

parties that are planning developments in the territory of a village a of territory the in developments planning are that parties

It is, furthermore, specified that district government and/or third and/or government district that specified furthermore, is, It

of village affairs (Article 104). (Article affairs village of

duit for the aspirations of the community, and to oversee the running the oversee to and community, the of aspirations the for duit

), make village regulations, to be a con- a be to regulations, village make ), ( traditions and adat istiadat adat

themselves. The duties of the representatives are to protect customs protect to are representatives the of duties The themselves.

whose members must be chosen by and from among the villagers the among from and by chosen be must members whose

formation of a Village Representative Council ( Council Representative Village a of formation Badan Perwakilan Desa) Perwakilan Badan

rectly-elected village head (Article 95), the law also provides for the for provides also law the 95), (Article head village rectly-elected

indigenous cultural and political traditions. In addition to a di- a to addition In traditions. political and cultural indigenous

governments, at least the new law makes an explicit reference to reference explicit an makes law new the least at governments,

functions that have not yet been accorded to district or provincial or district to accorded been yet not have that functions

(Article 1). (Article While the authority of the village is limited only to those to only limited is village the of authority the While 2 in the view of some, it has clearly altered the context of maintaining local or traditional rights very substantially. This is especially so for the large ethnic groups that constitute majorities in their areas and whose members control legislatures and administrations at the dis- trict level. To take one example, the Malays in Jambi or Riau province, whether they are considered as tradition-bound or not, are not only fully in control of the governing institutions in the villages where they reside but also at the levels of the district and the province, where officials up to and including the Governor are now of preference recruited on the basis of their ethnic and local affiliation. Compare this to a situation just four years ago, when all these institutions were subverted by the central government for the purpose of gaining access to and exploiting lands and resources. The question, of course, is to what degree the windfall of these momentous changes also benefits those ethnic groups whose political bargaining position has tradi- tionally been and continues to be weakest – the indigenous peoples, and among them in particular those that never produced any kind of educated middle-class who could articulate their demands.

Minorities among minorities: the special problem of marginal indigenous communities

The paradigmatic shift from unitary nation-state to regional auto- nomy has not so far addressed the special problem of protecting indigenous peoples, especially the very small ones, from cultural extinction and social and economic disintegration. Under the New Order, some of these were targeted for government assistance, pro- vided under the Social Affairs Ministry program for isolated tribes. In practice, what it amounted to was resettlement which, rather than solving basic problems, especially as seen by the groups themselves, caused disruptions and exposed the groups concerned to increased risks of marginalization by uprooting them from their lands and denying them access to their livelihood bases. With decentralization, the role of the Social Affairs Ministry has been greatly diminished; under President Abdurrahman Wahid it was even temporarily abolished. Its role with respect to traditional

communities is reduced to developing general guidelines for districts,

which now have authority over both policy, allocation of funds and •

•

extending assistance to “isolated adat communities” (masyarakat adat •

•

terpencil), as the target groups are now called. The newly-renamed • •

• Directorate for Isolated Adat Communities has adopted progressive •

• 261

• 262 responsive to local needs. They demand that local-level legislation local-level that demand They needs. local to responsive • •

• and social systems in an effort to make village government more government village make to effort an in systems social and •

•

governments to consider crucial aspects of indigenous governance indigenous of aspects crucial consider to governments •

•

communities allied under AMAN have been trying to push local push to trying been have AMAN under allied communities •

institutions at the village level that went with it. Those indigenous Those it. with went that level village the at institutions

previous centralised government and the subversion of traditional of subversion the and government centralised previous

expand its control over the people, rather than as an alternative to the to alternative an as than rather people, the over control its expand

the policy is increasingly often seen as a new venue for the state to state the for venue new a as seen often increasingly is policy the

started to respond critically to the policy of Local Autonomy. Today, Autonomy. Local of policy the to critically respond to started

groups that suffered the most from decades of bad governance, have governance, bad of decades from most the suffered that groups

general in their lives. Indigenous peoples, who were among those among were who peoples, Indigenous lives. their in general

communities have started to question the relevance of the state in state the of relevance the question to started have communities

make an impact on villagers’ lives, many peasant and indigenous and peasant many lives, villagers’ on impact an make

a lesser degree – provincial levels of government has been slow to slow been has government of levels provincial – degree lesser a

As the ongoing devolution of power from national to district and – to – and district to national from power of devolution ongoing the As

Local government and indigenous aspirations indigenous and government Local

contributing to the marginality of the smaller groups. smaller the of marginality the to contributing

7

truly needed or, at the very least, in order to avoid inadvertently avoid to order in least, very the at or, needed truly

both priorities and strategies so as to make an impact where it is most is it where impact an make to as so strategies and priorities both

rights of indigenous peoples would thus be well-advised to clarify to well-advised be thus would peoples indigenous of rights

attention and advocacy support. Those who wish to support the support to wish who Those support. advocacy and attention

these altogether, such as the Orang Rimba, are in particular need of need particular in are Rimba, Orang the as such altogether, these

access even to village-level political institutions or who are outside are who or institutions political village-level to even access

marginal indigenous communities, especially those who have poor have who those especially communities, indigenous marginal

the Punan, and so forth. It seems, therefore, that the traditionally the that therefore, seems, It forth. so and Punan, the

gatherers like the Kubu or Orang Rimba, the Talang Mamak, the Sakai, the Mamak, Talang the Rimba, Orang or Kubu the like gatherers

groups. Examples are forest-dwelling shifting cultivators or hunter- or cultivators shifting forest-dwelling are Examples groups.

by exploitation and discrimination on the part of regionally dominant regionally of part the on discrimination and exploitation by

in mind that traditional inter-ethnic relations have often been marked been often have relations inter-ethnic traditional that mind in

level through their control of of control their through level government. It should be borne be should It government. kabupaten

now been put in control of overall resource management at the district the at management resource overall of control in put been now

tional status and the special rights thereby entailed, and who have who and entailed, thereby rights special the and status tional

in being surrounded by ethnic majorities who, too, may claim tradi- claim may too, who, majorities ethnic by surrounded being in

Small indigenous minorities are faced with a particular problem particular a with faced are minorities indigenous Small

to be seen what the districts will do with their indigenous minorities. indigenous their with do will districts the what seen be to

resettlement still being pivotal in introducing change. introducing in pivotal being still resettlement It now remains now It

6

authorities differ little in substance from the earlier approach, with approach, earlier the from substance in little differ authorities

catchword. But the technical guidelines that are distributed to regional to distributed are that guidelines technical the But

5 terminology in its general guidelines, “empowerment” being a key a being “empowerment” guidelines, general its in terminology should acknowledge the right of local people to be governed by tra- ditional adat institutions. Drafts of Local Regulations reflecting this demand have been pro- duced in some regions, such as in West Kalimantan and Bali without, however, having yet been brought into force. In West Lampung, how- ever, 13 Local Regulations are now in force, establishing local govern- ment units and governance practice in accordance with traditional indigenous institutions and practices, and redrawing administrative boundaries along the lines of traditional communal territories. For example, West Lampung’s Local Regulation No. 02/2000 replaces the New Order entities desa and kelurahan with their traditional equiva- lents, pekon and pertain. Similarly, Local Regulations in Toraja, South Sulawesi, established the traditional local political unit, lembang, as the basis of local government, while Bali introduced the desa pekraman for the same function. The fact that, gradually, cultural diversity is reasserting itself in the shape of resurgent local governance institutions testifies to growing pressure – both from the grassroots and the public – for the recogni- tion of indigenous social systems and ways of life. In this regard, however, it is important that the indigenous movement keep things in perspective and realize that states everywhere in the world have periodically tried to gain credence and loyalty by adopting local terminology, and that the risk of the state trying to manipulate indig- enous governance and customary law systems is very real. Even with decentralization as the new buzzword, the chance that the state starts to resemble local society is much less likely than the opposite – that local society continues to be refurbished in the image of the state. Clearly, the re-introduction of indigenous governance systems as a way of rolling back the impact of state-imposed homogenization, which has destroyed many autochthonous social systems in Indone- sia, is an effort that deserves indigenous Indonesians’ support. All the while, however, indigenous organizations should be wary of attempts by the state to infiltrate indigenous governance systems with its organs, thus diluting and, finally, subverting them. Thus, in some provincial districts, the bupati (District Head) has been promoted to a position of special authority in indigenous governance systems. Such develop- ments have the potential to destroy the realization of the goal of

autonomy for indigenous communities. A look at local governments’

record on natural resource management is instructive in that respect. •

•

Extractive industries that exploit forest resources have not been reined •

•

in by the new local power-wielders. On the contrary, forests are seen • •

• by most local governments as a prime source of revenue, so that the •

• 263

• 264 source management are now once and for all placed firmly in the in firmly placed all for and once now are management source • •

• Decree is derived from the fact that agrarian reform and natural re- natural and reform agrarian that fact the from derived is Decree •

•

people-oriented natural resource management. The significance of the of significance The management. resource natural people-oriented •

•

brella regulation offering a space for agrarian reform and equitable, and reform agrarian for space a offering regulation brella •

November 9, 2001. It was the first time the state had passed an um- an passed had state the time first the was It 2001. 9, November

in the Indonesian “parliamentary” system), which was passed on passed was which system), “parliamentary” Indonesian the in

MPR/2001 by the People’s Consultative Assembly (the upper house upper (the Assembly Consultative People’s the by MPR/2001

Another important political event was the passing of Decree No IX/ No Decree of passing the was event political important Another

management policies management

Legislative change in the field of natural resource natural of field the in change Legislative

Papua (Sentani), etc. (Sentani), Papua

in (Flores), Manggarai in Lombok, West in yo boa/adak pamusungan

in Toraja, in Sulawesi, Central in Kaili the among lembang ngata/boya

in Minahasa, Minahasa, in Lampung, in Sumatra, South kampung/ negeri pekon

in (Minangkabau), Sumatra West in Aceh, in marga nagari mukim

and Tapanuli, of the Kalimantan, in / the gampong huta banua binua

we now see the re-emergence of different local political systems, like systems, political local different of re-emergence the see now we

ues, which tend to differ from one community to another. This is why is This another. to community one from differ to tend which ues,

by locally specific historical experiences and parochial cultural val- cultural parochial and experiences historical specific locally by

of legal issues. Such autonomy is ultimately rooted in and legitimized and in rooted ultimately is autonomy Such issues. legal of

sources therein, and the right to apply customary law to a wide range wide a to law customary apply to right the and therein, sources

population, the right to control the management of the natural re- natural the of management the control to right the population,

define the relevant territorial units used in administering the local the administering in used units territorial relevant the define

cannot be separated from each other. The rights entail the right to right the entail rights The other. each from separated be cannot

understanding is a bundle of rights the single components of which of components single the rights of bundle a is understanding

Meeting of AMAN’s National Council. Indigenous autonomy in AMAN’s in autonomy Indigenous Council. National AMAN’s of Meeting

in Liwa, West Lampung, from January 10 to 12, 2002, before the Third the before 2002, 12, to 10 January from Lampung, West Liwa, in

understanding was formulated in AMAN’s Workshop and Seminar and Workshop AMAN’s in formulated was understanding

on a community – as opposed to e.g. district or province – basis. This basis. – province or district e.g. to opposed as – community a on

made it clear that local autonomy can mean no less than autonomy than less no mean can autonomy local that clear it made

the national federation of Indonesian indigenous peoples, has always has peoples, indigenous Indonesian of federation national the

tem needed to maintain peaceful relations among its members. AMAN, members. its among relations peaceful maintain to needed tem

tions, the community has a territory, people and the governance sys- governance the and people territory, a has community the tions,

Just like the state and the units it invests with administrative func- administrative with invests it units the and state the like Just

many cases still are, autonomous social, political and legal entities. legal and political social, autonomous are, still cases many

Local indigenous communities have traditionally been, and in and been, traditionally have communities indigenous Local

local instead of formerly national elites rich. elites national formerly of instead local

the same but the revenues generated by taxing them are now making now are them taxing by generated revenues the but same the private and semi-companies preying on forest resources have remained have resources forest on preying semi-companies and private political sphere and no longer seen only as economic bones of conten- tion in the public sphere. Significantly, too, the decree was passed explicitly as a contribution to democratization, the rule of law and poverty reduction. The Decree also relativized the principle of the state exerting control over “...land, water, and its content of natural resources” by specifying that such state control must be “...dedicated to the prosperity of the people”, as stated in the Constitution of the Indonesian Republic. In addition, the Decree is important for enumerating the princi- ples that are supposed to govern the state’s revised forestry, mining and agribusiness policies, as well as the implementation of agrarian reform. The twelve principles address human rights, cultural diver- sity, democracy and broad-based popular participation in political processes, gender equality, sustainability of natural resource and agrarian resource use, social and ecological functions of natural resource management and protection for indigenous peoples and their cultures. However, it is at least doubtful that the current political dispensa- tion will muster the political will to substantiate the decree by devel- oping well thought-out legislative instruments to translate a mere declaration of intent into political practice. Item j, Article 4 of the Decree, insists that future policies on natural resource management and agrarian reform have to “recognize, respect, and protect indig- enous rights and cultural diversity” but so far there has been no sign that this or other well-sounding pronouncements will ever be trans- formed into laws that bite. This is doubly annoying because Article 6 and 7 of the Decree themselves emphasize the importance of follow- up legislation in the form of organic regulations deriving from it. Articles 6 and 7 entrust both the President and the House of Repre- sentatives with developing legislative initiatives with regard to agrar- ian reform and natural resource policies in the “public domain” (under which category indigenous territories and the forests within them still fall, according to official parlance). Decree No IX/MPR/2001 would not be the first major Act, Decree or Law to die a slow death because of the government stalling the passing of laws operationalizing implementation. Parliament and the bureaucracy delayed the formulation of the first major organic regula-

tion implementing Act No. 5/1974 (or UU No. 5/1974) for no less than

18 years (Government Regulation No. 45/1992 on the Implementation •

•

of Local Autonomy), while Government Regulation No. 8/1995 on the •

•

Partial Transfer of Governmental Authority from the central govern- • •

• ment to 26 pilot Kabupaten or districts took 21 years to be issued. •

• 265

• 266 tions. Overall, the government – national as well as local – clearly lacks clearly – local as well as national – government the Overall, tions. • •

• legitimacy of those that claimed to represent them in the peace negotia- peace the in them represent to claimed that those of legitimacy •

•

has been achieved yet as the local people on both sides question the question sides both on people local the as yet achieved been has •

•

made them talk peace at Malino, some local NGOs argue that nothing that argue NGOs local some Malino, at peace talk them made •

have successfully brought the warring sides to the negotiating table and table negotiating the to sides warring the brought successfully have

of the results of the effort. However, whereas the government claims to claims government the whereas However, effort. the of results the of

tween the government and conflicting parties in Poso and Ambon is one is Ambon and Poso in parties conflicting and government the tween

process. The Malino Agreement (named after a town on Sulawesi) be- Sulawesi) on town a after (named Agreement Malino The process.

(Maluku), the government has initiated and facilitated a reconciliation a facilitated and initiated has government the (Maluku),

In the case of the conflicts in Poso (Sulawesi Island) and Ambon and Island) (Sulawesi Poso in conflicts the of case the In

Dongi-Dongi in Sulawesi, etc. Sulawesi, in Dongi-Dongi

Dayak in Kalimantan, the hotspots of Jambi and Bengkulu in Sumatra, in Bengkulu and Jambi of hotspots the Kalimantan, in Dayak

dan) in North Sumatra, the cases involving the Meratus and Ketungau and Meratus the involving cases the Sumatra, North in dan)

and PTP (State Sugarcane Plantation) and KIM (Kawasan Industri Me- Industri (Kawasan KIM and Plantation) Sugarcane (State PTP and

tween the BPRPI (an organisation of mainly Melayu indigenous peoples) indigenous Melayu mainly of organisation (an BPRPI the tween

conflicts involving or affecting indigenous peoples is long: the one be- one the long: is peoples indigenous affecting or involving conflicts

migrants, or even fellow indigenous groups on the other. The list of list The other. the on groups indigenous fellow even or migrants,

tween indigenous peoples on one side and companies, local government, local companies, and side one on peoples indigenous tween

Soeharto, while in other places, many new conflicts have emerged be- emerged have conflicts new many places, other in while Soeharto,

ethno-religious conflicts in Poso and Ambon still linger five years after years five linger still Ambon and Poso in conflicts ethno-religious

ties or then destabilized the areas inhabited by them. The protracted The them. by inhabited areas the destabilized then or ties

communal conflicts that either directly involved indigenous communi- indigenous involved directly either that conflicts communal

velopments in Indonesia was a task overshadowed by a series of bloody of series a by overshadowed task a was Indonesia in velopments

For the first four years after Soeharto’s abdication, reporting on de- on reporting abdication, Soeharto’s after years four first the For

Communal conflict and peace building peace and conflict Communal

ventures under the sectoral laws that Soeharto had promulgated. had Soeharto that laws sectoral the under ventures

social and environmental compatibility restricted logging and mining and logging restricted compatibility environmental and social

subsoil resources in the state. Unlike with the new law, no principle on principle no law, new the with Unlike state. the in resources subsoil

ship of – and therefore the right to offer mining concessions over – over concessions mining offer to right the therefore and – of ship

were able to point to Article 33 of the Constitution that vested owner- vested that Constitution the of 33 Article to point to able were

edge native title to forests and land. Mining investors, for their part, their for investors, Mining land. and forests to title native edge

estry Act, which would only recognize state forest and not acknowl- not and forest state recognize only would which Act, estry

concession holders (HPH), for instance, usually upheld the Basic For- Basic the upheld usually instance, for (HPH), holders concession

choose which sectoral law they wanted to apply to their case. Forest case. their to apply to wanted they law sectoral which choose

extractive industry and different branches of the bureaucracy could bureaucracy the of branches different and industry extractive

enous territories that were often contradictory, with the result that the that result the with contradictory, often were that territories enous

tional provisions relating to natural resource management on indig- on management resource natural to relating provisions tional

and streamlines a body of scattered pieces of legislation and constitu- and legislation of pieces scattered of body a streamlines and One of the major strengths of Decree No IX/MPR/2001 is that it unifies it that is IX/MPR/2001 No Decree of strengths major the of One the imagination to try out new ways of building peace in these deeply divided local societies. A promising alternative channel for successful conflict transformation would be to revitalize traditional adat procedures through which the conflicting parties could meet, instead of falling back on the worn-out mechanism of performing rituals of submission at- tended always by the same “representatives” of the religious groups involved, and of whatever “ethnic” associations and youth and profes- sional organizations offer themselves for these state rituals. Clearly, there is more to these conflicts than the black-and-white of “Muslim” versus “Christian”, or “indigenous” versus “migrant”. The failure of such categories can be seen in the East Kalimantan district of Paser. There, the proposal to divide Paser into two districts has created substantial tension between the indigenous Dayak Paser and migrants of various backgrounds. It was announced that the northern part of the District of Paser, rich in mineral ore and a magnet for non-Dayak in-migration, would be made into a new, separate district. The Dayak were infuriated by this proposal, decrying it as amounting to segregating the resource-rich areas of the district from the agricultural backwaters and giving the former to non-Dayak latecomers to the district. The conflict in Paser shows a pattern that is also becoming apparent elsewhere in the archipelago, in which decentralization becomes a pretext for expropriating indigenous domains, handing them over to local elites and outside investors. Indigenous communities who went through protracted conflicts with other parties have accorded the strengthening of indigenous organizations and the revitalization of indigenous institutions the hig- hest priority in their work programs. This new approach is based on the premise that “genuine” reconciliation can only be initiated by “genuine” representatives of warring communities, just as “genuine” claims to ancestral domain can only be put forward by people repre- senting “real” indigenous institutions and governance systems. This revitalization of adat institutions has taken place in West Lampung, Mentawai, Toraja, Sanggau, West Lombok, Kei, Buru, Flores and many other places. In Kei and Buru (two Moluccan islands), the role of indig- enous institutions has proved effective in settling or preventing conflict. Once it has spiralled out of control, decisive government interven- tion and attempts to restore normalcy may be the only way to break the vicious cycle of mutual self-destruction. In such a situation, the

state should be there to assist the people in solving problems that are

proving too difficult to be solved without outside intervention. How- •

•

ever, where people demonstrate the capacity to take care of their own •

•

problems and govern their lives themselves, the state should confine • •

• itself to assuming a mere facilitating role. The government of the •

• 267

• 268

•

nising the right of indigenous peoples to their traditional territories. traditional their to peoples indigenous of right the nising • •

T •

High Courts that will hopefully begin a process aimed at recog- at aimed process a begin hopefully will that Courts High •

•

he year in review saw two landmark decisions in the Malaysian the in decisions landmark two saw review in year he •

•

Landmark court decisions court Landmark

MALAYSIA

No 2/2000. No Indigenous Affairs Indigenous

and the People of the Forest: the Orang Rimba or Kubu of Sumatra”. of Kubu or Rimba Orang the Forest: the of People the and

Rimba and efforts to assist them, see Øyvind Sandbukt, “Deforestation Sandbukt, Øyvind see them, assist to efforts and Rimba

7 For an exposition of the special problems faced by the Kubu or Orang or Kubu the by faced problems special the of exposition an For 7

ningkatan Kesejahteraan Sosial, Badan Kesejahteraan Sosial Nasional. Sosial Kesejahteraan Badan Sosial, Kesejahteraan ningkatan

Direktorat Kesejahteraan Komunitas Adat Terpencil, Deputi Bidang Pe- Bidang Deputi Terpencil, Adat Komunitas Kesejahteraan Direktorat

6 . 2000. . Panduan Teknis Persiapan Pemberdayaan Komunitas Adat Terpencil Adat Komunitas Pemberdayaan Persiapan Teknis Panduan

Peningkatan Kesejahteraan Sosial, Badan Kesejahteraan Sosial Nasional. Sosial Kesejahteraan Badan Sosial, Kesejahteraan Peningkatan

2000. Direktorat Kesejahteraan Komunitas Adat Terpencil, Deputi Bidang Deputi Terpencil, Adat Komunitas Kesejahteraan Direktorat 2000.

5 Panduan Umum Pengembangan Kesejahteraan Sosial Komunitas Adat Terpencil Adat Komunitas Sosial Kesejahteraan Pengembangan Umum Panduan

4 Ibid. 4

. 2001. Bandung: Pustaka Setia. Pustaka Bandung: 2001. . Kedua Tahun 2000 Tahun Kedua

3 Undang-Undang Dasar Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 Setelah Amandemen Setelah 1945 Tahun Indonesia Republik Dasar Undang-Undang

2 Ibid. This and all other translations in the article are the authors’. the are article the in translations other all and This Ibid. 2

1999. Jakarta: Panca Usaha. Panca Jakarta: 1999. merintahan Daerah. merintahan

1 Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 22 Tahun 1999 Tentang Pe- Tentang 1999 Tahun 22 Nomor Indonesia Republik Undang-Undang

Notes and references and Notes

that drenched Jakarta and other places in Indonesia in early 2002. early in Indonesia in places other and Jakarta drenched that

comments some of its representatives had to offer after the great flood great the after offer to had representatives its of some comments

and problems of ordinary citizens have been laid bare by the arrogant the by bare laid been have citizens ordinary of problems and

headed by Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose distance from the needs the from distance whose Soekarnoputri, Megawati by headed

to learn from the local people is a far cry from the national government national the from cry far a is people local the from learn to

and the role of indigenous leaders. This humbleness and willingness and humbleness This leaders. indigenous of role the and

nity governance based on the functions of indigenous institutions indigenous of functions the on based governance nity

with indigenous peoples. It has gone quite far in developing commu- developing in far quite gone has It peoples. indigenous with

governments that have shown remarkable success in collaborating in success remarkable shown have that governments District of West Lampung is among those newly-empowered local newly-empowered those among is Lampung West of District In the first case, the High Court in Sarawak held that the four Iban natives of Rumah Nor Nyawai longhouse were entitled to exercise their native customary rights over disputed land, the boundaries of which had been drawn by community mapping. The four had sued Borneo Pulp Plantation and Borneo Pulp and Paper Sdn Bhd for trespassing on their land. They also sued the Bintulu Division Superintendent of Lands and Surveys as the authority that had issued land titles to the defendants. On 12 May 2001, the Miri High Court acknowledged that the native customary rights of the Iban had always been recognised by the laws of Sarawak, from the time of Brooke right up to Sarawak becom- ing part of Malaysia. The court therefore ruled that native customary rights, which are codified in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, existed long before any modern-day legislation came into force, and such legislation therefore was only relevant in determining how much of these native customary rights had been extinguished. As such, the native customary rights of the Ibans to their settlement (pemakai menoa), farmland (temuda) and primary forest (pulau) had not been abolished by any legislation and therefore these rights still ex- isted until today. The decision, however, is going to an appeal.

In the second case, the High Court in Shah Alam ruled on 12 April

2002 that the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia have a proprietary •

•

interest in customary and traditional lands settled by them (but not •

•

the “jungle at large”) and that they have the right to use and derive • •

• profit from the land. The court also ruled that Orang Asli land enjoyed •

• 269

• 270 were arrested and brought to the Marudi police station for setting up setting for station police Marudi the to brought and arrested were • •

•

programming on native land in Sarawak. On 18 April 2002, 32 Penans 32 2002, April 18 On Sarawak. in land native on programming •

• ” (New Concept) of development of Concept) (New ” “ so-called the under area

Konsep Baru Konsep •

•

Sendirian Berhad, which was purportedly given the license to the to license the given purportedly was which Berhad, Sendirian •

customary lands, promoted by a private company, Shin Yang Forestry Yang Shin company, private a by promoted lands, customary

testing against the development of oil palm and wood projects on their on projects wood and palm oil of development the against testing

Twelve Penan communities in Central Baram, for example, are pro- are example, for Baram, Central in communities Penan Twelve

peoples in Malaysia continue to occur from a variety of sources. of variety a from occur to continue Malaysia in peoples

High Court, threats to the traditional territories of the indigenous the of territories traditional the to threats Court, High

Nevertheless, aside from these important landmark decisions in the in decisions landmark important these from aside Nevertheless,

Continuing threats Continuing

nities from filing similar suits for native title. native for suits similar filing from nities

amendments to the legislation were aimed at thwarting more commu- more thwarting at aimed were legislation the to amendments

exorbitant costs of such surveys, there is reason to believe that these that believe to reason is there surveys, such of costs exorbitant

qualified surveyor could be introduced into a court of law. Given the Given law. of court a into introduced be could surveyor qualified

the law to state that only those maps produced and certified by a by certified and produced maps those only that state to law the

of their customary lands, the Sarawak state government had amended had government state Sarawak the lands, customary their of

prevent such community involvement in producing their own maps own their producing in involvement community such prevent

produced by the community. However, in an undisguised attempt to attempt undisguised an in However, community. the by produced

(showing details of the boundaries and the cultural sites) drawn and drawn sites) cultural the and boundaries the of details (showing

In both the Iban and Temuan cases, the court accepted maps accepted court the cases, Temuan and Iban the both In

ings.

compensating them for the loss of their crops and dwell- and crops their of loss the for them compensating only by and

was breached when it acquired the land without adequate notice adequate without land the acquired it when breached was

ernment owed a fiduciary duty towards the Orang Asli and that this that and Asli Orang the towards duty fiduciary a owed ernment

trespass. In another significant ruling, the Court held that the gov- the that held Court the ruling, significant another In trespass.

LLM – had committed trespass and needed to pay damages for damages pay to needed and trespass committed had – LLM

unlawful and that the present occupiers of the land – viz. UEM and UEM viz. – land the of occupiers present the that and unlawful

The High Court held that the eviction of the Orang Asli was Asli Orang the of eviction the that held Court High The

a highway leading to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. International Lumpur Kuala the to leading highway a

dwellings on it, when the land was trespassed upon in 1996 to build to 1996 in upon trespassed was land the when it, on dwellings

(LLM) for the loss of 15.39 hectares of their land, with crops and crops with land, their of hectares 15.39 of loss the for (LLM)

neers Malaysia Berhad (UEM) and the Malaysian Highway Authority Highway Malaysian the and (UEM) Berhad Malaysia neers

Selangor had sued the Federal and State Governments, United Engi- United Governments, State and Federal the sued had Selangor

In this case, seven Temuan Orang Asli in Kampung Bukit Tampoi, Bukit Kampung in Asli Orang Temuan seven case, this In

sation had to be paid according to the rates prescribed under the Act. the under prescribed rates the to according paid be to had sation

undertaken under the Land Acquisition Act and, if done so, compen- so, done if and, Act Acquisition Land the under undertaken

propriation of Orang Asli customary land as such could only be only could such as land customary Asli Orang of propriation constitutional protection under Article 13(1) relating to property. Ap- property. to relating 13(1) Article under protection constitutional blockades and protecting their land. While most were eventually re- leased, eight still remain in detention and are to be charged in court. In Peninsular Malaysia, the planned construction of several dams (such as the Kelau dam in Pahang and recently-announced dams on the Jelai and Tembeling Rivers) invariably encroaches on Orang Asli traditional territories. In Sabah, the government is going ahead with the clearing of 220,000 hectares of forest in Kalabakan, Tawau, which are home to several native groups. This is despite the fact that the original reason for such extensive forest clearing – the siting of a US$5.3 billion Sabah Pulp and Paper mill there – has been shelved for financial reasons. At the national level, a coalition of 14 indigenous, non-governmen- tal and community organisations – Jaringan Orang Asli Dan NGOs Tentang Isu Hutan (JOANGO HUTAN Collective of Indigenous Com- munities & NGOs on Forest Issues) – voiced strong concerns and objections to the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) over the ongoing attempt to draw up a Malaysian Criteria and Indicators (MC&I) for timber certification. However, when it became clear that their participation in the process was being regarded as an endorse- ment of the diluted and pro-timber lobby certification criteria, the coalition withdrew from the process, thereby putting the whole Ma- laysian-style timber certification process in danger of not being recog- nised internationally. In essence, the process was highly flawed in that it did not protect and recognise the rights of indigenous peoples and local forest com- munities who reside in these areas and who depend on the forests for their sustenance. In the case of Sarawak, for example, conceding to the establishment of Forest Management Units (FMUs) – the core units that are to be the basis for supposedly sustainable forestry manage- ment – effectively means accepting that all native customary rights in these areas would be automatically extinguished. The goal of the MC&I – to sell timber to high-paying European markets – as such does not promote the interests and rights of indigenous peoples. This alone, the coalition felt, was sufficient reason to withdraw from the process. Thus, while there are commendable moves in the courts of the land to recognise indigenous rights to land and livelihood, the reality is that encroachments upon and appropriation of indigenous territories

is still proceeding ahead with even greater vigour.

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

• 271

• 272

viewed as before: as areas of lesser influence in which the role of the of role the which in influence lesser of areas as before: as viewed •

• the establishment of the Thai nation state, border areas were still were areas border state, nation Thai the of establishment the • •

• ing the highland areas was late in coming. For quite some time after time some quite For coming. in late was areas highland the ing •

•

was traditionally one of distance, and an official approach to govern- to approach official an and distance, of one traditionally was •

countries. The Thai government’s attitude towards highland peoples highland towards attitude government’s Thai The countries.

fact that is attested by the continued violence and unrest in bordering in unrest and violence continued the by attested is that fact

futures of indigenous and minority peoples throughout the region, a region, the throughout peoples minority and indigenous of futures

cern. They have real and often devastating impacts on the lives and lives the on impacts devastating often and real have They cern.

definitions currently used are not simply matters of academic con- academic of matters simply not are used currently definitions

The complexities of the issues involved and the inaccuracy of inaccuracy the and involved issues the of complexities The

unknown or unrecognized by them. by unrecognized or unknown

have since long crossed and re-crossed national borders that were that borders national re-crossed and crossed long since have

migratory peoples such as the Hmong, Lisu, Lahu and Akha, who Akha, and Lahu Lisu, Hmong, the as such peoples migratory

ently dominant Thai). Today, they share the land with traditionally with land the share they Today, Thai). dominant ently

predating the arrival of the Tai-speaking groups (such as the pres- the as (such groups Tai-speaking the of arrival the predating

peoples have lived in northern and eastern Thailand for centuries, for Thailand eastern and northern in lived have peoples

all have very different histories and cultures. The Karen and Lua and Karen The cultures. and histories different very have all

tions”. Those groups recognized by the Thai government as as government Thai the by recognized groups Those tions”. chao khao chao

to be officially recognized, or are defined as “immigrant popula- “immigrant as defined are or recognized, officially be to

Shan and the Palong are either dismissed as too small in population in small too as dismissed either are Palong the and Shan

been recognized as “highlanders”. as recognized been Groups such as the Dara-ung, the Dara-ung, the as such Groups

1

number is, in fact, too low since it refers only to those groups that have that groups those to only refers it since low too fact, in is, number

indigenous and tribal peoples put them at over one million. Even this Even million. one over at them put peoples tribal and indigenous

860,000 people, unofficial estimates of the total population of the of population total the of estimates unofficial people, 860,000

tribal peoples it refers to. While the official figure lies at a little over little a at lies figure official the While to. refers it peoples tribal

tural, ethnic, historical and linguistic diversity of the indigenous and indigenous the of diversity linguistic and historical ethnic, tural,

otype of a single group of “highlanders”, which denies the rich cul- rich the denies which “highlanders”, of group single a of otype

this term within official Thai discourse reflects the prevailing stere- prevailing the reflects discourse Thai official within term this

or “highland peoples”. The use of use The peoples”. “highland or as government the by to chao khao, khao, chao

This problem is shared by the peoples of northern Thailand, referred Thailand, northern of peoples the by shared is problem This

The peoples of northern Thailand northern of peoples The

political systems of the countries in which they live. they which in countries the of systems political

led to a weakening of their ability to present unified voices in the in voices unified present to ability their of weakening a to led

ny ethnic groups divided between nation-states. This has inevitably has This nation-states. between divided groups ethnic ny

T

national boundaries were drawn by external forces, leaving ma- leaving forces, external by drawn were boundaries national

he north of Thailand lies in an ethnically diverse area where area diverse ethnically an in lies Thailand of north he THAILAND state was primarily to guarantee allegiance to itself. Only in the 1960s, when the issue of opium production began to gain international attention, and as population increase resulted in encroachment by

lowland farmers on the traditional agricultural lands of the highland

peoples did the government turn its attention to these remote areas. •

•

Insurgency in some of the border areas and the neighbouring coun- •

•

tries was also cited by the government as a cause for its concern with • •

• the highland areas. •

• 273

• 274 ment objectives in indigenous lands be recognized. be lands indigenous in objectives ment • •

• addressed and that the right to participation in establishing develop- establishing in participation to right the that and addressed •

• that the issue of conflicting and non-existent legal status documents be documents status legal non-existent and conflicting of issue the that •

• networks in direct negotiations with the Thai government, demanding government, Thai the with negotiations direct in networks •

Early in 2002, the Assembly represented the interests of the six tribal six the of interests the represented Assembly the 2002, in Early

for exchange and mutual assistance in the years since its foundation. its since years the in assistance mutual and exchange for

bly’s secretariat when necessary and it has proved to be a strong forum strong a be to proved has it and necessary when secretariat bly’s

enous and tribal non-governmental organizations work as the Assem- the as work organizations non-governmental tribal and enous

sentatives, establish its mandate and its priorities. A number of indig- of number A priorities. its and mandate its establish sentatives,

thousands of scattered communities who, through their chosen repre- chosen their through who, communities scattered of thousands

Its role and characteristics are somewhat unique, as it is formed by formed is it as unique, somewhat are characteristics and role Its

with the government on behalf of the indigenous and tribal peoples. tribal and indigenous the of behalf on government the with

(AITT), and this Assembly has acted as a formal negotiating partner negotiating formal a as acted has Assembly this and (AITT),

form the Assembly of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Thailand in Peoples Tribal and Indigenous of Assembly the form

the individual networks of six different tribal peoples combined to combined peoples tribal different six of networks individual the

rently taking an active role within the Thai political system. In 1997, In system. political Thai the within role active an taking rently

embraced by indigenous and tribal organizations and they are cur- are they and organizations tribal and indigenous by embraced

esses at every level of government in the nation. This right has been has right This nation. the in government of level every at esses

enshrines the right of popular participation in decision-making proc- decision-making in participation popular of right the enshrines

It was drafted with high levels of participation from the people and people the from participation of levels high with drafted was It

tial empowerment for marginalized groups throughout Thai society. Thai throughout groups marginalized for empowerment tial

opment of popular participation in democracy and a source of poten- of source a and democracy in participation popular of opment

tution” of 1997. This constitution was a watershed event in the devel- the in event watershed a was constitution This 1997. of tution”

peoples could claim a voice in Thai politics was the “peoples consti- “peoples the was politics Thai in voice a claim could peoples

Important for opening up a space in which indigenous and tribal and indigenous which in space a up opening for Important

Political participation Political

the obstacles faced remain firmly in place. in firmly remain faced obstacles the

a formal political presence in Thailand have been considerable, yet considerable, been have Thailand in presence political formal a

and security. The results gained from the relatively recent assertion of assertion recent relatively the from gained results The security. and

ment and land rights, issues essential to community sustainability community to essential issues rights, land and ment

heritage, and for recognition of traditional forms of resource manage- resource of forms traditional of recognition for and heritage,

voice, for education programs reflective of community and cultural and community of reflective programs education for voice,

nation. The struggle has taken the form of political pressure for a for pressure political of form the taken has struggle The nation.

have had to struggle to maintain their identities within the Thai the within identities their maintain to struggle to had have

political environment in which tribal and indigenous communities indigenous and tribal which in environment political

the policies and laws of the government. These form the social and social the form These government. the of laws and policies the

the years into a deep-rooted official prejudice that continues to inform to continues that prejudice official deep-rooted a into years the

producers and traders in illicit drugs. This view has solidified over solidified has view This drugs. illicit in traders and producers

to national security, a threat to natural resources and as the primary the as and resources natural to threat a security, national to This resulted in a three-pronged view of highland peoples as a threat a as peoples highland of view three-pronged a in resulted This The Assembly also joined forces with the Northern Farmers Net- work (NFN), a coalition of northern farming communities, in ask- ing the government to continue its support for the Community Forestry Bill currently under consideration. This approach of building coalitions with lowland Thai communities has been an ongoing process for over ten years and the NFN has proved a powerful forum for presenting indigenous and tribal issues to the govern- ment. Working predominately on land rights and resource man- agement in forested areas, the NFN has been a leading organiza- tion in the development of the Community Forest Bill and in advo- cating formal recognition of traditional natural resource manage- ment techniques.

Legal status

Aside from the Community Forest Bill, two other issues have taken the foreground in the AITT’s work over the past year: the issue of personal legal status and the issue of participation in development planning. One of the early achievements of the AITT was the successful conclu- sion of a process of negotiation with the government, which led to the opening of a one-year period for rapid appraisal of petitions for citi- zenship and other personal legal status. This period stretched from 29 August 2000 until 28 August 2001 and each of the tribal networks, together with non-governmental organizations and community or- ganizations, began the long process of training and instruction of community members on the documentation required for submitting petitions. Due to historical and structural reasons, a confusing array of different possible “legal statuses” for members of tribal and indig- enous communities exist, and tens of thousands of people remain without any official status in Thai law. These issues of citizenship and legal status are of central importance, for without formal legal status a person has no legal protection of their basic rights, such as access to services or freedom of movement. On a practical level, the problems are immense. The one-year win- dow of opportunity in which citizenship and legal status issues were

to be resolved was woefully short and there remains a lack of under-

standing about the procedures and requirements for citizenship ap- •

•

plication. The devolution of authority to consider petitions at local •

•

district offices was instrumental in addressing at least some of the • •

• practical constraints facing highland communities. The need for si- •

• 275

• 276 and it passed before the Senate in early 2002. early in Senate the before passed it and • •

• in having the Bill passed by the House of Representatives in late 2001 late in Representatives of House the by passed Bill the having in •

•

Network and the other organizations sponsoring the Bill succeeded Bill the sponsoring organizations other the and Network •

•

With years of experience in political lobbying, the Northern Farmers Northern the lobbying, political in experience of years With •

ten years and presented to the government for consideration in 2000. in consideration for government the to presented and years ten

Community Forestry Bill being developed over the course of the past the of course the over developed being Bill Forestry Community

rights over resource management has seen greater progress, with the with progress, greater seen has management resource over rights

government failed to produce any results. The issue of indigenous of issue The results. any produce to failed government

groups and indigenous and tribal peoples, direct negotiation with the with negotiation direct peoples, tribal and indigenous and groups

ment in April 2002. Despite the strong alliance between lowland Thai lowland between alliance strong the Despite 2002. April in ment

ted a petition regarding forest and land rights issues to the govern- the to issues rights land and forest regarding petition a ted

range of other peoples’ organizations in northern Thailand, submit- Thailand, northern in organizations peoples’ other of range

The Assembly of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, together with a with together Peoples, Tribal and Indigenous of Assembly The

in Thailand. in

as “empty forests” that acts to deny and limit indigenous land rights land indigenous limit and deny to acts that forests” “empty as

resource management and the inappropriate view of protected forests protected of view inappropriate the and management resource

been vested in this agency. It is this centralized concept of natural of concept centralized this is It agency. this in vested been

official responsibility for the conservation of all forested areas has areas forested all of conservation the for responsibility official

Forestry Department in Thailand at the beginning of the 20 the of beginning the at Thailand in Department Forestry century, th

of the Royal Forest Department. Since the establishment of the Royal the of establishment the Since Department. Forest Royal the of

declared protected areas, and consequently fall under the jurisdiction the under fall consequently and areas, protected declared

enous and tribal communities, much of these areas have now been now have areas these of much communities, tribal and enous

of Thailand are found. Although inhabited and cultivated by indig- by cultivated and inhabited Although found. are Thailand of

that once covered much of the north, north-east and western regions western and north-east north, the of much covered once that

ties are found in highland areas, where most of the remaining forests remaining the of most where areas, highland in found are ties

and resources. The vast majority of tribal and indigenous communi- indigenous and tribal of majority vast The resources. and

access to and control over the management of their traditional lands traditional their of management the over control and to access

recognition of the right of tribal and indigenous peoples to have to peoples indigenous and tribal of right the of recognition

indigenous peoples as part of wider Thai society, there is a lack of lack a is there society, Thai wider of part as peoples indigenous

In addition, and closely related to the lack of recognition of tribal and tribal of recognition of lack the to related closely and addition, In

Land and forest rights forest and Land

facilitate a practical solution to the issue. the to solution practical a facilitate

with government representatives on the policy changes needed to needed changes policy the on representatives government with

with the support of lowland Thai groups, agreements were reached were agreements groups, Thai lowland of support the with

tribal rights to legal status was brought to the negotiating table and, table negotiating the to brought was status legal to rights tribal

the people and the government. Again, the issue of indigenous and indigenous of issue the Again, government. the and people the

early in 2002 to try to bring these policy issues into a debate between debate a into issues policy these bring to try to 2002 in early

AITT, the NFN and the Northern Federation of Peasants were formed were Peasants of Federation Northern the and NFN the AITT, multaneous work on a policy level is clear, and coalitions between the between coalitions and clear, is level policy a on work multaneous If the Community Forest Bill were passed by the government in its original form, it would be the strongest legal instrument available to indigenous and tribal peoples for the protection of their rights to their resources and lands. Although it places a considerable burden of proof on indigenous and tribal communities, and provides only for “government-approved stewardship” and not any real recognition of a priori rights, it has the potential to ensure some security of land tenure. However, in April 2002 the Senate saw fit to amend the Bill, removing Article 18 and, with it, the right of communities living in government-declared conservation areas to claim the right, not even to own but simply to manage their community forests. The Senate further restricted and distorted the intention of the Bill by limiting rights to gather forest products and removing the right to change the boundaries of community forests in the future. Such political and legal processes in claiming land and resource rights is one of two strategies employed by indigenous and tribal communities. The second strategy of equal importance is an ongoing effort to establish a general recognition within the Thai public that highland forest communities are capable and responsible managers of the forest resources of the nation. Prejudice against highland communities and the continuing view of them as “forest destroyers” has been part of the experience of indigenous and tribal peoples for decades. Addressing these negative stereotypes is a long-term battle, but one that has seen some success. Dissemination of information about traditional forestry practices and public fora to explain the concept of sustained use and inter-related management on which traditional systems are based are increasingly being accepted in mainstream media. It is not only in legal and public fields that traditional resource management is being increasingly discussed. Within communities themselves, clearer articulation of the principles of forestry manage- ment is required, as part of the process of pushing for public accept- ance. This has resulted in aspects of modern forestry management being adopted and adapted for use in indigenous and tribal commu- nities. The creation of models and maps to display traditional man- agement principles in a manner accessible to the mainstream is now found in almost every highland community. The idea of traditional

management as a dynamic and evolving process is accepted at a

grassroots level, which again serves to strengthen the fight at a •

•

policy and legal level. • •

•

•

• •

• 277 • 278

• dam, to protect the right to collect non-timber forest products, and to and products, forest non-timber collect to right the protect to dam, •

•

stream impacts on highland communities of Vietnam’s Yali Falls Yali Vietnam’s of communities highland on impacts stream •

• representatives launched advocacy campaigns to monitor the down- the monitor to campaigns advocacy launched representatives •

•

• of their ancestral land. Local activists and indigenous community indigenous and activists Local land. ancestral their of

over a military general who had reportedly attempted to defraud them defraud to attempted reportedly had who general military a over

March 2002, indigenous villagers in Ratanakiri province prevailed province Ratanakiri in villagers indigenous 2002, March

included provisions for indigenous community land tenure and, in and, tenure land community indigenous for provisions included

on for their livelihoods. A new land law was passed in July 2001 that 2001 July in passed was law land new A livelihoods. their for on

rights and protection of the forests and natural resources they depend they resources natural and forests the of protection and rights

T

movements in some provinces of Cambodia in terms of their land their of terms in Cambodia of provinces some in movements

he year 2001 saw numerous advances by indigenous peoples’ indigenous by advances numerous saw 2001 year he

CAMBODIA

ten tribes and a total population figure of 899,749. of figure population total a and tribes ten

Dissemination Section, Tribal Research Institute, Chiangmai, includes Chiangmai, Institute, Research Tribal Section, Dissemination

1 The most recent list of March 2002 from the Tribal Statistics, Service and Service Statistics, Tribal the from 2002 March of list recent most The 1

Note

years, and yet more decades will still be needed. be still will decades more yet and years,

largely the result of persistent work over the decades rather than rather decades the over work persistent of result the largely

ern Thailand remain considerable. The gains that have been made are made been have that gains The considerable. remain Thailand ern

past year, the obstacles facing indigenous and tribal peoples in north- in peoples tribal and indigenous facing obstacles the year, past

ern Farmers Network. However, despite impressive gains over the over gains impressive despite However, Network. Farmers ern

ment of indigenous communities in organizations such as the North- the as such organizations in communities indigenous of ment

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of Thailand, along with the involve- the with along Thailand, of Peoples Tribal and Indigenous

tween a range of poor northern communities and the Assembly of Assembly the and communities northern poor of range a tween

edly due, at least in part, to the support and solidarity existing be- existing solidarity and support the to part, in least at due, edly

negotiate formally with their elected representatives. This is undoubt- is This representatives. elected their with formally negotiate

communities has reached a level whereby communities are able to able are communities whereby level a reached has communities

The political role claimed by, and given to, indigenous and tribal and indigenous to, given and by, claimed role political The

tance for the future of indigenous and tribal movements in Thailand: in movements tribal and indigenous of future the for tance

One of the gains achieved during the past year is of enormous impor- enormous of is year past the during achieved gains the of One The future The establish associations for the protection of community forests and fisheries. At the same time, economic pressure continued to intensify on the resource-rich north-eastern region of Cambodia and its indigenous inhabitants, as plans moved forward for logging and commercial plantations, hydro-power projects and migration of lowland Khmer

to the highlands. The trend towards development was illustrated by

a comment made by Prime Minister Hun Sen in January 2002, who •

•

stated that his dream for the year 2020 was for Cambodia’s north-east •

•

– now inhabited largely by indigenous communities – to become one • •

• of the country’s “economic pillars”. •

• 279

• 280 eral who had fraudulently obtained title to their ancestral lands, ancestral their to title obtained fraudulently had who eral • •

• district of Ratanakiri launched a legal appeal against a military gen- military a against appeal legal a launched Ratanakiri of district •

•

brought to court in March 2001, Tampuen and Jarai villagers in Bokeo in villagers Jarai and Tampuen 2001, March in court to brought •

•

In a major land rights case that was first was that case rights land major a In confiscation. and speculation •

North-eastern Ratanakiri province faced dozens of cases of land of cases of dozens faced province Ratanakiri North-eastern

resin trees that the Kuey relied on for their livelihood. their for on relied Kuey the that trees resin

area villagers had marked for community forest, felling about 700 about felling forest, community for marked had villagers area

enous people in late 2001. In March 2002, the company clear-cut an clear-cut company the 2002, March In 2001. late in people enous

hectares from a community predominantly composed of Kuey indig- Kuey of composed predominantly community a from hectares

pong Thom, where a rubber plantation in Tumring commune took 900 took commune Tumring in plantation rubber a where Thom, pong

One example was a large land conflict in Sandan District, Kom- District, Sandan in conflict land large a was example One

out Cambodia. out

one of the most pressing problems for indigenous communities through- communities indigenous for problems pressing most the of one

Land rights and the arbitrary confiscation of ancestral lands remained lands ancestral of confiscation arbitrary the and rights Land

Land rights Land

Senate.

since 1997 was revived for discussion and possible passage by the by passage possible and discussion for revived was 1997 since

draft national policy on indigenous people that had lain dormant lain had that people indigenous on policy national draft

forests due to commercial plantations, logging and immigration. A immigration. and logging plantations, commercial to due forests

address threats to indigenous communities through loss of land and land of loss through communities indigenous to threats address

ties Development within the Ministry of Rural Development began to began Development Rural of Ministry the within Development ties

In early 2002, a newly-established Department of Ethnic Minori- Ethnic of Department newly-established a 2002, early In

local languages in development work. development in languages local

stronger efforts to employ and train indigenous staff members and use and members staff indigenous train and employ to efforts stronger

ties on program planning, undergo cultural sensitivity training, make training, sensitivity cultural undergo planning, program on ties

departments and NGOs should consult with indigenous communi- indigenous with consult should NGOs and departments

agement”. Conference participants recommended that government that recommended participants Conference agement”.

“Strengthening Partnerships in Community Natural Resource Man- Resource Natural Community in Partnerships “Strengthening

strong role in an international conference in Ratanakiri province on province Ratanakiri in conference international an in role strong

In March 2001, indigenous community representatives played a played representatives community indigenous 2001, March In

local policy and program development for the highlands. the for development program and policy local

have attempted to increase indigenous participation in national and national in participation indigenous increase to attempted have

enous communities, together with various government departments, government various with together communities, enous

eastern Cambodia, local and international NGOs working with indig- with working NGOs international and local Cambodia, eastern

are based, are isolated from national advocacy networks. In north- In networks. advocacy national from isolated are based, are

and Preah Vihear, where few non-governmental organizations (NGOs) organizations non-governmental few where Vihear, Preah and

Indigenous communities in some provinces, such as Kompong Thom Kompong as such provinces, some in communities Indigenous National policy National putting some 900 villagers at risk of landlessness. In March 2002, after a delegation of the villagers met with King Sihanouk, Prime Minister Hun Sen instructed the Ministry of Land Management to purchase the land from the general and return it to the villagers, in exchange for the villagers dropping their lawsuit against the general. In this prec- edent-setting case it was the first time that indigenous people had challenged a military officer over such a large amount of land. Press attention and advocacy by local and international NGOs helped draw public attention not only to the Bokeo land case but to the widespread problem of indigenous land conflicts throughout the highlands. In July 2001, the Cambodian National Assembly passed a new land law following extensive consultation with Cambodian and interna- tional NGOs and indigenous community representatives. The new law contains provisions for indigenous communities to gain title to their land, either in the form of individual titles for each family or as a communal title for the whole community. Indigenous community land is defined not only as residential and agricultural land but also fallow plots left in reserve as part of the traditional shifting cultivation system.

The right to resources

The protection and management of natural resources increasingly emerged as an issue during 2001, as Cambodian NGOs and local communities, including indigenous representatives, organized advo- cacy campaigns on behalf of community forests and fisheries, forest policy reform and the right to collection of natural resources such as resin and other non-timber forest products. Khmer and indigenous communities in Stung Treng, Ratanakiri, Mondolkiri and Kratie who rely on the collection of resin for their livelihoods found representation in the form of a newly-created Cambo- dian NGO that works to protect the right to collect and sell resin. In April 2001, the Department of Forestry issued an instruction calling for the temporary suspension, in all forest concessions, of cutting of all trees from which people collect resin. Despite this, the resin trade remained under enormous threat as local communities continued to find them- selves in direct competition with logging companies for the trees.

Highland communities in Ratanakiri and Stung Treng province,

together with NGO partners, launched a network of indigenous ac- •

•

tivists along the Sesan River in north-eastern Cambodia to monitor •

•

and conduct advocacy with regard to the social and environmental • •

• impacts of the 720 MW Yali Falls dam, located in Vietnam. The official •

• 281

• 282 communities, particularly in Ratanakiri, were able to obtain support obtain to able were Ratanakiri, in particularly communities, • •

• Despite the lack of a community forestry sub-decree, indigenous sub-decree, forestry community a of lack the Despite •

•

and had not yet been passed by the Council of Ministers. of Council the by passed been yet not had and •

•

a draft sub-decree was under consideration by the Forestry Department Forestry the by consideration under was sub-decree draft a •

that is not included in lands that are communally titled. As of writing, of As titled. communally are that lands in included not is that

anagement rights over forest land forest over rights anagement m claim to wish who Cambodia ghout

decree that can be used by rural dwellers and indigenous people throu- people indigenous and dwellers rural by used be can that decree

At national level, work progressed on a community forestry sub- forestry community a on progressed work level, national At

of decision regarding forest use. forest regarding decision of

estry and Wildlife (DFW) with incommensurate and arbitrary powers arbitrary and incommensurate with (DFW) Wildlife and estry

of forest as forest concessions, and provides the Department of For- of Department the provides and concessions, forest as forest of

draft law, which appeared to promote or justify the use of large areas large of use the justify or promote to appeared which law, draft

NGOs and local communities continued to have concerns about the about concerns have to continued communities local and NGOs

A new forest law drafted in 2000 progressed little during 2001. during little progressed 2000 in drafted law forest new A

lem for communities wishing to manage their forest. their manage to wishing communities for lem

sions, as well as soldiers and police, continued to pose a major prob- major a pose to continued police, and soldiers as well as sions,

ment plans. Despite this announcement, illegal logging by conces- by logging illegal announcement, this Despite plans. ment

inadequate progress toward developing sustainable forest manage- forest sustainable developing toward progress inadequate

tions in all forest concessions as a result of what was perceived as perceived was what of result a as concessions forest all in tions

During 2001, pressure mounted on the government to suspend opera- suspend to government the on mounted pressure 2001, During

Logging and community forestry community and Logging

kilometers downstream of the Yali Falls Dam. Falls Yali the of downstream kilometers

begin construction of another dam, the Se San 3, located about twenty about located 3, San Se the dam, another of construction begin

River. The Vietnamese government has announced that in 2002 it will it 2002 in that announced has government Vietnamese The River.

The Yali Falls Dam is just the first of many dams planned for the Sesan the for planned dams many of first the just is Dam Falls Yali The

environmental impacts of the dam in Cambodia. in dam the of impacts environmental

ernment to document the villagers’ claims and analyze the social and social the analyze and claims villagers’ the document to ernment

dependent studies were conducted with the support of the local gov- local the of support the with conducted were studies dependent

the Sesan about the life-threatening changes in the river, several in- several river, the in changes life-threatening the about Sesan the

ceive increasing numbers of complaints from villagers living along living villagers from complaints of numbers increasing ceive

Once NGOs and government officials in Ratanakiri began to re- to began Ratanakiri in officials government and NGOs Once

to increased skin diseases and illness. and diseases skin increased to

ing of humans and animals; and changes in the water quality that led that quality water the in changes and animals; and humans of ing

the river’s water level, leading to loss of fishing equipment and drown- and equipment fishing of loss to leading level, water river’s the

2001. These included unnatural surges and dramatic fluctuations in fluctuations dramatic and surges unnatural included These 2001.

the dam were felt even before the dam became fully operational in operational fully became dam the before even felt were dam the

bility of impacts in Cambodia. However, major negative effects from effects negative major However, Cambodia. in impacts of bility

impacts eight kilometers downstream, thereby dismissing the possi- the dismissing thereby downstream, kilometers eight impacts Environmental Impact Assessment for the dam only examined the examined only dam the for Assessment Impact Environmental from local authorities and international donors for the development of community forestry associations and community-based natural resource management projects. In Ratanakiri, a number of forest areas have been mapped and approved for community use by the provincial government and handed over to community management. These have included a community environmental and tourism area at O’Chloy waterfall and a similar area around Lum Kat Lake. In January 2001, Ratanakiri provincial authorities and a representative of King Siha- nouk signed an agreement with representatives of six ethnic Kreung villages that handed over the protection and management of almost 5,000 hectares of forest to the Ya Poey Community Forestry Association. On the other hand, in Sandan district, Kompong Thom, logging companies and the Department of Forestry and Wildlife accelerated their logging activities in order to remove as much commercial timber from an area proposed for a community forest before the passing of the community forestry sub-decree. In Sandan, the DFW allowed com- munities to retain their trees as long as they paid the same royalties on the timber as the logging concessions.

Education

Access to and quality of education remained a primary issue for indigenous people. Indigenous children are less likely to go to school than the average Cambodian child. Many schools are not operating in the highlands and northern plains due to a lack of schools, teachers or students, many of whom are needed at home to help work on farms and around the house. Pre-teen and adolescent girls are especially affected by this. In response to these issues, a number of NGOs in Ratanakiri have started providing non-formal education integrated into development activities and focusing on issues of daily life such as health, agriculture, environment and human rights. Some of these programs have included the use of mother tongue language literacy education to enable and promote access to education. Non-formal education classes are held in nearly half of all villages in Ratanakiri. A new project in Ratanakiri, funded by CARE Australia, has be- gun to develop the concept of bilingual community schools. Managed

by members of the community, this pilot project will use vernacular

language training as a bridge to Khmer literacy and a stepping stone •

•

to formal education. •

•

Other non-formal education initiatives have been launched for • •

• indigenous youth in Ratanakiri, including summer youth programs •

• 283

• 284 consisted of male-dominated councils of village elders. village of councils male-dominated of consisted • •

• making in communities where village governance has traditionally has governance village where communities in making •

•

in 1998 to help indigenous women gain more of a voice in decision- in voice a of more gain women indigenous help to 1998 in •

•

An Indigenous Women’s Network Ratanakiri (IWNR) was created was (IWNR) Ratanakiri Network Women’s Indigenous An •

human rights information to villagers in their own languages. own their in villagers to information rights human

with government land rights information projects, offering legal and legal offering projects, information rights land government with

of indigenous people, selected by the communities, has begun to work to begun has communities, the by selected people, indigenous of

natural resource management laws and policies. In Ratanakiri, a team a Ratanakiri, In policies. and laws management resource natural

s heard at the provincial and national level, especially with regard to regard with especially level, national and provincial the at heard s

resource management and making indigenous communities’ viewpoint- communities’ indigenous making and management resource

knowledge of the laws and policies that affect community natural community affect that policies and laws the of knowledge

been operating since early 2001. It has focused on improving local improving on focused has It 2001. early since operating been

An indigenous peoples’ resource management advocacy group has group advocacy management resource peoples’ indigenous An

could enhance their voice. their enhance could

ment in lobbying on indigenous highlanders’ issues at national level national at issues highlanders’ indigenous on lobbying in ment

learning negotiating skills, understanding that their direct involve- direct their that understanding skills, negotiating learning

meetings, participating in national and provincial workshops and workshops provincial and national in participating meetings,

Cambodia have become more familiar with attending and conducting and attending with familiar more become have Cambodia

Over the past few years, indigenous highlanders in some parts of parts some in highlanders indigenous years, few past the Over

Increased advocacy Increased

to information about the disease and its prevention. its and disease the about information to

ties are at particular risk of HIV/AIDS because of their lack of access of lack their of because HIV/AIDS of risk particular at are ties

tory infections are also major health concerns. Indigenous communi- Indigenous concerns. health major also are infections tory

rrhoeal diseases, anaemia, childhood malnutrition and acute respira- acute and malnutrition childhood anaemia, diseases, rrhoeal

Malaria is the main health problem in Ratanakiri. Tuberculosis, dia- Tuberculosis, Ratanakiri. in problem health main the is Malaria

rate of 95:1000. of rate

infant mortality rate is 187:1000, almost twice a high as the national the as high a twice almost 187:1000, is rate mortality infant

Cambodia are among the worst in the country. In Ratanakiri, the Ratanakiri, In country. the in worst the among are Cambodia

Health and nutrition indicators among indigenous communities in communities indigenous among indicators nutrition and Health

Health

to tourists in a program funded by the Australian Embassy. Australian the by funded program a in tourists to

document their culture and explain the importance of the environment the of importance the explain and culture their document

people are not only learning English but also gaining skills in how to how in skills gaining also but English learning only not are people

writing. In response to the growth in tourism in Ratanakiri, young Ratanakiri, in tourism in growth the to response In writing.

skills in research, photographic documentation, musicology and report and musicology documentation, photographic research, in skills that focus on environmental and cultural issues in order to develop to order in issues cultural and environmental on focus that Despite these advances in advocacy, indigenous people remain un- der-represented in national and provincial government. A rare exam- ple is Bou Thong, an ethnic Tampuen from Ratanakiri who is a member of the National Assembly. With his encouragement, indig- enous communities in Ratanakiri have begun to launch an Indig- enous Highlanders’ Association to advocate on behalf of cultural preservation and other issues, focussing particularly on consulting local communities in order to obtain the views of women, young people and the elderly. A first phase of consultation ended in early 2002, involving some documentation of village histories and custom- ary law as well as a survey of community concerns and aspirations. Initial results show that major concerns included the loss of land and forest resources, the impact of the Yali Falls dam and the lack of indig- enous representation in government and educational opportunities. Much work remains to be done, however, with regard to indigenous advocacy. While indigenous communities are gaining a voice in some areas, particularly Ratanakiri province, indigenous rights issues have a much lower profile in the northern plains and the mountainous regions in the south, where there is much less support for indigenous people from NGOs and local governments.

VIETNAM

onflicts over land rights and religious freedom characterized C much of the year in the indigenous areas of Vietnam, a country in which the government does not authorize the creation of independent advocacy groups. In February 2001, the government responded harshly to unprecedented mass protests conducted by indigenous peoples in the central highlands calling for greater land rights, religious freedom, and independence. The Vietnamese Communist Party’s election of Nong Duc Manh, a member of the Tay minority, to the nation’s top post in April 2001

as General Secretary of the Party did not appear to immediately trans-

late into a more progressive and participatory approach by the gov- •

•

ernment towards indigenous minority communities. • •

•

Government policies continued to stress the eradication of tradi- •

• tional shifting agriculture, utilized by many indigenous highlanders, •

• 285 • 286 • • • •

•

lands. •

•

CEMMA funds intended for poverty programs in the northern high- northern the in programs poverty for intended funds CEMMA •

people were tried in Lai Chau province on charges of embezzling of charges on province Chau Lai in tried were people

officials on charges of bribery. In November 2001, another twelve another 2001, November In bribery. of charges on officials

2001, the Vietnamese Communist Party censured six senior CEMMA senior six censured Party Communist Vietnamese the 2001,

grams, was plagued by an ongoing corruption scandal. In early In scandal. corruption ongoing an by plagued was grams,

CEMMA, the government body that oversees ethnic minority pro- minority ethnic oversees that body government the CEMMA,

tain-dwelling ethnic minorities by 2005. by minorities ethnic tain-dwelling

“traditional nomadic life and swidden agriculture” among moun- among agriculture” swidden and life nomadic “traditional

for Sedentary Farming, Life and New Economy aimed to wipe out wipe to aimed Economy New and Life Farming, Sedentary for

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department the and Development Rural and Agriculture of Ministry

In October, the state’s Vietnam News Service announced that the that announced Service News Vietnam state’s the October, In

locals to enhance economic growth.” economic enhance to locals

its in production and life, and create favorable conditions for the for conditions favorable create and life, and production in its

he said, “should also help their inhabitants change backward hab- backward change inhabitants their help also “should said, he

region, the six provinces of the northern highlands. These provinces, These highlands. northern the of provinces six the region,

economic development and farming incentives in Vietnam’s poorest Vietnam’s in incentives farming and development economic

In September 2001, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai called for more for called Khai Van Phan Minister Prime 2001, September In

lands – came under heavy surveillance and repression. and surveillance heavy under came – lands

in the northwest and the Jarai, Mnong and Ede in the central high- central the in Ede and Mnong Jarai, the and northwest the in

ity – particularly those in sensitive border areas, such as the Hmong the as such areas, border sensitive in those particularly – ity

digenous communities that have converted to evangelical Christian- evangelical to converted have that communities digenous

“sedentarization” of indigenous minority farmers. In addition, in- addition, In farmers. minority indigenous of “sedentarization”

the official approach continued to be one of pressing for the for pressing of one be to continued approach official the

educational opportunities to ethnic minority peoples. But, generally, But, peoples. minority ethnic to opportunities educational

of land, increase ethnic minority radio broadcasts and offer more offer and broadcasts radio minority ethnic increase land, of

lands during 2001, for example, by promising to speed up the titling the up speed to promising by example, for 2001, during lands

the discontent among indigenous communities in the central high- central the in communities indigenous among discontent the

The Vietnamese government made numerous attempts to address to attempts numerous made government Vietnamese The

National policy National

displace thousands of highlanders from their ancestral lands. ancestral their from highlanders of thousands displace

livelihoods of indigenous peoples living along the rivers and to and rivers the along living peoples indigenous of livelihoods

in the central highlands, threatened to negatively impact on the on impact negatively to threatened highlands, central the in

Large dam projects in the northern Son La province, as well as well as province, La Son northern the in projects dam Large

highlands suffered government persecution. government suffered highlands

In addition, ethnic minority Christians in the northern and central and northern the in Christians minority ethnic addition, In replacing it with sedentary cultivation of paddy rice and cash crops. cash and rice paddy of cultivation sedentary with it replacing

Grievances over land •

•

•

•

Land conflicts were a problem throughout Vietnam, including in indig- • •

• enous minority areas. Government-organized resettlement schemes, •

• 287

• 288 Dong and Kontum calling for independence, a return of ancestral of return a independence, for calling Kontum and Dong • •

• strations in the central highland provinces of Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Lam Lak, Dak Lai, Gia of provinces highland central the in strations •

•

(including Jarai, Ede, Bahnar, Mnong and Koho) conducted demon- conducted Koho) and Mnong Bahnar, Ede, Jarai, (including •

•

In February 2001, several thousand members of indigenous minorities indigenous of members thousand several 2001, February In •

The central highlands unrest highlands central The

education, employment and other economic opportunities. economic other and employment education,

are finding themselves losing out to the new migrants in terms of terms in migrants new the to out losing themselves finding are

ment at the loss of land has been compounded by the fact that they that fact the by compounded been has land of loss the at ment

landers, particularly over the last decade. The highlanders’ resent- highlanders’ The decade. last the over particularly landers,

authorities have all fuelled intense anger among indigenous high- indigenous among anger intense fuelled all have authorities

inadequate payment for land and confiscation of property by local by property of confiscation and land for payment inadequate

at prices far below the market value. The farmers’ loss of livelihood, of loss farmers’ The value. market the below far prices at

indigenous highlanders to sell, or by buying from indebted peasants indebted from buying by or sell, to highlanders indigenous

of agricultural land for commercial development, sometimes forcing sometimes development, commercial for land agricultural of

Over the past ten years, local authorities have acquired vast swathes vast acquired have authorities local years, ten past the Over

survival.

a rice field - can have disastrous consequences on a family’s economic family’s a on consequences disastrous have can - field rice a

imposed for attending a church service or confiscation of a portion of portion a of confiscation or service church a attending for imposed

in the region. Any disruption to the household economy - be it a fine a it be - economy household the to disruption Any region. the in

working as laborers for the growing population of ethnic Vietnamese ethnic of population growing the for laborers as working

than a hectare of land, making ends meet by trading in the market or market the in trading by meet ends making land, of hectare a than

and, perhaps, a small cottage garden of coffee and peppers on less on peppers and coffee of garden cottage small a perhaps, and,

untenable. Today, most highlanders eke out a living by farming rice farming by living a out eke highlanders most Today, untenable.

land, or as state plantations displaced them, such practices became practices such them, displaced plantations state as or land,

minorities from other parts of Vietnam began to encroach on their on encroach to began Vietnam of parts other from minorities

which they practised swidden agriculture. As lowlanders or ethnic or lowlanders As agriculture. swidden practised they which

ported themselves on at least several hectares of land per family, on family, per land of hectares several least at on themselves ported

In the past, many indigenous peoples in the central highlands sup- highlands central the in peoples indigenous many past, the In

plummet in international coffee prices over the the over prices coffee international in plummet last three years. three last

duction over the last decade, has been dealt a strong blow by the by blow strong a dealt been has decade, last the over duction

time, the economic base of the highlands, pushed towards coffee pro- coffee towards pushed highlands, the of base economic the time,

highlands to make way for the Son La hydro-power project. At the same the At project. hydro-power La Son the for way make to highlands

ethnic minority peoples from the north, might be resettled in the central the in resettled be might north, the from peoples minority ethnic

January 2001 with reports that as many as 100,000 more people, mostly people, more 100,000 as many as that reports with 2001 January

have been increasingly squeezed off their land. Tensions increased in increased Tensions land. their off squeezed increasingly been have

ral resources. Lacking official land use certificates, indigenous people indigenous certificates, use land official Lacking resources. ral

highlands since 1975, creating intense pressure on the land and natu- and land the on pressure intense creating 1975, since highlands

density of ethnic Vietnamese and other migrants in parts of the central the of parts in migrants other and Vietnamese ethnic of density along with spontaneous migration, have quadrupled the population the quadrupled have migration, spontaneous with along land and religious freedom. Vietnamese authorities deployed thou- sands of police and soldiers to disperse the protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, in the months following the demonstrations, security forces arrested hundreds of highlanders, sometimes using torture to elicit confessions and public statements of remorse from protest organizers. They also targeted religious gatherings, closed churches, and arrested religious leaders, equating the evangelical Protestantism followed by many of the highlanders with anti-govern- ment organizing. In one incident in the Jarai village of Plei Lao in Gia Lai province in March 2001, after raiding the village to break up an all-night Christian prayer meeting, security forces fired into a crowd killing one villager. The police then burned down the village church. At least thirty-four of those arrested in connection with the protests were tried and given heavy prison sentences during trials conducted between September and November 2001. As of early 2002, ongoing abuses in the central highlands included harassment of Christians, mistreatment of indigenous highlanders deported from Cambodia, and a repressive police presence in the villages. Approximately 1,500 highlanders fled to Cambodia, where they were given shelter on two sites operated by the U.N. High Commis- sioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Rights organizations estimate that more than 500 indigenous highlanders who fled to Cambodia during 2001 were forcibly repatriated to Vietnam, where some were arrested and beaten by the Vietnamese authorities.

Religious repression

Protestantism is said to be the fastest growing religion in Vietnam, particularly among ethnic minority peoples in the northern and cen- tral highlands. The largest concentration of Protestants in Vietnam is to be found in the latter Prior to the arrival of Christianity in indigenous areas, the meta- physical beliefs of most highlanders centered around animism, with individual spirits believed to be responsible for the village, water, mountains, agricultural fields, large trees, rocks and other natural phenomena respectively. These spirits are believed to hold immense

powers and, if properly treated, watch over the village and can ward

off disease, poor crop harvests or other calamities. •

•

From the 1960s through to the early 1990s, the government often •

•

discouraged traditional spiritual beliefs and ceremonies practised by • •

• indigenous minorities, labeling the practices “superstitious” and “un- •

• 289

• 290 prone area) and the fact that it would displace hundreds of thousands of hundreds displace would it that fact the and area) prone • •

• about the dam’s safety plans (it will be located in an earthquake- an in located be will (it plans safety dam’s the about •

•

northern highlands, despite reservations expressed by some deputies some by expressed reservations despite highlands, northern •

•

sial Son La hydro-electric project on the Da River (Black River) in the in River) (Black River Da the on project hydro-electric La Son sial •

In June 2001, Vietnam’s National Assembly approved the controver- the approved Assembly National Vietnam’s 2001, June In

Impact of hydro-electric projects hydro-electric of Impact

and church property confiscated. property church and

religion. In addition, minority Christian churches have been destroyed been have churches Christian minority addition, In religion.

made to do forced labour or pressured by officials to renounce their renounce to officials by pressured or labour forced do to made

have received reports of minority Christians being imprisoned, fined, imprisoned, being Christians minority of reports received have

movement for land rights and independence. Human rights groups rights Human independence. and rights land for movement

sentences for their religious beliefs and / or their involvement in the in involvement their or / and beliefs religious their for sentences

At least fifty minority highlanders are thought to be serving prison serving be to thought are highlanders minority fifty least At

persecution by both Vietnamese and Hmong local officials. local Hmong and Vietnamese both by persecution

citizen complaint petitions submitted by Hmong to protest religious protest to Hmong by submitted petitions complaint citizen

Chau, Lao Cai and Ha Giang, the authorities reacted defensively to defensively reacted authorities the Giang, Ha and Cai Lao Chau,

tum, Dak Lak and Lamdong provinces. In the northern provinces of Lai of provinces northern the In provinces. Lamdong and Lak Dak tum,

the government increased its repression of Christians in Gia Lai, Kon- Lai, Gia in Christians of repression its increased government the

ernment. As a result of the unrest in the central highlands in early 2001, early in highlands central the in unrest the of result a As ernment.

northern and central highlands are not legally recognized by the gov- the by recognized legally not are highlands central and northern

The unregistered “house churches” of the ethnic minorities in the in minorities ethnic the of churches” “house unregistered The

central highlands are Christians. are highlands central

mated that between 300,000 and 400,000 indigenous people in the in people indigenous 400,000 and 300,000 between that mated

independence, cultural pride and evangelism. It is currently esti- currently is It evangelism. and pride cultural independence,

, or “Dega Protestantism”, which brings together aspirations for aspirations together brings which Protestantism”, “Dega or , Dega

to a particular type of Christianity during the 1990s called called 1990s the during Christianity of type particular a to Tin Lanh Tin

In the central highlands, many indigenous people became attracted became people indigenous many highlands, central the In

Other Hmong Christians follow more orthodox Christian beliefs. Christian orthodox more follow Christians Hmong Other

who would return to earth to save them from oppression and poverty. and oppression from them save to earth to return would who

nates with Hmong legends and millenarian beliefs about an ancient king ancient an about beliefs millenarian and legends Hmong with nates

Christians, their God is known as Vang Chu (“lord king”), which reso- which king”), (“lord Chu Vang as known is God their Christians,

the number of Hmong Christians at 100,000 believers. For many Hmong many For believers. 100,000 at Christians Hmong of number the

based in the Philippines. By 1999, Vietnamese officials were estimating were officials Vietnamese 1999, By Philippines. the in based

language religious broadcasts by the Far East Broadcasting Company, Broadcasting East Far the by broadcasts religious language

to convert to evangelical Christianity, in part as a result of Hmong of result a as part in Christianity, evangelical to convert to

In the 1980s, indigenous minorities in the northern highlands began highlands northern the in minorities indigenous 1980s, the In

waned with the reunification of Vietnam in 1975. in Vietnam of reunification the with waned

1950s as a result of American missionary work, although the practice the although work, missionary American of result a as 1950s developed”. Some highlanders were converted to Christianity in the in Christianity to converted were highlanders Some developed”. of people. In August, US$660 million were allocated for relocation costs. Initial plans called for more than 100,000 people to be resettled in the central highlands. Construction is expected to begin in 2005. In April 2002, construction was completed on Vietnam’s second largest hydroelectric project, the 720 MW Yali falls dam on the Sesan River in the central highlands (see chapter on Cambodia). The dam’s powerhouse is located in Gia Lai and its reservoir is in Kontum. Since the closing of the main dam and filling of the reservoir in 1996-1998, indigenous communities living along the Sesan River in both Vietnam and Cambodia have experienced flash flooding and dramatic fluctua- tions in the water level, resulting in contaminated water and a loss of fish, livestock and wild vegetables along the banks of the river. Close to 7,000 people, of whom sixty percent are indigenous minority peo- ples (Jarai, Bahnar and Rongao), have already been displaced by the dam. Many of the resettled people report severe food shortages and a lack of cultivatable land in their new villages, as well as insufficient government compensation, according to a February 2001 study pre- pared by Vietnam University’s Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES). Plans also proceeded for Sesan 3, a 300 MW hydroelectric plant on the Sesan River between Gia Lai and Kontum provinces in the central highlands. In addition, Electricity of Vietnam began construction of a 500 KV transmission line from Pleiku in Gia Lai to Ho Chi Minh City (according to some sources to Phu Lam). A third hydroelectric project in the pipeline for the central highlands is the Kanak – An Khe power project on the Ba River, between Gia Lai and Binh Dinh provinces.

This report has been adapted in part from the Human Rights Watch report “Repression of Montagnards: Conflicts over Land and Religion,” April 2002, which we gratefully acknowledge.

LAOS

n many ways, 2001 has been a difficult year for the diverse indig- •

•

enous peoples of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR •

I • •

or Laos). To begin with, the Lao Government, which held its seventh •

1 • Party Congress in March 2001, has reaffirmed its commitment to •

• 291

• 292 tors from the north to these provinces. In 2000 and 2001, officials told officials 2001, and 2000 In provinces. these to north the from tors • •

• now considering supporting large-scale relocation of shifting cultiva- shifting of relocation large-scale supporting considering now •

•

suitable for paddy conversion in northern Laos, the government is government the Laos, northern in conversion paddy for suitable •

•

tral and southern Laos. Because there is much less lowland area lowland less much is there Because Laos. southern and tral •

paddy, namely Khammouane, Savannakhet and Attapeu, all in cen- in all Attapeu, and Savannakhet Khammouane, namely paddy,

substantial areas of lowland areas suitable for converting to lowland to converting for suitable areas lowland of areas substantial

ment Master Plan. The Plan identified three provinces as still having still as provinces three identified Plan The Plan. Master ment

and burn eradication programme, devised an Agriculture Develop- Agriculture an devised programme, eradication burn and

In late 2000 and early 2001, the Lao Government, as part of its slash its of part as Government, Lao the 2001, early and 2000 late In

Large-scale relocation of shifting cultivators planned cultivators shifting of relocation Large-scale

it is expected that the vast majority are indigenous. are majority vast the that expected is it

targeted for land allocation are populated by indigenous minorities, indigenous by populated are allocation land for targeted

and, while the Minister did not state how many of the 8,500 villages 8,500 the of many how state not did Minister the while and,

people), many of whom are living in mountainous and remote areas remote and mountainous in living are whom of many people),

indigenous groups (considered here to include all non-ethnic Lao non-ethnic all include to here (considered groups indigenous

even more. even Most swidden farmers in Laos are members of various of members are Laos in farmers swidden Most

3

that it was expected that in 2001 swidden areas would be reduced be would areas swidden 2001 in that expected was it that

edly reduced from 115,000 ha in 1999 to 72,600 ha in 2000, and he said he and 2000, in ha 72,600 to 1999 in ha 115,000 from reduced edly

tion”. Land areas used for “mobile swidden cultivation” were report- were cultivation” swidden “mobile for used areas Land tion”.

been instrumental in reducing areas under “slash and burn cultiva- burn and “slash under areas reducing in instrumental been

The Minister said that the success in land and forest allocation had allocation forest and land in success the that said Minister The

villages throughout the country, including 787 villages in 1999-2000. in villages 787 including country, the throughout villages

programme had already been implemented in 7,117 out of 8,500 target 8,500 of out 7,117 in implemented been already had programme

culture and Forestry, Dr. Siene Saphanthong, announced that the that announced Saphanthong, Siene Dr. Forestry, and culture

the government in 2001 and, in January, 2001, the Minister of Agri- of Minister the 2001, January, in and, 2001 in government the

Land and Forest Allocation Programme continued to be promoted by promoted be to continued Programme Allocation Forest and Land

Related to the policy to stop swidden agriculture, the controversial the agriculture, swidden stop to policy the to Related

Programme continuing Programme

Controversial Land and Forest Allocation Forest and Land Controversial

lowland farming are extremely limited. extremely are farming lowland

percent of Laos is mountainous, and in many areas opportunities for opportunities areas many in and mountainous, is Laos of percent

nise that it is unlikely that this will be possible, as approximately 80 approximately as possible, be will this that unlikely is it that nise

2005. However, privately, many provincial and district officials recog- officials district and provincial many privately, However,

2 2

this goal by 2000, the plan is now to stop all shifting cultivation by cultivation shifting all stop to now is plan the 2000, by goal this

burn” agricultur. Although the government originally hoped to achieve to hoped originally government the Although agricultur. burn” continuing its policy to eradicate swidden cultivation or “slash and “slash or cultivation swidden eradicate to policy its continuing farmers in many parts of northern Laos that all families without a least some lowland paddy would have to make the move over the next few years. In early 2001, as part of this effort, five ethnic Hmong leaders from northern Laos were asked by the government to go to the southern-most province of Attapeu to determine whether the land there would be suitable for them, and large numbers of their followers, to move to. While they were apparently satisfied with the land in Attapeu, in the end, Attapeu Province officials put a hold on the original plan to move 100,000 Hmong from northern Laos (mainly

Xieng Khouang and Houaphan Provinces) to Attapeu. While there

may still be some relocation from the north to Attapeu in the coming •

•

years, the people in Attapeu are not happy about Hmong people •

•

moving there, because the Hmong have never lived in the province. • •

• There is concern that conflicts might arise between the Hmong and the •

• 293

• 294 other provinces in the reduction of shifting cultivation. The province The cultivation. shifting of reduction the in provinces other •

•

• S ayaboury Province [in northern Laos] has been more successful than successful more been has Laos] northern [in Province ayaboury • •

•

•

tional Agriculture and Extension Service said, Service Extension and Agriculture tional •

people in rural areas”. Dr. Ty Phommasack, the Director of the Na- the of Director the Phommasack, Ty Dr. areas”. rural in people

reduction of opium plantations and the escape from poverty of the of poverty from escape the and plantations opium of reduction

“to implement the plans on the reduction of shifting cultivation, the cultivation, shifting of reduction the on plans the implement “to

age of indigenous peoples. The main objective of the conference was conference the of objective main The peoples. indigenous of age

Tha and Xieng Khouang. Xieng and Tha These are all provinces with a high percent- high a with provinces all are These

8

Luang Phrabang, Houaphan, Oudomxay, Phongsaly, Luang Nam Luang Phongsaly, Oudomxay, Houaphan, Phrabang, Luang

nounced that it was focusing its efforts on the northern provinces of provinces northern the on efforts its focusing was it that nounced

(SIDA) in late 2001, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry an- Forestry and Agriculture of Ministry the 2001, late in (SIDA)

vation sponsored by the Swedish International Development Agency Development International Swedish the by sponsored vation

At another conference regarding the eradication of shifting culti- shifting of eradication the regarding conference another At

had fallen from 5,392 ha in 1996 to 4,500 ha in 2001. in ha 4,500 to 1996 in ha 5,392 from fallen had

7

that the area under this “traditional farming method” in Savannakhet in method” farming “traditional this under area the that

to local people “to end slash and burn cultivation”. It was reported was It cultivation”. burn and slash end “to people local to

ples. As part of this plan, land and forests will reportedly be allocated be reportedly will forests and land plan, this of part As ples.

populated largely by indigenous Mon-Khmer language speaking peo- speaking language Mon-Khmer indigenous by largely populated

cultivation and livestock production in four mountainous districts mountainous four in production livestock and cultivation

set aside 2.5 billion Lao kip (US$ 263,150) for land clearing for rice for clearing land for 263,150) (US$ kip Lao billion 2.5 aside set

Savannakhet Province, in southern Laos, also announced that it had it that announced also Laos, southern in Province, Savannakhet

At a workshop organised between December 27 and 28, 2001, 28, and 27 December between organised workshop a At

tation in Bokeo in 2002. in Bokeo in tation

6

and relocation have been cited as the priority areas for implemen- for areas priority the as cited been have relocation and

national economy and upgrade their living conditions”. Education conditions”. living their upgrade and economy national

more suitable areas in order to enable them to contribute to the to contribute to them enable to order in areas suitable more

province will relocate people who are living in the mountains to mountains the in living are who people relocate will province

are not suitable for the new era”. He continued, “This year [2002] the [2002] year “This continued, He era”. new the for suitable not are

help them out of poverty, so we have to modify certain traditions that traditions certain modify to have we so poverty, of out them help

saying, “If the people don’t accept the new lifestyle, it is difficult to difficult is it lifestyle, new the accept don’t people the “If saying,

ern Lao province of Bokeo, was quoted in the Vientiane Times as Times Vientiane the in quoted was Bokeo, of province Lao ern

minority groups. Mr. Boualane Silipanya, the Governor of the north- the of Governor the Silipanya, Boualane Mr. groups. minority

forts being made in some parts of the country to change the ways of ways the change to country the of parts some in made being forts

of slash and burn cultivation”. burn and slash of Moreover, there are still strong ef- strong still are there Moreover,

5

phong village a certificate acknowledging the village’s “termination village’s the acknowledging certificate a village phong

District, in Vientiane prefecture, held a ceremony to present Nong- present to ceremony a held prefecture, Vientiane in District,

shifting cultivation. For example, on January 11, 2001, Hatsaifong 2001, 11, January on example, For cultivation. shifting

ing, in some areas the government has reportedly been able to stop to able been reportedly has government the areas some in ing,

While it has still not been possible to eliminate all swidden farm- swidden all eliminate to possible been not still has it While

inhabitants of the province. the of inhabitants

4 Tai-Lao and Mon-Khmer language speakers who are the original the are who speakers language Mon-Khmer and Tai-Lao has a lot of experience in dealing with the shifting cultivation problem, and officials are keen to share their experiences with other provinces.

Mr. Kongsy Vonsy from the Sayaboury Agriculture and Forestry Divi- sion explained,

The province has been successful in reducing shifting cultivation by nearly 100 percent, because they coordinated their activities with every concerned sector in the province and they were given good cooperation.9

The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party’s main voice, the newspaper Paxaxon, stated that,

The government has made slash and burn and opium production eradication policy central in the struggle to reduce poverty of the Lao people. It is the duty of the entire nation to join in the fight to rid the country of drugs and provide people of all ethnic groups with sustainable lifestyles.10

Yet Dr. Phommasak admitted, “We still worry about finding funds to support our problem [to stop shifting cultivation].”11

Poverty report raises concerns

Despite the above, in late 2000, the State Planning Committee of the Lao Government produced an important report called, “Poverty in the Lao PDR: Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA)” with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Using participatory meth- ods, the study team surveyed a large number of villages in the poorest parts of the country, most of which are populated by indigenous peoples. This report tells a very different story regarding Land and Forest Allocation and the reduction of shifting cultivation. Although the ADB has itself been one of the main supporters of the Lao Govern- ment’s policy to rid the country of poverty through putting an end to swidden agriculture, the report states that,

...in many of the poor villages in the assessment, Land Allocation imple-

mentation has not always followed policy, and has resulted in some •

•

difficulties – the main one being that fallow cycles have been reduced •

•

without livelihood substitutes, causing subsequent depletion of soil and • •

12 • large decreases in rice yields even though labor input remains the same. •

• 295

• 296 largely seems to be in the northern provinces of Laos. The government The Laos. of provinces northern the in be to seems largely • •

• per village should be 50, although implementation of this policy this of implementation although 50, be should village per •

•

this programme by specifying that the minimum number of families of number minimum the that specifying by programme this •

•

late the same village. Now, the government appears to have expanded have to appears government the Now, village. same the late •

pulations, since different ethnic groups were often compelled to popu- to compelled often were groups ethnic different since pulations,

resulting in large numbers of villages now having multi-ethnic po- multi-ethnic having now villages of numbers large in resulting

This occurred in many parts of Laos in the late 1970s and 1980s, and 1970s late the in Laos of parts many in occurred This

nities smaller than that should be moved into other larger villages. larger other into moved be should that than smaller nities

there should be no less than 20 households per village, and commu- and village, per households 20 than less no be should there

or village consolidation policy. The idea was that was idea The policy. consolidation village or the ated “Hom Ban” “Hom

ethnic minority peoples. In the late 1970s, the Lao Government initi- Government Lao the 1970s, late the In peoples. minority ethnic

date villages has also emerged as an important problem for many for problem important an as emerged also has villages date

indigenous peoples in Laos throughout 2001, a new policy to consoli- to policy new a 2001, throughout Laos in peoples indigenous

of shifting cultivation has apparently been the main problem facing problem main the been apparently has cultivation shifting of

Although the Lao Government’s policy in relation to the eradication the to relation in policy Government’s Lao the Although

by indigenous communities indigenous by

New village consolidation policy not appreciated not policy consolidation village New

food shortages. food

15

allocation, since they believed that the programme would result in result would programme the that believed they since allocation,

province (over 13,000 people) had fled the province to avoid land avoid to province the fled had people) 13,000 (over province

asserted that one third of the entire ethnic Khmou population in the in population Khmou ethnic entire the of third one that asserted

Khmou member of the National Assembly in Phongsaly Province had Province Phongsaly in Assembly National the of member Khmou

trate the problems that are occurring, the study revealed that an ethnic an that revealed study the occurring, are that problems the trate

the analysis as one of the factors contributing to poverty”. to contributing factors the of one as analysis the To illus- To

14

tation of land allocation has been problematic and thus it appears in appears it thus and problematic been has allocation land of tation

The authors of the Poverty study finally state that, “...the implemen- “...the that, state finally study Poverty the of authors The

Land Allocation for ecological changes, and epidemics of pests.” of epidemics and changes, ecological for Allocation Land

13

species in the area. In many areas villagers in the assessment blame assessment the in villagers areas many In area. the in species

rice shortages, including in some cases total elimination of some of elimination total cases some in including shortages, rice

wildlife and forest resources by families attempting to compensate for compensate to attempting families by resources forest and wildlife

of decreased rice yields, and increased deterioration and degeneration and deterioration increased and yields, rice decreased

The result has been impoverishment of swidden families through families swidden of impoverishment been has result The

or permanent upland cropping. The report states, report The cropping. upland permanent or

a single instance cited of technical assistance to support either paddy either support to assistance technical of cited instance single a

cultivated due to poor soils or lack of water. In addition, there was not was there addition, In water. of lack or soils poor to due cultivated

tion, most families haves families most tion, been given paddy land that could not be not could that land paddy given been The report goes on to mention that, to compensate for fallow reduc- fallow for compensate to that, mention to on goes report The argues that in order to provide basic infrastructure, including roads, schools and health dispensaries, it is necessary for villages to be larger, so that the expense per capita of development initiatives can be reduced. However, the village consolidation programme has re- ceived a cold reception from many indigenous peoples, since many do not want to move into large villages, and villages with more than one ethnic group. Furthermore, many indigenous peoples have pointed out that when villages are large, land and forest resources often come under intense pressure due to high human population densities, resulting in resource degradation and, ultimately, hardship for villag- ers who are highly dependent on non-timber forest products and other natural resources for subsistence and income generation.16

New list of ethnic groups adopted

While the livelihood systems and the cultures of indigenous people continue to remain under intense pressure, there was at least some good news for indigenous peoples in 2001. In August 2000, the Lao Front for National Construction, the political organisation of the Par- ty that is responsible for ethnic and religious issues in the country, adopted a new list of names for all the ethnic groups in Laos.17 This new list is a considerable improvement over previous lists as it at- tempts to apply local names preferred by indigenous peoples to the various ethnic groups and sub-groups in the country. For example, the Ieu Mien of the Hmong-Ieu Mien language family are widely known in Laos as the Yao but since they do not like being referred to as the Yao, the Lao Front has now officially sanctioned the name Ieu Mien for them. The same has been true for many other groups, such as the Brao, who are commonly called the Lave, and the J’rou who are known to the Lao as the Laven. The new list recognises 49 ethnic groups for Laos, including well over 100 sub-groups. Importantly, the new list, for the first time in the history of the Lao PDR, classifies all the ethnic groups in Laos into four major linguistic families, the Tai- Lao, the Mon-Khmer, the Tibeto-Burman and the Hmong-Ieu Mien. While officials from the Front admit that the list is not yet com- pletely correct and that additional work will need to be done to revise

it,18 the new system represents a good start to improving the classifi-

cation of ethnic peoples in Laos. One of the important aspects of •

•

adoption of the new list is that the Lao Government is now planning •

•

to abolish the broad ethnic classification terms used in the past. These • •

• include the Lao Loum for “lowland” Lao (mainly Tai-Lao language •

• 297

• 298 project to Thailand, and the lack of a firm decision by the World Bank World the by decision firm a of lack the and Thailand, to project • •

• in signing the power purchase agreement for selling electricity from the from electricity selling for agreement purchase power the signing in •

•

remained on the books of the Lao Government. However, due to delays to due However, Government. Lao the of books the on remained •

•

ince, in central Laos (an area mainly populated by indigenous peoples), indigenous by populated mainly area (an Laos central in ince, •

as the Nam Theun 2 dam on the Nakai Plateau in Khammouane Prov- Khammouane in Plateau Nakai the on dam 2 Theun Nam the as

no new large dams being initiated in Laos. Controversial projects, such projects, Controversial Laos. in initiated being dams large new no

2001 was a quiet year on the hydropower development front, with front, development hydropower the on year quiet a was 2001

potential environmental impacts of the project. the of impacts environmental potential

21

2001, despite the fact that there is considerable concern regarding the regarding concern considerable is there that fact the despite 2001,

Oxiana Resources Company, was scheduled to begin at the end of end the at begin to scheduled was Company, Resources Oxiana

plemented by the Lang Xang Mineral Company and the Australian the and Company Mineral Xang Lang the by plemented

with a large indigenous population. The project, which is being im- being is which project, The population. indigenous large a with

copper mine slated for Sepon District, Savannakhet Province, an area an Province, Savannakhet District, Sepon for slated mine copper

for new mining concessions, the largest being a massive gold and gold massive a being largest the concessions, mining new for

In 2001, a number of agreements were signed with foreign investors foreign with signed were agreements of number a 2001, In

Mining and hydropower development hydropower and Mining

what the breakdown actually is between these two groups. two these between is actually breakdown the what

20

are more Hmong officials than Akha officials, it is impossible to know to impossible is it officials, Akha than officials Hmong more are

(Tibeto-Burman and Hmong-Ieu Mien respectively). Although there Although respectively). Mien Hmong-Ieu and (Tibeto-Burman

ent and speak languages belonging to different linguistic families linguistic different to belonging languages speak and ent

but the groups are culturally very differ- very culturally are groups the but as to referred been Lao Soung Lao

tually referring to. For example, both the Akha and the Hmong have Hmong the and Akha the both example, For to. referring tually

made it impossible to determine what groups the statistics were ac- were statistics the groups what determine to impossible it made

three general ethnic classification terms used in government statistics government in used terms classification ethnic general three

ment and which groups were the most impoverished, because the because impoverished, most the were groups which and ment

ment to know which ethnic groups were well represented in govern- in represented well were groups ethnic which know to ment

plained that, in the past, it had been very difficult for the Lao Govern- Lao the for difficult very been had it past, the in that, plained

general for the purposes of gathering government statistics. He ex- He statistics. government gathering of purposes the for general

classifying ethnic groups in Laos. He said that the terms were too were terms the that said He Laos. in groups ethnic classifying

Government to abolish use of the three previously used terms for terms used previously three the of use abolish to Government

issues throughout the country, said that it was necessary for the Lao the for necessary was it that said country, the throughout issues

who is the Vice President of the Lao Front and responsible for ethnic for responsible and Front Lao the of President Vice the is who

H.E. Tong Yeu Tho, an ethnic Hmong from Houaphan Province Houaphan from Hmong ethnic an Tho, Yeu Tong H.E.

Assembly would approve the list in either late 2001 or 2002. or 2001 late either in list the approve would Assembly

19

agreed to adopt the new list, and it was expected that the National the that expected was it and list, new the adopt to agreed

of late 2001, the Central Politburo Bureau of the Party had already had Party the of Bureau Politburo Central the 2001, late of

Hmong-Ieu Mien language and Tibeto-Burman language speakers). As speakers). language Tibeto-Burman and language Mien Hmong-Ieu

Khmer language speakers) and and speakers) language Khmer for “highland” peoples (mainly peoples “highland” for Lao Soung Lao

for “midland” peoples (mainly Mon- (mainly peoples “midland” for or speakers), Lao Kang Lao Theung Lao regarding whether they will provide a partial guarantee for the foreign investors in the project, the largest being Electricité de France Interna- tional, the construction of the dam has still not begun.22

Notes and references

1 AFP, March 13, 2001. 2 Vientiane Times, November 20-22, 2001. 3 Khao San Pathet Lao, January 18, 2001. 4 Deputy Director of the Attapeu Province Agriculture and Forestry Division. Personal communication. July 2001. 5 Khao San Pathet Lao, January 16, 2001. 6 Vientiane Times, January 18-21, 2002. 7 Vientiane Times, January 15-17, 2002. 8 Vientiane Times, November 20-22, 2001. 9 Ibid. 10 Paxaxon, November 20, 2001. 11 Vientiane Times, November 20-22, 2001. 12 State Planning Committee. October 2000. Poverrty in the Lao PDR: Participatory Poverty Assessment. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Government officials and villagers in Luang Phrabang and Bokeo Prov- inces. Personal communication. 2001. 17 Vientiane Times, January 4-7, 2002. 18 Ibid 19 H.E. Tong Yeu Tho, Vice President of the Lao Front for National Con- struction. Personal Communication. October 2001. 20 Idem. 21 Vientiane Times, August 28-30, 2001. 22 Vientiane Times, September 18-20, 2001.

BURMA

urma, where indigenous ethnic nationalities are in the majority,as •

•

been ruled - or rather misruled - by successive military regimes •

B •

since 1962. The current regime, known as the State Peace and Devel- • •

• opment Council (SPDC), has been devoting the bulk of the nation’s •

• 299

• 300 (ENSCC) was formed in August 2001 as a direct response to the talks the to response direct a as 2001 August in formed was (ENSCC) • •

• The Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Co-operation Committee Co-operation and Solidarity Nationalities Ethnic The •

•

gage in a dialogue with each other regarding their political future. political their regarding other each with dialogue a in gage •

•

May 1999 to encourage and empower all ethnic nationalities to en- to nationalities ethnic all empower and encourage to 1999 May •

strong alliances) is the National Reconciliation Program, formed in formed Program, Reconciliation National the is alliances) strong

talks. One of the important bodies in this context (there are numerous are (there context this in bodies important the of One talks.

in order to explore their common ground and prepare for tripartite for prepare and ground common their explore to order in

Ethnic groups have been meeting outside of Burma for a long time, long a for Burma of outside meeting been have groups Ethnic

and the regime has avoided talk of (long-term) peace agreements. peace (long-term) of talk avoided has regime the and

resistance armies and the regime, human rights violations still continue, still violations rights human regime, the and armies resistance

only 10. Despite a number of highly publicized cease-fires signed between signed cease-fires publicized highly of number a Despite 10. only

ethnic parties won 83, and the military-backed National Unity Party won Party Unity National military-backed the and 83, won parties ethnic

In Burma’s last elections (1990), the NLD won 392 parliamentary seats, parliamentary 392 won NLD the (1990), elections last Burma’s In

surprisingly, the SPDC has refused to accept such an idea. an such accept to refused has SPDC the surprisingly,

nationality groups have emphatically recognized this imperative. Un- imperative. this recognized emphatically have groups nationality

change can be agreed upon by all stakeholders. The NLD and all ethnic all and NLD The stakeholders. all by upon agreed be can change

be represented in the national reconciliation process so that political that so process reconciliation national the in represented be

genuine tripartite dialogue. All ethnic groups and political parties must parties political and groups ethnic All dialogue. tripartite genuine

Sustainable peace can only be achieved in Burma as a result of a of result a as Burma in achieved be only can peace Sustainable

that includes the ethnic nationality leaders. nationality ethnic the includes that

tant is that the talks have not been transformed into an open dialogue open an into transformed been not have talks the that is tant

particularly for the non-Burman ethnic nationalities. Equally impor- Equally nationalities. ethnic non-Burman the for particularly

improved significantly, improved has situation rights human Burma’s and not

turned to frustration – Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest house under remains Kyi Suu San Aung – frustration to turned

Democracy (NLD). However, in the first quarter of 2002, optimism 2002, of quarter first the in However, (NLD). Democracy

Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for League National the of Secretary General Kyi, Suu San Aung

announced that the SPDC was engaged in secret talks with Daw with talks secret in engaged was SPDC the that announced

Burma was watched with cautious optimism in 2001 when the UN the when 2001 in optimism cautious with watched was Burma

Secret talks, invisible outcomes invisible talks, Secret

lations as a result of military aggression. military of result a as lations

have been subjected to war atrocities and diverse human rights vio- rights human diverse and atrocities war to subjected been have

nic groups” refer to the non-Burman the to refer groups” nic indigenous ethnic groups who groups ethnic indigenous

1

Panglong Agreement. In this article, “ethnic nationalities” and “eth- and nationalities” “ethnic article, this In Agreement. Panglong

and the military stem from the erosion of commitments stated in the in stated commitments of erosion the from stem military the and

Burma. Tensions and conflict between these indigenous ethnic groups ethnic indigenous these between conflict and Tensions Burma.

alities signed the 1947 Panglong Agreement to form the Union of Union the form to Agreement Panglong 1947 the signed alities

Burma gained independence in 1948 after diverse ethnic nation- ethnic diverse after 1948 in independence gained Burma

conflict, ostensibly to prevent the “disintegration” of the Union. the of “disintegration” the prevent to ostensibly conflict, resources to the army in order to engage in a long-running armed long-running a in engage to order in army the to resources between Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime. Composed of representatives from seven ethnic nationalities, the com- mittee was established to de- velop a framework for differ- ent ethnic groups to work to- gether for national reconcili- ation along the lines of the Panglong Agreement under the heading “self-determina- tion, equality and democ- racy”. The ENSCC is deal- ing with crucial areas con- cerning the redrafting of the constitution and formation of a federation of eight states. In order for ethnic groups to work effectively together for the future peace and democ- racy of Burma, representa- tives of ethnic groups must have the freedom to meet in Burma. So far, this basic right has been suppressed. The SPDC claims that the frictions between different ethnic groups run too deep for them to be able to work together peacefully at the present time. This is obviously mere propaganda asserted in an attempt to justify their continuing grip on power. Harn Yawnghwe from the Euro-Burma office made the vital point that the regime purposely causes divisions among “national races”, “implying that it is impossible to cater to everyone and, therefore, it is neces- sary to have a strong military to hold the country together.”2 Harn Yawnghwe continues by asserting that these “races” are con- structs of the regime’s oppressive rule, which has actually manipu- lated different dialects as being different racial types. Ethnic

groups have much more in common than the regime would have

anyone think. •

•

•

•

•

•

• •

• 301

• 302 needs of daily existence. daily of needs • •

• demand to supply SPDC and ethnic nationalities’ armies, and the and armies, nationalities’ ethnic and SPDC supply to demand •

•

spared the forced relocations find themselves caught between the between caught themselves find relocations forced the spared •

•

Farmers in conflict areas who are lucky enough to have been have to enough lucky are who areas conflict in Farmers •

is common and choices are minimal. are choices and common is

in Burma is not fun. It is hard and full of danger and risk, exploitation risk, and danger of full and hard is It fun. not is Burma in

cause they may be fighting for, the reality remains that life in any army any in life that remains reality the for, fighting be may they cause

armies or militias as a source of livelihood. Whatever the merits of the of merits the Whatever livelihood. of source a as militias or armies

situation where men reportedly join either SPDC or ethnic nationality ethnic or SPDC either join reportedly men where situation

On the other hand, the lack of education and jobs has created a created has jobs and education of lack the hand, other the On

inciting fear. inciting

tionalities in general, continuing its pattern of abuse, torture abuse, of pattern its continuing general, in tionalities and

4

against “armed insurgents” but against people of non-Burman na- non-Burman of people against but insurgents” “armed against

Sagaing division). It is clear that the military is waging a war not only not war a waging is military the that clear is It division). Sagaing

is a “cease-fire”), Karenni State and in Naga areas (Kachin State/ (Kachin areas Naga in and State Karenni “cease-fire”), a is

kan state), Karen State, Shan State, Chin State, Mon State (where there (where State Mon State, Chin State, Shan State, Karen state), kan

and human casualties continue in Rohingya populated areas (Ara- areas populated Rohingya in continue casualties human and

abuses as forced relocation, forced labour and looting. Armed conflict Armed looting. and labour forced relocation, forced as abuses

Military offensives do not appear to have ceased, neither have such have neither ceased, have to appear not do offensives Military

Military offensives and militarization and offensives Military

resign in September 2001 after pressure from the military. the from pressure after 2001 September in resign

3

Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) was reportedly forced to forced reportedly was (SNLD) Democracy for League Nationalities

For example, Sai Panlu, secretary of a township branch of the Shan the of branch township a of secretary Panlu, Sai example, For

Attacks on political personnel and most political parties continue. parties political most and personnel political on Attacks

Congress, was arrested on 19 March 2001 for unknown reasons. unknown for 2001 March 19 on arrested was Congress,

Suu Kyi, Mr. Gin Kam Lian, Secretary General of the Zomi National Zomi the of General Secretary Lian, Kam Gin Mr. Kyi, Suu

A prominent ethnic leader who had worked closely with Aung San Aung with closely worked had who leader ethnic prominent A

released; however, the SPDC subsequently arrested other Chin clergy. Chin other arrested subsequently SPDC the however, released;

in July 2001 and sentenced to two years hard labour. She was later was She labour. hard years two to sentenced and 2001 July in

woman, was arrested for her alleged connections with a rebel group rebel a with connections alleged her for arrested was woman,

imprisonment at Insein prison. Pastor Gracy, a Chin Baptist clergy- Baptist Chin a Gracy, Pastor prison. Insein at imprisonment

steps of City Hall in Rangoon. He was sentenced to seven years seven to sentenced was He Rangoon. in Hall City of steps

distributing leaflets calling for democratic reform and elections on the on elections and reform democratic for calling leaflets distributing

academic Dr. Salai Tun Than, 74, in November 2001 for peacefully for 2001 November in 74, Than, Tun Salai Dr. academic

ethnic nationalities. The most recent documented arrest was that of that was arrest documented recent most The nationalities. ethnic

continued to oppress political groups and activists of the indigenous the of activists and groups political oppress to continued

In addition to targeting the multi-ethnic NLD, the regime has also has regime the NLD, multi-ethnic the targeting to addition In Political detentions and harassment and detentions Political SPDC forces and at least 11 ethnic armed groups continue to lay antipersonnel mines with loggers and narcotics dealers now doing the same, significantly increasing the number of indistinguishable minefields in areas populated by ethnic nationality communities.

Forced labour and labour camps

Despite an order banning forced labour issued by the regime in Oc- tober 2000, the violations continue unabated, in some areas with “modifications”. The ILO High Level Team (HLT), which visited Bur- ma from September 17 to October 17 found that forced labour was practiced in areas beyond central Burma, with high levels in milita- rized and remote areas, particularly southern Shan State & eastern Karen State.5 The situation is also particularly severe in northern Arakan State, disproportionately targeting Muslims. A dangerous trend that is emerging is the increasing number of labour camps. In recent years, the number of camps has grown from six to over 40. Labour from these camps is used for profit-making activities for the army as well as infrastructure developments. Civil- ians, significantly those from ethnic nationality areas, are arrested and given long sentences for the most minor infringements. They are then transferred to labour camps to work on infrastructure develop- ments or plantations owned by the military. In its own weird logic, the regime sees this as a strategy to “reduce” civilian forced labour.

Education

While the education crisis in Burma affects all people, the tradition- ally disadvantaged border areas have been particularly hard hit. The regime has channelled national resources into propping up the army at the expense of the already impoverished education and health systems. In addition, many ethnic nationality groups are persecuted if they conduct classes to teach their own language. The independent National Health and Education Committee (NHEC) seminar on “Children’s Opportunity to Learn in the Ethnic

Nationality Areas in Burma”, held in April 2001 in Thailand, ad-

dressed the lack of education among many non-Burman ethnic na- •

•

tionality children. • •

•

•

• •

• 303

• 304 their Muslim faith. 2001 saw anti-Muslim rioting in parts of Arakan, of parts in rioting anti-Muslim saw 2001 faith. Muslim their • •

• Massive discrimination is suffered by the Rohingya, mostly due to due mostly Rohingya, the by suffered is discrimination Massive • •

•

•

Religious intolerance Religious •

and starvation, the result of military policies and practices. and policies military of result the starvation, and

aggression in Burma. Also in this group are those who fled forced labour forced fled who those are group this in Also Burma. in aggression

refugees who have fled military fled have who refugees are “migrants” so-called Many de facto de

fact that almost all will be vulnerable to various human rights violations. rights human various to vulnerable be will all almost that fact

repatriating undocumented migrants from Burma, regardless of the of regardless Burma, from migrants undocumented repatriating

Meanwhile, the Thai government has stepped up its program of program its up stepped has government Thai the Meanwhile,

was no further discussion of the matter. the of discussion further no was

9

camps “was a problem” and assured priority for human rights, there rights, human for priority assured and problem” a “was camps

Although Thaksin apparently acknowledged that the state of the of state the that acknowledged apparently Thaksin Although

demned the camps as highly overcrowded and with poor sanitation. poor with and overcrowded highly as camps the demned

8

lows last year’s comments by Sadako Ogata (UNHCR) who con- who (UNHCR) Ogata Sadako by comments year’s last lows

publicly and to the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin. Her comment fol- comment Her Thaksin. Minister Prime Thai the to and publicly

of Burmese refugees in camps along the border in Thailand, both Thailand, in border the along camps in refugees Burmese of

binson, expressed concern in February 2001 at the living conditions living the at 2001 February in concern expressed binson,

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Ro- Mary Rights, Human for Commissioner High Nations United

army groups, control of information and outright vilification. outright and information of control groups, army

rule policy’ supported by its Burmanization policy, favoritism for pro- for favoritism policy, Burmanization its by supported policy’ rule

The regime continues to perpetuate the previous colonial ‘divide and ‘divide colonial previous the perpetuate to continues regime The

military activities, racist prejudice and vilification are also a factor. a also are vilification and prejudice racist activities, military

While much displacement throughout Burma is a direct result of result direct a is Burma throughout displacement much While

displacements of Shan communities (approx. 400,000 since 1996). since 400,000 (approx. communities Shan of displacements

as arbitrary detention, land grabbing, and looting have meant massive meant have looting and grabbing, land detention, arbitrary as

Human rights abuses perpetrated by the Wa and military officials, such officials, military and Wa the by perpetrated abuses rights Human

continues to have adverse affects on people in eastern Shan State. Shan eastern in people on affects adverse have to continues

Resettlement of the Wa, part of the SPDC’s mass migration policy, migration mass SPDC’s the of part Wa, the of Resettlement

hiding in the mountainous jungle area near Lahe, Sagaing division. Sagaing Lahe, near area jungle mountainous the in hiding

7

took refuge in Nagaland, India, many more remained in Burma as IDPs, as Burma in remained more many India, Nagaland, in refuge took

after suffering gross human rights abuses by the military. While some While military. the by abuses rights human gross suffering after

example, over 3,000 Nagas are reported to have fled Burma in May 2001 May in Burma fled have to reported are Nagas 3,000 over example,

non-Burman nationality, traditionally targeted by the military. For military. the by targeted traditionally nationality, non-Burman

mented migrants. A disproportionate number of these persons are of are persons these of number disproportionate A migrants. mented

tion, at least 800,000 least at tion, people have fled Burma as refugees and undocu- and refugees as Burma fled have people

6

sands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 2001 alone. In addi- In alone. 2001 in (IDPs) persons displaced internally of sands

People continue to be forcibly displaced, resulting in tens of thou- of tens in resulting displaced, forcibly be to continue People Internally displaced people, refugees and migrants and refugees people, displaced Internally Shan and Karen states, causing deaths and the burning of mosques and homes. This contributed considerably to the increasing numbers of IDPs and refugees. In April 2001, the military authorities of Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, ordered 70 mosques and religious schools be destroyed whereas Buddhist pagodas and monasteries are being constructed at an accelerated rate. It has been alleged that the anti-Muslim attacks have been orches- trated by the military as a means of diverting resentment. There have been reports that some of the “monks” involved in the religious vio- lence were civilians directed by military commanders.10 There are also reports that military intelligence has been publishing pamphlets to intensify anti-Muslim sentiment.11 Post-September 11 anti-Muslim sen- timent has been a gift to the regime, encouraging it to engage in further crackdowns against Rohingya activists. The regime was quick to link Rohingya groups to Al Qaeda. Christians, mostly of Chin and Naga backgrounds, are also sub- jected to persecution and higher rates of human rights violations, such as forced labour. A US State Department report has highlighted the violent ban on Christian proselytising, restrictions on local pub- lications of religious material, including the Bible and the extreme difficulties encountered in building new churches.12

Women

Violence against women continues to be perpetrated by the military, with women of the ethnic nationalities being their prime target. All non-Burman women live in constant fear of violence, and Rohingya women probably experience the worst abuses. Experience and fear of violence is a major push factor in female migration from Burma. The military also has a policy of encouraging soldiers occupying ethnic areas to marry local women, especially those from influential families. This is considered a means of securing the ethnic nationali- ties’ “loyalty” to the army. Forced marriage continues to be a trend. This occurs in situations of rape or sexual assault, where the offending soldier “redeems” the situation through marriage. This is often consid-

ered a lesser evil, as rape survivors are often beaten or fined if they make

complaints of rape. Forced marriage also occurs when a soldier “falls •

•

in love” with a local girl and will not take no for an answer. •

•

With such insecurity, it is no surprise that a significant number of • •

• ethnic nationality women are vulnerable to being trafficked into the •

• 305

• 306

• test the political strength and conviction of the parties, and the negoti- the and parties, the of conviction and strength political the test • •

• encountered seemingly insurmountable problems. While such problems such While problems. insurmountable seemingly encountered •

•

for a peaceful solution to the protracted conflict has, on many occasions, many on has, conflict protracted the to solution peaceful a for •

T •

have been moving at a snail’s pace. Their five-year long search long five-year Their pace. snail’s a at moving been have

he peace talks between the Government of India and the Nagas the and India of Government the between talks peace he

NAGALIM

, 27 October 2001. October 27 , 12 Burma Courier Burma

, 7 June 2001. June 7 , 11 ARNO

, 22 May 2001. May 22 , spreading”. clashes “Inter-religious 10 DVB

, 28 February 2001. February 28 , 9 Reuters

those in nearby Thai villages. Thai nearby in those

8 Thai officials defended the camps, saying conditions were analogous to analogous were conditions saying camps, the defended officials Thai 8

, 7 June 2001.] June 7 , Burma Courier Burma

[ “Relief Team Reaches Nagas Burned out of Their Homes”. Their of out Burned Nagas Reaches Team “Relief [ rains. the

7 The extremely arduous jungle life would be compounded at this time by time this at compounded be would life jungle arduous extremely The 7

August. 2001. August.

6 “Official refugee population in Thailand tops 136,000”. tops Thailand in population refugee “Official 6 , 19 , BurmaNet

and increased usage of mules have diminished forced labour. forced diminished have mules of usage increased and

5 This is contrary to statements made by the junta that improved roads improved that junta the by made statements to contrary is This 5

18 May 2001. May 18 CNF”. from news “Battle See 4 CNF, CNF,

, 18 September 2001. September 18 , News

3 “One more Shan party official forced to resign”. resign”. to forced official party Shan more “One 3 Shan Herald Agency for Agency Herald Shan

Euro-Burma Office, 8 December 2001. December 8 Office, Euro-Burma

“The Non-Burman Ethnic Peoples of Burma”. of Peoples Ethnic Non-Burman “The 2 Yawnghe, Harn. 2001. Harn. Yawnghe,

Burma. (Editors note) (Editors Burma.

refers to the ethnic group while while group ethnic the to refers 1 refers to the citizens of citizens the to refers Burman Burmese

Notes

tional levels. tional

gun to address issues affecting Burmese women at local and interna- and local at women Burmese affecting issues address to gun

brella group of ethnic and pro-democracy women’s groups, has be- has groups, women’s pro-democracy and ethnic of group brella

been formed in recent years. The Women’s League of Burma, an um- an Burma, of League Women’s The years. recent in formed been

Despite the obstacles, a number of ethnic women’s groups have groups women’s ethnic of number a obstacles, the Despite

ing countries. ing construction, hospitality, domestic and sex industries in neighbour- in industries sex and domestic hospitality, construction, ating skills of the direct participants, they also at- tract public attention to the issues. Apparently, both sides have gained invalu- able experience and strengthened their com- mitment to the ongoing peace process.

The cease-fire

Midway through 2001, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland Isak-Miuvah (NSCN-IM) notified India that it would call off the cease- fire unless India immediately came forward with a public undertak- ing to uphold the original understanding that the cease-fire should apply to all the areas in which their forces had been engaged. This was served with two weeks notice. The Nagas continued to be out- raged by the frequent attacks on members of their resistance move- ment, as well as their civilian population, by Indian armed forces under the local state governments of Manipur and Assam. For an entire week, the Indian media focused on this subject as the Prime Minister and the Home Minister held closed-door consultations with the Chief Ministers of the north-eastern states including Manipur and Assam, and military commanders and civil officers. Following these hectic consultations, the Government of India sent its representative to sign the Bangkok Agreement of June 14, 2001 with the leader of NSCN-IM. The agreement declared that the government of India and the NSCN-IM would observe a cease-fire “without terri- torial limits”, in other words, throughout the whole of the ancestral land of the Nagas still in their possession within India. The signing of this agreement, it was believed, signified India’s

firm commitment to finding a negotiated settlement. However, some

of the neighbouring communities in the region, particularly the two •

•

dominant Hindu communities, the Meiteis in Manipur and the As- •

•

samese in Assam, were not happy with the agreement. They feared • •

• that the geographical extension of the cease-fire signified a first step •

• 307

• 308 The talks have slowly begun to touch upon the substantive issues. substantive the upon touch to begun slowly have talks The • •

• cant progress in confidence building and furthering mutual respect. mutual furthering and building confidence in progress cant •

•

India with the Naga leaders during the past year resulted in signifi- in resulted year past the during leaders Naga the with India •

•

Meetings of the peace negotiation teams and the Prime Minister of Minister Prime the and teams negotiation peace the of Meetings •

for the peace talks peace the for ” ministers of group “ a form to India

its commander is also said to be a Meitei. a be to said also is commander its

Battalion is primarily made up of surrendered Meitei militants, and militants, Meitei surrendered of up made primarily is Battalion

the army was behind the killings. Allegedly, the 12 the Allegedly, killings. the behind was army the Indian Reserve Indian

th

pected that anti-Naga sentiment on the part of radical Meiteis within Meiteis radical of part the on sentiment anti-Naga that pected

mentioned conditions, after which the officer was released. It is sus- is It released. was officer the which after conditions, mentioned

parations to rescue the officer and, after two weeks, met the above the met weeks, two after and, officer the rescue to parations

cold-blooded murder. The Indian government made no military pre- military no made government Indian The murder. cold-blooded

investigation of the incident and punishment of those involved in the in involved those of punishment and incident the of investigation

comrades, including their guns and ammunitions, and a thorough a and ammunitions, and guns their including comrades,

order to ensure the immediate return of all the belongings of its fallen its of belongings the all of return immediate the ensure to order

government that the UKLF and its cadres had detained the officer in officer the detained had cadres its and UKLF the that government

It was later learned that the NSCN-IM had notified the Indian the notified had NSCN-IM the that learned later was It

curity escorts were disarmed and sent away. sent and disarmed were escorts curity

tion Front (UKLF), a NSCN-IM ally. The Deputy Commissioner’s se- Commissioner’s Deputy The ally. NSCN-IM a (UKLF), Front tion

missioner of the district was taken hostage by the United Kuki Libera- Kuki United the by hostage taken was district the of missioner

Some of their companions escaped. In retaliation, the Deputy Com- Deputy the retaliation, In escaped. companions their of Some

town in Manipur, by troops of the 12 the of troops by Manipur, in town Indian Reserved Battalion. Reserved Indian

th

eleven NSCN-IM members were killed near Pallel market, a Naga a market, Pallel near killed were members NSCN-IM eleven

The peace process suffered another shock on March 16, 2002 when 2002 16, March on shock another suffered process peace The

Cease-fire violation Cease-fire

with the peace process. peace the with

much-needed political space for the Indian government to proceed to government Indian the for space political much-needed

request for a re-wording of the Bangkok agreement. This provided the provided This agreement. Bangkok the of re-wording a for request

government in handling the situation, NSCN-IM agreed to India’s to agreed NSCN-IM situation, the handling in government

government of India. Sensing the difficulties faced by the central the by faced difficulties the Sensing India. of government

threatened to snow-ball and cracks began to appear within the central the within appear to began cracks and snow-ball to threatened

take to the streets. With the media fanning the fire, the situation the fire, the fanning media the With streets. the to take

rioting and arson, and some of the Assamese leaders threatened to threatened leaders Assamese the of some and arson, and rioting

violently. Meitei agitators in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, took to took Manipur, of capital the Imphal, in agitators Meitei violently.

within a new political/administrative entity. Some responded Some entity. political/administrative new a within land

towards dividing the existing states in order to create a larger larger a create to order in states existing the dividing towards Naga- India’s announcement on 19 February 2002 that it was planning to form a “group of ministers” to study the issues brought to the nego- tiating table is seen as a step in the right direction. The Indian gov- ernment representatives’ inability to sufficiently prepare themselves has been one of the main obstacles to progress in the negotiations. This decision, if implemented, may help to overcome this.

Reconciliation within Naga society

One of the most important developments under the present cease-fire is the process of reconciliation that Naga civil society organizations have been undertaking since the cessation of active military opera- tions on their land. The reconciliation campaign is not only aimed at overcoming past bitterness among the Nagas and healing the wounds of war, it is also aimed at empowering each other to play a meaningful role in social reconstruction. On 20 December 2001, Naga civil society organized a large cer- emony to mark the launch of the “Process of National Reconciliation”. Led by the Naga Hoho (the all-Naga council), and the Tribal Hohos (tribal councils), over ten thousand Nagas from all over their ancestral land in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland in India, and from Burma, gathered in Kohima, the capital of Nagaland state on 20 December 2001. This was followed by a meeting of 65 Naga representatives in Bang- kok for 10 days of extensive consultation and brainstorming regarding the ongoing negotiations with India. Almost all the top leaders of the NSCN-IM, led by Chairman Isak Chishi Swu and General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, participated actively in the consultation with Naga civil society representatives. The consultation meeting was facili- tated by the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) with support from the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA). The success of the national consultation and reconciliation among the Nagas has undoubtedly had an impact on their neighbours and the Indian government. As a rule, Indian leaders and, for that matter, the Indian intelligentsia know very little about Nagalim and its peo- ple. What they think or do concerning the Nagas has been largely

based on presumption. However, the recent mass movements for rec-

onciliation and nation-building throughout Nagalim have begun to •

•

draw their attention. •

•

Those among the Meiteis of Manipur and the Assamese commu- • •

• nities who are opposed to the unification of the Nagas are watching •

• 309 • 310 • • • • • •

•

•

handled this difficult situation. difficult this handled

commended Naga civil society for the maturity with which it has it which with maturity the for society civil Naga commended

and Jaintias, the Boroks, Bodos, Daflas, Akas and others, have warmly have others, and Akas Daflas, Bodos, Boroks, the Jaintias, and

peoples in the region, including the Mizos, Hmars, Beites, Khashis Beites, Hmars, Mizos, the including region, the in peoples

standings with the Nagas. Many other representatives of indigenous of representatives other Many Nagas. the with standings

their feelings. The Kukis, for example, have reached friendly under- friendly reached have example, for Kukis, The feelings. their

have to be understood in this context. Fortunately, others do not share not do others Fortunately, context. this in understood be to have with concern. The violent events of June 2001 in Imphal, Manipur Imphal, in 2001 June of events violent The concern. with

•

SOUTH ASIA •

•

•

•

•

• •

• 311

• 312

tion. Although both the JSS and the UPDF strongly uphold the right the uphold strongly UPDF the and JSS the both Although tion. •

• Peace Accord falls short of the Jummas’ demands for self-determina- for demands Jummas’ the of short falls Accord Peace • •

• Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) in 1998 because they believe the believe they because 1998 in (UPDF) Front Democratic Peoples •

•

A dissident faction of the students’ movement formed the United the formed movement students’ the of faction dissident A •

being a necessary step forward, it has not been universally welcomed. universally been not has it forward, step necessary a being

Although the Peace Accord is accepted by most of the Jummas as Jummas the of most by accepted is Accord Peace the Although

both of which remain firmly entrenched in the CHT. the in entrenched firmly remain which of both

violence amidst the continuing presence of the army and the settlers, the and army the of presence continuing the amidst violence

years on, the situation is once again tense with sporadic incidents of incidents sporadic with tense again once is situation the on, years

slow to the point of tardiness and neglect and, nearly four and a half a and four nearly and, neglect and tardiness of point the to slow

welfare and health. Implementation of the Accord has been painfully been has Accord the of Implementation health. and welfare

so far been placed under their supervision: primary education, social education, primary supervision: their under placed been far so

subjects to be transferred to the Hill District Councils, only three have three only Councils, District Hill the to transferred be to subjects

sufficient authority or resources to function effectively and, of the 22 the of and, effectively function to resources or authority sufficient

ing and advisory body for the CHT, has not been provided with the with provided been not has CHT, the for body advisory and ing

However, the Regional Council, which is to be the main coordinat- main the be to is which Council, Regional the However,

ditional indigenous authorities of the rajas. the of authorities indigenous ditional

a separate ministry, a regional council, district councils and the tra- the and councils district council, regional a ministry, separate a

elements of indigenous self-rule within the institutional framework of framework institutional the within self-rule indigenous of elements

enous struggle, agreed a Peace Accord. The 1997 Accord includes Accord 1997 The Accord. Peace a agreed struggle, enous

Peoples Party of the CHT), the driving force behind the armed indig- armed the behind force driving the CHT), the of Party Peoples

(PCJSS-United the and (GOB) Parbattya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti Samhati Jana Chattagram Parbattya

intense and protracted negotiations, the Government of Bangladesh of Government the negotiations, protracted and intense

In December 1997, after more than twenty years of violence, and violence, of years twenty than more after 1997, December In

The peace process peace The

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Hill Chittagong The

desh.

Tracts (CHT), and in the Khasi and Garo areas of Northern Bangla- Northern of areas Garo and Khasi the in and (CHT), Tracts

of last year’s most important development in the Chittagong Hill Chittagong the in development important most year’s last of

Hill Tracts in 1997. This chapter presents a summary report on some on report summary a presents chapter This 1997. in Tracts Hill

the leaders of the indigenous resistance movement in the Chittagong the in movement resistance indigenous the of leaders the

implement the Peace Accord forged by the previous government with government previous the by forged Accord Peace the implement

rights, nor to address the ongoing human rights violations or to or violations rights human ongoing the address to nor rights,

ther willing to recognise the country’s indigenous peoples and their and peoples indigenous country’s the recognise to willing ther

Y

peoples in Bangladesh. The new government is obviously nei- obviously is government new The Bangladesh. in peoples

ear 2001 saw no improvement of the situation of the indigenous the of situation the of improvement no saw 2001 ear BANGLADESH

•

•

•

Demonstration against the Eco-Park on Garo and Khasi ancestral lands. • •

Photo: Sanjeeb Drong • • •

• 313

• 314

these persons should not be permitted to vote in the region. the in vote to permitted be not should persons these • 2 •

• 100,000 government employees and security personnel, and that and personnel, security and employees government 100,000 •

•

names are on the voter list, are non-permanent residents, including residents, non-permanent are list, voter the on are names •

•

residents”. He claims that approximately 500,000 persons, whose persons, 500,000 approximately that claims He residents”. •

700,000 indigenous people and 100,000 Bengalis are “permanent are Bengalis 100,000 and people indigenous 700,000

tu Larma [JSS leader Jyotirindra Bodhipriyo Larma], approximately Larma], Bodhipriyo Jyotirindra leader [JSS Larma tu

Chittagong Hill Tracts would be allowed to vote. According to Shan- to According vote. to allowed be would Tracts Hill Chittagong

The Accord also provided that only “permanent residents” of the of residents” “permanent only that provided also Accord The

riated refugees among the Jummas: the among refugees riated

dent” in the CHT, while excluding the internally displaced and repat- and displaced internally the excluding while CHT, the in dent”

and other non-indigenous persons who are not “permanently resi- “permanently not are who persons non-indigenous other and

included settlers, businessmen, the armed and para-military forces para-military and armed the businessmen, settlers, included

basis of a new voter list prepared in May-June 2000. This voter list voter This 2000. May-June in prepared list voter new a of basis

the JSS. Their main objection was to the elections being held on the on held being elections the to was objection main Their JSS. the

The elections in the CHT were a contentious affair and boycotted by boycotted and affair contentious a were CHT the in elections The

term in office, and concluded by her successor, Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Hasina Sheikh successor, her by concluded and office, in term

1997 Peace Accord is the outcome of negotiations initiated during her during initiated negotiations of outcome the is Accord Peace 1997

Khaleda Zia (she was previously Prime Minister from 1991-96). The 1991-96). from Minister Prime previously was (she Zia Khaleda

with an absolute majority. The present government is led by Begum by led is government present The majority. absolute an with

alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) came to power to came (BNP) Party Nationalist Bangladesh the by led alliance

In October 2001, in the general elections held in Bangladesh, an Bangladesh, in held elections general the in 2001, October In

League and the Bangladesh National Party. National Bangladesh the and League

between the two main political parties in Bangladesh, the Awami the Bangladesh, in parties political main two the between

this has to be seen within the context of the long-running rivalry long-running the of context the within seen be to has this

ess on the grounds that it favours the indigenous peoples. However, peoples. indigenous the favours it that grounds the on ess

mainstream political parties who wish to undermine the peace proc- peace the undermine to wish who parties political mainstream

of “divide and rule”. It has been encouraged, if not supported, by supported, not if encouraged, been has It rule”. and “divide of

to be involved in CHT affairs, a legacy of the British colonial practice colonial British the of legacy a affairs, CHT in involved be to

The JSS-UPDF dispute provides an opportunity for outside interests outside for opportunity an provides dispute JSS-UPDF The

Political developments Political

as a critical issue in the peace process. peace the in issue critical a as

leaders and elders to resolve the internecine conflict, it has emerged has it conflict, internecine the resolve to elders and leaders

They were later released. later were They Despite various efforts taken by indigenous by taken efforts various Despite

1

funded road project in the CHT were abducted and held to ransom. to held and abducted were CHT the in project road funded

three members (one British and two Danish nationals) of a Danish- a of nationals) Danish two and British (one members three

retaliatory attacks. In the deteriorating situation, on 16 February 2001, February 16 on situation, deteriorating the In attacks. retaliatory

hostilities, with both sides targeting members of the other party for party other the of members targeting sides both with hostilities,

long term goals), their difference in approach has escalated into armed into escalated has approach in difference their goals), term long to self-determination for the indigenous Jummas (short terms vis-à-vis terms (short Jummas indigenous the for self-determination to Despite JSS’ demands to annul the 2000 voter list and prepare a fresh one, the elections went ahead in the CHT. There were a number of candidates for the three seats in the CHT, including from the UPDF, the BNP and Awami League. The candidates elected from the three CHT districts were as follows: two indigenous members - Moni Swa- pan Dewan from Rangamati (BNP-Alliance) and Bir Bahadur from Bandarban (Awami League); and one non-indigenous – Abdul Owa- dud Bhuiya (BNP-Alliance). However, neither of the indigenous mem- bers of parliament was appointed to head the CHT Affairs Ministry created under the Accord and the Prime Minister retains the CHT portfolio under her direct supervision; an indication of the continuing importance and sensitivity of the region. During the peace negotiations, the BNP was outspoken in its criticism of the then-Awami League government’s agreeing the Ac- cord. During the run-up to the elections, it declared it would restore peace to the CHT by ensuring peaceful coexistence between the indig- enous and non-indigenous people.3 Post-election, in December 2001, at a meeting with the JSS to discuss the implementation of the Accord, the Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs informed them of the government’s decision to review the Peace Accord. This would be done to ensure that the Accord was in accordance with Bangla- deshi sovereignty and the national constitution. Within the context of earlier declarations by the BNP that the Accord favours the indig- enous peoples and does not adequately protect the rights of the plains settlers in the CHT, this is a cause for great concern for the indigenous peoples despite assurances from the government that it will “uphold the culture, tradition and life-style of the [indigenous] people.”4 The situation remains uncertain.

Land and forests The central issue in the CHT relates to land and resource rights. In this context, the following developments are relevant: One of the first tools used by successive governments to take over the lands of the Jummas was to devise a forest policy to create pro- tected and reserve forests i.e. government forests from the existing natural forests in the CHT. This ensures the indigenous peoples are

constrained (protected) and prohibited from (reserve) the use, man-

agement and access to the forest, its lands or resources and to do so •

•

is to contravene the forest law and face imprisonment and/or fine. •

•

Begun by the British in 1860, the pattern of land and forest manage- • •

• ment has essentially remained state-centric and “colonialist” with •

• 315

• 316 CHT from refugee camps in India on the basis of two rehabilitation- two of basis the on India in camps refugee from CHT • •

• An additional element is the plight of Jummas who returned to the to returned who Jummas of plight the is element additional An •

•

dependent on their land for their survival. their for land their on dependent •

•

much economic hardship since, being mainly agriculturalists, they are they agriculturalists, mainly being since, hardship economic much •

as many are among those displaced by the Kaptai dam, and they face they and dam, Kaptai the by displaced those among are many as

Some of them have been displaced twice displaced been have them of Some are peoples internally displaced. internally

with the army occupying lands for military purposes, many indigenous many purposes, military for lands occupying army the with

in the CHT. As a result of the settlement programme and militarization, and programme settlement the of result a As CHT. the in

This issue has not been resolved, and is the cause of tension and conflict and tension of cause the is and resolved, been not has issue This

peoples] for agriculture. for peoples]

7

traditional jhum–land and forestland used by the Paharis [indigenous Paharis the by used forestland and jhum–land traditional

pretations. What the Government regards as Khas land is essentially the essentially is land Khas as regards Government the What pretations.

settled on Government land (Khas land) is subject to differential inter- differential to subject is land) (Khas land Government on settled

ing their lifestyles. The Government’s claim that Bengalis have been have Bengalis that claim Government’s The lifestyles. their ing

traditional lands by grossly violating their traditional rights and affect- and rights traditional their violating grossly by lands traditional

were settled by evicting the Paharis [indigenous peoples] from their from peoples] [indigenous Paharis the evicting by settled were

one-tenth of what was required for the settlement (May 1984). The rest The 1984). (May settlement the for required was what of one-tenth

lands were released for settlement, but these lands hardly amounted to amounted hardly lands these but settlement, for released were lands

A few thousand acres of reserve forest containing both mixed and hilly and mixed both containing forest reserve of acres thousand few A

: settlers

A major issue in the CHT is that of the the of that is CHT the in issue major A land allocated/occupied by the by allocated/occupied land

approach towards forest management. forest towards approach

2000 – indicates the government will continue its regulatory and policing and regulatory its continue will government the indicates – 2000

A recent amendment to the forest laws – the Forest (Amendment) Act of Act (Amendment) Forest the – laws forest the to amendment recent A

despite assurances to do so, nothing substantial has been achieved so far. so achieved been has substantial nothing so, do to assurances despite

Forests in 2001 to request revocation of the notifications and redress but, redress and notifications the of revocation request to 2001 in Forests

the government and has met with the new Minister of Environment and Environment of Minister new the with met has and government the

for the Protection of Forest and Land Rights in the CHT has been lobbying been has CHT the in Rights Land and Forest of Protection the for

in accordance with customary law. customary with accordance in The indigenous peoples’ Committee peoples’ indigenous The

6

in the process of registration, and forest and grazing commons held commons grazing and forest and registration, of process the in

includes small farmers’ registered holdings, homesteads, farmlands homesteads, holdings, registered farmers’ small includes

forest and the impact on the indigenous peoples is severe as this as severe is peoples indigenous the on impact the and forest

1996-98 approximately half this area had been declared as reserve as declared been had area this half approximately 1996-98

environmental protection. The total area was 220,000 acres; between acres; 220,000 was area total The protection. environmental

to create more reserved forests in the CHT - for re-forestation and re-forestation for - CHT the in forests reserved more create to

ronment and Forests (MOEF) issued a series of gazetted notifications gazetted of series a issued (MOEF) Forests and ronment

This policy continues and recently, in 1992, the Ministry of Envi- of Ministry the 1992, in recently, and continues policy This

acquire land in the CHT. the in land acquire

5

CHT was strictly controlled and non-residents were not allowed to allowed not were non-residents and controlled strictly was CHT one main difference: during the British period, in-migration to the to in-migration period, British the during difference: main one repatriation agreements with the government (1992 and 1997). How- ever, many of their lands are currently occupied by settler families who refuse to return it to the legal owners. The returnee refugees are not provided with any food rations or other benefits, in contrast to the settler families, and this difference in treatment and approach has exacerbated already existing tensions. A Task Force was created to supervise and manage the rehabilitation of the internally displaced and the refugees. However, the previous head of the Task Force took the controversial decision to include the settlers among the internally displaced, overriding the objections of other members of the Task Force. The new BNP-led government has yet to appoint the leader of the Task Force and it remains to be seen whether and how the new head of the task force will resolve this contentious issue. The Hill District Councils are to have main responsibility for land administration under the Accord. However, land and resource rights have not been transferred to the HDCs and continue under the authority of the civil administration. The deputy commissioners, who are the principal civil administration officers in the CHT, continue to allocate and transfer lands to non-indigenous persons in direct contravention of the Accord. The Accord also provides for the establishment of a Land Commis- sion to adjudicate land claims in the CHT in accordance with “local laws, usages and practices”. It is to be headed by a retired judge of the High Court and its members are to include the three traditional rul- ers/rajas, the chairperson of the regional council and the hill district councils. A new commissioner was appointed in November 2001 – Justice (Rtd.) AM Mahmudur Rahman and a head office was estab- lished in Khagrachari (regional offices are to be established in Ban- darban and Rangamati). However, there are divergences between the Accord and the ena- bling legislation – the CHT Land Dispute Settlement Act of 2001. The Regional Council has rejected the Act on the basis of 19 reservations including: (i) the arbitrary powers of the chairperson: his decision is to be final in the event of lack of consensus among the other members; (ii) the exclusion of Jumma refugees who returned to the CHT under the 1992 repatriation agreement from the ambit of the Land Commis- sion’s work; (iii) the exclusion of the internally displaced Jummas from the scope of the Act; and (iv) that the other members of the Land

commission have not yet been formally designated. The Act (as adopted)

is perceived as facilitating legalisation of the settlers’ occupation of •

•

indigenous peoples’ lands. However, the Commission is, as yet, in its •

•

early stages and it remains to be seen how it will resolve the land • •

• question in the CHT in a just and objective manner. •

• 317 • 318 • •

• camps and cantonments. They remain firmly entrenched in the CHT. the in entrenched firmly remain They cantonments. and camps •

•

and Rangamati districts for artillery and air force training centres, training force air and artillery for districts Rangamati and •

•

authorities have acquired some 65,793 acres of land in the Bandarban the in land of acres 65,793 some acquired have authorities •

As an indication of their future presence in the CHT, the military the CHT, the in presence future their of indication an As

ily harm (CERD/C/304/Add.118). harm ily

tional or ethnic origin, should be protected against violence and bod- and violence against protected be should origin, ethnic or tional

Bangladeshis, without distinction as to race, colour, descent or na- or descent colour, race, to as distinction without Bangladeshis,

that the government implement effective measures to guarantee that all that guarantee to measures effective implement government the that

reports of arbitrary arrests, detention and ill-treatment. It recommended It ill-treatment. and detention arrests, arbitrary of reports

rights violations by the security forces present in the CHT, including CHT, the in present forces security the by violations rights

ment of Bangladesh, expressed its concern at the reports of human of reports the at concern its expressed Bangladesh, of ment

of Racial Discrimination, when examining the report of the Govern- the of report the examining when Discrimination, Racial of

many fled to India for shelter. The UN Committee on the Elimination the on Committee UN The shelter. for India to fled many

June 2001 when a number of indigenous peoples were killed and killed were peoples indigenous of number a when 2001 June

as a result; and the arson attack on Jumma villages in Ramgarh on 25 on Ramgarh in villages Jumma on attack arson the and result; a as

including the brutal rape of three women who had to be hospitalised be to had who women three of rape brutal the including

which resulted in the harassment of and attacks on the villagers, the on attacks and of harassment the in resulted which

2001 in Barachandra village in Matiranga to search for “terrorists”, for search to Matiranga in village Barachandra in 2001

houses were set on fire and looted; the military operation of 22 May 22 of operation military the looted; and fire on set were houses

attack on Jumma refugee villages in Dighinala on 18 May 2001 when 2001 May 18 on Dighinala in villages refugee Jumma on attack

sion with the settlers, continue to be made. This has included an included has This made. be to continue settlers, the with sion

Reports of violent incidents involving the armed forces, in collu- in forces, armed the involving incidents violent of Reports

brought those responsible to justice. to responsible those brought

that occurred in the CHT, and points out that the government has not has government the that out points and CHT, the in occurred that

report, Amnesty International refers to the human rights violations rights human the to refers International Amnesty report,

cluded mass killings, arson, looting and rape. In its 2001 annual 2001 its In rape. and looting arson, killings, mass cluded

indigenous peoples, often in collusion with the settlers. These in- These settlers. the with collusion in often peoples, indigenous

of human rights violations committed by the armed forces against the against forces armed the by committed violations rights human of

the conflict, from the mid-1970s to 1997, there were persistent reports persistent were there 1997, to mid-1970s the from conflict, the

sion to universities and other institutions of higher education. During education. higher of institutions other and universities to sion

students require a no-objection-certificate from the army for admis- for army the from no-objection-certificate a require students

armed forces continue to exert control in civil matters e.g. indigenous e.g. matters civil in control exert to continue forces armed

the CHT, an estimated 31 have been dismantled. In addition, the addition, In dismantled. been have 31 estimated an CHT, the

force (Article 17 (d)). As of March 2002, out of a total of 520 camps in camps 520 of total a of out 2002, March of As (d)). 17 (Article force

of the six permanent military cantonments and the border security border the and cantonments military permanent six the of

temporary and para-military camps from the CHT with the exception the with CHT the from camps para-military and temporary

contravention of the Peace Accord, which stipulates the removal of all of removal the stipulates which Accord, Peace the of contravention

to maintain law and order in the CHT, although this is in direct in is this although CHT, the in order and law maintain to

ence. The government contends that the army presence is necessary is presence army the that contends government The ence.

The armed forces remain in the CHT and are intensifying their pres- their intensifying are and CHT the in remain forces armed The Military Religious discrimination The issue of religious discrimination and its influence on the (slow) implementation of the Peace Accord was raised by the UN special rapporteur on the elimination of all forms of religious intolerance in his August 2000 report, following a visit to the CHT. The BNP is currently in power with support from a coalition of political parties, including the Jamat-e-Islami and the Islami Oikya Jote, both of which are fundamentalist Islamist parties. These two parties, and others, are taking an increasingly active interest in the CHT and are engaged in building mosques, madrassahs (religious Islamist schools) and providing assistance to the settlers to more firmly consolidate their presence in the CHT. By one count, there are more than 300 mosques and madrassahs in Khagrachari District alone, funded by national and in- ternational Islamist NGOs such as the Bangladesh Islamic Foundation and the Al Rabeta organization.8 Needless to say, this is a cause for great concern among the indigenous peoples who view this development as yet another element in their colonisation and domination by the majority population. This has to be analysed within the context of the 1974-97 conflict period, when many temples were burned down, monks beaten and killed, and many Jummas, in particular women and girls, forced to convert to Islam – in the latter case often following rape and other acts of violence. In addition, Jumma place names are being replaced by Ben- gali-Muslim-oriented names. The activities of the Islamist parties con- tinue unhampered.

The indigenous movement There are a number of indigenous organizations working in the CHT. However, their efforts are hampered by the requirement for registration from the NGO bureau. This has functioned as an obstacle to indigenous organizations seeking foreign assistance in carrying out their activities, as NGO bureau certification is a pre-requisite to accessing foreign fund- ing. In direct contrast, despite objections from the indigenous peoples and demands for greater supervision, national NGOs such as the Bang- ladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), non-religious and Islam- ist organizations operate. The indigenous organizations believe this is a discriminatory practice aimed at curtailing their activities.

Indigenous organizations in the CHT have formed the Hill Tracts

NGO Forum, which operates as a coordinating organization. At na- •

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tional level, the Jummas have established links with other indigenous •

•

peoples in Bangladesh. On 31 March 2001, in solidarity with the other • •

• indigenous peoples in Bangladesh, the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights •

• 319

• 320 lish an Eco-Park in Moulvibazar district, which will develop more develop will which district, Moulvibazar in Eco-Park an lish • •

• In July 2000, the Bangladesh Government announced plans to estab- to plans announced Government Bangladesh the 2000, July In • •

•

•

Eco-Park project inaugurated in spite of protests of spite in inaugurated project Eco-Park •

killer, Habibur, to escape. to Habibur, killer,

Gidita’s father said that the police had obviously even helped the helped even obviously had police the that said father Gidita’s

Anthony Mangsang, has protested in front of the police station and station police the of front in protested has Mangsang, Anthony

The police have not arrested the murderers. Local Garo leader, Garo Local murderers. the arrested not have police The

obey his order. Two days later, Gidita Rema was murdered. was Rema Gidita later, days Two order. his obey

her house would be burnt and that she would be killed if she did not did she if killed be would she that and burnt be would house her

Mofij. When Gidita refused to do so, the chairman told her angrily that angrily her told chairman the so, do to refused Gidita When Mofij.

meeting, the chairman himself forced Gidita to return Nomreta to Nomreta return to Gidita forced himself chairman the meeting,

man, Zakir Hossain, called for a meeting to deal with the case. In the In case. the with deal to meeting a for called Hossain, Zakir

9

cued by Gidita’s family. On 18 March, local union parishad chair- parishad union local March, 18 On family. Gidita’s by cued

and marry local Bengali settler, Mofij Uddin. The girl had been res- been had girl The Uddin. Mofij settler, Bengali local marry and

old Garo girl who had been abducted, raped, forced to convert to Islam to convert to forced raped, abducted, been had who girl Garo old

seems the killing is related to the rescue of Nomreta Rema, a 15-year- a Rema, Nomreta of rescue the to related is killing the seems

always protested against cruel acts by Bengalis in their village. It village. their in Bengalis by acts cruel against protested always

din and Juran Ali. Villagers said Gidita lost her life because she had she because life her lost Gidita said Villagers Ali. Juran and din

stabbed to death by the Bengali settlers, Habibur Rahman, Mofij Ud- Mofij Rahman, Habibur settlers, Bengali the by death to stabbed

attack, on March 20, 2001, Gidita Rema, a young Garo mother, was mother, Garo young a Rema, Gidita 2001, 20, March on attack,

ancestral homeland in order to get hold of their land. In their latest their In land. their of hold get to order in homeland ancestral

from the majority Bengali people who want to evict them from their from them evict to want who people Bengali majority the from

fear for their life. For a long time, they have been facing severe threats severe facing been have they time, long a For life. their for fear

The Garo indigenous communities of Modhupur forest now have to have now forest Modhupur of communities indigenous Garo The

Killing of Garo woman in Modhupur forest Modhupur in woman Garo of Killing

peoples in other parts of the world. the of parts other in peoples

UN and at related events, and have forged links with indigenous with links forged have and events, related at and UN

also active at regional and international level, including within the within including level, international and regional at active also

nized the indigenous peoples as such. The indigenous Jummas are Jummas indigenous The such. as peoples indigenous the nized

desh and the government, under Prime Minister Hasina, has recog- has Hasina, Minister Prime under government, the and desh

public attention to the situation of the indigenous peoples in Bangla- in peoples indigenous the of situation the to attention public

come to be recognized as an annual event. It has also helped to draw to helped also has It event. annual an as recognized be to come

as International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and this has this and Peoples Indigenous World’s the of Day International as

Each year, the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh celebrate 9 August 9 celebrate Bangladesh of peoples indigenous the year, Each

of the JSS leader and Regional Council Chairman, Mr. Shantu Larma. Shantu Mr. Chairman, Council Regional and leader JSS the of Forum (Bangladesh Adivasi Forum) was established at the initiative the at established was Forum) Adivasi (Bangladesh Forum than 1,500 acres of the Khasi and Garo people’s ancestral land for tourism. The plan was developed without any participation from, nor the consent of, the communities affected. Seven villages, comprising over 1,000 Khasi and Garo families, face forced eviction from their homelands. The indigenous peoples of Bangladesh started a demo- cratic movement against this Eco-Park. Many intellectuals, university professors, writers, journalists, politicians, cultural activists and other members of civil society have supported them and have participated in their programmes. They have organised protest rallies, public gath- erings and press conferences, they have published leaflets and held a hunger strike against the government’s plan, and they have received excellent press and media coverage. Despite these protests, the Envi- ronment and Forest Minister inaugurated the Eco-Park on 15 April 2001. At the same time, thousands of indigenous people showed the Minister the “black flag” as a symbol of their protest. The day was Easter Sunday, a key religious day for the Khasi and Garo people. However, they spent that day on a protest rally in the forest. On 5 May 2001, indigenous people again organised a mass public gathering in Dhaka to halt the plan to establish an Eco-Park. Thousands of people attended. Many intellectuals, writers, poet, artists, professors and journalists attended the meeting and made speeches in favour of the indigenous communities’ demand.

Notes and references

1 It is unclear who, or which party, was responsible for this act, although there are allegations that the UPDF was responsible. 2 US Department of State. March 2002. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2001: Bangladesh. 3 Daily Star, 13 August 2001. “BNP to Restore Peace in CHT if Elected, says Khaleda”. Internet news. 4 The New Nation, 12 December 2001. 5 Raja Devasish Roy. 2002. “Land and Forest Rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh.” Paper presented at ICIMOD, Nepal, February 2002. 6 Ibid.: 14. 7 Mohd. Rafi and A. Mushtaque R. Chowdhury (eds.). 2001. Counting the Hills: Assessing Development in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Dhaka.

8 International Jumma Community: An Appeal to the Honourable Repre-

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sentatives of Donor Countries’ and Funding Agencies’ Meeting in the Bangla- •

•

desh Aid Consortium, 13-15 March, 2002, Paris. p. 9. •

•

9 Council of the Union, a government administrative unit. •

• •

• 321

• 322

insurgents through its “cordon-and-search-and-destroy” operations, “cordon-and-search-and-destroy” its through insurgents •

• plains. While the army has been stepping up pressure against the against pressure up stepping been has army the While plains. • •

• guerrillas have come face to face in the Nepalese hills and southern and hills Nepalese the in face to face come have guerrillas •

•

For the last four months, the Royal Nepalese Army and Maoist and Army Nepalese Royal the months, four last the For •

the Royal Nepalese Army to contain and destroy the rebellion. the destroy and contain to Army Nepalese Royal the

rights in late November, branding the Maoists terrorists and mobilising and terrorists Maoists the branding November, late in rights

clared a state of emergency and suspended all civil, political and human and political civil, all suspended and emergency of state a clared

ing government installations and army barracks. The government de- government The barracks. army and installations government ing

For the first time in the six years of their insurgency, they were target- were they insurgency, their of years six the in time first the For

out of the four-month-long “peace talks” and resumed the violence. the resumed and talks” “peace four-month-long the of out

after the third round and, in November, the Maoists unilaterally pulled unilaterally Maoists the November, in and, round third the after

mand for a “republican state” was dropped. The peace talks failed talks peace The dropped. was state” “republican a for mand

government or the political parties in parliament, even after the de- the after even parliament, in parties political the or government

ever, none of their demands gained a positive response from the from response positive a gained demands their of none ever,

terim government” and the “election of a constituent assembly”. How- assembly”. constituent a of “election the and government” terim

Maoists had presented three demands: a “republican state”, an “in- an state”, “republican a demands: three presented had Maoists

mediated peace talks between the government and the Maoists. The Maoists. the and government the between talks peace mediated

with the help of human rights organisations and civil society, has society, civil and organisations rights human of help the with

The Movement for the Protection of Democratic Rights, Nepal, Rights, Democratic of Protection the for Movement The

adversely affected. adversely

million US Dollars). Almost every sector of national life has been has life national of sector every Almost Dollars). US million

vember 2001 alone may total more than 2 billion Rupees (about 27 (about Rupees billion 2 than more total may alone 2001 vember

months. Unofficial estimates say the toll on infrastructure since No- since infrastructure on toll the say estimates Unofficial months.

600,000 of the country’s youth have fled the country over the last few last the over country the fled have youth country’s the of 600,000

are common. Indigenous activists have been killed, and an estimated an and killed, been have activists Indigenous common. are

rape, indiscriminate killing, kidnapping, torture and disappearances and torture kidnapping, killing, indiscriminate rape,

and property in their territories. Human rights violations such as such violations rights Human territories. their in property and

The indigenous peoples are increasingly facing threats to their life their to threats facing increasingly are peoples indigenous The

State of emergency and worsening human rights situation rights human worsening and emergency of State

indigenous peoples and their territories. their and peoples indigenous

The most affected areas and peoples in the armed conflicts are the are conflicts armed the in peoples and areas affected most The

establish a New Republican Democratic State in mid-February 1996. mid-February in State Democratic Republican New a establish

Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) launched its “people’s war” to war” “people’s its launched (Maoist) Party Communist Nepal

ing between the security forces and the Maoist guerrilla since the since guerrilla Maoist the and forces security the between ing

M

police and ordinary civilians have been killed during the fight- the during killed been have civilians ordinary and police

ore than 4,000 people including insurgents, security forces, security insurgents, including people 4,000 than ore NEPAL the rebels have managed to inflict heavy damage on the security forces. The loss of human life, property and infrastructure in the course of the Maoist “people’s war” has been enormous. Not a single day passes without reports of brutal killings, ordinary citizens, including children, falling victim. What surprised many was the ferocity of the rebel attacks, despite the three-month-old state of emergency and security operations. In the aftermath of the heaviest attack so far, in the far-western district of Achham on February 16 2002, in which over 150 members of the forces were killed, parliament - with far more than the mandatory two-thirds majority - decided to extend the state of emergency by another three months (until June 2002) to allow the army a free hand in fighting the insurgency. Officials maintain that there are no immediate chances of a re- sumption in talks with the rebels. The government would consider holding talks with the Maoists only if they denounced terrorism, handed over all the arms and ammunition looted from the security forces, complied with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal and joined the national mainstream. The Maoists declare that they are ready for peace talks if the government announces the election of a

Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution. Recently, the Gov-

ernment of Nepal publicly offered a reward of 5 million Nepalese •

•

Rupees for capture of the leaders of the Nepal Communist Party •

•

(Maoist) dead or alive, although the death penalty has been illegal • •

• and unconstitutional in Nepal since 1991. •

• 323 • 324 •

•

• the Governing Council. Governing the 1 •

•

6. Every indigenous nationality has the right to be represented at represented be to right the has nationality indigenous Every 6. •

•

Foundation. •

Ministry of Local Development will be the focal ministry for the for ministry focal the be will Development Local of Ministry

including two representatives of indigenous nationalities. The nationalities. indigenous of representatives two including

formed on the recommendation of a three-member committee, three-member a of recommendation the on formed

the Foundation. The Executive Committee will be will Committee Executive The Foundation. the of Council ing

implementing body for the decisions taken by the Govern- the by taken decisions the for body implementing the is

the Ministry of Local Deveopment and a Member/Secretary. It Member/Secretary. a and Deveopment Local of Ministry the

of the Vice Chairman, two members, one ex-officio member from member ex-officio one members, two Chairman, Vice the of

5. The Foundation will have an Executive Committee consisting Committee Executive an have will Foundation The 5.

will be ex-officio members. ex-officio be will

Local Development, Finance, Culture, Education and Tourism and Education Culture, Finance, Development, Local

National Planning Commission. Secretaries of the Ministries of Ministries the of Secretaries Commission. Planning National

the National Assembly of the Parliament, and a member of the of member a and Parliament, the of Assembly National the

resentatives, three indigenous parliamentarh members from members parliamentarh indigenous three resentatives,

six indigenous parliamentary members from the House of Rep- of House the from members parliamentary indigenous six

cal Development will co-chair it and it will consist of a further a of consist will it and it co-chair will Development cal

enous nationalities as ex-officio members. The Minister of Lo- of Minister The members. ex-officio as nationalities enous

making body, and consists of the representatives of all indig- all of representatives the of consists and body, making

chairmanship of the Prime Minister. It is the supreme policy- supreme the is It Minister. Prime the of chairmanship

4. The Foundation will have a Governing Council under the under Council Governing a have will Foundation The 4.

logical development of indigenous nationalities. indigenous of development logical

literature, knowledge) and techno- and knowledge) literature, arts, history, script, guage,

lated to the economic, social, educational, cultural (lan- cultural educational, social, economic, the to lated re mes

ment of indigenous nationalities through plans and program- and plans through nationalities indigenous of ment

3. The main objective of the Foundation is the overall develop- overall the is Foundation the of objective main The 3.

2. The Foundation is an autonomous body. autonomous an is Foundation The 2.

nalilties.

1. It recognises 59 ethnic groups of Nepal as indigenous natio- indigenous as Nepal of groups ethnic 59 recognises It 1.

tures:

tion of indigenous peoples in Nepal. The act has the following fea- following the has act The Nepal. in peoples indigenous of tion

Previously, the Cabinet’s decision was the only legal recogni- legal only the was decision Cabinet’s the Previously, alities.

Nepalese act that recognizes 59 ethnic groups as indigenous nation- indigenous as groups ethnic 59 recognizes that act Nepalese

sed at its 1999 session. This act is very important since it is the first the is it since important very is act This session. 1999 its at sed

Indigenous Nationalities”. The bill was supposed to have been pas- been have to supposed was bill The Nationalities”. Indigenous

the establishment of a “National Foundation for the Development of Development the for Foundation “National a of establishment the

Session, in 2001, the Parliament of Nepal passed a bill on bill a passed Nepal of Parliament the 2001, in Session, 20 its At

th

Bill on the establishment of a a of establishment the on Bill National Foundation National “ passed ” Language Bill registered in Parliament

Nepal is a multilingual country. There are almost 70 communities with 125 different languages. The constitution of Nepal recognises the languages spoken by the different communities of Nepal as national languages. However, on June 1 1999, the Supreme Court issued a certiorari against the decision to use local languages as additional official languages by Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Dhanusha Dis- trict Development Committee and Rajbiraj Municipality. This decision of the Supreme Court posed a challenge to, and questioned the status of, the constitutional recognition of national languages. In March 2000, the First National Conference on Linguistic Rights therefore declared that “no language is either small or great, all are equal, and all the language communities have equal rights”. The conference also refused to accept the decision of the Supreme Court and demanded amend- ments to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal related to language discrimination (see The Indigenous World 1999-2000 and 2000-2001). In this context, two indigenous organizations, Nepal Tamang Ghedung (NTG) and Newa Rastriya Andolan (NRA) began to pre- pare a draft “Language Bill” with the help of a “Language Bill Draft- ing Committee” made up of senior lawyers. On 16 October 2001, the “Language Bill” was introduced into the House of Representatives by several Members of Parliament - Mr. Narayan Man Bijucche of the Nepal Labour and Peasant Party, Mr. Lila Mani Pokharel of the Joint People’s Front of Nepal, Mr. Pari Thapa of the National People’s Front, Mr. Buddhi Man Tamang of the Rastriya Prajantantra Party and Mr. Bir Bahadur Lama of the Nepal Communist Party (United Marxist and Leninist). With the support of IWGIA, NTG and NRA also organised consultation meetings of lawyers, language activists, human rights activists and indigenous activists in order to finalise the draft bill, and a separate consultation for Members of Parliament on the bill presented to the House of Representatives during the 21st session of Parliament. This bill will execute the fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 18(1) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal in accordance with the spirit of Article 26(2) of the state direc- tive on principles and policies of part 4 of the same. The Language Communities observed a “Black Day” all over the

country on 1 June 2001 to show their disagreement with the decision

of the Supreme Court on language issues, given two years earlier. The •

•

Black Day was organised by various language communities and a •

•

nationwide mass demonstration, posters and pamplets, processions • •

• and mass meetings were organized. The language communities de- •

• 325

• 326 recognized or none of them should be. should them of none or recognized • •

• 11. Article 19: All religions that have long been practised must be must practised been long have that religions All 19: Article 11. •

•

tongue up to higher education level. education higher to up tongue •

•

10. Article 18 (2): The State should provide education in the mother the in education provide should State The (2): 18 Article 10. •

which states “castes, tribes or communities” should be omitted. be should communities” or tribes “castes, states which

9. Article 12 (2): The restrictive statement sub-clauses 1, 3 and 4, and 3 1, sub-clauses statement restrictive The (2): 12 Article 9.

on the grounds of language” should be added in the article. the in added be should language” of grounds the on

8. Article 11 (3): “The state shall not discriminate against citizens against discriminate not shall state “The (3): 11 Article 8.

he can speak and write any national language of Nepal. of language national any write and speak can he

7. Article 9 (4a): A foreigner can acquire citizenship of Nepal if s/ if Nepal of citizenship acquire can foreigner A (4a): 9 Article 7.

woman has the right to Nepali citizenship. Nepali to right the has woman

article 9 (1). In article 9 (5), a foreigner who marries a Nepali a marries who foreigner a (5), 9 article In (1). 9 article

6. Article 9 (1 and 5): “Mother” should be added to“father” in to“father” added be should “Mother” 5): and (1 9 Article 6.

to strengthen the national unity of the country. the of unity national the strengthen to

processes. This could be a strong instrument with which with instrument strong a be could This processes. making

participation of all communities, large or small, in the law- the in small, or large communities, all of participation

Nepal should be represented. This is in order to secure the full the secure to order in is This represented. be should Nepal

Nationalities”, in which all the nations (peoples) that make up make that (peoples) nations the all which in Nationalities”,

should be changed from “National Assembly” to “Assembly of “Assembly to Assembly” “National from changed be should

5. Article 46: The name of the present Upper House of Parliament, of House Upper present the of name The 46: Article 5.

clared “national languages”. “national clared

4. Article 6 (1 and 2): All the languages of Nepal should be de- be should Nepal of languages the All 2): and (1 6 Article 4.

3. Article 4 (1): The state should be declared secular. declared be should state The (1): 4 Article 3.

state”.

2. Article 2: The “nation” should be replaced by “multinational by replaced be should “nation” The 2: Article 2.

groups, languages, arts and cultures shall have equal rights. equal have shall cultures and arts languages, groups,

1. Preamble: The preamble should reflect the fact that all ethnic all that fact the reflect should preamble The Preamble: 1.

Recommendations for amendments to the present constitution present the to amendments for Recommendations

to amend the constitution. The indigenous proposals are as follows: as are proposals indigenous The constitution. the amend to

constitution of Nepal, a two-thirds majority of Parliament has to vote to has Parliament of majority two-thirds a Nepal, of constitution

Minister and the parliamentary politcal parties. According to the to According parties. politcal parliamentary the and Minister

and additional provisions to the present constitution to the Prime the to constitution present the to provisions additional and

people’s organisations submitted a proposal for amendments, changes amendments, for proposal a submitted organisations people’s

constitutional changes or amendments. In this regard, indigenous regard, this In amendments. or changes constitutional

The Nepalese people and the political parties are now in favour of favour in now are parties political the and people Nepalese The

Indigenous peoples propose constitutional amendments constitutional propose peoples Indigenous

rules and regulations of the country. the of regulations and rules cided to continue the Black Day until the government changed the changed government the until Day Black the continue to cided 12. Article 26 (10): Laws should be formulated within the spirit of the guiding principle of the constitution. 13. Article 112 and 113: There should be a provision that ethnic or community groups can form political parties. (Or the prohibi- tion or imposition of restrictions on political organizations or parties on the basis of religion, community, caste, tribe or region should be deleted from the articles). 14. Article 114: Women’s representation in political parties for the elections to the House of Representatives should increase to 15 percent from 5 percent of the total candidates, 50 percent of which should be reserved for indigenous women.

Recommendations for additional provisions 15. Quotas to be guaranteed for nationalities/indigenous peoples and Dalit (lower caste and untouchables) communities at the level of decision-making in government, employment, education and health sectors. 16. Fifty percent of the seats should be reserved for women of nationalities from the quota that has been reserved for women at the level of decision-making in government, employment, education and health sectors. 17. The state should guarantee the direct participation of nation- alities in the preservation and promotion of indigenous knowl- edge and intellectual and cultural heritage, in order to respect their intellectual property right over such heritage. 18. Existing practices of separating electoral areas for elections to the House of Representatives according to population distribu- tion should be abolished and new areas fixed according to the socio-cultural set-up, historical background, geographical lo- cation, ethnic groups, concentration-residential arrangements and population distribution.

Reference

1 Nepal Gazette Part 51 Additional Issue 67 on 7 Feb. 2002.

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apart from reforestation and maintenance of ecology”. of maintenance and reforestation from apart •

• areas “be set aside as permanent fund for development needs development for fund permanent as aside set “be areas • •

• • That at least 20% of net profits from mining operations in tribal in operations mining from profits net of 20% least at That • •

•

financial assistance of the State”. the of assistance financial •

selves either individually or through cooperative societies with societies cooperative through or individually either selves

• The possibility of “minerals to be exploited by tribals them- tribals by exploited be to “minerals of possibility The •

The judgment, among others, further provides for: provides further others, among judgment, The

private mining companies in the scheduled areas were null and void. and null were areas scheduled the in companies mining private

the Government was also a “person” and that all lands leased to leased lands all that and “person” a also was Government the

Court of India issued an historic judgement in which it declared that declared it which in judgement historic an issued India of Court

so-called 5 so-called Schedule of the Constitution). In July 1997, the Supreme the 1997, July In Constitution). the of Schedule

th

uled Areas (officially recognized and registered tribal areas under the under areas tribal registered and recognized (officially Areas uled

for leasing out tribal lands to private mining companies in the Sched- the in companies mining private to lands tribal out leasing for

Samata filed a case against the state government of Andhra Pradesh Andhra of government state the against case a filed Samata

Samata is an NGO working with the Adivasis of Andhra Pradesh. Andhra of Adivasis the with working NGO an is Samata

ongoing attempts to amend the Fifth Schedule Fifth the amend to attempts ongoing

The aftermath of the Samata case: Samata the of aftermath The

one of the most heavily militarized areas in the world. the in areas militarized heavily most the of one

peace talks between the Nagas and the Indian government, remains government, Indian the and Nagas the between talks peace

disappointment and the North-east, in spite of some progress in the in progress some of spite in North-east, the and disappointment

indigenous communities in the 5 the in communities indigenous Schedule areas, has so far been a been far so has areas, Schedule

th

which is supposed to guarantee a far-reaching degree of self-rule for self-rule of degree far-reaching a guarantee to supposed is which

enthusiasm. The implementation of the Panchayat Raj Extension Act, Extension Raj Panchayat the of implementation The enthusiasm.

be reported in detail below) – others do not offer much reason for reason much offer not do others – below) detail in reported be

the restoration of alienated land (which, due to its significance, will significance, its to due (which, land alienated of restoration the

the regions – like the successful struggle of the Adivasi the of struggle successful the like – regions the in Kerala for Kerala in

1

While some encouraging developments have been reported from reported been have developments encouraging some While

ally passed as the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) on March 26, 2002. 26, March on (POTA) Act Terrorism of Prevention the as passed ally

troversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO), which was eventu- was which (POTO), Ordinance Terrorism of Prevention troversial

to the 5 the to Schedule of the Constitution; and the promulgation of the con- the of promulgation the and Constitution; the of Schedule

th

the Samata case by demanding a review, or by lobbying for an amendment an for lobbying by or review, a demanding by case Samata the

and private business to nullify the landmark Supreme Court judgment on judgment Court Supreme landmark the nullify to business private and

peoples and their organizations in the future: the attempts by politicians by attempts the future: the in organizations their and peoples

T

level that could have serious consequences for India’s indigenous India’s for consequences serious have could that level

he year 2001 was marked by two major developments at national at developments major two by marked was 2001 year he INDIA • That the “transfer of land in Scheduled Area by way of lease to non-tribals, corporation aggregates, etc. stands prohibited”. • That the “renewal of lease is fresh grant of lease and, therefore, any transfer stands prohibited”. • That a “Conference of all Chief Ministers, Ministers holding the Ministry concerned and Prime Minister, and Central Ministers concerned, should take a policy decision for a consistent scheme throughout the country in respect of tribal lands”.

Since the issuing of the Supreme Court judgment, both the State Gov-

ernment of Andhra Pradesh and the Central Government have at- •

•

tempted to reverse it. A joint petition of the Andhra Pradesh State and •

•

the Central Government for modification of the Samata order was, • •

• however, dismissed by the Supreme Court on March 6, 2000. In July •

• 329

• 330

detention. • 2 •

• islation would give the Indian police sweeping powers of arrest and arrest of powers sweeping police Indian the give would islation •

•

had already warned in October last year, the new anti-terrorism leg- anti-terrorism new the year, last October in warned already had •

•

the international human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, Rights Human organization, rights human international the •

has for political, indigenous, religious or human rights activists. As activists. rights human or religious indigenous, political, for has

activists in India have pointed at the severe consequences this law this consequences severe the at pointed have India in activists

bill was hotly debated in public for months. Human rights groups and groups rights Human months. for public in debated hotly was bill

year. Drawn up soon after the September 11 incident in New York, the York, New in incident 11 September the after soon up Drawn year.

sial Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was passed on March 26 this 26 March on passed was (POTA) Act Terrorism of Prevention sial

In spite of massive national and international criticism, the controver- the criticism, international and national massive of spite In

Passing of new anti-terrorism act watched with concern with watched act anti-terrorism new of Passing

Court Judgment. Court

many forces in central government still refuse to accept the Supreme the accept to refuse still government central in forces many

effect that they wanted to review the Samata Judgement. Obviously, Judgement. Samata the review to wanted they that effect

made a statement in the Hindu Business Line, Delhi Office, to the to Office, Delhi Line, Business Hindu the in statement a made

And ten days later, Mr. Arun Shourie, Minister for Disinvestment, for Minister Shourie, Arun Mr. later, days ten And

investors face clear and transparent rules. transparent and clear face investors

clearance also need to be greatly simplified so that potential private potential that so simplified greatly be to need also clearance

sic ] Judgement. The procedures for environmental for procedures The Judgement. ] [ Samatha the

hurdle placed in the way of private mining in notified tribal areas by areas tribal notified in mining private of way the in placed hurdle

It will also be necessary to make other amendments to overcome the overcome to amendments other make to necessary be also will It

chapter 3 on Sectoral Policy Issues states: Issues Policy Sectoral on 3 chapter

referred to as a hurdle to private coal mining. Paragraph 3.58 of 3.58 Paragraph mining. coal private to hurdle a as to referred

Planning Commission on May 1 last year, the Samata Judgement was Judgement Samata the year, last 1 May on Commission Planning

Paper to the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002 - 2007) issued by the National the by issued 2007) - (2002 Plan Year Five Tenth the to Paper

Judgement. The battle, however, is not yet over. In a Draft Approach Draft a In over. yet not is however, battle, The Judgement.

intention of amending the Fifth Schedule to overcome the Samata the overcome to Schedule Fifth the amending of intention

in the Upper House of the Parliament that the Government had no had Government the that Parliament the of House Upper the in

March 15, the Prime Minister replied to a question from Arjun Singh Arjun from question a to replied Minister Prime the 15, March

he indicated the withdrawal of the proposed amendment and, on and, amendment proposed the of withdrawal the indicated he

Minister of Andhra Pradesh reacted by issuing a statement in which in statement a issuing by reacted Pradesh Andhra of Minister

coverage in the national and regional media. Ultimately, the Chief the Ultimately, media. regional and national the in coverage

to massive popular protests in Andhra Pradesh and extensive critical extensive and Pradesh Andhra in protests popular massive to

make the leasing of land to outsiders in tribal areas possible. This lead This possible. areas tribal in outsiders to land of leasing the make

Fifth Schedule in order to overcome the Samata Judgement so as to as so Judgement Samata the overcome to order in Schedule Fifth

Note to the committee of Secretaries proposing an amendment to the to amendment an proposing Secretaries of committee the to Note of the same year, the Ministry of Mines drafted and circulated a Secret a circulated and drafted Mines of Ministry the year, same the of The POTA is a modified version of the Terrorist and Disruptive Ac- tivities (Prevention) Act (TADA), repealed in 1995 due to public pro- test and known for having facilitated tens of thousands of politically motivated detentions, torture and other human rights violations against political opponents, indigenous and minority rights activists in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The new anti-terrorism law is said to go even further by providing a much broader definition of what is con- sidered to be a “terrorist act”. It allows for up to 180 days of preventive detention without charge, and it “subverts the cardinal principle of the criminal justice system - the presumption of innocence - by putting the burden of proof on the accused, withholding the identity of wit- nesses, making confessions made to police officers admissible as evidence, and giving the public prosecutor the power to deny bail. Moreover, little discretion is given to judges regarding the severity of sentences”.3 Opponents of the new law share the fears that “POTA is more likely to be used for preventive detention of peaceful dissenters than for tackling terrorism”4 and are of the same opinion as India’s National Human Rights Commission, which is convinced that al- ready existing laws were sufficient to fight the threat of terrorism.

Jharkhand: petitions submitted against the recently passed Panchayat Raj Extension Act

In 1996, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, which is directed primarily at promoting village level democracy through the Panchayat Raj institutions, was extended to the Fifth Schedule Areas through the Provision of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act. The extension of this Act has been carried out with suitable changes in order to transform a system established for the general areas of the country into one that is appropriate for the specific socio-economic ands politico-administrative systems among the Adivasis in the Sched- uled Areas. It should ensure self-governance through a three-tier struc- ture. The first tier is the Gram Sabha. This is an institution of self- governance at the village level. All the adult members of the village are automatically members of the Gram Sabha. In the areas not officially recognized as tribal areas (or so-called Scheduled Areas), the lowest

level of the local self-rule system is the Gram Panchyat. This differs

from tribal areas in that it is constituted by members elected by villag- •

•

ers. The other two structures are the same for tribal and non-tribal •

•

areas: the second higher body is called the Panchyat Samiti, which is • •

• constituted in the area demarcated as the Development Blocks and •

• 331

• 332 unlawfully alienated land of a Scheduled Tribe, the Jharkhand State Jharkhand the Tribe, Scheduled a of land alienated unlawfully • •

• the Scheduled Areas and to take appropriate action to restore any restore to action appropriate take to and Areas Scheduled the •

•

the Gram Sabha and Gram Panchyat to prevent alienation of land in land of alienation prevent to Panchyat Gram and Sabha Gram the •

•

Areas. Similarly, while the Central Act of 1996 provides the power to power the provides 1996 of Act Central the while Similarly, Areas. •

the state or the central government requires land in the Scheduled the in land requires government central the or state the

consultation, with the Gram Sabha or Gram Panchayat in cases where cases in Panchayat Gram or Sabha Gram the with consultation,

There is no provision for the obligation to seek consent, not even not consent, seek to obligation the for provision no is There

mentation of its projects and programmes. and projects its of mentation

“Panchyats”, to secure cooperation with the government in the imple- the in government the with cooperation secure to “Panchyats”,

mation of powerless institutions at the village level in the name of name the in level village the at institutions powerless of mation

objective of the Jharkhand Panchyat Act 2001 appears to be the for- the be to appears 2001 Act Panchyat Jharkhand the of objective

ance by curtailing whatever little was there in the Central Act. The Act. Central the in there was little whatever curtailing by ance

khand has even gone a step further in weakening local self-govern- local weakening in further step a gone even has khand

functioning been vested in the Panchayats. The government of Jhar- of government The Panchayats. the in vested been functioning

munities. Nor has control over police, administrative and judicial and administrative police, over control has Nor munities.

full control over land, forest, mineral and water resources to the com- the to resources water and mineral forest, land, over control full

Panchyats Extension Act of 1996 have handed over the basic right of right basic the over handed have 1996 of Act Extension Panchyats

Neither the original 73 original the Neither Amendment of the Panchyati Raj nor the nor Raj Panchyati the of Amendment

rd

stead of providing for their empowerment through local self-rule. local through empowerment their for providing of stead

government to strengthen its control of the Adivasi communities in- communities Adivasi the of control its strengthen to government

to such an extent that it became a tool in the hands of the state the of hands the in tool a became it that extent an such to

trates how, in the process, the spirit of the Central Act was corrupted was Act Central the of spirit the process, the in how, trates

Jharkhand, where the respective act was passed only last year, illus- year, last only passed was act respective the where Jharkhand,

ever, not at all satisfied with the way this was done. The case of case The done. was this way the with satisfied all at not ever,

necessary amendments. The Adivasi and their supporters are, how- are, supporters their and Adivasi The amendments. necessary

Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand - have so far carried out the out carried far so have - Jharkhand and Orissa Pradesh, Madhya

ever, only five of them – Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra – them of five only ever,

shtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan. How- Rajasthan. and Chattisgarh Orissa, Pradesh, Madhya shtra,

Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Mahara- Pradesh, Himachal Gujarat, Jharkhand, Pradesh, Andhra

Schedule and therefore mandated to amend their laws accordingly: laws their amend to mandated therefore and Schedule

provisions of the central act. Nine states are covered by the Fifth the by covered are states Nine act. central the of provisions

quired to make appropriate amendments to their laws in line with the with line in laws their to amendments appropriate make to quired

The states with areas falling under the Fifth Schedule were re- were Schedule Fifth the under falling areas with states The

Parishad directly to the Gram Sabha. Gram the to directly Parishad

vides for central government development funds to be sent via the Zila the via sent be to funds development government central for vides

money lending, sale and consumption of intoxicants etc. It also pro- also It etc. intoxicants of consumption and sale lending, money

over minor forest products and minor minerals, control of markets, of control minerals, minor and products forest minor over

tribal areas, the Gram Sabha has been vested control over land, rights land, over control vested been has Sabha Gram the areas, tribal

members elected by the lower tiers. Through the Extension Act for Act Extension the Through tiers. lower the by elected members

the highest body at the district level, which is constituted by the by constituted is which level, district the at body highest the

Gram Panchyats respectively. The The respectively. Panchyats Gram (District Council) is Council) (District Zila Parishad Zila consists of members elected by its lower tier, i.e., Gram Sabhas or the or Sabhas Gram i.e., tier, lower its by elected members of consists Act remains silent about this. It is suspected that this has been done to safeguard the vested interests of industrial entrepreneurs and agro- business. In the case of ownership rights over minor forest products, too, the government’s policy of protecting the vested interests of the forest con- tractors is quite apparent. The Jharkhand Act does not pass responsi- bility for the protection and management of forests to the Gram Sabha, as the Adivasi had hoped, but deprives it even of the ownership right to minor forest products as opposed to the provisions of the Central Act. Nor does the Jharkhand Act endow the Gram Sabha with the power to enforce prohibition or regulate or restrict the sale and consumption of any intoxicant, or the power to exercise control over money lending. The most vicious step the Jharkhand Act has taken to defeat the very promise of giving autonomy to the tribal people is in the area of the functioning of the core institutions of tribal self-rule, the Gram Sabha, Panchyat Samity and Zila Parishad. First of all, the Jharkhand Panchyat Raj Act mixes up the two institutions of the Gram Sabha and the Gram Panchyat in the Scheduled Areas. Undermining the impor- tance of the former, it constitutes the latter (an institution that should be in place only in non-Scheduled Areas) through elections where places will be reserved not only for the Scheduled Tribes but also for Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Castes, on the basis of the size of their population in the village. Furthermore, to weaken the struc- tures of these institutions, the Jharkhand Act gives the state the right to nominate distinguished persons at all levels of the three-tier struc- ture without mentioning the criteria for selecting such persons. A provision has been made to make the local Member of Parliament, Member of Legislative Assembly and the Member of Rajya Sabha (Up- per House of Parliament) ex-officio members of these supposedly democratically elected bodies. Moreover, in their absence their nomi- nees can represent them in these bodies. These are not only undemo- cratic, but violate the Constitution of India. Consequently, four petitions were filed to, and admitted by, the Jharkhand High Court challenging the validity of holding Panchyat elections in the Scheduled Areas. In February 2002, a petition was filed by Mr. Devendra Nath Champia on behalf of Jharkhandi’s Or- ganization for Human Rights (Chaibasa) and Munda Manki Samiti of

Kolhan challenging the validity and constitutionality of the Jhar-

khand State Panchayati Raj Act. This petition has also been admitted •

•

by the Jharkhand High Court. However, the government was ill pre- •

•

pared to argue the case and it could not even produce an English • •

• translation of the Act in court. The High Court has given it three •

• 333

• 334 Adivasi and a non-Adivasi on April 2, 2001, in Dewas district, Ma- district, Dewas in 2001, 2, April on non-Adivasi a and Adivasi • •

• A fact-finding mission conducted to investigate the killing of three of killing the investigate to conducted mission fact-finding A • •

•

•

killings in an attempt to undermine Adivasi movement? Adivasi undermine to attempt an in killings •

Madhya Pradesh: Madhya

get back the land, once the company moved out. moved company the once land, the back get

partners then they would be entitled to a share of the profits and would and profits the of share a to entitled be would they then partners

have little role to play. He said that if the landowners were made capital made were landowners the if that said He play. to role little have

given financial compensation and, in some cases, jobs after which they which after jobs cases, some in and, compensation financial given

in the company. Currently, the practise is such that landowners are landowners that such is practise the Currently, company. the in

make owners of land on which any industry is set up capital partners capital up set is industry any which on land of owners make

ber 26 that the government of Jharkhand is considering legislation to legislation considering is Jharkhand of government the that 26 ber

Welfare Minister of Jharkhand, Mr. Arjun Munda, disclosed on Decem- on disclosed Munda, Arjun Mr. Jharkhand, of Minister Welfare

of families that will be affected have definitely not been consulted. been not definitely have affected be will that families of

keeping quiet or not being consulted. Again, the hundreds of thousands of hundreds the Again, consulted. being not or quiet keeping

tional highways in the state. The forest department, it seems, is either is seems, it department, forest The state. the in highways tional

ing consequences because of the considerable length of state and na- and state of length considerable the of because consequences ing

national and state highways for industrial purposes. This has sweep- has This purposes. industrial for highways state and national

ment had decided to reserve eight kilometres of land on both sides of sides both on land of kilometres eight reserve to decided had ment

bers of Commerce and Industries, he said that the Jharkhand govern- Jharkhand the that said he Industries, and Commerce of bers

more sweeping statement. Addressing the members of the Bokaro Cham- Bokaro the of members the Addressing statement. sweeping more

On October 20, the Director of Industries, Mr. A. K. Singh, made a made Singh, K. A. Mr. Industries, of Director the 20, October On

enous peoples’ consent is obviously not a criteria. a not obviously is consent peoples’ enous

vasi families that occupy much land on both sides of the road. Indig- road. the of sides both on land much occupy that families vasi

more, no consultation has been undertaken with the numerous Adi- numerous the with undertaken been has consultation no more,

given to whether it is agricultural land or forestland or not. Further- not. or forestland or land agricultural is it whether to given

1,250 sq km area intended for industrialization. And no regard is regard no And industrialization. for intended area km sq 1,250

way be earmarked for industrial purposes. That would amount to a to amount would That purposes. industrial for earmarked be way

and Jamshedpur. It is proposed that 5 km on either side of the high- the of side either on km 5 that proposed is It Jamshedpur. and

would be along the 125 km long national highway 33 between Ranchi between 33 highway national long km 125 the along be would

2001 revealed the intention to create economic zones. One such zone such One zones. economic create to intention the revealed 2001

The new industrial policy presented by the Jharkhand government in government Jharkhand the by presented policy industrial new The

encroachment on Adivasi land Adivasi on encroachment

Jharkhand government Jharkhand s new industrial policy foresees policy industrial new s ’

munity are going to intervene on behalf of the community in the case. the in community the of behalf on intervene to going are munity

5

the meantime, some prominent members of the Uraon (Kurux) com- (Kurux) Uraon the of members prominent some meantime, the weeks, ending in June 2002, to come prepared to the next hearing. In hearing. next the to prepared come to 2002, June in ending weeks, dhya Pradesh (see The Indigenous World 2000-2001), came to the con- clusion that the act was part of a systematic effort to undermine the local Adivasi organizations, the Adivasi Morcha Sangathan and Adi- vasi Shakti Sangathan. The fact-finding team, which entered the area shortly after the event, found that since March 28 the police and administration in Dewas had unleashed a reign of terror causing thousands of Adivasis to flee their villages for the forests, while the police administration ransacked their villages, destroyed houses and arrested some of them. During the mission, the team was told by the affected people that the true reasons for the reign of terror was the intention to destroy the tribal organizations (sanghatan) by branding them as Naxalites.6 In 1996, the tribals in this region had formed the two above mentioned local organizations in order to resist exploitation by the forest depart- ment, corrupt government machinery and usurious moneylenders. These organizations had attracted hundreds of Adivasis and were gaining political influence such that, in the recently held local govern- ment elections, Sangathan members were very successful. This cre- ated a great deal of political tension and the traditional parties were unhappy with the Sangathans. Both the District Collector and the Superintendent of Police, who were new to the area, had publicly announced on February 13 that they were going to totally destroy the Sangathans and leave no trace of them. Furthermore, the Forest Department had traditionally, and ille- gally, made enormous profits by imposing levies on house building, collection of timber, grazing of animals etc. Over the past three years, the Sangathans had protested against these illegal practices and told the tribals not to pay these bribes. The officials of the Forest Depart- ment and the other District officials were furious as they found them- selves being deprived of a lucrative source of income. In response, the government formed an organization named Van Raksha Samiti as an alternative to the Sangathan and was forcing tribals to join, but with- out much success. Curiously, all the houses that were destroyed by the security forces belonged to leaders of the Sangathan while no member of the Van Raksha Samiti was affected.7

Kerala: the struggle of Adivasis enters a critical phase

and goes beyond land rights •

•

•

•

The death of 38 Adivasi men, women and children in the districts of • •

• Wayanad, Palakkad and Kannur in July-August 2001 precipitated an •

• 335

• 336 support, making it into an issue of democracy itself. The Dalits, mostly Dalits, The itself. democracy of issue an into it making support, • •

• support from the general public, with various sections coming out in out coming sections various with public, general the from support •

•

would not last long. However, the struggle gathered momentum and momentum gathered struggle the However, long. last not would •

•

survival. The state ignored the struggle, initially assuming that it that assuming initially struggle, the ignored state The survival. •

returning without a final solution to the fundamental issue of their of issue fundamental the to solution final a without returning

huts and began to reside there stating that there was no question of question no was there that stating there reside to began and huts

women and children from different parts of the state poured in, set up set in, poured state the of parts different from children and women

Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. Hundreds of Adivasis, mostly Adivasis, of Hundreds capital. state the Thiruvananthapuram,

residence of the Chief Minister A.K Antony and the Secretariat at Secretariat the and Antony A.K Minister Chief the of residence

On August 30, Adivasi refugee camps were set up in front of the of front in up set were camps refugee Adivasi 30, August On

Protest camps and negotiations and camps Protest

provisions of Article 244 (1). 244 Article of provisions

lands and instead provide some alternative lands, in violation of the of violation in lands, alternative some provide instead and lands

All this is fundamentally to avoid restoration of alienated of restoration avoid to fundamentally is this All 2000-2001).

case currently rests with the Supreme Court (see (see Court Supreme the with rests currently case The Indigenous World Indigenous The

providing land of up to one acre each for 11,000 landless families. The families. landless 11,000 for each acre one to up of land providing

High Court as unconstitutional in 2000. The new bill also talks of talks also bill new The 2000. in unconstitutional as Court High

replace the 1975 Act in 1999, which however was struck down by the by down struck was however which 1999, in Act 1975 the replace

There was an effort to repeal and repeal to effort an was There issues) following and . . 1995-96 World

implemented despite a High Court order of 1993 (see 1993 of order Court High a despite implemented The Indigenous The

Lands and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act 1975, which was not was which 1975, Act Lands) Alienated of Restoration and Lands

specific legislation such as the Kerala (Restriction on Transfer of Transfer on (Restriction Kerala the as such legislation specific

tal source of survival, has been systematically denied them despite them denied systematically been has survival, of source tal

made Adivasis refugees in their own homeland. Land, the fundamen- the Land, homeland. own their in refugees Adivasis made

launch a struggle, describing the emerging situation as one that had that one as situation emerging the describing struggle, a launch

girls, were arrested. The Adivasi-Dalit Samara Samithy decided to decided Samithy Samara Adivasi-Dalit The arrested. were girls,

amongst the hungry. Four Adivasi women, including two under-age two including women, Adivasi Four hungry. the amongst

puzha Panchayat in Wayanad District and the food grain distributed grain food the and District Wayanad in Panchayat puzha

the government civil supplies carrying grain was waylaid in Nool- in waylaid was grain carrying supplies civil government the

the period indicated the looming disaster. On 14 August, a vehicle of vehicle a August, 14 On disaster. looming the indicated period the

Deaths from hunger were nothing new. But the scale of deaths during deaths of scale the But new. nothing were hunger from Deaths

government blamed a mysterious illness, alcohol and polluted polluted and alcohol illness, mysterious a blamed government water.

of Adivasis were facing hunger, starvation and imminent death. The death. imminent and starvation hunger, facing were Adivasis of

region, last year found itself faced with a situation whereby thousands whereby situation a with faced itself found year last region,

is comparable only to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan in the Asian the in Japan and Korea South Taiwan, to only comparable is

Kerala state, with a Physical Quality of Living Index (PQLI) that (PQLI) Index Living of Quality Physical a with state, Kerala

popular leader Ms. C. K. Janu. K. C. Ms. leader popular

that the Dalit the that activists have joined the Adivasi activists, led by their by led activists, Adivasi the joined have activists

8 8

, an informal platform. What is also significant was significant also is What platform. informal an , Samara Samithy Samara

intense struggle. This time, the struggle was led by the the by led was struggle the time, This struggle. intense Adivasi-Dalit the slum dwellers and the poor, actively began participating in the struggle. The cabinet discussed the issue and declared their intention to talk to the Adivasi-Dalit Samara Samithy on September 6. On Sep- tember 5, the state-sponsored grand gala celebrations and rally to celebrate Onam, an important festival and now a huge tourism event, was seen as improper and vulgar when hundreds were dying of hunger in the state. The Samara Samithy declared that they would oppose it, which led to skirmishes and attempts to arrest C. K. Janu. This struck a popular chord amongst the public. The next day, having agreed that a crisis existed, the Chief Minister held talks and came up with a proposal that was, however, rejected by the Samara Samithy. The talks thus failed, with the Samara Samithy declaring they would intensify the struggle. After a meeting with the District Collectors on September 11, the Chief Minister announced that as much as 15,000 acres would now be identified from various categories of land viz. Plantation Corpora- tion, tribal development projects, poramboke (government lands) etc. within one month, and within the next two months they would be distributed to the landless. The Samara Samithy rejected this offer as well. The struggle began to spread throughout the state. A statewide “Journey for the Assertion of Rights” took place from September 12- 17 with public receptions, meetings and rallies all along the route. Support and pressure from more sections were added in the form of rallies and other actions by human rights groups, Dalits, women’s organizations, fish workers’ organizations, eco-groups, intellectuals, writers, academics, students, administrators, media etc. The number of Adivasis in the refugee camps increased to over 500 as more and more huts were set up.

Unsuccessful attempt to break the struggle The government then decided to break the struggle by adopting a multi-pronged strategy of threats, inducements and inside subversion and by dividing the Adivasis with the aid of mainstream political parties and the state machinery. These measures were effectively coun- tered and, instead, only consolidated the unity of Adivasis. The Samara Samithy called for the first meeting of Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha (Grand

Council of Adivasis) on October 3 – taking the first tentative step

towards a people’s assembly. The Mahasabha approved the actions of •

•

the Samara Samithy and called for an intensification and spread of •

•

the struggle to all the Adivasi areas. The day also saw a rally of over • •

• 10,000 people in the city. The attempts from some civil society organi- •

• 337

• 338 maximum of 5 years until they reach self-sufficiency. reach they until years 5 of maximum • •

•

the focus would be to support the above beneficiaries for a for beneficiaries above the support to be would focus the •

• included in the 10 the in included

five-year plan beginning in 2002 in which in 2002 in beginning plan five-year •

th •

2. A master plan would be drawn up before December 2001, to be to 2001, December before up drawn be would plan master A 2. •

possible as and when suitable lands are found. are lands suitable when and as possible

begin from January1 to December 31, 2002 giving 5 acres where acres 5 giving 2002 31, December to January1 from begin

when lands were located and made available. This work would work This available. made and located were lands when

would be distributed while the rest would be distributed as and as distributed be would rest the while distributed be would

To begin with, 42,000 acres of land of plots between 1-5 acres 1-5 between plots of land of acres 42,000 with, begin To

1. Five acres of land to all Adivasi families with less than 1 acre. 1 than less with families Adivasi all to land of acres Five 1.

following provisions: following

nandan, Sunny, Prasad, M. K. Narayanan and C. R. Bijoy includes the includes Bijoy R. C. and Narayanan K. M. Prasad, Sunny, nandan,

represented by C. K. Janu, Geetha- Janu, K. C. by represented Samithy Samara Adivasi-Dalit

some of his colleagues and the top bureaucracy on October 16, and the and 16, October on bureaucracy top the and colleagues his of some

ment to resolve the uprising, headed by Chief Minister A. K. Antony, K. A. Minister Chief by headed uprising, the resolve to ment

held between the sub-committee especially constituted by the govern- the by constituted especially sub-committee the between held

of struggle. The agreement reached at the final round of discussion of round final the at reached agreement The struggle. of

offered to dismantle the refugee camps while continuing the process the continuing while camps refugee the dismantle to offered

on October 16. In turn, the Samithy the turn, In 16. October on Samithy Samara the of demands

Faced with a crisis, the government decided to concede to all the all to concede to decided government the crisis, a with Faced

The final agreement final The

Gothra Mahasabha approved further plans for the struggle. the for plans further approved Mahasabha Gothra

to the death from October 17 after the second assembly of the Adivasi the of assembly second the after 17 October from death the to

first such experience in the state. C. K. Janu announced a hunger strike hunger a announced Janu K. C. state. the in experience such first

out the Adivasi belt creating the mobilization for a general uprising, the uprising, general a for mobilization the creating belt Adivasi the out

police force was deployed and arrests began. Agitation spread through- spread Agitation began. arrests and deployed was force police

districts such as Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Palakkad and Kannur. Massive Kannur. and Palakkad Idukki, Pathanamthitta, as such districts

forced to accept that a crisis existed. Refugee camps spread to other to spread camps Refugee existed. crisis a that accept to forced

in which the government and the mainstream political parties were parties political mainstream the and government the which in

and the government. A situation had emerged had situation A government. the and Samithy the between ing

Gowriamma, the Minister for Agriculture, began informally mediat- informally began Agriculture, for Minister the Gowriamma,

possessing less than an acre. The Adivasis also rejected this offer. this rejected also Adivasis The acre. an than less possessing

42,000 acres of land would be identified and distributed to those to distributed and identified be would land of acres 42,000

mocratic protest was forthright. The Chief Minister announced that announced Minister Chief The forthright. was protest mocratic

that would crush the democratic right to peaceful assembly and de- and assembly peaceful to right democratic the crush would that

chain around the refugee camps. The condemnation of a government a of condemnation The camps. refugee the around chain

in the city and the media began a vigil, besides forming a protective a forming besides vigil, a began media the and city the in

to forcibly remove the refugee camps failed, too, as the general public general the as too, failed, camps refugee the remove forcibly to zations to file cases to dismantle the refugee camps failed. The plan The failed. camps refugee the dismantle to cases file to zations 3. A cabinet decision would include Adivasi areas in the Fifth Schedule and a proposal would be made that would be sent to the centre for further notification by the President. Meanwhile, suitable legislation would be issued to protect the land allotted under this agreement. 4. The Kerala government would abide by the Supreme Court judgment in relation to the case pending. In this case, the Kerala government had challenged the High Court judgment, which struck down the Kerala government’s earlier repeal of the Ke- rala Scheduled Tribes Act 1975 and declared contempt of court for not having implemented the High Court judgment of 1993 to implement the 1975 Act. 5. Participation of the Samara Samithy in all decision-making and implementation processes on all matters related to this agree- ment. 6. A Tribal Mission would be constituted to carry out all the above, headed by a senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service.

The third meeting of the Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha was held at the Adivasi hamlet Pazhayarikandam in Idukki District on November 17- 18. The basic structure of the Mahasabha as a non-centralised system based on the fundamental principles of the Adivasi politico-admin- istrative system was worked out and affirmed as the peoples’ system of governance not only to fulfill the agreement reached with the gov- ernment but also to govern the people. This extra-parliamentary sys- tem was seen as essential in a context in which the mainstream political parties and the state are not willing or able to fulfill even the mandatory constitutional obligations. To begin with, it was resolved that the task of identification of beneficiaries and lands approved at the fundamental unit – the village – was to be carried out statewide. The government symbolically distributed over 1000 acres of land to about 383 Adivasi families in Idukki District, commencing the distri- bution of lands. The process of identification of beneficiaries and lands has faced stiff opposition from mainstream political parties, the bureaucracy and particularly the forest department. The Samara Sa- mithy and Gothra Mahasabha, realizing that the struggle will be a long drawn out one, are launching a statewide process of political

awakening and reform focusing on all marginalized sectors. Their

position is that it is the people who should not only implement the •

•

agreement but also set in motion a political agenda and a movement •

•

for change. • •

• •

• 339

• 340 commenced cultivation. On June 12, another 16 Adivasis including Adivasis 16 another 12, June On cultivation. commenced • •

• vast area once again commenced. The Irula re-entered the lands and lands the re-entered Irula The commenced. again once area vast •

•

last week of May, the demolition of the fence now stretching over a over stretching now fence the of demolition the May, of week last •

•

leadership of C. K. Janu, was formed to intensify the struggle. In the In struggle. the intensify to formed was Janu, K. C. of leadership •

of Kerala under the under Kerala of Samithy Samara Adivasi-Dalit the including ists,

threats by CZP continued. Meanwhile, a joint front of Adivasi activ- Adivasi of front joint a Meanwhile, continued. CZP by threats

arrested Adivasis were released after over a month in prison but prison in month a over after released were Adivasis arrested

forefront. A boycott of the assembly elections was called for. The for. called was elections assembly the of boycott A forefront.

the state which, for the first time, saw the issue of land coming to the to coming land of issue the saw time, first the for which, state the

from April 30 to May 1. Protests were organized in various parts of parts various in organized were Protests 1. May to 30 April from

Coordinating Forum of the Adivasi/Indigenous Peoples (AICFAIP) Peoples Adivasi/Indigenous the of Forum Coordinating

hunger strike. A fact-finding mission was carried out by the All India All the by out carried was mission fact-finding A strike. hunger

zations, environmental groups, trade unions etc. who commenced a commenced who etc. unions trade groups, environmental zations,

mittee was formed with 14 organizations including Adivasi organi- Adivasi including organizations 14 with formed was mittee

the fencing commenced on April 9. An Anti-CZP Joint Action Com- Action Joint Anti-CZP An 9. April on commenced fencing the

Massive police force was brought in and, under their protection, their under and, in brought was force police Massive

admit the injured to hospital. to injured the admit

women, were arrested the next day while they were attempting to attempting were they while day next the arrested were women,

three CZP henchmen were injured. Twenty people, including six including people, Twenty injured. were henchmen CZP three

arose. On March 30, the Adivasis were attacked. Six Adivasis and Adivasis Six attacked. were Adivasis the 30, March On arose.

in 1998 and the actual handing over in 2001, the current conflict current the 2001, in over handing actual the and 1998 in

in 1994 itself. With the granting of a lease over 180.78 acres of land of acres 180.78 over lease a of granting the With itself. 1994 in

houses were illegally demolished. Organized protest by Irulas began Irulas by protest Organized demolished. illegally were houses

arm tactics and employing gangs to terrorize the people. A number of number A people. the terrorize to gangs employing and tactics arm

In 1991, the CZP began their operation to grab land using strong- using land grab to operation their began CZP the 1991, In

about 30 km from Coimbatore city. Coimbatore from km 30 about

Zoological Park and Conservation Centre” at Thuvaipathy Village Thuvaipathy at Centre” Conservation and Park Zoological

lish the reportedly 2.5 billion Rupee (US$ 53 million) “Coimbatore million) 53 (US$ Rupee billion 2.5 reportedly the lish

(Managing Director, Chandra Textiles), and which proposes to estab- to proposes which and Textiles), Chandra Director, (Managing

business men of Coimbatore City in 1986, headed by G. Rangaswamy G. by headed 1986, in City Coimbatore of men business

CZP is a registered society set up by leading industrialists and industrialists leading by up set society registered a is CZP

petty traders and contractors. and traders petty

Adivasis and the government as well as with the local non-Adivasis local the with as well as government the and Adivasis

and livelihoods of over 1,000 of them, by engineering conflict between conflict engineering by them, of 1,000 over of livelihoods and

classified by the government as “primitive tribals”, affecting the lives the affecting tribals”, “primitive as government the by classified

CZP hopes to take over the ancestral territory of the Irulas, who are who Irulas, the of territory ancestral the over take to hopes CZP

Anaikatti Hills in Coimbatore by an NGO bearing the same name. same the bearing NGO an by Coimbatore in Hills Anaikatti

site of the Coimbatore Zoological Park (CZP) on Adivasi land in land Adivasi on (CZP) Park Zoological Coimbatore the of site

In 2001, a new attempt was made to fence in the 400-acre proposed 400-acre the in fence to made was attempt new a 2001, In

Park continues Park Tamilnadu: the struggle against Coimbatore Zoological Coimbatore against struggle the Tamilnadu: six women were arrested for this. Subsequent to the change of govern- ment and changes in the bureaucracy, the officials promised action. The CZP was asked to cease all provocation, as the land itself was disputed land. With the rains, the people slowly returned to the lands and commenced cultivation. For the time being, the status quo rules once more. The struggle itself has brought to the fore the lack of any protective legislation for Adivasis in Tamilnadu. The Central Zoo Authority of the Ministry of Environment and Forests meanwhile confirmed in November that CZP had not been granted permission to set up the zoological park on the said land.

The North-East region

The 250,000 sq km North-East region of the Indian Union, which is tenuously linked to the rest of the country by a corridor less than 22 km wide, is an area of extreme cultural diversity. More than 300 communities in the region are officially recognized as “Scheduled Tribes” in the Indian records of peoples. They are scattered across the seven states of the region, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Ma- nipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Each tribe has its constel- lation of sub tribes or clans speaking various dialects, which may run into the hundreds. There are tribes emerging within tribes in the process of discovering themselves as an independent entity in various parts of the region causing upheaval in the north-eastern political set- up. One important characteristic of the region is the existence of ethnic groups that spread across state and international borders into Bang- ladesh, Burma or China. The region is also home to a large population of non-tribals who have migrated here from other parts of India and from across the porous international border with Bangladesh, which has led to anti-foreigner movements erupting every now and then. The criss-cross of inter- and intra-group relationships, along with the government and other structures at the state, centre and global levels define the parameters of the situation in the region.

Militarization, homelands politics and ethnic armies

The North-East region is one of the most heavily militarized regions

in the world. There is the presence of the Indian army and paramili- •

•

tary forces, along with the various state police organizations. Their •

•

task is to defend the territorial integrity of the Indian nation against • •

• external forces, and against those forces considered to be insurgents. •

• 341

• 342 example of such taxation causing strife surfaced during March 2002 March during surfaced strife causing taxation such of example • •

• creation of a volunteer force to fight against these forces. Another forces. these against fight to force volunteer a of creation •

•

the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) called for the for called (FKJGP) People Garo and Jaintia Khasi of Federation the •

•

Khasi hills areas caused such a reaction that a local pressure group, pressure local a that reaction a such caused areas hills Khasi •

Volunteers, and the Achik National Volunteers Council in the West the in Council Volunteers National Achik the and Volunteers,

United Peoples Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) and Karbi National Karbi and (UPDS) Solidarity Democratic Peoples United

on Khasi and Jaintia and Khasi on households in the border areas of Assam by the by Assam of areas border the in households

9 9

inter-tribal feuds. For example, in 2001 the imposition of house taxes house of imposition the 2001 in example, For feuds. inter-tribal

authority. The imposition of tax is one of the most frequent causes of causes frequent most the of one is tax of imposition The authority.

imposing taxes within their areas of influence in order to enforce their enforce to order in influence of areas their within taxes imposing

ously guard their own turf, the stronger and better organized ones organized better and stronger the turf, own their guard ously

There are more than three dozen such armed groups, which jeal- which groups, armed such dozen three than more are There

themselves.

the government security forces, or among the armed organizations armed the among or forces, security government the

newspapers report daily on clashes between these various groups and groups various these between clashes on daily report newspapers

resulted in armed organizations mushrooming across the region. Local region. the across mushrooming organizations armed in resulted

of increasingly militant inter- tribal politics. Such a domino effect has effect domino a Such politics. tribal inter- militant increasingly of

in a kind of domino effect, as a self-defense response in an atmosphere an in response self-defense a as effect, domino of kind a in

It is believed that many of these ethnic “armies” have come about come have “armies” ethnic these of many that believed is It

Tripura Tribal Force etc. Force Tribal Tripura

such as by the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) or the or (NLFT) Tripura of Front Liberation National the by as such

Front), or the fight against demographic marginalisation in Tripura, in marginalisation demographic against fight the or Front),

Liberation Tigers) to a district council (the Bru National Liberation National Bru (the council district a to Tigers) Liberation

Front (UNLF) in Manipur, etc. to demands for a state (e.g. Bodoland (e.g. state a for demands to etc. Manipur, in (UNLF) Front

Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and the United National Liberation National United the and (PLA) Army Liberation Peoples

in Assam, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the (NDFB), Bodoland of Front Democratic National the Assam, in

cil of Nagalim (NSCN), the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Asom of Front Liberation United the (NSCN), Nagalim of cil

countries, like that of the two factions of the National Socialist Coun- Socialist National the of factions two the of that like countries,

“cause of the tribe”. The causes range from carving out independent out carving from range causes The tribe”. the of “cause

armed wings of ethnic organizations created to carry forward the forward carry to created organizations ethnic of wings armed

gle for “homelands” has spawned a large number of well-organized of number large a spawned has “homelands” for gle

militarization of north-eastern societies and communities as the strug- the as communities and societies north-eastern of militarization

Of as much concern in the present historical context is the growing the is context historical present the in concern much as Of

between nation states. nation between

the vulnerability of micro-communities to macro political happenings political macro to micro-communities of vulnerability the

on the Bangladesh border, by the Bangladesh Rifles brought to the fore the to brought Rifles Bangladesh the by border, Bangladesh the on

2001, the sudden “invasion” of Pyrdiwah town in Meghalaya, right Meghalaya, in town Pyrdiwah of “invasion” sudden the 2001,

claims to large parts of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. In April In Pradesh. Arunachal of state Indian the of parts large to claims

fear that this could happen again given that it has not withdrawn its withdrawn not has it that given again happen could this that fear

events such as the Chinese invasion of India in 1962, and the lurking the and 1962, in India of invasion Chinese the as such events

tion India’s security concerns, particularly in the backdrop of past of backdrop the in particularly concerns, security India’s tion Any assessment of the regional situation has to take into considera- into take to has situation regional the of assessment Any between the Nyshis and the Bodos in villages on the Assam-Aru- nachal Pradesh border. According to the annual Union of India Home Ministry Report, there was a total of 1,338 incidents during the year 2001 in the north- east, in which 574 activists of various armed organizations, 176 In- dian security personnel and 600 civilians lost their lives. The number of injured and maimed, and the voids left in families due to these, go unaccounted. Battles between armed groups, factional feuds within armed groups of the same community, assassinations and unexplained and secret killings left the region awash in a spiral of bloodshed and violence. According to international bodies studying displacement, there are between 170,000 to 250,000 displaced persons in the region fleeing various ethnic cleansing processes, fears of communal repris- als, persecution and harassment by the army and armed groups etc.

Inter-ethnic conflicts The year 2001 was a watershed in the turbulent history of post-1947 north-east India. The region came face to face with the grim possibility of multiple large-scale clashes breaking out over the territorial claims of the various communities. The most significant was the face off between the Nagas and the Meiteis in Manipur over the issue of the territorial extension of the ceasefire between the government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah faction; NSCN-IM). The agreement reached between the government of India and the NSCN-IM in June 2001 extended the ceasefire to all the other states where Nagas live. It coincided with the publication of a map depicting the geographical area of the NSCN-IM’s claim for Nagalim, comprising all the territo- ries that they thought “belonged” to the Nagas. This created uproar in neighboring states, fearing that this would eventually undermine their territorial integrity. The government of India had to withdraw the territorial extension of the ceasefire making it applicable only within the state of Nagaland (see also chapter on Nagalim in this volume). During the tense weeks before the withdrawal, it was only the sagacity of the communities’ leaders that averted bloody clashes. But the issue remains unresolved, as hostilities are only suspended

for the moment.

In Assam, the decision of the government of India and the Assam •

•

government to create a Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) for the •

•

Bodos divided the communities living within the areas to be declared • •

• under the BTC into those who felt that the BTC would end up sup- •

• 343

• 344 ous organizations - issued stern warnings to warring Naga fac- Naga warring to warnings stern issued - organizations ous •

•

• and vari- and the through - elders Naga the acts, unprecedented Hoho •

•

all-round agreement that violent methods were to be renounced. In renounced. be to were methods violent that agreement all-round •

•

the violent factionalism among the Nagas and managed to get an get to managed and Nagas the among factionalism violent the •

first time in the 50 year struggle to have gained some control over control some gained have to struggle year 50 the in time first

In 2001, due to the cease-fire, Naga civil society seemed for the for seemed society civil Naga cease-fire, the to due 2001, In

munities in an anti-Indian “colonial” sentiment. “colonial” anti-Indian an in munities

successfully sought to, and did, create a broad coalition of ethnic com- ethnic of coalition broad a create did, and to, sought successfully

tions, particularly the National Socialist Council of Nagalim, which Nagalim, of Council Socialist National the particularly tions,

training, arms and logistical support from the Naga armed organiza- armed Naga the from support logistical and arms training,

the various states of the region draw their sustenance in the form of form the in sustenance their draw region the of states various the

region lies in the belief that most of the other armed organizations in organizations armed other the of most that belief the in lies region

(see also chapter on Nagalim in this volume). Its importance for the for importance Its volume). this in Nagalim on chapter also (see

region as a whole and the process entered a crucial phase this year this phase crucial a entered process the and whole a as region

The Naga peace process is crucial for the people of the north-east the of people the for crucial is process peace Naga The

Reconciliation among the Nagas the among Reconciliation

frank expression of opinion. of expression frank

guns. In such circumstances today, there is very little room for free and free for room little very is there today, circumstances such In guns.

the part of the very people in whose name these organizations carry organizations these name whose in people very the of part the

ezed into oblivion any democratic space for dialogue or expression on expression or dialogue for space democratic any oblivion into ezed

reached when it has started feeding on itself. The situation has sque- has situation The itself. on feeding started has it when reached

these objectives - has reached saturation point. A stage has been has stage A point. saturation reached has - objectives these

military means - which seems to be the favoured method for attaining for method favoured the be to seems which - means military

mination that has fuelled a cycle of conflicting claims backed by backed claims conflicting of cycle a fuelled has that mination

competing homelands based on ethnicity and a notion of self-deter- of notion a and ethnicity on based homelands competing

the neighbouring tribes and communities. The prolonged politics of politics prolonged The communities. and tribes neighbouring the

cally-linked issue does not lie with the government of India but with but India of government the with lie not does issue cally-linked

emerged from these experiences is that any resolution of an ethni- an of resolution any that is experiences these from emerged

Another important lesson for the people of the north-east that north-east the of people the for lesson important Another

a tough task indeed! task tough a

can be addressed and resolved to the satisfaction of all sides. Quite sides. all of satisfaction the to resolved and addressed be can

nities of the region depends on whether these multiple ethnic claims ethnic multiple these whether on depends region the of nities

It has become clearer than ever that the future of the small commu- small the of future the that ever than clearer become has It

clashes may break out. break may clashes

independence. In the atmosphere of mistrust, people fear that violent that fear people mistrust, of atmosphere the In independence.

of Bodoland (NDFB) against it, since the latter claim to fight for total for fight to claim latter the since it, against (NDFB) Bodoland of

Liberation Tigers (BLT) in favour, and the National Democratic Front Democratic National the and favour, in (BLT) Tigers Liberation

also divided over the issue with the major armed groups, the Bodo the groups, armed major the with issue the over divided also

Bodos. The Bodos, who have been campaigning for a “Bodoland”, are “Bodoland”, a for campaigning been have who Bodos, The Bodos. pressing their rights and those who aligned themselves with the with themselves aligned who those and rights their pressing tions when fratricidal killings during the year threatened to derail the painfully built up reconciliation among the Nagas. But killings and violent attacks are continuing despite their appeals. In a major breakthrough for the process of building up inter- community understanding, after the June 2001 ceasefire imbroglio, Naga civil society has also started dialogue and interaction with the neighboring tribes and people in recognition of their legitimate inter- ests and apprehensions. However, although this process is continu- ing in other parts of the region, there are no attempts on either side to bridge the deep rift between the Nagas and the Meiteis. This is crucial for the future of the region.

Growing religious divide Over the last year, the politicization of religion became a major factor in the ethnic-community equation in the north-east, bringing a totally new dimension to the already vitiated atmosphere. “Indigenous cul- ture of the state is under threat and people are being forcibly con- verted,” said the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh at one cultural meeting calling for resistance against the Christian and Hindu reli- gions. In Tripura, a body called the Uttar Purva Bharat Janjati Dharma Samskirti Suraksha Manch was formed to protect the indigenous religion against Christianisation. Indigenous belief systems, which had been discouraged by the Christian missions, have become a handy tool for the peddlers of militant Hindu nationalism such as the Rashtrya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in their campaign, just as Christianity has become a subtle instrument for some of the armed ethnic organizations to spread their influence across the region.

National Commission for Review of the Working of the Constitution The government of India set up the National Commission for Review of the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC), the recommendations of which were submitted by former Supreme Court Chief Justice MN Venkatachaliah on April 2, 2002. With regard to the north-east, it made several recommendations to widen the self-governing systems

of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. However, it has failed to

satisfy the aspirations of several of the communities’ representa- •

•

tives who had sought radical changes in the structure. The docu- •

•

ments have been made public to start the process of debate and • •

• dialogue. •

• 345 • 346 • • • • • •

•

•

districts across the state border in Assam. in border state the across districts

large and dominant in Meghalaya state but minorities in the adjacent the in minorities but state Meghalaya in dominant and large

9 The Khasi and Jaintia are two indigenous ethnic groups that are fairly are that groups ethnic indigenous two are Jaintia and Khasi The 9

considered indigenous peoples. indigenous considered

8 Oppressed castes, often referred to as “untouchables”. They are not are They “untouchables”. as to referred often castes, Oppressed 8

: http://www.indiatogether.org/stories/dewas.htm : 7 India Together India

Bengal where the Maoist guerrilla movement started in the 1960s. the in started movement guerrilla Maoist the where Bengal

6 Maoist guerrilla, named after the Naxalbari region in the North of West- of North the in region Naxalbari the after named guerrilla, Maoist 6

further provided an update on the most recent developments. recent most the on update an provided further

Ideology and Tribal Self-rule in Jharkhand”. Mimeo n.d. The author has author The n.d. Mimeo Jharkhand”. in Self-rule Tribal and Ideology

is partially based on the article by Samar Bosu Mullick “Nationalist Mullick Bosu Samar by article the on based partially is

5 The section on the passing of the Panchayat Extension Act in Jharkhand in Act Extension Panchayat the of passing the on section The 5

Ibid. 4

http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfquarterly/Jan_march_2002/poto.htm

decides to play judge and jury. and judge play to decides

3 January-February 2002: POTO: Govt POTO: 2002: January-February Human Rights Features Quarterly, Features Rights Human

http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/asia6.html

2 , Human Rights Watch World Report World Watch Rights Human

Adivasi. They prefer the term indigenous or tribal people. tribal or indigenous term the prefer They Adivasi.

eastern region are not called, nor do they refer to themselves as, themselves to refer they do nor called, not are region eastern

meaning “original people”. The indigenous peoples of India’s north- India’s of peoples indigenous The people”. “original meaning

1 The indigenous peoples of mainland India are usually called Adivasi, called usually are India mainland of peoples indigenous The 1 Notes and references and Notes

•

NORTH AND WEST AFRICA • •

•

•

•

• •

• 347 • 348 • •

•

• gration policies. gration • •

•

convince the governments of the futility of the current political inte- political current the of futility the of governments the convince •

calated its struggle, particularly in Algeria and Morocco, in order to order in Morocco, and Algeria in particularly struggle, its calated

However, the Amazigh Cultural and Political Movement has es- has Movement Political and Cultural Amazigh the However,

Arabization.

tinue to promote integration, assimilation and an extensive policy of policy extensive an and assimilation integration, promote to tinue

ism”, they curb freedoms and violate basic human rights and con- and rights human basic violate and freedoms curb they ism”,

change or progress. In the name of “national unity” and “national- and unity” “national of name the In progress. or change

tion” that has resulted from “Islam and Arabic” in order to hinder any hinder to order in Arabic” and “Islam from resulted has that tion”

majority of people are Amazigh, they take cover behind the “integra- the behind cover take they Amazigh, are people of majority

Although some governments, generally speaking, admit that the that admit speaking, generally governments, some Although

opment programs for rural areas. rural for programs opment

public freedoms, and most of these governments have initiated devel- initiated have governments these of most and freedoms, public

form bills or plans, especially in the fields of investment, justice and justice investment, of fields the in especially plans, or bills form

recommendations of the World Bank. They are also drawing up re- up drawing also are They Bank. World the of recommendations

rocco, are continuing the privatization policy in accordance with the with accordance in policy privatization the continuing are rocco,

The governments of North Africa, particularly in Algeria and Mo- and Algeria in particularly Africa, North of governments The

of the Amazigh Movement Amazigh the of

Policies in North Africa and the struggle the and Africa North in Policies

to found the Royal Institute for the Amazigh Culture. Amazigh the for Institute Royal the found to

Amazigh dimension to Moroccan identity and enacted a Royal Decree Royal a enacted and identity Moroccan to dimension Amazigh

as a national language. Similarly, the king of Morocco recognized the recognized Morocco of king the Similarly, language. national a as

a constitutional amendment has recognized the Amazigh language Amazigh the recognized has amendment constitutional a

However, positive events also occurred during the year. In Algeria, In year. the during occurred also events positive However,

ued its claim for the right of self-determination in the Canary Islands. Canary the in self-determination of right the for claim its ued

an extensive Arabization policy, while the Amazigh Movement contin- Movement Amazigh the while policy, Arabization extensive an

ued to deny the Amazigh people their cultural identity, and continued and identity, cultural their people Amazigh the deny to ued

The governments of Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania contin- Mauritania and Tunisia Egypt, Libya, of governments The

doms and basic rights. basic and doms

acterized by a new decline in the governments’ policy towards free- towards policy governments’ the in decline new a by acterized

tions in Algeria and banning meetings in Morocco, and it was char- was it and Morocco, in meetings banning and Algeria in tions

Amazigh Movement in general, stamping down peaceful demonstra- peaceful down stamping general, in Movement Amazigh

I

2001 was characterized by an escalation of repression against the against repression of escalation an by characterized was 2001

n North Africa, and particularly in Morocco and Algeria, the year the Algeria, and Morocco in particularly and Africa, North n THE SITUATION OF THE AMAZIGH PEOPLES AMAZIGH THE OF SITUATION THE Algeria

The uprising of the Amazigh people in Algeria in June 2001 The Amazigh people, under the yoke of oppression and exclusion in Algeria, has been obliged to reorganize itself by reviving its tradi- tional organizations. Accordingly, peaceful demonstrations were or- ganized in the Tizi Ouzou area and in some other neighbouring regions but the authority stamped out these demonstrations with violence, using arms against the peaceful Amazigh people and lead- ing to the deaths of more than one hundred people and thousands of wounded. These peaceful demonstrations took place unremittingly during the year 2001 and the beginning of the year 2002, which led the Algerian government to attempt to put an end to this movement by creating a so-called group of dialogue. The constitutional amendment that recognizes the Amazigh language as a national language should also be seen as a result of the massacres in the region of Kabylia. However, the Amazigh Movement rejected these manoeuvres and demanded the establishment of a federal system that would assist the

Amazigh people in Kabylia to exercise a wider degree of self-determi-

nation. The Amazigh people continued to protest and to refuse to •

•

support the regime’s policy, declaring a full boycott of the regime, its •

•

bodies and representatives, and of the elections. • •

• •

• 349

• 350 the political strategy of the Amazigh Cultural Movement. All meas- All Movement. Cultural Amazigh the of strategy political the • •

• decided to organize its largest meeting in June 2001 in order to discuss to order in 2001 June in meeting largest its organize to decided •

•

The Amazigh Statement Committee, which was created in 2000, in created was which Committee, Statement Amazigh The •

•

obtained an official and written authorization. written and official an obtained •

Amazigh Political Movement to assemble in Morocco after they had they after Morocco in assemble to Movement Political Amazigh

ciations’ activities and to the unexpected banning of the right of the of right the of banning unexpected the to and activities ciations’

ultimately led to the banning of many of the Amazigh cultural asso- cultural Amazigh the of many of banning the to led ultimately

international initiatives for the Amazigh Cultural Movement. This Movement. Cultural Amazigh the for initiatives international

The year 2001 was the most active year at the level of national and national of level the at year active most the was 2001 year The

The banning of the assembly of the Amazigh Political Movement Political Amazigh the of assembly the of banning The

with “Islam and the Koran”. the and “Islam with

women, on the pretext that some of its articles are in contradiction in are articles its of some that pretext the on women,

reservations concerning the very idea of equality between men and men between equality of idea very the concerning reservations

stated during ratification of this agreement, there have been some been have there agreement, this of ratification during stated

agreement in Morocco is not possible. As the Moroccan government Moroccan the As possible. not is Morocco in agreement

Despite the importance of this event, the implementation of this of implementation the event, this of importance the Despite

ment was excluded from participating in this committee. this in participating from excluded was ment

review the Civil Status Code. However, the Amazigh Women’s Move- Women’s Amazigh the However, Code. Status Civil the review

women’s movement on 5 March and the creation of a committee to committee a of creation the and March 5 on movement women’s

King’s reception for a number of prominent figures belonging to the to belonging figures prominent of number a for reception King’s

Discrimination against Women on March 08, 2001. This followed the followed This 2001. 08, March on Women against Discrimination

decided to publish the Agreement on the Abolition of all Forms of Forms all of Abolition the on Agreement the publish to decided

mendations from the World Conference on Women in Beijing, it was it Beijing, in Women on Conference World the from mendations

to implement its plan for integrating women on the basis of recom- of basis the on women integrating for plan its implement to

After the failure of the Moroccan government, during the year 2000, year the during government, Moroccan the of failure the After

the Abolition of Discrimination against Women against Discrimination of Abolition the

The publication of the Agreement on Agreement the of publication The

during the year 2002. year the during

code, and a reform of the Social Pact, all of which are to be reviewed be to are which of all Pact, Social the of reform a and code,

Council, a children’s code, the audio-visual mass media, the work the media, mass audio-visual the code, children’s a Council,

parties, the electoral code, medical cover, the Economic and Social and Economic the cover, medical code, electoral the parties,

year 2001, among others, bills concerning the right to strike, political strike, to right the concerning bills others, among 2001, year

drawn up a number of bills for submission to Parliament during the during Parliament to submission for bills of number a up drawn

ministers, the Minister of the Interior in particular, declared that it had it that declared particular, in Interior the of Minister the ministers,

has not actually changed in three years, with the exception of some of exception the with years, three in changed actually not has

The Moroccan government, which underwent a cabinet reshuffle but reshuffle cabinet a underwent which government, Moroccan The Morroco ures were taken and the organizers obtained written authorizations for the meeting. However, armed police forces blocked all roads lead- ing to the Bouznika Complex where the meeting was supposed to take place, preventing participants from meeting. The explanation given was that this meeting might cause a breach of the peace. As a conse- quence, the meeting had to be held in the house of one of the partici- pants. It was decided to create regional committees that would take autonomous initiatives and organize meetings in order to broaden the capacity of the movement to put more pressure on the government.

Recognition of the Amazigh cultural identity After the armed interdiction of the assembly of the Amazigh Political Movement in June 2001, King Mohammed VI declared, in the Throne Address on July 31, 2001, that he recognized the Amazigh cultural identity. After 45 years of independence, this was the first declaration of the multi-dimensional aspect of Moroccan identity and of the fact that the Amazigh dimension is one of its facets, alongside the Arabic, Islamic, African and Andalusian dimensions. In October 2001, the King declared the creation of the Royal Institute for the Amazigh Culture. It is noteworthy that the Amazigh Cultural Movement focussed, on the rehabilitation of the Amazigh dimension of Moroccan identity, and the creation of an institute for Amazigh studies, in addition to other basic demands such as constitutional recognition of the Amazigh identity and adoption of the Amazigh language as an official language. Despite this recognition and the Royal decision, Amazigh children are still prevented from taking Amazigh names.

The deteriorating conditions of human rights activists Human rights activists from the Moroccan Association of Human Rights were tried and prosecuted in May 2001 due to the peaceful demonstration organized on December 10, 2000. They were sentenced to three months imprisonment but an appeal acquitted them at the end of 2001. Moreover, the newspaper Demain was unjustifiably banned from publication for several months and its editor, Mr. Ali Lmarabet, was

prosecuted simply because he published information stating that one

of the Royal palaces may be sold. He was sentenced to three months •

•

imprisonment but refused to submit his case to the Court of Appeals •

•

and declared that he was ready to go to prison. • •

• •

• 351

• 352 tional Amazigh Congress, the Tigmi Association, the Solidad Canaria Solidad the Association, Tigmi the Congress, Amazigh tional • •

• The Amazigh Cultural Movement participated, through the Interna- the through participated, Movement Cultural Amazigh The •

• The World Conference Against Racism Against Conference World The •

•

•

and recognizing the cultural identity of indigenous peoples. indigenous of identity cultural the recognizing and

policies allowing full participation in the cultural and political arena political and cultural the in participation full allowing policies

particular, and to call for the establishment of democratic regimes and regimes democratic of establishment the for call to and particular,

of indigenous peoples in Africa in general and in North Africa in Africa North in and general in Africa in peoples indigenous of

tic and cultural identity. It was an opportunity to highlight the cause the highlight to opportunity an was It identity. cultural and tic

Amazigh people, calling for its rights and for the respect of its linguis- its of respect the for and rights its for calling people, Amazigh

the Algerian government against the peaceful demonstrations of the of demonstrations peaceful the against government Algerian the

this meeting, participants condemned the massacres perpetrated by perpetrated massacres the condemned participants meeting, this

African indigenous peoples and in cooperation with IWGIA. During IWGIA. with cooperation in and peoples indigenous African

This was done in cooperation with a number of representatives of representatives of number a with cooperation in done was This

to raise the Amazigh cause for the first time within this African body. African this within time first the for cause Amazigh the raise to

Peoples’ Rights, held in Libya in April-May 2001, was an opportunity an was 2001, April-May in Libya in held Rights, Peoples’

The 29th ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Human on Commission African the of Session ordinary 29th The

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Peoples’ and Human on Commission African The

refuse to recognize the right of cultural diversity in Morocco. in diversity cultural of right the recognize to refuse

of increased condemnation of the official and unofficial attitudes that attitudes unofficial and official the of condemnation increased of

sion of symbolic support for the Amazigh Cultural Movement in terms in Movement Cultural Amazigh the for support symbolic of sion

Human Rights, the aforesaid World Conference adopted a major deci- major a adopted Conference World aforesaid the Rights, Human

Despite the opposition of the president of the Moroccan Association for Association Moroccan the of president the of opposition the Despite

rehabilitation of the Amazigh language in North Africa and the world. the and Africa North in language Amazigh the of rehabilitation

supported a call for respect of the right to cultural diversity and to and diversity cultural to right the of respect for call a supported

Association, to raise the Amazigh cause. The conference The cause. Amazigh the raise to Association, the by Mrik

was an opportunity for the Amazigh Cultural Movement, represented Movement, Cultural Amazigh the for opportunity an was

Rights, held in Casablanca during the second week of January 2001, January of week second the during Casablanca in held Rights,

The World Conference of the International Federation for Human for Federation International the of Conference World The

symbolic support to the Amazigh Language Amazigh the to support symbolic

The International Federation for Human Rights: Human for Federation International The

The following are some of these major events. major these of some are following The

Nations Charter and through international and national conferences. national and international through and Charter Nations

to put pressure on the North African governments through the United the through governments African North the on pressure put to

The Amazigh Cultural and Political Movement has also endeavoured also has Movement Political and Cultural Amazigh The

The Amazigh Movement Amazigh The s international activities international s ’ Association and the Tamaynout Association together with the inter- national movement of indigenous peoples, in the World Conference against Racism and Racial Discrimination held in Durban, South Africa in August/September 2001. This was a very important event because it adopted, despite all obstacles, the Durban Declaration, which declares the international community’s recognition of indig- enous peoples and their cultural identity and it also adopted an action plan in order to abolish all forms of discrimination in all political and cultural fields.

Concluding remarks It clearly appears that things are moving very slowly and sometimes even regressing. Despite this difficult situation, the Amazigh peoples believe in the possibility of progress and victory over all forms of discrimination and violation against human rights and the rights of peoples.

THE SITUATION OF THE TUAREG PEOPLES IN NORTH AND WEST AFRICA

he Tuareg1 are part of the indigenous Amazigh peoples (generally T known as “Berbers”) of North Africa. 2 Their traditional lands range over some 1.5 million sq. kms. of the Central Sahara and Sahel (see map) – an area roughly three times the size of France, their former colonising power. They now find themselves occupying large tracts3 of southern Algeria, northern Mali and Niger, with smaller pockets in Libya, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. Their precise numbers are not known: national censuses either ignore ethnic categories (as in Algeria) or are of dubious accuracy (as in Niger and Mali). Published figures range from 300,000 to 3 million. The southern Tuareg of Niger and Mali probably number around one million and 675,000 respectively. 4 The northern Tuareg, who inhabit the regions of Ahaggar and Tassili-n-Ajjer

in Algeria number some 25,000 (20,000 in Ahaggar; 5,000 in Ajjer).5

Although the Tuareg never comprised a single state or political • •

•

entity, the national boundaries, drawn arbitrarily on a map in Paris, •

•

divide what was a single cultural and socio-economic entity. While •

• •

• 353

• 354 proceeds being used to build and furnish luxurious villas, known as known villas, luxurious furnish and build to used being proceeds • •

• was embezzled by senior army officers, to be sold off abroad with the with abroad off sold be to officers, army senior by embezzled was •

•

1984-85. In Mali, food aid destined for the drought-devastated north drought-devastated the for destined aid food Mali, In 1984-85. •

•

from 1965 to 1990, with peak crises around 1973-74 and again in again and 1973-74 around crises peak with 1990, to 1965 from •

colonial era. Both countries experienced a disastrous cycle of drought of cycle disastrous a experienced countries Both era. colonial

litical marginalisation, the roots of which are to be found in the in found be to are which of roots the marginalisation, litical

countries stem from a combination of deep-seated economic and po- and economic deep-seated of combination a from stem countries

tive governments. The underlying causes of the rebellions in both in rebellions the of causes underlying The governments. tive

has been dominated by their rebellion against their respec- their against rebellion their by dominated been has and Mali

In contrast to Algeria, the recent history of the Tuareg in both both in Tuareg the of history recent the Algeria, to contrast In Niger

especially in the fields of education, health care and labour markets. labour and care health education, of fields the in especially

full access to and benefit from the services and institutions of the state, the of institutions and services the from benefit and to access full

towards nomadism in its formative years, Algeria’s Tuareg have had have Tuareg Algeria’s years, formative its in nomadism towards

colonial State. colonial the state the by expressed prejudice the Notwithstanding

7 7

however, been fairly well accommodated and integrated into the post- the into integrated and accommodated well fairly been however,

downs’, Algeria’s Tuareg, compared to those of Mali and Niger, have, Niger, and Mali of those to compared Tuareg, Algeria’s downs’,

cover about 20% of national territory. Notwithstanding a few ‘ups and ‘ups few a Notwithstanding territory. national of 20% about cover

comprise only 0.1% of the country’s population, their traditional lands traditional their population, country’s the of 0.1% only comprise

managed to retain their nomadic lifestyle. Although Algeria’s Tuareg Algeria’s Although lifestyle. nomadic their retain to managed

Current surveys indicate that only about 3,000 Algerian Tuareg have Tuareg Algerian 3,000 about only that indicate surveys Current

and Ajjer, as well as in the main town of Tamanrasset (pop. c.100,000). (pop. Tamanrasset of town main the in as well as Ajjer, and

settled in the many small villages and cultivation centres of Ahaggar of centres cultivation and villages small many the in settled

the 1990s. Since independence, most Kel Ahaggar and Kel Ajjer have Ajjer Kel and Ahaggar Kel most independence, Since 1990s. the

unrest and killing that swept much of the north of the country during country the of north the of much swept that killing and unrest

because of the migration into the region of Algerians escaping the escaping Algerians of region the into migration the of because

Ahaggar and Ajjer. Today they comprise only 15%. This is partly is This 15%. only comprise they Today Ajjer. and Ahaggar

Ahaggar and Kel Ajjer) Kel and Ahaggar comprised some 50% of the population of population the of 50% some comprised

6 6

, at the time of Independence (1962), the Tuareg (Kel Tuareg the (1962), Independence of time the at , In Algeria

last forty or so years, their very different post-colonial histories. post-colonial different very their years, so or forty last

ily influenced by their respective colonial experiences and, over the over and, experiences colonial respective their by influenced ily

The recent histories of these Tuareg populations have been heav- been have populations Tuareg these of histories recent The

best be described as agro-pastoralism. as described be best

Tuareg of the Malian districts of Timbuktu, Gao and even Kidal, can Kidal, even and Gao Timbuktu, of districts Malian the of Tuareg

north of Ahaggar. Indeed, the traditional economy of many of the of many of economy traditional the Indeed, Ahaggar. of north

regions of southern Niger and the oases of Touat and Tidikelt to the to Tidikelt and Touat of oases the and Niger southern of regions

notably with the peoples along the Niger River, the millet-producing the River, Niger the along peoples the with notably

relations with the agricultural communities around their margins, their around communities agricultural the with relations

“slavery”. Nearly all Tuareg groups maintained close socio-economic close maintained groups Tuareg all Nearly “slavery”.

bandry (camels, goats, sheep and, in the south, cattle) and forms of forms and cattle) south, the in and, sheep goats, (camels, bandry

in varying degrees on controlling caravan trade, raiding, animal hus- animal raiding, trade, caravan controlling on degrees varying in

economies of these regions were both complex and fragile, depending fragile, and complex both were regions these of economies generally described as nomadic pastoralists, the traditional Tuareg traditional the pastoralists, nomadic as described generally “castles of drought” in Bamako. Similar misappropriations occurred in Niger. The result of the drought and the embezzlement of food relief was such that many Tuareg were forced to abandon their traditional pastoral base and to migrate within their countries, or across the frontiers. In both countries, the Tuareg were effectively excluded from any form of political incorporation into the post-colonial state. Amongst the Tuareg of Mali, grievances against the government were fuelled by their memories of their earlier rebellion in 1962-64, which President Modibo Keita crushed brutally with the help of fighter- bombers, before imposing a harsh military rule. Earlier issues of The Indigenous World 8 have given summary accounts of the rebellions that began in 1990. To remind readers of those events:

Brief outline of the Tuareg rebellions

Tuareg rebellions broke out almost simultaneously in both Mali and Niger in May-June 1990, with attacks by the Mouvement Populaire de

9

l’Azaouad (MPA) against government outposts. The uprisings, which •

•

began in Kidal and Menaka in Mali and at Tchin Tabaraden in Niger, •

•

were spearheaded by Tuareg combatants known as ishumar. This • •

• word is the berberisation of the French word chômeur meaning “un- •

• 355

• 356 government, the ORA, traditional chiefs and the donor community, donor the and chiefs traditional ORA, the government, • •

• ceremony at Timbuktu. The aim of the conference, attended by the by attended conference, the of aim The Timbuktu. at ceremony •

•

to the Round Table Conference that preceded the ‘Flame of Peace’ of ‘Flame the preceded that Conference Table Round the to •

•

This was followed by a Round Table Conference at Tahoua, similar Tahoua, at Conference Table Round a by followed was This •

(ORA) was signed at Ouagadougou in April 1995. April in Ouagadougou at signed was (ORA) la Résistance Armée Résistance la

between the government and the rebel coalition of the the of coalition rebel the and government the between Organisation de Organisation

Mali, it has taken longer to establish the basis for peace. An agreement An peace. for basis the establish to longer taken has it Mali,

Although the scale of the rebellion in Niger was smaller than in than smaller was Niger in rebellion the of scale the Although

each country at over a thousand. a over at country each

both countries. Several sources put the number of Tuareg killed in killed Tuareg of number the put sources Several countries. both

Atrocities, perpetrated mostly by the army or local militia, occurred in occurred militia, local or army the by mostly perpetrated Atrocities,

bers of people killed in the Mali rebellion is not known. not is rebellion Mali the in killed people of bers num The

. as known ceremony a in burnt publicly La Flamme de la Paix la de Flamme La

1996 at which 3,000 weapons, surrendered by the warring militias, were militias, warring the by surrendered weapons, 3,000 which at 1996

armed conflict in Mali was marked by a ceremony at Timbuktu in April in Timbuktu at ceremony a by marked was Mali in conflict armed

not until 1995 that security conditions improved. The official end of the of end official The improved. conditions security that 1995 until not

regions. Despite the signing of the pact, hostilities continued and it was it and continued hostilities pact, the of signing the Despite regions.

political representation and a ten-year development plan for the northern the for plan development ten-year a and representation political

placed persons, the integration of ex-combatants into the army, better army, the into ex-combatants of integration the persons, placed

The agreement provided for a cessation of hostilities, the return of dis- of return the hostilities, of cessation a for provided agreement The

) – the various Tuareg and Arab groups who had taken up arms. up taken had who groups Arab and Tuareg various the – ouad

10 10

government of Mali and the MFUA ( MFUA the and Mali of government Mouvement et Fronts Unifiés de l’Aza- de Unifiés Fronts et Mouvement

was signed by the by signed was a rebellion, of years two almost After Pacte National Pacte

tional society. tional

of equality and justice merely added to the further dislocation of tradi- of dislocation further the to added merely justice and equality of

experience returning to their home areas. Their Ghadafi-inspired ideas Ghadafi-inspired Their areas. home their to returning experience

of unemployed and restless young men with considerable military considerable with men young restless and unemployed of

legion and the Soviet evacuation of Afghanistan led to a further wave further a to led Afghanistan of evacuation Soviet the and legion

miliating failure to annex Chad. Finally, the dissolution of the Islamic the of dissolution the Finally, Chad. annex to failure miliating

year by those released from Libya’s armed forces after Ghadafi’s hu- Ghadafi’s after forces armed Libya’s from released those by year

home unemployed and resentful. They were joined in the following the in joined were They resentful. and unemployed home

hundreds of Tuareg being dismissed from the oil fields and returning and fields oil the from dismissed being Tuareg of hundreds

tine and Afghanistan. The collapse of the oil price in 1985 led to led 1985 in price oil the of collapse The Afghanistan. and tine

Legion” and were despatched as Islamic militants to Lebanon, Pales- Lebanon, to militants Islamic as despatched were and Legion”

Libya’s regular forces; more entered the Libyan-sponsored “Islamic Libyan-sponsored the entered more forces; regular Libya’s

dafi’s ideas of equality and revolution. Some were incorporated into incorporated were Some revolution. and equality of ideas dafi’s

and came under the influence of Islamic radicals and Colonel Gha- Colonel and radicals Islamic of influence the under came and

ria but most finished up in Libya where they received military training military received they where Libya in up finished most but ria

families, sought work elsewhere in North Africa. Some went to Alge- to went Some Africa. North in elsewhere work sought families,

1970s and 1980s to search further afield for means to support their support to means for afield further search to 1980s and 1970s

repression of their own governments and forced by the droughts of the of droughts the by forced and governments own their of repression employed”. These were the young men who, disillusioned by the by disillusioned who, men young the were These employed”. was to mobilise resources for the rehabilitation of the pastoral zones in the north of the country and to develop a strategy for further development, without which a durable reconciliation of the warring parties could not be envisaged. Although the momentum of the peace agreement was kept going through 1996, it was not until the end of 1997 that the ‘cantonment’ of the ORA’s combatants was completed. Having rejected the Ouagadougou Accord, peace was not negotiated with the Union des Forces de la Résistance Armée (UFRA) and its three component movements until 1998, with the last ex-rebel groups not turning in their arms until June 2000 when a peace ceremony, based on the principle of “The Flame of Peace”, was held at Agades. As in Mali, it is impossible to say how many people were killed during the course of the Tuareg rebellion in Niger. Not surprisingly, accounts of events differ wildly. It is still unclear what happened on the night of 7th May 1990 when Tuareg attacked Tchin Tabaraden. Tuareg versions say that a small group of unarmed ishumar occupied the gendarmerie as a protest against the arrest of some of their fellows, and that a guard was killed by his own weapon in the ensuing squabble. Official accounts claim that three Tuareg groups attacked the prison, the sous-préfecture, gendarmerie and post office, resulting in six deaths. What happened in the army’s follow-up operations is still open to grave dispute. According to Tuareg accounts, the Nige- rian army, after pulverising Tchin Tabaraden, went on the rampage through the Azaouagh region wiping out every nomadic camp they could find. Occupants were buried or burnt alive, or hacked to pieces. At Tasara 24 people were hanged; at Tillia adolescents were publicly executed; a dozen Tuareg were killed at Maradi and hundreds more wiped out at Tahoua. While the government admitted to 70 deaths, international organisations placed the figure at around 600. The Tua- reg claim that at least 1,700 of their number were butchered.

The Toubou revolt and massacre

Niger’s rebellion was not limited to the Tuareg. In 1994 the Toubou of eastern Niger allied themselves to their traditional enemies, the Tuareg, and also rebelled against the government. During 1997-98 the

army crushed the revolt, causing many Toubou to flee to Nigeria for

safety. The signing of a peace agreement between the rebel group, the •

•

Front Démocratique Révolutionnaire (FDR), and the Niger government at •

•

N’Djamena (Chad) in August 1998 might have paved the way for their • •

• safe return. However, fearful of returning home, they remained in •

• 357

• 358 Mali was estimated at 305,000. This amounts to 25% of the total the of 25% to amounts This 305,000. at estimated was Mali • •

• residing in the returnee sites assisted by the UNHCR programme in programme UNHCR the by assisted sites returnee the in residing •

•

have been much higher. The number of formerly uprooted persons uprooted formerly of number The higher. much been have •

•

The total level of forced displacements in both countries is likely to likely is countries both in displacements forced of level total The •

2874,0 131,780 40,609 32,827 Total

Senegal 679 0 0 679 0 0 679 Senegal

1,091 2,928 8,704 12,723 8,704 2,928 1,091 Niger

7,691 265 42,748 50.704 42,748 265 7,691 Algeria

2,877 23,962 2,877 16,375 4,710 Faso Burkina

4,015 43,712 4,015 21,041 18,656 Mauritania

otal T Spontaneous Facilitated Organised

riod April 1995 to November 1998 are as follows: as are 1998 November to 1995 April riod

UNHCR assisted. The official UNHCR returnee statistics for the pe- the for statistics returnee UNHCR official The assisted. UNHCR

and ended in June 1999 with movements that were almost entirely almost were that movements with 1999 June in ended and

been a major undertaking. It began with spontaneous returns in 1995 in returns spontaneous with began It undertaking. major a been

to Algeria and Burkina Faso. The repatriation of these refugees has refugees these of repatriation The Faso. Burkina and Algeria to

is estimated at 150,000, while an estimated 15-20,000 fled from Niger from fled 15-20,000 estimated an while 150,000, at estimated is

who fled from Mali to Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger and Mauritania Faso, Burkina Algeria, to Mali from fled who

the course of the rebellions will never be known precisely. The number The precisely. known be never will rebellions the of course the

been devastating. The number of people who fled or were uprooted in uprooted were or fled who people of number The devastating. been

effect of the rebellions and the way in which they were crushed has crushed were they which in way the and rebellions the of effect

country may have numbered no more than one or two thousand, the thousand, two or one than more no numbered have may country

While the number of people actually killed in the rebellions in each in rebellions the in killed actually people of number the While

The repatriation of refugees of repatriation The

were published by the press. the by published were

the existence of the grave and the bodies of the 150 men whose names whose men 150 the of bodies the and grave the of existence the

1999, the High Commissioner for the Restoration of Peace confirmed Peace of Restoration the for Commissioner High the 1999,

denied that there had been any killings in the region but, in April in but, region the in killings any been had there that denied

toungoure, on Lake Chad in the Diffa region. The Niger government Niger The region. Diffa the in Chad Lake on toungoure,

grave containing 150 bodies was discovered on the island of Boul- of island the on discovered was bodies 150 containing grave

their husbands, who were not seen again. In January 1999, a mass a 1999, January In again. seen not were who husbands, their

over to Niger troops. The women and children were separated from separated were children and women The troops. Niger to over

gees were captured and escorted to the border where they were handed were they where border the to escorted and captured were gees

operation involving Chad, Niger and Nigerian forces. Some 950 refu- 950 Some forces. Nigerian and Niger Chad, involving operation Nigeria, only to be rounded up in mid-October by a joint military joint a by mid-October in up rounded be to only Nigeria, estimated population of northern Mali. If persons uprooted by the Niger conflict are included, then we are probably dealing with a figure approaching half a million: that is approximately a quarter of the entire estimated Tuareg population. It should also be remembered that large numbers of Tuareg had already moved into other areas of their own countries or across frontiers, especially from both Mali and Niger into Algeria, in their attempt to escape the devastation caused by the vicious cycle of drought. Many of these Tuareg have not, and probably will never, return to their original homes. Many Malian and Nigerian Tuareg who crossed into Algeria either to escape the devas- tation of drought or the conflict are still to be found there, many of them having intermarried with the local population.

The establishment of resettlement sites

Major steps towards the reconstruction of civilian life in northern Mali have been achieved through the UNHCR-funded returnee as- sistance programme, which was implemented in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and eleven NGO implementing partners. The programme, which ran from 1995 to June 1999, pro- vided assistance to 638 returnee sites throughout northern Mali. 287 wells were dug or rehabilitated, 123 boreholes drilled and numerous solar or diesel water pumps installed. Food distributions and food- for-work programmes were organised and loans and grants made available to large numbers of individuals and local associations. Evaluations of the programme have highlighted a number of suc- cesses and failures. The programme’s overall success has stemmed from two principle factors: the decision to allow the selection of reha- bilitation to be made by the returnees themselves and the integrated community focus adopted by the programme. The programme’s short- comings have been the slow and inadequate funding response from donors; its decision not to support measures to help in the rehabili- tation of livestock for the pastoral communities, thus favouring se- dentarisation at the expense of pastoralism, despite the fact that pas- toralism has been the traditional occupation of many beneficiaries; and its short-term nature. Aware of these shortcomings, UNHCR

secured the cooperation of partners willing to continue the work. One

such partner, namely Programme Mali-Nord (PMN), funded by the •

•

German Agency Gesellschaft fur technische Zusammenerbeit (GTZ), which •

•

operates in the Timbuktu region in a zone between the Niger river and • •

• the Mauritanian border, has been immensely successful. By contrast, •

• 359

• 360 lations being displaced in the futile search for food. Much of the country the of Much food. for search futile the in displaced being lations • •

• worse by delayed and inadequate international aid, saw entire popu- entire saw aid, international inadequate and delayed by worse •

•

population, were facing severe famine by mid-2001. The situation, made situation, The mid-2001. by famine severe facing were population, •

•

meant that some 3.5 to 4 million people, more than a third of the country’s the of third a than more people, million 4 to 3.5 some that meant •

drought, reducing the 2000 harvest to almost complete failure. This failure. complete almost to harvest 2000 the reducing drought,

racy at the end of 1999 coincided with an even more severe year of year severe more even an with coincided 1999 of end the at racy

tive years of drought. If that was not enough, Niger’s return to democ- to return Niger’s enough, not was that If drought. of years tive

ther as a result of Mainassara’s rule coinciding with three consecu- three with coinciding rule Mainassara’s of result a as ther

the regions of Tahoua and Agades. Their situation deteriorated fur- deteriorated situation Their Agades. and Tahoua of regions the

plight of Tuareg returnees who, at that time, were being resettled in resettled being were time, that at who, returnees Tuareg of plight

international aid to Niger – a measure that further exacerbated the exacerbated further that measure a – Niger to aid international

international donors, including the French government, suspended government, French the including donors, international

democratic rule and the violation of human rights was that many that was rights human of violation the and rule democratic

Tabaraden massacre of Tuareg in 1990. The result of the overthrow of overthrow the of result The 1990. in Tuareg of massacre Tabaraden

either the Toubou massacre on Boultoungoure island or the Tchin the or island Boultoungoure on massacre Toubou the either

held into the killing of President Mainassara, nor for that matter into matter that for nor Mainassara, President of killing the into held

impunity in the new Constitution means that no inquiry has been has inquiry no that means Constitution new the in impunity

that occurred in the coups of 1996 and 1999. The enshrinement of enshrinement The 1999. and 1996 of coups the in occurred that

2000, of an amnesty to the perpetrators of the human rights violations rights human the of perpetrators the to amnesty an of 2000,

Constitution, and affirmed by a new law in Parliament in January in Parliament in law new a by affirmed and Constitution,

lations have continued. Most serious is the incorporation in the new the in incorporation the is serious Most continued. have lations

cratic rule in the personage of Mamadou Tandja, human rights vio- rights human Tandja, Mamadou of personage the in rule cratic

elections to be held in November 1999, leading to the return of demo- of return the to leading 1999, November in held be to elections

described as an “unfortunate accident”. Although Wanké allowed Wanké Although accident”. “unfortunate an as described

Major Daouda Malam Wanké, who took over the reins of power, of reins the over took who Wanké, Malam Daouda Major

himself gunned down by his own presidential bodyguard in what in bodyguard presidential own his by down gunned himself

hamane Ousmane. Three years later, in April 1999, Mainassara was Mainassara 1999, April in later, years Three Ousmane. hamane

1996, Ibrahim Baré Mainassara overthrew the elected President Ma- President elected the overthrew Mainassara Baré Ibrahim 1996,

rule and the continued widespread violation of human rights. In rights. human of violation widespread continued the and rule

has been hampered by the overthrow of democratic of overthrow the by hampered been has in projects Niger

livestock. However, the development and implementation of such of implementation and development the However, livestock.

vulnerable communities, especially in regard to the rehabilitation of rehabilitation the to regard in especially communities, vulnerable

multi-year development projects covering the longer-term needs of needs longer-term the covering projects development multi-year

example of Niger and appoint a consultant to formulate proposals for proposals formulate to consultant a appoint and Niger of example

UNHCR in Mali would have been wise to have followed the followed have to wise been have would Mali in UNHCR

as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. the of part than rather problem the of part as

down in labyrinthine bureaucratic procedures that have rendered it rendered have that procedures bureaucratic labyrinthine in down

as 1989. Regrettably the project has achieved little, being bogged being little, achieved has project the Regrettably 1989. as

) since as long ago long as since ) Sécurité Alimentaire et des Revenus de la Zone de Kidal de Zone la de Revenus des et Alimentaire Sécurité

fallen under an IFAD-funded programme known as PSARK ( PSARK as known programme IFAD-funded an under fallen Projet de Projet

both the government and development agencies. The Kidal Zone has Zone Kidal The agencies. development and government the both the areas of Kidal and Gourma-Rharous have seen far less input from input less far seen have Gourma-Rharous and Kidal of areas the has undergone massive environmental degradation as hapless peasants have chopped down trees to sell them as firewood and earn money. The year’s drought was reckoned to be as devastating as that of 1984. Ap- peals for food aid led to a mere 26,000 tons of food being donated, mostly from Nigeria. The year has also seen thousands of people contracting and several hundred dying from a severe epidemic of cerebro-spinal meningitis. However, good rains began in June (2001) with above aver- age and well distributed rainfall continuing through the crucial summer months until September. This means that 2001-2002 will produce enough grain to leave only 16% of the population (according to the Famine Early Warning System) facing food insecurity in 2002. The rains also brought extensive outbreaks of typhoid fever, with hundreds of cases being reported to the north of Agades. The good rains of 2001-2002, said to be the heaviest in forty years in Mali, brought heavy flooding in Bamako and elsewhere along the Niger. On the positive side, however, Mali expects to produce surplus food this year and is unlikely to require any food aid between Febru- ary 2002 and the next harvest in September-October. The rains have also been a rare blessing for pastoralists. Mali’s good harvest comes with a new President. The charismatic ex-General Amadou Toumani Touré, the man who once said “only an idiot” would want to be Mali’s head of state, was confirmed as Presi- dent on 23 May 2002 after two rounds of voting. 11 He succeeds Alpha Oumar Konaré who served two five-year terms (1992-2002) after Tou- ré, then head of the paratroop battalion, had arrested the corrupt dictator, General Moussa Traoré (1976-1991) and set up an interim government to hold free elections. Konaré and Touré have both played major roles in the country’s transition to democracy and in the suc- cessful peace-making with the predominantly Tuareg rebel move- ments. Touré’s espousal of economic reform, political openness and human rights forebodes well for Mali’s immediate future.

The roles of Algeria and Libya

Notwithstanding her own political crisis of the last decade, Algeria has played a major and ongoing role in trying to resolve what has generally

been referred to in both Mali and Niger as the “Tuareg problem” and so

bring peace and stability to the region. This role has, of course, been one •

•

of enlightened self-interest but it stands in marked contrast to that of •

•

Libya’s Colonel Ghadafi who has been the single most destabilising force • •

• throughout the Sahel and much of the Central Sahara for some time. •

• 361

• 362 More dangerous to the stability and security of the region than Mokh- than region the of security and stability the to dangerous More •

•

• rettes, armaments, and the training and provisioning of the GIA. the of provisioning and training the and armaments, rettes, 12 •

•

Algerian state, to the management of large-scale smuggling of ciga- of smuggling large-scale of management the to state, Algerian •

•

ties have moved increasingly from his professed war against the against war professed his from increasingly moved have ties •

copter gunships across Algeria’s southern border, Mokhtar’s activi- Mokhtar’s border, southern Algeria’s across gunships copter

ening of Algerian security, including hot pursuit operations by heli- by operations pursuit hot including security, Algerian of ening

2000 of the Niger leg of the Paris-Dakar-Cairo rally. With the strength- the With rally. Paris-Dakar-Cairo the of leg Niger the of 2000

Tuaregs and GIA fundamentalists”) led to the cancellation in January in cancellation the to led fundamentalists”) GIA and Tuaregs

where his presence (described as “terrorist threats from dissident from threats “terrorist as (described presence his where

forced him to hole up in the vast and little known Azaouagh valley, Azaouagh known little and vast the in up hole to him forced

Algeria’s security forces had gone on the offensive and effectively and offensive the on gone had forces security Algeria’s

sations. He is also said to have shot down a military aircraft. By 1999, By aircraft. military a down shot have to said also is He sations.

from the Algerian gendarmerie, oil companies and other state organi- state other and companies oil gendarmerie, Algerian the from

well-armed band is reputed to have hijacked 365 4WD vehicles, mostly vehicles, 4WD 365 hijacked have to reputed is band well-armed

protected by military convoy. In the second half of 1998, his small but small his 1998, of half second the In convoy. military by protected

highway from In Salah to Tamanrasset, being unsafe for travel unless travel for unsafe being Tamanrasset, to Salah In from highway

resulted in many of the roads in southern Algeria, especially the main the especially Algeria, southern in roads the of many in resulted

the Algerian state” (not its peoples, he was careful to point out) point to careful was he peoples, its (not state” Algerian the

police when caught in a smuggling heist. By 1998 his “war against “war his 1998 By heist. smuggling a in caught when police

he sought to revenge the death of his brother who had been shot by shot been had who brother his of death the revenge to sought he

when, after a spell in Afghanistan (where he reputedly lost an eye), an lost reputedly he (where Afghanistan in spell a after when,

Tuareg), Mokhtar initially outlawed himself from the Algerian state Algerian the from himself outlawed initially Mokhtar Tuareg),

laws, a certain Mokhtar Ben Mokhtar. A Metlilli Chaamba (not a (not Chaamba Metlilli A Mokhtar. Ben Mokhtar certain a laws,

with the arrival in the region of one of Algeria’s more colourful out- colourful more Algeria’s of one of region the in arrival the with

region but it has taken on a new form and scale since the late 1990s late the since scale and form new a on taken has it but region

nities for smuggling and the circulation of small arms throughout the throughout arms small of circulation the and smuggling for nities

last decade or so as a result of the return of the the of return the of result a as so or decade last , the opportu- the , ishumar

corner of Africa. Banditry in the region has not only increased in the in increased only not has region the in Banditry Africa. of corner

fulcrum for the future political stability and security of this large this of security and stability political future the for fulcrum

regions of Mali, becoming the focus of a new form of banditry and the and banditry of form new a of focus the becoming Mali, of regions

extends south-westwards from Tamesna into the Kidal and Menaka and Kidal the into Tamesna from south-westwards extends

of this zone, especially the immense Azaouagh valley region that region valley Azaouagh immense the especially zone, this of

four years, from about 1998, perhaps a little earlier, have seen much seen have earlier, little a perhaps 1998, about from years, four

most certainly not been achieved. On the contrary, the last three or three last the contrary, the On achieved. been not certainly most

areas” – – areas” – have – northern Mali, northern Niger and southern Algeria southern and Niger northern Mali, northern

stability and security of what are regarded as traditional “Tuareg traditional as regarded are what of security and stability

some sort of “closure” to the story of the Tuareg rebellion. The future The rebellion. Tuareg the of story the to “closure” of sort some

elections in Mali, along with the abundant rains of 2001, as marking as 2001, of rains abundant the with along Mali, in elections

1999, the return to democratic rule in Niger in 1999 and the 2002 the and 1999 in Niger in rule democratic to return the 1999,

There is a danger in seeing the withdrawal of UNHCR support in support UNHCR of withdrawal the seeing in danger a is There A new era of banditry of era new A tar’s own activities are the unknown number of “copycats” and as- sociated networks that he has spawned, and the attraction that his activities and reputedly fundamentalist ideology offer to the many, mostly unemployed young men of the region. The reason why this sort of banditry has been able to establish itself in this region is simply because the “space was left open for them” by the failure of the above-mentioned development agencies to establish themselves in these areas. This failure stems from both the UN’s and other donor agencies’ refusal to fund the required level of security that neither Mali or Niger have been able to provide. The further development of this form of banditry, on such a scale and over such an extensive geographical area, is not only a major impediment to the future social, political and economic development of much of northern Mali and northern Niger, and therefore the well- being of the Tuareg themselves, but it threatens the stability and security of much of the Sahel and Central Sahara.

Renewed political confidence and consciousness

In conclusion, it should be noted that the events outlined in this article, most notably the Tuareg rebellions in Niger and Mali and the subsequent movement and displacement of individual Tuareg fami- lies and groups over the traditional Tuareg regions of Algeria, Mali, Niger and beyond, are having profound social and political implica- tions, not the least of which has been to activate long dormant social (kinship, tribal, etc.) ties between regions that have been transferred from the “Tuareg domain” to “national domains” by arbitrary lines on a map. Heads have been turned to what has been going on in each other’s countries. Access to new technologies, notably the phone and Internet, along with an increased knowledge and awareness of inter- national conventions on human and indigenous rights, is giving the peoples of these regions renewed political confidence and conscious- ness. In the summer of 2001, Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika visited the south to be greeted in Illizi and Djanet with a signed “petition” demanding the removal from office of the wali, 13 and on the streets by a mixture of respect and ribald chanting, the message of

which was quite clear: “If he (the North) didn’t want the South to be

part of Algeria, he was just to let them know!” He noted the mood and, •

•

on his return to Algiers, the wali was duly dismissed. The northern •

•

Tuareg are once again looking south, and the southern Tuareg are • •

• looking towards the north. •

• 363 • 364 • • • • • •

•

•

13 The head of the regional civil administration, appointed by the President. the by appointed administration, civil regional the of head The 13

12 His death has been reported in the media on about six occasions. six about on media the in reported been has death His 12

electors.

11 Touré received 65% of the vote, but from less than 20% of the registered the of 20% than less from but vote, the of 65% received Touré 11

MPA and a minority making an alliance with the FPLA. the with alliance an making minority a and MPA

after which the ARLA split, with the majority accepting the dominance of the of dominance the accepting majority the with split, ARLA the which after

1994, fighting broke out between the MPA and ARLA for control of Kidal, of control for ARLA and MPA the between out broke fighting 1994,

(MPA). In (MPA). the (FPLA); Mouvement populaire de l’Azaouad de populaire Mouvement l’Azaouad de libération

(FIAA); the the (FIAA); the (ARLA); Front populaire de populaire Front l’Azaouad de arabe islamique Front

10 The MFUA comprised: the the comprised: MFUA The 10 Armée révolutionnaire de liberation de l’Azaouad de liberation de révolutionnaire Armée

northern regions of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal. and Gao Timbuktu, of regions northern

depression north of Timbuktu. The term has come to signify all Mali’s all signify to come has term The Timbuktu. of north depression

is the word for an eating bowl as well as the name of a of name the as well as bowl eating an for word the is 9 Azaoua (Azawa) Azaoua

including the Yearbook for 1997-98. for Yearbook the including

during the 1990s, up to and to up 1990s, the during of issues previous See 8 The Indigenous World Indigenous The

Studies. Publication is expected in 2003, vol. 8 number 2. number 8 vol. 2003, in expected is Publication Studies.

) of the Journal of North African North of Journal the of ) of Algeria: Social Change and indigenous Rights indigenous and Change Social Algeria: of

Algeria’s Tuareg, is being prepared as a “Special Issue”, (entitled: (entitled: Issue”, “Special a as prepared being is Tuareg, Algeria’s The Tuareg The

7 A collection of eight contemporary research papers, detailing the situation of situation the detailing papers, research contemporary eight of collection A 7

6 Kel means “people of”. “people means Kel 6

and the Murzuq. the and

5 There are a few thousand Tuareg in Libya in the regions of Ghat, Ghadames Ghat, of regions the in Libya in Tuareg thousand few a are There 5

4 Based on national, but probably very inaccurate, data. inaccurate, very probably but national, on Based 4

3 Approx. half a million square kilometres in each of Algeria, Mali and Niger. and Mali Algeria, of each in kilometres square million a half Approx. 3

nised as a national language. national a as nised

nounced in April 2002 that Amazigh (Berber) would henceforth be recog- be henceforth would (Berber) Amazigh that 2002 April in nounced

Amazigh peoples in the north of the country, the government finally an- finally government the country, the of north the in peoples Amazigh

capital Algiers. After a year of almost continuous protest and unrest by unrest and protest continuous almost of year a After Algiers. capital

strations and violence spreading into many other regions, including the including regions, other many into spreading violence and strations

gendarmes in Kabylia triggered off widespread Berber unrest with demon- with unrest Berber widespread off triggered Kabylia in gendarmes

publication of this issue (April 2001), unwarranted shootings of detainees by detainees of shootings unwarranted 2001), (April issue this of publication

2000-2001, p. 226. More or less at the time of the of time the at less or More 226. p. 2000-2001, See 2 The Indigenous World Indigenous The

bership, social class, language and residency. and language class, social bership,

their own social categories, embracing such things as descent group mem- group descent as things such embracing categories, social own their

understand their complex terms of self-designation, which tend to refer to refer to tend which self-designation, of terms complex their understand

except in conversation with outsiders who they know will probably not probably will know they who outsiders with conversation in except

1 The word “Tuareg” is an Arabic designation and rarely used by the Tuareg, the by used rarely and designation Arabic an is “Tuareg” word The 1 Notes and references and Notes

•

EAST AFRICA •

•

•

•

•

• •

• 365

• 366

litical party the Gambela Peoples Democratic Unity Party (GPDUP). Party Unity Democratic Peoples Gambela the party litical •

• Gambela Peoples Democratic Front (GPDF) and the Nuer-based po- Nuer-based the and (GPDF) Front Democratic Peoples Gambela • •

• government restricted the activities of the umbrella organization, the organization, umbrella the of activities the restricted government •

•

indigenous people in the region. In response to the conflict, central conflict, the to response In region. the in people indigenous •

have been devastating for the ambitions and the aspirations of the of aspirations the and ambitions the for devastating been have

group have occurred as part of a political power struggle. The effects The struggle. power political a of part as occurred have group

the Gambela state, where serious divisions within the Nuer ethnic Nuer the within divisions serious where state, Gambela the

The spill over of the TPLF political crisis has manifested itself in itself manifested has crisis political TPLF the of over spill The

by the federal authorities. federal the by

tional rights due to manipulation of political and economic processes economic and political of manipulation to due rights tional

Gumuze) face numerous difficulties in implementing their constitu- their implementing in difficulties numerous face Gumuze)

ples’ states (states such as Gambela, Somali, Afar and Benishungule- and Afar Somali, Gambela, as such (states states ples’

obligations to respect and honor. However, many indigenous peo- indigenous many However, honor. and respect to obligations

through its UN membership, has ratified, signed, adopted and has and adopted signed, ratified, has membership, UN its through

constitution embodies major international instruments that Ethiopia, that instruments international major embodies constitution

denied its potential significance to the indigenous population. The population. indigenous the to significance potential its denied

to self-determination, the current Federal constitution should not be not should constitution Federal current the self-determination, to

all its colorful provisions, including a hypothetical clause on the right the on clause hypothetical a including provisions, colorful its all

recognizes various indigenous peoples’ territories in the country. In country. the in territories peoples’ indigenous various recognizes

change to the current constitution or administrative structure that structure administrative or constitution current the to change

consider whether the political crisis has brought any meaningful any brought has crisis political the whether consider

population of the country deserve special attention. It is important to important is It attention. special deserve country the of population

come to an end. Yet the long-term general effects on the indigenous the on effects general long-term the Yet end. an to come

The crisis within the ruling political party has now temporarily now has party political ruling the within crisis The

the process of democracy building. democracy of process the

TPLF/EPRDF political party, gave room for serious doubts regarding doubts serious for room gave party, political TPLF/EPRDF

death, added to power struggles and divisions within the ruling the within divisions and struggles power to added death,

ment was a serious setback to the political process in the country. His country. the in process political the to setback serious a was ment

tion Front (TPLF) cadre and head of security operations in the govern- the in operations security of head and cadre (TPLF) Front tion

more, the killing of Kinfe Gebremedin, senior Tigray Peoples Libera- Peoples Tigray senior Gebremedin, Kinfe of killing the more,

ties’ members and other prominent human rights activists. Further- activists. rights human prominent other and members ties’

demonstrators, arrests of civilian population, political opposition par- opposition political population, civilian of arrests demonstrators,

These general protests led to the death of over 41 students and other and students 41 over of death the to led protests general These

University demonstrated against the deplorable situation on campus. on situation deplorable the against demonstrated University

took place in the year under review. Students at the Addis Ababa Addis the at Students review. under year the in place took

A

the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) Front Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Ethiopian the

series of events that shook the fundamental political ideology of ideology political fundamental the shook that events of series

Political crisis Political ETHIOPIA The restriction on these EPRDF allied political parties has exposed the failure of its cadres to sustain durable peace between different ethnic groups and within ethnic groups. The GPDF was a creation of the EPRDF leadership aimed at eliminating the remnants of the grass- roots liberation organization, the Gambela Peoples Liberation Move- ment. Three people were killed, 18 were injured and more than 100 innocent Nuer people were arrested during the conflict.

Oil exploration

The threat to the indigenous Anuak people caused by the first phase of oil exploration in their areas came to an end when the Canadian oil company involved pulled out at the last minute. Yet, the matter is far from over. Recently, a high level Ethiopian delegation led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi visited Russia, where it was reported to have undertaken an exploration deal in the Gambela area. As in the case of

the first negotiations with the Canadian oil company, consultations

have not been conducted with the affected indigenous peoples. In the •

•

negotiations with the Russians, the same trend has availed itself again, •

•

as the consent of the indigenous people is not being taken into account • •

• and they are being entirely isolated in the negotiation process. •

• 367

• 368 men were tortured, raped and killed by members of radical Majanger radical of members by killed and raped tortured, were men • •

• It seems that the conflict erupted after a group of Anuak women and women Anuak of group a after erupted conflict the that seems It •

•

aggression of any sort have hardly been noticed in their relationship. their in noticed been hardly have sort any of aggression •

•

out any sign of conflict or hostilities. Accumulated hostilities and hostilities Accumulated hostilities. or conflict of sign any out •

the Anuak and Majanger ethnic groups have lived side by side with- side by side lived have groups ethnic Majanger and Anuak the

cannot be attributed to the two affected groups as such. Historically, such. as groups affected two the to attributed be cannot

devastated the neighbouring districts both economically and socially and economically both districts neighbouring the devastated

the violence. The ethnic conflict that took place in Godere and which and Godere in place took that conflict ethnic The violence. the

bloody conflict in early 2001, had the capacity or the motive to incite to motive the or capacity the had 2001, early in conflict bloody

Neither the Anuak nor the Majanger people, who were involved in a in involved were who people, Majanger the nor Anuak the Neither

the means to counter-attack. to means the

1

violence, while the other neither has the means of defending itself, nor itself, defending of means the has neither other the while violence,

Conflict often breaks out when one side has the capacity to incite to capacity the has side one when out breaks often Conflict

between opposing sides… opposing between

tably, it is the manifestation of accumulated hostility and aggression and hostility accumulated of manifestation the is it tably,

society may be, communal violence does not erupt unprovoked. Inevi- unprovoked. erupt not does violence communal be, may society

War does not erupt overnight. No matter how disparate or complex a complex or disparate how matter No overnight. erupt not does War

Ethnic conflict Ethnic

operations.

area. Many innocent indigenous people have fallen victim to their to victim fallen have people indigenous innocent Many area.

threatening the free movement of the indigenous population in the in population indigenous the of movement free the threatening

ties of the western part of the country has been moved to Gambela, to moved been has country the of part western the of ties

that was previously located at Jimma to command the military activi- military the command to Jimma at located previously was that

For exploration purposes and other reasons, the army division army the reasons, other and purposes exploration For

advance preparation for oil exploration in the nation. the in exploration oil for preparation advance

government, the establishment of the military sites is believed to be an be to believed is sites military the of establishment the government,

make life more difficult than ever. Despite the security concern of the of concern security the Despite ever. than difficult more life make

doubtedly increase the military personnel in the region, which would which region, the in personnel military the increase doubtedly

miles from Gambela town. These additional military sites will un- will sites military additional These town. Gambela from miles

The third site is located in the airport under military control a few a control military under airport the in located is site third The

include two areas under scrutiny for oil exploration: Adhura and Jor. and Adhura exploration: oil for scrutiny under areas two include

in operation. According to a report from the region, these sites will sites these region, the from report a to According operation. in

litary camps are in the process of being designated and will soon be soon will and designated being of process the in are camps litary

Under the pretext of international border peace-keeping, three mi- three peace-keeping, border international of pretext the Under

their land remains to be seen. be to remains land their

entirely eliminate the indigenous peoples and dispossess them of them dispossess and peoples indigenous the eliminate entirely

the indigenous peoples in Ethiopia. Whether these strategies may strategies these Whether Ethiopia. in peoples indigenous the Ethiopia’s oil exploration strategies pose a serious potential threat to threat potential serious a pose strategies exploration oil Ethiopia’s people. Following this tragic incident, wide-ranging killings of inno- cent men and women from both sides took place, and destruction of property and displacement of innocent inhabitants from the neigh- bouring districts - Gog, Abwobo and Godare, were widely reported. The federal authorities have remained silent on such high-scale eth- nic conflicts that claim the lives of children, women, and the elderly, who are incapable of defending themselves. No attempt has been made to investigate the cause of the ethnic conflict and bring those respon- sible to justice. Nor has there been any local or national media reports on the conflict. Unlike many other areas in the country, the Gambela area is unofficially restricted from international media coverage.

Education

In Ethiopia, which is a multiethnic society, the education system reflects the typical Abyssinian culture and language. Amharic re- mains the dominant language throughout the country and, until the overthrow of military rule in 1991, there was no serious interest in incorporating other languages. The 1994 Education and Language Policy of the transitional gov- ernment of Ethiopia, which accorded indigenous peoples’ languages equal rights, was a cornerstone in the positive implementation of the international instruments that had been accorded lip service by suc- cessive governments in the country. This unique departure from as- similationist and culturally destructive policies was reaffirmed by the provisions of the 1994 Constitution, which recognizes that all Ethio- pian languages enjoy equal state recognition. Furthermore, the Con- stitution remains a point of reference for its provision that the federa- tion members have the right to determine their respective working languages (Ethiopian Constitution 1994:article 5). However, progress in achieving this social sector policy in the indigenous territories has, for various reasons, lagged behind. In recent years, efforts to undermine indigenous languages have been underway, including setting up separate schools in the indig- enous territories that provide education in the Amharic language. In the case of Gambela, the strategy to undermine the indigenous peo-

ples’ languages came into effect in 2000. A separate school that pro-

vides education in Amharic is now in operation, providing education •

•

to a small exclusive sector of the society. •

•

There is no doubt that the existence of a separate education system • •

• accessible only to a few community members will, in the long run, act •

• 369

• 370 east. During its history of expansion, its leaders have done little to little done have leaders its expansion, of history its During east. • •

• mere claim of virtually autonomous nations in the west, south and south west, the in nations autonomous virtually of claim mere •

• Ethiopia as a modern entity came into existence through conquest and conquest through existence into came entity modern a as Ethiopia •

•

•

Imbalance in participation in Imbalance

enous grassroots parties. grassroots enous

to the EPRDF-controlled political parties in order to control the indig- the control to order in parties political EPRDF-controlled the to

where the opposition parties have a mass supporter base as compared as base supporter mass a have parties opposition the where

nique of the Ethiopian government to delay elections in these regions these in elections delay to government Ethiopian the of nique

the majority support in these areas. It is therefore an important tech- important an therefore is It areas. these in support majority the

political parties opposed to the EPRDF and its regional allies enjoy allies regional its and EPRDF the to opposed parties political

delay local elections in these sensitive regions. Grassroots indigenous Grassroots regions. sensitive these in elections local delay

period. There are obvious reasons for the Ethiopian government to government Ethiopian the for reasons obvious are There period.

of the country can hardly be anticipated to take place in this reporting this in place take to anticipated be hardly can country the of

As the rainy season approaches, the local elections in these states these in elections local the approaches, season rainy the As

being kept waiting to cast their ballots, will be held. be will ballots, their cast to waiting kept being

Gambela, Somali and Benishangul-Gumuz states, whose peoples are peoples whose states, Benishangul-Gumuz and Somali Gambela,

of the year. It is not clear as to when democratic local elections in the in elections local democratic when to as clear not is It year. the of

of the southern parts, where local elections were held toward the end the toward held were elections local where parts, southern the of

and Oromia - took place in February/March 2001 with the exception the with 2001 February/March in place took - Oromia and

Local elections in many parts of the country - Afar, Tigray, Amhara Tigray, Afar, - country the of parts many in elections Local

Local elections Local

of sponsoring their children. their sponsoring of

in power within the movement and those few who would be capable be would who few those and movement the within power in

system will favor a few indigenous people; mainly children of those of children mainly people; indigenous few a favor will system

Hence, there is no doubt that in the long run such an education an such run long the in that doubt no is there Hence,

similation policy towards the indigenous people. indigenous the towards policy similation

highland population in the towns entirely supported a cultural as- cultural a supported entirely towns the in population highland

nationalists and Ahmaranized indigenous groups, the immigrant the groups, indigenous Ahmaranized and nationalists

nation. During the 1995 political power struggle between Gambela between struggle power political 1995 the During nation.

petition for power, it is obvious that this trend is a recipe for discrimi- for recipe a is trend this that obvious is it power, for petition

the Amharic language and culture a dominant criterion in the com- the in criterion dominant a culture and language Amharic the

Given the past political battle of 1995 within the state, which made which state, the within 1995 of battle political past the Given

and state level, is given special status over indigenous languages. indigenous over status special given is level, state and

Amharic, which still serves as the official language at both federal both at language official the as serves still which Amharic,

dren who are to build up the nation will be discriminated since discriminated be will nation the up build to are who dren as a power base within the nation. The majority of indigenous chil- indigenous of majority The nation. the within base power a as help the newly acquired territories participate in countrywide devel- opment and in economic and social policy and program formulation. While the economy of the country is built on resources from territories mainly in the southern, western and eastern part of the country, the people in those areas have been mere recipients of policies and programs, some which do not take into account their socio-economic background. Little could be said about the involvement of the indigenous peo- ple in the countrywide decision-making process during the imperial and military regimes. Rendered second-class citizens, their potential and capacity were deemed invaluable. A new departure ought to take place during the current regime, which claims to promote democratic governance and a federal form of administrative arrangement. Yet, since it took power in 1991, the EPRDF government has closed the doors to indigenous participation in important policies and programs of the country. There has thus not been any cabinet minister or any vice ministerial position for any candidate from Gambela or Beni- shungul Gumuze states. For unclear reasons, their participation has been limited to the Foreign Service where a couple of them have been appointed to the Ethiopian representative missions. Being far away from the decision- making process, their influence may, however, be limited.

Reference

1. Rupesinghe, Kumar and Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. 1998. Civil Wars, Civil Peace. An Introduction to Conflict Resolution. London: Pluto Press.

REGIONAL PROCESSES

The East African Legislative Assembly and the gender factor

he process of regional cooperation between the three East African

states (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) has continued and, by the •

T •

end of the year, it culminated in the creation of the East African Court • •

•

of Justice and the East African Legislative Assembly. The President of •

• the court is Kenya’s High Court Judge, Moijo Ole Keiwua, whose •

• 371

• 372 otherwise be lost. The public at large was informed about the richness the about informed was large at public The lost. be otherwise • •

• cross-border collaboration and revive some cultural things that would that things cultural some revive and collaboration cross-border •

•

vals provide a perfect opportunity for the Maasai people to build to people Maasai the for opportunity perfect a provide vals •

•

protect, promote and revive Maa culture and identity. Cultural festi- Cultural identity. and culture Maa revive and promote protect, •

The occasion was also used to strategise together on ways to ways on together strategise to used also was occasion The

possible with support from IWGIA. from support with possible

from Tanzania. The participation of the Tanzania group was made was group Tanzania the of participation The Tanzania. from

mote their culture. A total of around 800 attended of whom 100 were 100 whom of attended 800 around of total A culture. their mote

asai, Samburu, Iltiamus, Arusha and Parakuyo) to celebrate and pro- and celebrate to Parakuyo) and Arusha Iltiamus, Samburu, asai,

Festival brought together all five sections of the Maa community (Ma- community Maa the of sections five all together brought Festival

asailand and whichalso networks with Tanzanian counterparts. The counterparts. Tanzanian with networks whichalso and asailand

organization that includes women from five districts of Kenya Ma- Kenya of districts five from women includes that organization

year by the Reto Women’s Association. This is a Maasai women’s Maasai a is This Association. Women’s Reto the by year

The annual Maa Cultural Festival in Nairobi was again hosted this hosted again was Nairobi in Festival Cultural Maa annual The

Maa Cultural Festival in Nairobi in Festival Cultural Maa

Uganda going the furthest by having a woman Vice President. Vice woman a having by furthest the going Uganda

third of parliamentary and local authority seats for women, with women, for seats authority local and parliamentary of third

other two countries have developed traditions of setting-aside one setting-aside of traditions developed have countries two other

Kenya is the country in which gender relations are most strained. The strained. most are relations gender which in country the is Kenya

ever, led to the conclusion that, of the three East African countries, African East three the of that, conclusion the to led ever,

Parliament in its favour. The reluctance to grant women rights, how- rights, women grant to reluctance The favour. its in Parliament

ruling party was seeking to control the affairs of the East African East the of affairs the control to seeking was party ruling

was appointed in her own right, the move sent the message that the that message the sent move the right, own her in appointed was

cated to the wife of one of the cabinet Ministers. Although the nominee the Although Ministers. cabinet the of one of wife the to cated

prepared. It could only afford one seat and even that one was allo- was one that even and seat one afford only could It prepared.

bers of women nominees, the ruling party, KANU was not quite not was KANU party, ruling the nominees, women of bers

However, in Kenya, while opposition parties complied with the num- the with complied parties opposition while Kenya, in However,

whereby women were to be granted a number of seats by each state. each by seats of number a granted be to were women whereby

Assembly is the gender factor. It came about in the allocation of seats, of allocation the in about came It factor. gender the is Assembly

The highlight in the nominations for the East African Legislative African East the for nominations the in highlight The

Kenyan media refers to such interests as “narrow” and “parochial”. and “narrow” as interests such to refers media Kenyan

closer to the issues of communities is going to be a challenge. The challenge. a be to going is communities of issues the to closer

Nevertheless, bringing the court down from the affairs of states and states of affairs the from down court the bringing Nevertheless,

ties that the people themselves see as needing resolution by the court. the by resolution needing as see themselves people the that ties

states, despite the fact that there are many issues between communi- between issues many are there that fact the despite states,

the court has largely been mandated to handle legal affairs between affairs legal handle to mandated been largely has court the

have been split by the political boundary. However, so far on paper on far so However, boundary. political the by split been have

opportunity for them to forge closer ties between the communities that communities the between ties closer forge to them for opportunity appointment was much celebrated by the Maasai who see in it the it in see who Maasai the by celebrated much was appointment of Maa culture and the occasion was used to prepare the groundwork for future Maa cultural promotion. Strategically, it was decided that cultural festivals should be used in future:

• To enhance the unity of Maa people in different areas. • To strengthen Maa people and organizations through enhanc- ing managerial capacity. • To act as a link between Maa people and organisations in Kenya and Tanzania. • To advocate and lobby on issues of primary concern for Maa cultural heritage. • To serve as a watchdog for misuse and abuse of Maa names and culture. • To facilitate a process in which advocacy and lobbying issues are jointly identified, analyzed and addressed. • To provide support to needy organizations in terms of fund- raising, information, links, skills, etc. • To work for the promotion and enhancement of representation of Maa people in relevant government, political and social structures.

During the interaction and consultations between Kenya and Tanza- nia Maasai, various issues were discussed, such as the use of the word Maasai by different businesses. Examples were shared e.g Ma- asai Hotel, Maasai studio, Maasai Camp, Maasai tours, Maasai Gi- raffe, Maasai Park, Maasai Curio shop, etc, etc – the list was endless and yet the Maasai themselves did not and do not have anything to do with such premises. Often, the Maasai were neither the owners nor the beneficiaries of such businesses. Although there are many other ethnic groups in both Kenya and Tanzania, you hardly hear any business premises with the name Wanyaturu Camp, Wakwere Hotel, Kikuyu, Chagga etc During the consultations held between the Maasai from Kenya and Tanzania, discussions were held on how to revive some indig- enous symbols that were used by the Maasai to signify property rights and whether the same symbols could be adopted and used for copy-

right purposes. The Maa people traditionally used “Ormishire” (brand-

ing) and “Orponoto” (ear notching) as symbols to mark livestock •

•

ownership. These symbols were used to establish the relationship •

•

between property (livestock) and owners (specific Maasai clans). It • •

• was proposed that such symbols should be revived and used to mark •

• 373

• 374

finally agreed in principle on a common process for the review of the of review the for process common a on principle in agreed finally •

•

back on track by the early part of 2001. The Ufungamano Initiative Ufungamano The 2001. of part early the by track on back • 1 •

• The constitutional review process that had stalled a year ago was ago year a stalled had that process review constitutional The •

•

•

The constitutional review process review constitutional The

5. Clashes between farmers and pastoralists and farmers between Clashes 5.

4. The creation of the Maa Pastoralist Council Pastoralist Maa the of creation The 4.

3. The Pokot claims for lost territory lost for claims Pokot The 3.

2. The Ogiek case Ogiek The 2.

1. The constitutional review process review constitutional The 1.

T

in Kenya in the year 2001 include the following: the include 2001 year the in Kenya in

he events that have a bearing on the lives of indigenous peoples indigenous of lives the on bearing a have that events he

KENYA

community would also lose their unity, culture, identity and pride. and identity culture, unity, their lose also would community

Festival felt that if the Maa language were lost, the Maasai as a as Maasai the lost, were language Maa the if that felt Festival

Maa groupings in both Kenya and Tanzania. Participants of the of Participants Tanzania. and Kenya both in groupings Maa

of one’s own identity. It serves as a unifying factor among different among factor unifying a as serves It identity. own one’s of

Language is a repository of culture and, as such, it is the essence the is it such, as and, culture of repository a is Language

outside of their indigenous communities. indigenous their of outside

pearing, especially among Maasai professionals who live and work and live who professionals Maasai among especially pearing,

the soul of Maasai culture and identity but one that is slowly disap- slowly is that one but identity and culture Maasai of soul the

preserve and promote the Maasai language, which was seen by all as all by seen was which language, Maasai the promote and preserve

One such step that it was decided to take was an attempt to attempt an was take to decided was it that step such One

their resource base, identity, language and culture as a whole. a as culture and language identity, base, resource their

proposed to be taken collectively in order to affirm Maasai rights to rights Maasai affirm to order in collectively taken be to proposed

tional items such as dress and ornaments? Some concrete steps were steps concrete Some ornaments? and dress as such items tional

it that the Maasai cannot have the patent rights over their own tradi- own their over rights patent the have cannot Maasai the that it

property, no one could claim or use it without your consent. Why is Why consent. your without it use or claim could one no property,

identity on one’s property meaning that, if you could identify your identify could you if that, meaning property one’s on identity

serve as a copyright for anything Maasai. “ Maasai. anything for copyright a as serve ” was put as an as put was ” Ormishire

belong to the Maasai people and culture. These symbols will again will symbols These culture. and people Maasai the to belong and protect different things (cultural items such as artefacts) that artefacts) as such items (cultural things different protect and 7

1. Pokot 5. Rendile 2. Samburu 6. Maasai Aproximate location of indigenous communities 3. Turkana 7. Ogiek 4. Borana

Kenya constitution. This breakthrough paved the way for the eventual merger of the two groups in the Kenya Constitution Review Commis- sion (KCRC). The thirteen points to be agreed upon by the two rival

bodies were endorsed and the chairman of the KCRC agreed to be

sworn in along with commissioners from a cross-section of societies •

•

in the country. During the next several months, the KCRC conducted •

•

seminars to seek expert views on a wide range of topics including • •

• land, governance and cultural rights. These are the areas where indig- •

• 375

• 376 Kenya government over rights to the East Mau forest. The area had area The forest. Mau East the to rights over government Kenya • •

• has continued to occupy the headlines. The legal battle is against the against is battle legal The headlines. the occupy to continued has •

• During the past year, the Ogiek case for rights to ancestral territory ancestral to rights for case Ogiek the year, past the During •

•

•

The Ogiek case Ogiek The

persists.

missions. However, the commission is still in place and the fear still fear the and place in still is commission the However, missions.

it would be disbanded in midstream, as has happened to other com- other to happened has as midstream, in disbanded be would it

team to capture the full attention of the public since there is fear that fear is there since public the of attention full the capture to team

constitution. This has made it difficult for the constitutional review constitutional the for difficult it made has This constitution.

and the referendum provision are not provided for in the current the in for provided not are provision referendum the and

As it is, the constituency forums, the national constitutional forum constitutional national the forums, constituency the is, it As

not done in respect of the review Act. review the of respect in done not

of not less than 65% of all the members of the Assembly.” This was This Assembly.” the of members the all of 65% than less not of

it has been supported on the second and third readings by the votes the by readings third and second the on supported been has it

the constitution shall not be passed by the national Assembly unless Assembly national the by passed be not shall constitution the

of law. Section 47 (2) states that, “A Bill or an Act of parliament to alter to parliament of Act an or Bill “A that, states (2) 47 Section law. of

constitution, which means that it could still be challenged in a court a in challenged be still could it that means which constitution,

The review process was still not compatible with section 47 of the of 47 section with compatible not still was process review The

going against the political interests of the ruling party and its allies. its and party ruling the of interests political the against going

use his powers to disband the commission should it be seen to be to seen be it should commission the disband to powers his use

Fear was expressed by the opposition parties that the President might President the that parties opposition the by expressed was Fear

guard the constitutional review process from political manipulation. political from process review constitutional the guard

The passing of this Bill was deemed significant since it would safe- would it since significant deemed was Bill this of passing The

2001, which would entrench the review process in the constitution. the in process review the entrench would which 2001,

without passing the Constitution of Kenya Review (Amendment) Act (Amendment) Review Kenya of Constitution the passing without

ended and parliament adjourned for a three month Christmas recess Christmas month three a for adjourned parliament and ended

Although the review process then proceeded as planned, the year the planned, as proceeded then process review the Although

was one of the districts affected by this problem. this by affected districts the of one was

their visit to the districts. Kajiado, a district occupied by the Maasai, the by occupied district a Kajiado, districts. the to visit their

were not prepared to present their views to the commission during commission the to views their present to prepared not were

dermined the review process in the districts since the communities the since districts the in process review the dermined

end of the year the replacements had not been effected and this un- this and effected been not had replacements the year the of end

community and agreed to replace the coordinators. However, by the by However, coordinators. the replace to agreed and community

from the same district. The commission accepted the views of the of views the accepted commission The district. same the from

district and that they should be replaced by an indigenous person indigenous an by replaced be should they that and district

to act as coordinators in their districts were not originally from the from originally not were districts their in coordinators as act to

versy following claims by some districts that the persons appointed persons the that districts some by claims following versy

The appointment of district coordinators was riddled with contro- with riddled was coordinators district of appointment The enous issues are at variance with those of the mainstream societies. mainstream the of those with variance at are issues enous been declared a protected forest area leading to the eviction of about 5,000 Ogiek who have since been made homeless and are without means of livelihood. Some of the gazetted area is said to be protected for the customary territorial and foraging rights of the Ogiek, yet the Ogiek are kept away from the area. At the same time, no effort has gone into protecting the area against possible encroachment and logging. Instead, the govern- ment has allocated some of the forest to outsiders to be used for other purposes. The Ogiek took the matter to court and the High Court declared an injunction on any further land allocations until the dis- pute had been resolved. Despite this injunction, however, the Ogiek have suffered continued harassment and threats of eviction. By the end of the year, the case was dismissed on a technicality but the Ogiek have appealed. The year also saw the Ogiek celebrate a cultural festival during the middle of the year which, among other advantages, served to cement relations between the dispersed Ogiek groups as well as create unity of purpose, particularly on the issue of territory.

The Pokot by-elections and claims for lost territory

When, in the year 2000, the Pokot representative tried to defend the rights of Pokot to their ancestral land, he was called a “national enemy”, a “tribalist”, an “inciter”, a creator of “unnecessary animos- ity” by the mainstream media. He was accused of dividing Kenyans along tribal lines, and reminded that Kenyans were free to own land anywhere in the country. One person even advised him to leave politics since his outbursts bordered on hatred, etc. (People, 3 Febru- ary, 2000). The passing away of Hon. Lotondo, the long-serving radical mem- ber of parliament who was much revered by the Pokot, has led, through a by-election, to his being replaced by an equally radical representative, Samuel Moroto. The campaign attracted much attention and the gov- ernment came out strongly in support of a candidate who was not favoured by the majority of the Pokot. A highly placed government official was said to have visited the area to campaign for the preferred

candidate. Like most indigenous marginalized people in Kenya, the

Pokot have always supported the ruling party, KANU. However, like •

•

other people they also have very serious problems with the party. •

•

Since it has become increasingly difficult to rig elections in opposi- • •

• tion-controlled areas, it is an open secret that the ruling party contin- •

• 377

• 378 year, to such an extent that they dominated the headlines. The pas- The headlines. the dominated they that extent an such to year, • •

• District of the coastal region have been quite severe during the past the during severe quite been have region coastal the of District •

• Clashes between pastoralists and farming communities in Tana River Tana in communities farming and pastoralists between Clashes •

•

•

Clashes between farmers and pastoralists and farmers between Clashes

kana, Borana, Rendille and others. and Rendille Borana, kana,

who are equally affected by the conflict include the Samburu, Tur- Samburu, the include conflict the by affected equally are who

pastoralist communities occupying the northern parts of the country the of parts northern the occupying communities pastoralist

sides attempting - with little success - to disarm the residents. Other residents. the disarm to - success little with - attempting sides

cure. The government has paid little attention to these conflicts be- conflicts these to attention little paid has government The cure.

tions between the various groups and making the whole region inse- region whole the making and groups various the between tions

cattle raids have turned into serious armed conflicts, polarizing rela- polarizing conflicts, armed serious into turned have raids cattle

Following an influx of illegal firearms into the northern zone, northern the into firearms illegal of influx an Following

similar circumstances. similar

the Pokot, set positive precedents for other indigenous peoples in peoples indigenous other for precedents positive set Pokot, the

kot East” by the Pokot. The claims, as well as gains, so far made by made far so gains, as well as claims, The Pokot. the by East” kot

the President’s constituency and has unilaterally been renamed “Po- renamed been unilaterally has and constituency President’s the

land that was used to resettle outsiders. Some of the land is in Baringo, in is land the of Some outsiders. resettle to used was that land

government. The discussion presently centres on a 40 sq. km strip of strip km sq. 40 a on centres presently discussion The government.

demanding the rest of their former ancestral lands from the Kenya the from lands ancestral former their of rest the demanding

colonial period. Despite the recent gains, however, the Pokot are still are Pokot the however, gains, recent the Despite period. colonial

Farm and Chepchoina Farm) that were taken from them during the during them from taken were that Farm) Chepchoina and Farm

year and recently the government has returned two farms (Mwisho farms two returned has government the recently and year

The Pokot have also continued to lobby and campaign during the during campaign and lobby to continued also have Pokot The

leader, the Pokot felt that they triumphed in the end. the in triumphed they that felt Pokot the leader,

the Pokot. Since the new member of parliament met the criteria for a good a for criteria the met parliament of member new the Since Pokot. the

to the Pokot, would make him a representative of the government, not of not government, the of representative a him make would Pokot, the to

the government had these criteria flipped upside down which, according which, down upside flipped criteria these had government the

party. Not the other way around. The candidate who was favoured by favoured was who candidate The around. way other the Not party.

strate total allegiance, first and foremost to the Pokot and secondly to the to secondly and Pokot the to foremost and first allegiance, total strate

circumstances, was that the potential candidate would have to demon- to have would candidate potential the that was circumstances,

one, and one that could be of value to other indigenous peoples in similar in peoples indigenous other to value of be could that one and one,

have to be met by a suitable leader. Of these criteria, the most important most the criteria, these Of leader. suitable a by met be to have

them. When they sensed it, they quickly developed criteria that would that criteria developed quickly they it, sensed they When them.

According to the Pokot, the same thing was going to happen with happen to going was thing same the Pokot, the to According

easily manipulated by the party for any number of reasons. of number any for party the by manipulated easily

widespread, results in the selection of unpopular leaders who can be can who leaders unpopular of selection the in results widespread,

although not necessarily for the people. The process, which is quite is which process, The people. the for necessarily not although

of the party is to select candidates who may be useful for the party, the for useful be may who candidates select to is party the of ues to rig elections in other parts of the country. The usual intention usual The country. the of parts other in elections rig to ues toralist Orma and the farmer Pokomo have clashed over grazing areas that had been cultivated. The clashes resulted in human and livestock deaths, the burning of houses and destruction of property. The dead included a police officer. Following the clashes, the area became so insecure that schools had to be closed leading to calls for the re- arming of home-guards, an action that had not yet been implemented by the end of the year.

Pastoralists’ lands in Northern Kenya designated as military training zones

For more than 20 years, the Kenya government has designated the Samburu and Maasai ancestral lands in northern Kenya as military training zones without the knowledge or consent of the residents. The British army, the Kenyan army and, lately, the US marines continue to undertake military manoeuvres using live ammunition, mortars, shells, grenades and ordnances. Following the exercises, the armies do not undertake clean-up exercises. Consequently, these lands are strewn with unexploded ordnance that has, on many occasions exploded, killing more than 60 pastoralists, most of whom were children. Thousands have been in- jured, and most of them are permanently maimed. Huge numbers of livestock have also been killed. On a number of occasions, the residents have requested that the government cease military training in the area and initiate a clean-up exercise in order to prevent human deaths. At the same time, all attempts to get the local media to highlight the plight of pastoralists in the area have not been successful. In August 2000, OSILIGI, an indigenous organization, organized a national conference that brought together the victims, the government and army to discuss the matter and seek a solution. The government denied knowledge of people being injured or killed, and accused the community of fabricating lies. It further intimidated community members in order to prevent them from cooperating with those fabricating lies. In the end, the community organization had to seek the attention of the foreign media to get the matter highlighted and to seek redress for

the victims of this human rights violation. The matter was finally taken

to court and, fearing further public embarrassment, the British army has •

•

recently opted for an out-of-court settlement. Other similar cases are still •

•

pending and the Kenya government is still colluding with foreign • •

• armies to continue violating the human rights of northern pastoralists. •

• 379 • 380 • •

• tician declined to greet her father’s political rival. political father’s her greet to declined tician •

•

media highlighted a side incident in which the daughter of one poli- one of daughter the which in incident side a highlighted media •

•

the Maasai attached great significance to the festival, the Kenyan the festival, the to significance great attached Maasai the •

initiate a process of conflict mitigation among different persons. While persons. different among mitigation conflict of process a initiate

unknown to each other. Most important of all, the festival helped to helped festival the all, of important Most other. each to unknown

to re-establish relations between various groups who were previously were who groups various between relations re-establish to

ened with assimilation, such as Ilchamus of Baringo. It also helped also It Baringo. of Ilchamus as such assimilation, with ened

helped to bring together dispersed sub-communities who are threat- are who sub-communities dispersed together bring to helped

Besides sharing special aspects of their culture, the festival also festival the culture, their of aspects special sharing Besides

in Nairobi, Kenya. Nairobi, in

As previously described, the annual Maa Cultural Festival took place took Festival Cultural Maa annual the described, previously As

Maa Cultural Festival Cultural Maa

also accommodates modern situations. modern accommodates also

structure that is informed by the still strong indigenous structure but structure indigenous strong still the by informed is that structure

all educated Maasai. MPC is still deliberating on an appropriate an on deliberating still is MPC Maasai. educated all

reducing exploitation by middlemen and developing a database for database a developing and middlemen by exploitation reducing

); coordinating the beef trade in Maasai areas as a way of way a as areas Maasai in trade beef the coordinating ); ( iloshon

sition paper that summarizes the concerns of all Maasai sub-sections Maasai all of concerns the summarizes that paper sition

topical issues of mutual interest to the community; developing a po- a developing community; the to interest mutual of issues topical

Other activities of MPC have included inviting guest speakers on speakers guest inviting included have MPC of activities Other

way.

for the constitutional review process. This process is now under- now is process This process. review constitutional the for

enous peoples to facilitate a process of undertaking civic education civic undertaking of process a facilitate to peoples enous

ceived some financial assistance from the ILO project on indig- on project ILO the from assistance financial some ceived

along with northern pastoralists and Ogiek hunter-gatherers, re- hunter-gatherers, Ogiek and pastoralists northern with along

president and to the Constitutional Review Commission. The MPC, The Commission. Review Constitutional the to and president

drafted a memorandum on the land question to be delivered to the to delivered be to question land the on memorandum a drafted

with the intention of networking with the Tanzania Maasai. They Maasai. Tanzania the with networking of intention the with

registered as a society with interim office bearers for Kenya but Kenya for bearers office interim with society a as registered

zation, its constitution and articles of association, the body was body the association, of articles and constitution its zation,

erate on various issues. After agreeing on the name of the organi- the of name the on agreeing After issues. various on erate

this, the group has met approximately once every month to delib- to month every once approximately met has group the this,

Danish Strategy for support to indigenous peoples. Subsequent to Subsequent peoples. indigenous to support for Strategy Danish

one evening in Kenya during a workshop to give inputs to the to inputs give to workshop a during Kenya in evening one

Pastoralist Council (MPC). The first planning meeting took place took meeting planning first The (MPC). Council Pastoralist

For the Maasai, the early part of the year saw the initiation of the Maa the of initiation the saw year the of part early the Maasai, the For The Maasai create a Council a create Maasai The Note

1. The Ufungamano Initiative is a civil society group led by the religious sector of Kenya that has appointed a set of commissioners to carry out a more broad base consultation process for the constitutional review. (Editors note)

TANZANIA

n 2001 and 2002, the indigenous peoples of Tanzania, i.e. the I hunter-gatherer communities of Hadzabe and Ndorobo, as well as the pastoralist Barbaig and Maasai,1 continued to experience various challenges facing them in their lives. This paper serves as an update of the situation of indigenous peoples in Tanzania for the years 2001 and the first half of the year 2002.

Hadzabe and Ndorobo hunter-gatherers

The indigenous hunter-gatherer communities of the Hadzabe and Ndorobo continued to experience further marginalisation, economi- cally, politically, socially and culturally. Economic liberalization brought about increased use of natural resources such as timber and other forest products, charcoal burning, increased levels of sport or commercial hunting and the expansion of areas under crop agriculture. All these forms of resource utilization have a negative impact on the livelihoods of indigenous hunter-gatherer communities, i.e. the Hadzabe and Ndorobo. Such forms of land use have all resulted in a loss of the resources that formed the lifeline of the hunter-gatherer communities. In the fierce competition over resources, hunting com- munities have lost more of their traditional resources, which are criti- cal for the survival of hunter-gatherer communities. This has nega-

tively affected hunter-gatherer communities whose livelihoods are

•

dependent on game resources, wild berries and honey. • •

•

The Hadzabe have continued to lose their ancestral lands in areas •

•

around Lakes Manyara and Eyasi to small-scale farmers and conser- • •

• 381

• 382 Morogoro, Shinyanga, Iringa, Rukwa, Mbeya and Ruvuma. and Mbeya Rukwa, Iringa, Shinyanga, Morogoro, • •

• or Singida. This triggered further migrations of the Barbaig into Dodoma, into Barbaig the of migrations further triggered This Singida. or •

•

and livestock for most of the Barbaig communities, whether they live in Arusha in live they whether communities, Barbaig the of most for livestock and •

•

rajega and Barbaig has continued to deteriorate, with increased loss of land of loss increased with deteriorate, to continued has Barbaig and rajega •

the Buradiga, Bisiyeda, Gisamjanga, Bajuta, Gidang’odiga, Biyeanjida, Daro- Biyeanjida, Gidang’odiga, Bajuta, Gisamjanga, Bisiyeda, Buradiga, the

The situation of the indigenous pastoralist cluster of the Datoga that comprises that Datoga the of cluster pastoralist indigenous the of situation The

Indigenous pastoral Barbaig and Maasai communities Maasai and Barbaig pastoral Indigenous

mental uncertainty. mental

robo, making them more vulnerable and unable to cope with environ- with cope to unable and vulnerable more them making robo,

on subsistence hunting has displaced indigenous Hadzabe and Ndo- and Hadzabe indigenous displaced has hunting subsistence on

by the government as it is seen as a good source of revenue. The ban The revenue. of source good a as seen is it as government the by

the same territories, sport hunting is not only allowed but encouraged but allowed only not is hunting sport territories, same the

Subsistence hunting is still banned and outlawed in Tanzania. In Tanzania. in outlawed and banned still is hunting Subsistence

petual food insecurity. food petual

become more restricted, hence creating more uncertainty and per- and uncertainty more creating hence restricted, more become

of wild berries, which traditionally mediated their livelihood, have livelihood, their mediated traditionally which berries, wild of

munities’ access to their livelihood sources. Hunting and gathering and Hunting sources. livelihood their to access munities’

Conservation policies further constrained hunter-gatherer com- hunter-gatherer constrained further policies Conservation

and reducing vulnerability. reducing and

by hunter-gatherers as a means of diversifying their sources of income of sources their diversifying of means a as hunter-gatherers by

chicken and goats. Both farming and livestock keeping are taken up taken are keeping livestock and farming Both goats. and chicken

some of the hunters have also started to keep some livestock, such as such livestock, some keep to started also have hunters the of some

Kiteto and it is emerging as a form of adaptation. As a coping strategy, coping a As adaptation. of form a as emerging is it and Kiteto

Crop farming is slowly gaining acceptance among the Ndorobo in Ndorobo the among acceptance gaining slowly is farming Crop

and Ndorobo to depend on emergency food aid from season to season. to season from aid food emergency on depend to Ndorobo and

livelihood sources of hunter-gatherer communities has forced the Hadza the forced has communities hunter-gatherer of sources livelihood

Food insecurity is now a recurrent problem and displacement of the of displacement and problem recurrent a now is insecurity Food

nities in Tanzania than ever before. ever than Tanzania in nities

percentage of food supply for the indigenous hunter-gatherer commu- hunter-gatherer indigenous the for supply food of percentage

to supplement dietary needs. Grain is now said to constitute a greater a constitute to said now is Grain needs. dietary supplement to

of the food supply for both groups. More and more grain is now used now is grain more and More groups. both for supply food the of

ering of wild berries, tubers, roots and honey constituted nearly 80% nearly constituted honey and roots tubers, berries, wild of ering

enous diets. Traditionally, hunting resources coupled with the gath- the with coupled resources hunting Traditionally, diets. enous

and Ndorobo forced to acquire more grain to supplement their indig- their supplement to grain more acquire to forced Ndorobo and

The year 2001 and the first part of the year 2002 saw both Hadza both saw 2002 year the of part first the and 2001 year The

Kitwai and Nkapapa villages. Nkapapa and Kitwai

moto, Palango, Iltirkishi, Enkusero, Namelok, Napilukunya, Isinya, Napilukunya, Namelok, Enkusero, Iltirkishi, Palango, moto,

squeezed towards smaller and remote areas in Amei, Loolera, Kili- Loolera, Amei, in areas remote and smaller towards squeezed vation. Similarly, the Ndorobo peoples in Kiteto have been further been have Kiteto in peoples Ndorobo the Similarly, vation. Similarly, the situation of the indigenous Maasai2 pastoralists is criti- cal. The percentage of Maasai in their four traditional districts of Monduli, Simanjiro, Kiteto and Ngorongoro continued to decrease due to the in-migration of farming communities, accelerated by economic and trade liberalisation. Over the last two years, more Maasai have been observed moving to Dodoma, Tanga, Morogoro Iringa and Mbeya.

National context

•

•

Indigenous peoples live in an environment that is influenced by na- •

•

tional and regional development processes. The following are high- • •

• lights of some important developments in the country that have had a •

• 383

• 384 guarantee security of land ownership for posterity. for ownership land of security guarantee • •

• model of land tenure, and land holdings and because it failed to failed it because and holdings land and tenure, land of model •

•

programme failed, partly because it failed to adopt the communal the adopt to failed it because partly failed, programme •

•

stop massive encroachment of farmers onto pastoral areas. Such a Such areas. pastoral onto farmers of encroachment massive stop •

the privatisation of land ownership; a system that was intended to intended was that system a ownership; land of privatisation the

The Maasai Range project Range Maasai The was in part designed as a step towards step a as designed part in was

3

use of resources and common ownership. common and resources of use

Such a model had no exclusive use and ownership but it was a joint a was it but ownership and use exclusive no had model a Such

they can look after their livestock and manage pastoral resources. pastoral manage and livestock their after look can they

see ranching as a tribe or clan owning common tracts of land so that so land of tracts common owning clan or tribe a as ranching see

however, have a particular understanding of ranching. Pastoralists ranching. of understanding particular a have however,

pastoral communities in Tanzania, especially the Maasai. They do, They Maasai. the especially Tanzania, in communities pastoral

The concept of ranching is not a completely new one to indigenous to one new completely a not is ranching of concept The

land tenure regimes, do not feature as policy priority areas. priority policy as feature not do regimes, tenure land

quirements of herding communities, as well as the security of their of security the as well as communities, herding of quirements

dwellers with much needed livestock products. The subsistence re- subsistence The products. livestock needed much with dwellers

focuses primarily on the livestock off-take and providing the urban the providing and off-take livestock the on primarily focuses

managing their resource property rights. The new policy direction policy new The rights. property resource their managing

it needs to respect the role of the indigenous pastoral communities in communities pastoral indigenous the of role the respect to needs it

policy issues, it is important to state that whatever policy is adopted is policy whatever that state to important is it issues, policy

Botswana model. While it is not the brief of this paper to discuss wider discuss to paper this of brief the not is it While model. Botswana

ing system similar to that which has taken place in Botswana or the or Botswana in place taken has which that to similar system ing

discussions are taking is that of developing and establishing a ranch- a establishing and developing of that is taking are discussions

Although it is still in its early stages, the direction that policy that direction the stages, early its in still is it Although

ministry initiated discussions on how to develop the livestock sector. livestock the develop to how on discussions initiated ministry

and Livestock Development (MoWLD). In early 2001, the newly created newly the 2001, early In (MoWLD). Development Livestock and

In late 2000, the government of Tanzania formed a new Ministry of Water of Ministry new a formed Tanzania of government the 2000, late In

Government policy on pastoralism on policy Government

creased levels of poverty are among the most noticeable effects of SAPS. of effects noticeable most the among are poverty of levels creased

are among the most affected groups. Further marginalisation and in- and marginalisation Further groups. affected most the among are

that have borne the brunt of such policies. The indigenous communities indigenous The policies. such of brunt the borne have that

other liberalisation policies, it is the vulnerable segments of the population the of segments vulnerable the is it policies, liberalisation other

While the rest of Tanzanian population has felt the impact of SAPs and SAPs of impact the felt has population Tanzanian of rest the While

sector reform requirements. reform sector

cently formulated new policies for all sectors in line with SAPS and public and SAPS with line in sectors all for policies new formulated cently

political, economic and governmental sectors. The government has re- has government The sectors. governmental and economic political,

tural adjustment programmes (SAPs). The SAPS have influenced all social, all influenced have SAPS The (SAPs). programmes adjustment tural

Over the last two years, Tanzania has continued to implement struc- implement to continued has Tanzania years, two last the Over

Tanzania. direct or indirect bearing on the livelihoods of indigenous peoples in peoples indigenous of livelihoods the on bearing indirect or direct While the newly promulgated type of ranching wants privatisation of land and other ranching resources, the indigenous pastoralists want commonage and this needs to be respected in whatever new policy is developed. There is a need to learn from previous experiences with ranching in Kiteto, Monduli and Ngorongoro Monduli districts as well as the experience in Kenya. Wisdom and caution are needed before deciding which type of ranching system to adopt. Privatisation of the animal health services forced prices for livestock drugs to go to levels way beyond the reach of most pastoralists. Lack of infrastructure and marketing facilities have made it difficult for the live- stock keepers to access livestock drugs. Simanjiro, Kiteto and Hanang districts experience livestock losses caused by different tick borne diseases.

Taxation policy In Kiteto District, a discriminatory taxation system was introduced in 2002. Both farmers and pastoralists have been paying development and sale taxes. The district council, in an attempt to broaden its revenue base, introduced a production tax for the Maasai pastoralists who live in Kiteto District. This different standard of tax collection levied against pastoralists is discriminatory since farmers in the same district do not pay any production tax. Demonstrations were organised by pastoralists, arguing that they already paid development tax (Tshs 2,500 per person), sale tax (Tshs 3,500 per animal sold with each seller paying Tshs 500 and buyer Tshs 3,000), and yet they did not gain any services in return. The pastoralists in Kiteto sent an appeal to the district leadership, strongly recommending that the taxation policy in the district should be standardised throughout the district and that the same rules should apply to all areas as well as to all economic groupings in the district. The pastoralists further argued that there should be standardisation in relation to the principles used in collecting tax from farmers and pastoralists. If there were a head tax for pastoralists there should be a production tax for farmers or some other approach based on equity and in line with the constitutional right to equality.

Emerging issues, analysis and discussion

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Shrinking resource base and conflicts •

•

Indigenous communities in Tanzania continued to experience a re- • •

• duction of their resource base as traditional territories continued to •

• 385

• 386 lifestyles of indigenous peoples. Alienation of sacred sites such as such sites sacred of Alienation peoples. indigenous of lifestyles • •

• The change in patterns of resource utilisation has impacted on the on impacted has utilisation resource of patterns in change The •

•

creasingly weak. This is true of all indigenous communities in Tanzania. in communities indigenous all of true is This weak. creasingly •

•

pressed cultural diversity; and distinct cultural values are becoming in- becoming are values cultural distinct and diversity; cultural pressed •

ness. This overemphasis on national language and identity has sup- has identity and language national on overemphasis This ness.

national language (Swahili), national identity and national conscious- national and identity national (Swahili), language national

Over the years, Tanzania has emphasized a policy of national unity, national of policy a emphasized has Tanzania years, the Over

Cultural rights Cultural

circles is obvious at local, district, regional and national levels. national and regional district, local, at obvious is circles

nation”. Lack of representation in political, legal and government and legal political, in representation of Lack nation”.

leading to the decision on matters affecting him, his well-being or the or well-being his him, affecting matters on decision the to leading

citizen has the right and the freedom to participate fully in the process the in fully participate to freedom the and right the has citizen

The Constitution of Tanzania, article number 21 (2) states that “every that states (2) 21 number article Tanzania, of Constitution The

indigenous issues, denies indigenous communities a united voice. united a communities indigenous denies issues, indigenous

adequate representation, coupled with inadequate co-ordination of co-ordination inadequate with coupled representation, adequate

ous for both hunter-gatherer and pastoral communities, and this in- this and communities, pastoral and hunter-gatherer both for ous

The problem of lack of representation of indigenous peoples is obvi- is peoples indigenous of representation of lack of problem The

political representation in either region or in any of the ten districts. ten the of any in or region either in representation political

and they will be greater minorities in each region without adequate without region each in minorities greater be will they and

regions. This will only serve to weaken them even further politically further even them weaken to serve only will This regions.

erer communities are now divided into two separate administrative separate two into divided now are communities erer

regions. Consequently, the indigenous pastoralists and hunter-gath- and pastoralists indigenous the Consequently,

4

peoples in Tanzania, was divided into two i.e. Arusha and Manyara and Arusha i.e. two into divided was Tanzania, in peoples

In early 2002, Arusha region, the traditional region of indigenous of region traditional the region, Arusha 2002, early In

lation in these districts. these in lation

trative districts, where they constitute a small percentage of the popu- the of percentage small a constitute they where districts, trative

been pushed to other areas. They now live in more than 15 adminis- 15 than more in live now They areas. other to pushed been

have experienced a loss of their indigenous territories and they have they and territories indigenous their of loss a experienced have

In the political arena, all four indigenous communities in Tanzania in communities indigenous four all arena, political the In

Inadequate representation Inadequate

in both frequency and intensity. and frequency both in

toralism and farming, subsistence and sport hunting have increased have hunting sport and subsistence farming, and toralism

based conflicts. Conflicts between wildlife and human activities, pas- activities, human and wildlife between Conflicts conflicts. based

uses, creating serious land scarcity, and leading to perpetual resource- perpetual to leading and scarcity, land serious creating uses,

and Maasai have continuously lost key pastoral resources to other to resources pastoral key lost continuously have Maasai and

ings, conservation and pastoralism. Similarly, the pastoralist Barbaig pastoralist the Similarly, pastoralism. and conservation ings,

and Ndorobo are increasingly losing land to small-scale farm hold- farm small-scale to land losing increasingly are Ndorobo and come under forms of land use other than indigenous ones. The Hadza The ones. indigenous than other use land of forms under come Endoinyo oo irmoruak (the hill of elders) among the Maasai of both Kenya and Tanzania represents a clear denial of basic cultural rights to indigenous peoples since religious performances and spiritual practices nourish the value system of any society. The school system, which stipulates that Swahili and English are the only medium of instruction, is slowly but surely marginalising indigenous languages. Often, children from indigenous communities are discouraged from using their language. School curricula do not incorporate any pastoral or hunting and gathering experiences into what is taught in schools, making the education system one of the methods used to eliminate minority languages and cultural practices.

Notes

1 Discussion about other groups in Tanzania that may claim the identity of being indigenous peoples is beyond the scope of this section. 2 Although the Maasai are found in both Kenya and Tanzania, this section deals only with the Tanzanian side of the border. 3 The Maasai livestock and Range management project was a ten year US$ 10 million project initiated in 1969, funded by USAID and managed by the Tanzania government (Ministry of Agriculture). The project was designed to increase livestock off-take and transform the pastoralist Maasai into participants in the national economy through increased commercialisation of their livestock. 4 Arusha region consists of Arusha, Aru-meru, Monduli, Karatu and Ngorongoro districts and Manyara region consists of Mbulu, Hanang,

Babati, Simanjiro and Kiteto districts.

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• •

• 387 • 388 • • • • • • • •

•

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CENTRAL AFRICA •

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• •

• 389

• 390

shasa said it was ready to hand over to Rwanda 6,000 Interahamwe 6,000 Rwanda to over hand to ready was it said shasa •

•

2001, foreign troops withdrew from their front-line positions, Kin- positions, front-line their from withdrew troops foreign 2001, •

• sition groups and civil society to map out a future for the DRC. During DRC. the for future a out map to society civil and groups sition • •

•

sentatives from the government, the political opposition, armed oppo- armed opposition, political the government, the from sentatives •

between all parties to the conflict and aims to bring together repre- together bring to aims and conflict the to parties all between

The dialogue forms part of the peace accord signed in Lusaka in 1999 in Lusaka in signed accord peace the of part forms dialogue The

by former Botswana President Ketumile Masire, began to take shape. take to began Masire, Ketumile President Botswana former by

wards peace in the DRC as the inter-Congolese dialogue, facilitated dialogue, inter-Congolese the as DRC the in peace wards

During 2001 there were, however, welcome signs of progress to- progress of signs welcome however, were, there 2001 During

food insecure. food

mortality have rocketed and 16 million people are considered to be to considered are people million 16 and rocketed have mortality

hunger. Two million people are displaced, malnutrition and infant and malnutrition displaced, are people million Two hunger.

people have died in the DRC as a result of violence, disease and disease violence, of result a as DRC the in died have people

tating. The International Rescue Committee estimates that 1.6 million 1.6 that estimates Committee Rescue International The tating.

DRC. The effects of the conflicts on the local populations are devas- are populations local the on conflicts the of effects The DRC.

insurgency measures and maintain the foreign occupation of the of occupation foreign the maintain and measures insurgency

vides the rationale for neighbouring governments to conduct counter- conduct to governments neighbouring for rationale the vides

Force (FNL). The continuing existence of these armed elements pro- elements armed these of existence continuing The (FNL). Force

Force for Defence of Democracy (FDD) and the National Liberation National the and (FDD) Democracy of Defence for Force

two rebel movements operating against the Burundi government, the government, Burundi the against operating movements rebel two

north-east of the DRC. In addition, the DRC provides a stronghold for stronghold a provides DRC the addition, In DRC. the of north-east

National Army for the Liberation of Uganda, which are based in the in based are which Uganda, of Liberation the for Army National

seeking to halt the activities of the Allied Democratic Front and the and Front Democratic Allied the of activities the halt to seeking

north-west provinces occurred in May and June of 2001. Uganda is Uganda 2001. of June and May in occurred provinces north-west

mount cross-border attacks. The most recent attack on Rwanda’s on attack recent most The attacks. cross-border mount

(ex-FAR), perpetrators of the 1994 genocide and who continue to continue who and genocide 1994 the of perpetrators (ex-FAR),

these dissidents comprise the Interahamwe and former Rwandan Rwandan former and Interahamwe the comprise dissidents these army

ing to disarm, or may even be actively supporting. In the case of Rwanda, of case the In supporting. actively be even may or disarm, to ing

DRC – dissidents that the Kinshasa government is unable or unwill- or unable is government Kinshasa the that dissidents – DRC

attempt to overcome dissidents and insurgents operating out of the of out operating insurgents and dissidents overcome to attempt

The rebel movements are backed by Rwanda and Uganda, in an in Uganda, and Rwanda by backed are movements rebel The

of the DRC’s indigenous “Pygmy” peoples live. peoples “Pygmy” indigenous DRC’s the of

large parts of the north and east of the country, the area where most where area the country, the of east and north the of parts large

and Zimbabwean troops, is fighting rebel movements that control that movements rebel fighting is troops, Zimbabwean and

assassinated in January 2000) and backed by Angolan, Namibian Angolan, by backed and 2000) January in assassinated

government, led by Joseph Kabila (the son of Laurent Kabila who was who Kabila Laurent of son (the Kabila Joseph by led government,

bouring countries of Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. The Kinshasa The Uganda. and Burundi Rwanda, of countries bouring

D

cratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continued to affect the neigh- the affect to continued (DRC) Congo of Republic cratic

uring 2001, political instability and armed conflict in the Demo- the in conflict armed and instability political 2001, uring

IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION LAKES GREAT THE IN THE POLITICAL SITUATION POLITICAL THE militia and ex-FAR and would no longer permit insurgents to launch attacks from the DRC, and meetings were held between heads of state of the countries involved in the conflict and leaders of the rebel groups. The five main groups due to participate in the inter-Congolese dialogue – the government, the opposition, the Ugandan and Rwandan-backed rebel movements and civil society – chose their representatives. How- ever, wrangles about the participation of groups that had not signed the Lusaka agreement, such as splinter groups of the rebel move- ments, the Banyamulenge (a minority group of Congolese Tutsis) and the Mayi-Mayi (a loose association of armed groups opposed to for- eign troops in the DRC), meant that the first Conference of the inter- Congolese dialogue had to be postponed until early 2002. In Burundi, eight years of violent conflict between Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups have devastated the country, causing the deaths of

some 200,000 persons, massive population displacements and a se-

vere deterioration in the health infrastructure, water and sanitation •

•

services. One million of Burundi’s 6.7 million population (1999 fig- •

•

ures) still depend on humanitarian aid, 432,000 people live in inter- • •

• nal displacement sites with acute humanitarian needs and 200,000 •

• 391 • 392

•

•

1994 genocide: 1994 • 1 •

•

some 20,000 Twa left in Rwanda out of an estimated 30,000 before the before 30,000 estimated an of out Rwanda in left Twa 20,000 some •

•

) stated that there were now were there that stated ) ( WA Communauté des Autochtones Rwandais Autochtones des Communauté •

News Agency, Kalimba Zéphyrin, Director of the Twa NGO CAUR- NGO Twa the of Director Zéphyrin, Kalimba Agency, News

fered in the genocide. In an interview with the Rwandan Hirondelle Rwandan the with interview an In genocide. the in fered

marginalised and impoverished indigenous Twa people, also suf- also people, Twa indigenous impoverished and marginalised

less widely known is the fact that Rwanda’s third ethnic group, the group, ethnic third Rwanda’s that fact the is known widely less

Hutu groups, including the Interahamwe and ex-FAR (see above). Far above). (see ex-FAR and Interahamwe the including groups, Hutu

D

Hutus, some 14% of the population, were killed by extremist by killed were population, the of 14% some Hutus,

uring the 1994 genocide, up to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate and Tutsis 800,000 to up genocide, 1994 the uring

RWANDA

Burundi in order to avoid demobilisation. avoid to order in Burundi

in the DRC may force these anti-government forces to filter back into back filter to forces anti-government these force may DRC the in

the situation in Burundi, since the disarming of Burundi rebels based rebels Burundi of disarming the since Burundi, in situation the

Burundi from the DRC. Peace in the DRC may paradoxically worsen paradoxically may DRC the in Peace DRC. the from Burundi

rebel FDD and FNL groups continue to launch armed attacks on attacks armed launch to continue groups FNL and FDD rebel

portfolios and Hutus 14. However, there is still no cease-fire and the and cease-fire no still is there However, 14. Hutus and portfolios

President and Tutsi vice-President. Tutsis hold 12 of the government the of 12 hold Tutsis vice-President. Tutsi and President

vice-President. After 18 months, this will be reversed, with a Hutu a with reversed, be will this months, 18 After vice-President.

held by Pierre Buyoya, the previous (Tutsi) President, with a Hutu a with President, (Tutsi) previous the Buyoya, Pierre by held

Hutu exiles and Tutsis. The first 18 months of the Presidency will be will Presidency the of months 18 first The Tutsis. and exiles Hutu

vember 2001, of a power-sharing transitional government of returned of government transitional power-sharing a of 2001, vember

dent Nelson Mandela, finally resulted in the inauguration, on 1 No- 1 on inauguration, the in resulted finally Mandela, Nelson dent

Burundi. The peace process, facilitated by former South African Presi- African South former by facilitated process, peace The Burundi.

As in the DRC, there is some hope now that peace may come to come may peace that now hope some is there DRC, the in As

tion, health services or clothing for their children. their for clothing or services health tion,

average of US$0.50 per day, most Twa families cannot afford educa- afford cannot families Twa most day, per US$0.50 of average

the FAO, leaving few seed resources for planting. Subsisting on an on Subsisting planting. for resources seed few leaving FAO, the

- through hunger - to eat the seeds given to them by agencies such as such agencies by them to given seeds the eat to - hunger through -

families who do have land are caught in a vicious cycle, being forced being cycle, vicious a in caught are land have do who families

erished group in Burundi. Most Twa lack access to farm land, and the and land, farm to access lack Twa Most Burundi. in group erished

confirmed that Burundi’s indigenous Twa people are the most impov- most the are people Twa indigenous Burundi’s that confirmed

another 380,000 people are refugees in Tanzania. An FAO report FAO An Tanzania. in refugees are people 380,000 another internally displaced persons live under ad-hoc arrangements. At least At arrangements. ad-hoc under live persons displaced internally We had 10,000 Batwa killed during the genocide. They were not killed by Batwa, but by both Hutus and Tutsis. [The Batwa] should be regarded as survivors of the genocide. To date, the government of Rwanda has taken no action to support the Batwa community.

The Rwandan government has never officially recognised the Twa’s losses during the genocide and does not count them among the “sur- vivors of genocide”. “Survivors of genocide” are eligible for govern- ment funds established to assist specifically this category of people. The fact that the Twa had no part in the politics of the genocide has led some commentators to suggest that they have a special role to play as independent witnesses in the traditional community justice system, based on so-called gacaca courts, set up by the government to process the 120,000 people held on genocide-related charges in Rwan- da’s overcrowded jails. The Twa, however, have serious concerns about the gacaca process fearing that, as a marginalised group, they will be vulnerable to scapegoating and false accusations. They also foresee a lack of reliable Twa witnesses to testify in trials of Twa people, because their community is so small. While the Twa say that, despite the risks to themselves, they will support gacaca by recounting what they have seen, they also express their fears that, should a Hutu regime ever come to replace the current Tutsi-led government, they will be acutely vulnerable to reprisals. In October 2001, some 300,000 gacaca judges (inyangamugayo) were elected by the local population at cell, sector, district and provincial level in 11,000 gacaca jurisdictions. A handful of Twa were amongst those elected at the lowest (cell) level. Although the numbers are very small, this is a welcome sign that the Twa are beginning to be included in Rwanda’s civil society processes. CAURWA has established high-level contacts with the ministries of Local Administration and Social Affairs, Finance, Gender and Promotion of Women, Justice, Agriculture, Land and Environment, Interior and Security, the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (URC). In August 2001, CAURWA organised a 4-day training seminar on human rights and minority rights, participatory justice (gacaca) and unity and reconcili- ation. The seminar brought together Twa community representatives from 2 provinces, staff of Rwandan Twa organisations and repre-

sentatives of Rwanda’s Human Rights Commission, the URC and the

Supreme Court. These contacts, and the increasing coverage of Twa •

•

issues in the press, on TV and radio, are contributing to increased •

•

awareness among the public and decision-makers about Twa issues • •

• and the need for action. For example, in October 2001 Rwanda’s •

• 393

• 394 ing and other support. other and ing • •

• through partnership agreements and will continue to offer them train- them offer to continue will and agreements partnership through •

•

WA will maintain relationships with the other Twa organisations Twa other the with relationships maintain will WA •

•

tions. This process is expected to be completed in early 2002. CAUR- 2002. early in completed be to expected is process This tions. •

an independent NGO, and no longer a collective of Twa organisa- Twa of collective a longer no and NGO, independent an

registration requirements, they decided that CAURWA would become would CAURWA that decided they requirements, registration

member organisations about its future structure. In order to meet the meet to order In structure. future its about organisations member

Rwanda’s NGOs prompted CAURWA to begin discussions with its with discussions begin to CAURWA prompted NGOs Rwanda’s

New laws passed during 2001 requiring the re-registration of all of re-registration the requiring 2001 during passed laws New

based on Fair Trade principles. Trade Fair on based

developing business skills and creating a Twa pottery enterprise pottery Twa a creating and skills business developing

a project to increase Twa potters’ incomes by improving production, improving by incomes potters’ Twa increase to project a

to join local health insurance schemes. In December, CAURWA started CAURWA December, In schemes. insurance health local join to

their new-found incomes to pay for the schooling of their children or children their of schooling the for pay to incomes new-found their

Some of the communities have set up bank accounts and are using are and accounts bank up set have communities the of Some

and off-farm activities such as tile-making, brick-making and sewing. and brick-making tile-making, as such activities off-farm and

households) in 5 provinces to carry out farming, animal husbandry animal farming, out carry to provinces 5 in households)

ter is providing training and inputs to 30 Twa communities (762 communities Twa 30 to inputs and training providing is ter

CAURWA’s new programme of income-generating activities. The lat- The activities. income-generating of programme new CAURWA’s

for community representatives and staff of Twa organisations, and by and organisations, Twa of staff and representatives community for

reinforced during 2001 by leadership training organised by CAURWA by organised training leadership by 2001 during reinforced

their housing. This work to build capacity at community level was level community at capacity build to work This housing. their

claim land from neighbours who had appropriated it, and improve and it, appropriated had who neighbours from land claim

helped Twa communities obtain farm land and clay for pottery, re- pottery, for clay and land farm obtain communities Twa helped

work with local authorities in over 40 districts in 8 provinces has provinces 8 in districts 40 over in authorities local with work

and CAURWA’s ongoing advocacy ongoing CAURWA’s and the of presence The antennes

with positive results in some areas. some in results positive with

sensitising the URC representatives in each province about Twa needs, Twa about province each in representatives URC the sensitising

with local authorities. As part of their work, CAURWA’s CAURWA’s work, their of part As authorities. local with are antennes

da’s 12 provinces to help Twa communities engage more effectively more engage communities Twa help to provinces 12 da’s

lished a system of Twa contact persons or “ or persons contact Twa of system a lished ” in six of Rwan- of six in ” antennes

budget line for support to Twa communities. CAURWA has estab- has CAURWA communities. Twa to support for line budget

of the Twa in its official policies and programmes. It now has a special a has now It programmes. and policies official its in Twa the of

only government body that has recognised the marginalised situation marginalised the recognised has that body government only

CAURWA’s contacts with the URC are promising. The URC is the is URC The promising. are URC the with contacts CAURWA’s

child.”

favour of vulnerable groups like the Batwa, the disabled and the girl the and disabled the Batwa, the like groups vulnerable of favour

makes it possible and legal to enforce positive discrimination in discrimination positive enforce to legal and possible it makes

Parliament, stated that the law “provides a flexible framework that framework flexible a “provides law the that stated Parliament,

try. In a commentary on the new law, Vincent Biruta, Speaker of Speaker Biruta, Vincent law, new the on commentary a In try.

any person practising discrimination and segregation in the coun- the in segregation and discrimination practising person any transitional assembly passed an anti-discrimination law against law anti-discrimination an passed assembly transitional The next few years will provide important advocacy opportunities for the Twa as the Rwandan government develops and implements its ambitious programme of reforms. These include the gacaca process and the URC, as well as the drafting of a new constitution, reform of land laws, decentralisation of government administration and imple- mentation of a poverty reduction strategy (PRSP). The Twa organisa- tions have started work on some of these issues. For example AIMPO (the African Indigenous and Minority Peoples Organisation) is docu- menting land issues in three to four Twa communities as part of its advocacy to improve Twa access to land, and is also supporting the development of Twa communities around the Volcano National Park. The ADBR (Association pour le Développement Globale des Batwa du Rwanda) is continuing a programme of legal support to Twa prisoners. In September 2001, CAURWA, in collaboration with the Forest Peoples Project UK, IWGIA and the Swedish Society for Nature Con- servation and funded by the UK Community Fund, hosted a regional conference to promote dialogue between African indigenous peoples and conservation bodies. The aim was to explore why the new con- servation principles are not working and identify measures that will result in more just and sustainable conservation practices. The con- ference brought together representatives of indigenous communities affected by protected areas, African conservation managers and tech- nical staff from a wide range of protected areas, along with support organisations working with indigenous peoples in Africa. Ten case studies were presented by indigenous representatives from 7 countries.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)

he ongoing conflict in the DRC has caused immense hardship for T the Pygmies of the Kivu region of eastern DRC. Their villages have been torched, up to 150 people have been killed, hundreds have been displaced from their homes and many are forced to act as guides by armed groups trying to locate their opponents in the forests. De-

spite the insecurity and difficulties caused by the ongoing conflict in

the DRC, Pygmy support organisations continued to maintain contact •

•

with Pygmy communities in the east and north of the country. • •

•

AAPDMAC (Action d’Appui pour la Protection des Droits de Minorités •

• en Afrique Centrale), a Pygmy support NGO based in Bukavu, investi- •

• 395

• 396 all too easily withdrawn. For example, in the Kivu region of the DRC, the DRC, the of region Kivu the in example, For withdrawn. easily too all • •

• resources through customary tenure systems, and rights obtained can be can obtained rights and systems, tenure customary through resources •

•

neighbours means that they are least able to secure rights over lands and lands over rights secure to able least are they that means neighbours •

•

The low social status of Pygmy communities in the eyes of their Bantu their of eyes the in communities Pygmy of status social low The •

produces a half-hour radio programme every week. every programme radio half-hour a produces

is training animators to work with communities on legal issues and issues legal on communities with work to animators training is

and discussion of PIDP’s work. As part of its human rights work, PIDP work, rights human its of part As work. PIDP’s of discussion and

rights instruments, Pygmy dancing and craft exhibitions, football matches football exhibitions, craft and dancing Pygmy instruments, rights

and culture through public lectures and debates on international human international on debates and lectures public through culture and

‘Pygmy week’ in August 2001, to increase awareness of Pygmy rights Pygmy of awareness increase to 2001, August in week’ ‘Pygmy

plete a diploma in rural development in Bukavu. PIDP held its annual its held PIDP Bukavu. in development rural in diploma a plete

Pygmy education, PIDP financed a Twa student from Walikale to com- to Walikale from student Twa a financed PIDP education, Pygmy

inability to read the content of the documents. As part of its support for support its of part As documents. the of content the read to inability

number of fraudulent land transactions resulting from the Pygmies’ the from resulting transactions land fraudulent of number

Increasing literacy of Pygmy communities is important to reduce the reduce to important is communities Pygmy of literacy Increasing

programme has been reactivated; 53 Pygmies can now read and write. and read now can Pygmies 53 reactivated; been has programme

receptive to training and carrying out farming activities. PIDP’s literacy PIDP’s activities. farming out carrying and training to receptive

been re-oriented to work with Twa women’s groups, who are more are who groups, women’s Twa with work to re-oriented been

inputs (tools, seeds etc) and training in farming methods. The project has project The methods. farming in training and etc) seeds (tools, inputs

to support Twa communities in north and south Kivu with agricultural with Kivu south and north in communities Twa support to

train Pygmy communities in improved pottery production and continues and production pottery improved in communities Pygmy train

, reporting on its activities in the region. PIDP has begun a project to project a begun has PIDP region. the in activities its on reporting , buti

) began publication of a three-monthly bulletin, bulletin, three-monthly a of publication began ) Bam- Kivu du Pygmées des

During 2001, PIDP ( PIDP 2001, During Programme pour l’Intégration et le Développement le et l’Intégration pour Programme

velop a coordinated strategy to tackle this issue collaboratively. issue this tackle to strategy coordinated a velop

huzi-Biega Park, and it is possible that these organisations will de- will organisations these that possible is it and Park, huzi-Biega

these are concerned about the Twa communities affected by the Ka- the by affected communities Twa the about concerned are these

Some 10 Pygmy support organisations now exist in Kivu. Many of Many Kivu. in exist now organisations support Pygmy 10 Some

the park in the 1970s and 80s. and 1970s the in park the

2

land and livelihood possibilities following their forced eviction from eviction forced their following possibilities livelihood and land

the Park conservation authorities to address the Twas’ critical lack of lack critical Twas’ the address to authorities conservation Park the

Kivu, so that they could begin to develop a common platform to press to platform common a develop to begin could they that so Kivu,

munities living around the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in South in Park National Kahuzi-Biega the around living munities

AAPDMAC organised a workshop for representatives of Twa com- Twa of representatives for workshop a organised AAPDMAC

groups, to see which approaches were most suited to Pygmy needs. Pygmy to suited most were approaches which see to groups,

being carried out with Pygmy communities by different church-based different by communities Pygmy with out carried being

coverage). The study also investigated education and literacy activities literacy and education investigated also study The coverage).

company’s workers hostage; this event received international news international received event this hostage; workers company’s

by local Pygmy communities. (The Mayi-Mayi later held 26 of the of 26 held later Mayi-Mayi (The communities. Pygmy local by

of a Thai logging company, DAR-Forest, which had been denounced been had which DAR-Forest, company, logging Thai a of

fringes of the Ituri forest, particularly in connection with the activities the with connection in particularly forest, Ituri the of fringes gated the situation of the Mbuti Pygmies in north Kivu and the southern the and Kivu north in Pygmies Mbuti the of situation the gated local chiefs or Mwamis have control over land allocation in return for payments to the Mwami conferring unlimited and perpetual use rights (kalinzi) or temporary use rights (bwassa). Several cases have been re- ported in which Twa communities, having paid kalinzi for the use of agricultural land, have subsequently been evicted from their lands by other more powerful individuals. In 2001, PIDP assisted Twa families to take such a case to the Bukavu appeal court in south Kivu. Following testimony from the Mwami that the land had been given to the Twa community by his forefathers, the court judged in the Twas’ favour.

UGANDA

n 1991, the Twa Pygmies of SW Uganda were forcibly evicted from I their forests following the establishment of the Bwindi and Mga- hinga National Parks, funded by the World Bank Global Environment Facility (GEF). The closure of the forests caused many of the Twa to move from a fairly independent existence to being landless impover- ished squatters, forced to survive by working for local farmers. In 1996, following a highly critical report on the Mgahinga and Bwindi Impenetrable Forests Conservation Trust (“the Trust”) established to protect the two forest parks, the Trust developed a programme to acquire land for Twa families and support their education. However, little action was taken by the Trust Batwa programme due to the unwillingness of middle management to act in favour of the Twa. The situation improved in 2000, when UOBDU (United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda) was created to represent the local Twa community. UOBDU pressed the Trust to speed up the distribu- tion of land to the Twa and replace its personnel, resulting in a much more positive attitude towards the Twa. During 2001, with the help of their support worker, Penninah Zaninka, UOBDU continued to maintain a dialogue with the Trust and its Batwa support officer. The Trust management agreed to hold

quarterly formal meetings with a committee of Twa representatives

from communities living around the parks. The first of these meetings •

•

was planned to be held in March 2001 but eventually took place in • •

•

October 2001 due to the Trust’s initial unwillingness to fund these •

• meetings. Local people’s access to the Bwindi and Mgahinga Parks •

• 397

• 398 have set up their own association to fight for their rights. their for fight to association own their up set have • •

• vival International, the prisoners were freed and it is reported that they that reported is it and freed were prisoners the International, vival •

•

the community leader, was a severe blow. Following protests by Sur- by protests Following blow. severe a was leader, community the •

•

over the border in the DRC) so the loss of seven adult men, including men, adult seven of loss the so DRC) the in border the over •

in Uganda (they are an offshoot of the much larger Mbuti population Mbuti larger much the of offshoot an are (they Uganda in

in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). There are only 72 Mbuti 72 only are There (DRC). Congo of Republic Democratic the in

operate from bases in the Ruwenzori Mountains and across the border the across and Mountains Ruwenzori the in bases from operate

accused of helping the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who (ADF), Forces Democratic Allied rebel the helping of accused

west of Uganda were arrested and imprisoned without trial. They were They trial. without imprisoned and arrested were Uganda of west

In 2000, seven Mbuti Pygmies from the Semliki valley in the far the in valley Semliki the from Pygmies Mbuti seven 2000, In

have not resolved this situation, so the matter may be taken to the courts. the to taken be may matter the so situation, this resolved not have

legal title. Numerous meetings at different levels of local administration local of levels different at meetings Numerous title. legal

have held land under customary law for 10 years or more the right to right the more or years 10 for law customary under land held have

violation of the 1995 Ugandan constitution, which gives people who people gives which constitution, Ugandan 1995 the of violation

his lands, held under customary law for many years. This was in was This years. many for law customary under held lands, his

Local authorities in Kisoro attempted to dispossess a Twa leader of leader Twa a dispossess to attempted Kisoro in authorities Local

their communities. UOBDU plans to tackle these issues during 2002. during issues these tackle to plans UOBDU communities. their

committees and so have little possibility of negotiating use rights for rights use negotiating of possibility little have so and committees

Currently, Twa have almost no representation on the multiple-use the on representation no almost have Twa Currently,

forest access and use agreements are negotiated. are agreements use and access forest

da Wildlife Trust, through multiple-use committees with whom the whom with committees multiple-use through Trust, Wildlife da

and the Echuya Forest is controlled by the NGO CARE and the Ugan- the and CARE NGO the by controlled is Forest Echuya the and Batwa community at Bazuanza, Uganda. (Photo: Penninah Zaninka) Penninah (Photo: Uganda. Bazuanza, at community Batwa CAMEROON

he 4,000 or so Bagyeli “Pygmy” people live in the south-west of T Cameroon. Their traditional lands will be crossed by the contro- versial Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project, bringing oil from the Doba fields in Chad to the Cameroon coast at Kribi. The project, devised by a consortium of oil companies, was approved by the World Bank in June 2000. A study carried out in 2000 by Bagyeli representa- tives with the support of a local NGO, Planet Survey, showed that consultations carried out by the pipeline project with Bagyeli commu- nities during the preparation of the project were insufficient, failing to inform the Bagyeli adequately about the likely consequences of the pipeline.3 An Indigenous Peoples’ Plan intended to mitigate the ef- fects of the pipeline on the Bagyeli did not comply with the World Bank’s Policy on Indigenous Peoples, and did not address the severe problems faced by the Bagyeli resulting from their marginal status within Cameroonian society. In February and March 2001, Planet Survey carried out further investigations with the Bagyeli, in collaboration with the Forest Peo- ples Project, 4 revealing:

• A lack of information access throughout the project’s institu- tional framework. Inadequate consultation, poor communica- tion between stakeholders and a lack of informed participation by all parties, particularly the Bagyeli, had caused confusion at all levels about the construction of the pipeline and the compensation process. • The pipeline’s compensation process was deepening the in- equality and conflicts between the Bagyeli and their Bantu village neighbours. The criteria for compensation had ena- bled the Bantu communities to capture the process through better access to information and greater political power, claiming Bagyeli lands as their own and appropriating com- pensation that was due to the Bagyeli. No Bagyeli had so far been compensated by the pipeline, even though it crossed their lands and had damaged forest resources.

• The pipeline project was not promoting Bagyeli participa-

tion in consultation and decision-making, and provided no •

•

mechanisms for Bagyeli to contribute to policy reforms that • •

•

would address the fundamental problems of discrimination •

• against the Bagyeli and their exclusion from civil society. •

• 399

• 400 the Mbam and Djerem National Park Environmental Enhancement Environmental Park National Djerem and Mbam the • •

• FEDEC’s objectives are to provide long-term financial support for support financial long-term provide to are objectives FEDEC’s •

•

FEDEC (the Foundation for Environment and Development). and Environment for Foundation (the FEDEC •

•

nity compensation programme is about to be set up by COTCO and COTCO by up set be to about is programme compensation nity •

The route for the pipeline is now being cleared, and the commu- the and cleared, being now is pipeline the for route The

impact on Bagyeli Pygmies. Bagyeli on impact

tember 2001, tacitly acknowledged that the pipeline would have an have would pipeline the that acknowledged tacitly 2001, tember

cerning the implementation of the pipeline project, issued in Sep- in issued project, pipeline the of implementation the cerning

society. The second semi-annual internal World Bank report con- report Bank World internal semi-annual second The society.

They also highlighted wider issues of their marginalisation in marginalisation their of issues wider highlighted also They

to lands, and its actual and potential impacts on their livelihoods. their on impacts potential and actual its and lands, to

to inform them as to how the oil pipeline was affecting their access their affecting was pipeline oil the how to as them inform to

indigenous peoples’ plan required under World Bank guidelines) Bank World under required plan peoples’ indigenous

designing and implementing the compensation programme and programme compensation the implementing and designing

pany (COTCO – responsible for building the pipeline and for and pipeline the building for responsible – (COTCO pany

cials and representatives of the Cameroon Oil Transportation Com- Transportation Oil Cameroon the of representatives and cials Bagyeli representatives subsequently met with World Bank offi- Bank World with met subsequently representatives Bagyeli Project Component, the Campo Ma’an National Park Environmen- tal Enhancement Project Component and the Indigenous Peoples’ Development Component. All of these projects will affect the Bag- yeli, who will continue to press for recognition of their rights, assisted by local and international support agencies.

Notes and references

1 See also Lewis, J & J. Knight. 2000. The Twa of Rwanda. Assessment of the Situation of the Twa and Promotion of Twa Rights in Post-War Rwanda. World Rainforest Movement and IWGIA. 2 See Barume, K. 2000. Heading towards Extinction? Indigenous Rights in Africa: The Case of the Twa of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. Forest Peoples Programme and IWGIA. 3 Planet Survey and CODEBABIK. 2000. Rapport de l’Enquête sur le Degré d’Implication des Peuples Autochtones dans le cycle du projet Pipeline Tchad-Cameroun. In: Griffiths, T. and M. Colchester 2000. Indigenous Peoples, Forests and The World Bank: Policies and Practice. Workshop Report, Washington D.C., 9-10 May 2000. Moreton-in-Marsh: Forest Peoples Programme. 4 Nelson, J., J. Kenrick and D. Jackson. 2001. Report on a Consultation with Bagyeli Pygmy communities impacted by the Chad-Cameroon oil-pipeline pro- ject. Forest Peoples Project Report, May 2001. 5 Lewis, J. 2000. The Batwa Pygmies of the Great Lakes Region. Minority Rights Group International. 6 A summary of the Conference conclusions is available from the Forest

Peoples Project [email protected]

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SOUTHERN AFRICA •

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is still unknown. The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) has sought to sought has (LAC) Centre Assistance Legal The unknown. still is •

• Namibian media until February 2001. The whereabouts of these Khwe these of whereabouts The 2001. February until media Namibian • •

• 2000 of at least 15-18 Khwe, an incident that was not reported in the in reported not was that incident an Khwe, 15-18 least at of 2000 •

•

particular incidents stand out: first, the disappearances in August in disappearances the first, out: stand incidents particular •

In the series of harassments that forced the Khwe into exile, four exile, into Khwe the forced that harassments of series the In

ther it was safe for them to do so. do to them for safe was it ther

High Commissioner for Refugees was attempting to determine whe- determine to attempting was Refugees for Commissioner High

were attempting to repatriate to Namibia, and the United Nations United the and Namibia, to repatriate to attempting were

west of Francistown and east of Nata. At this stage, many of the Khwe the of many stage, this At Nata. of east and Francistown of west

Botswana’s largest refugee facility, Dukwe Refugee Camp, in the area the in Camp, Refugee Dukwe facility, refugee largest Botswana’s

mibian government forces. Today, some 750 Khwe are housed at housed are Khwe 750 some Today, forces. government mibian

order to escape harassment and potential oppression by the Na- the by oppression potential and harassment escape to order

dissidents in August 1999, over 1,000 Khwe fled into Botswana in Botswana into fled Khwe 1,000 over 1999, August in dissidents

ings. After an attack on the town of Katima Mulilo in East Caprivi by Caprivi East in Mulilo Katima of town the on attack an After ings.

being “illegal immigrants” and deporting them without holding hear- holding without them deporting and immigrants” “illegal being

up of individuals by the government of Namibia on suspicion of their of suspicion on Namibia of government the by individuals of up

There have been alleged incidents of the indiscriminate rounding indiscriminate the of incidents alleged been have There

Special Security Force (SSF). Force Security Special

separatists, the Namibian Defense Forces (NDF) and the Namibian the and (NDF) Forces Defense Namibian the separatists,

ing forces: Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA insurgents in Angola, Caprivi Angola, in insurgents UNITA Savimbi’s Jonas forces: ing

bwe. The Khwe have been caught in the crossfire between four oppos- four between crossfire the in caught been have Khwe The bwe.

cludes Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and a corner of Zimba- of corner a and Zambia Namibia, Botswana, Angola, cludes

inhabitants of the Caprivi region, live on this tense border that in- that border tense this on live region, Caprivi the of inhabitants

some 300 kilometers east into central Africa. The Khwe San, the oldest the San, Khwe The Africa. central into east kilometers 300 some

The Caprivi Strip is a narrow strip of Namibian territory stretching territory Namibian of strip narrow a is Strip Caprivi The

The situation in the Caprivi Strip Caprivi the in situation The

in central Namibia. central in

and through housing over 20,000 refugees at a refugee camp at Osire at camp refugee a at refugees 20,000 over housing through and

these refugees through the provision of food, services and protection and services food, of provision the through refugees these

Namibia. The government of Namibia has attempted to accommodate to attempted has Namibia of government The Namibia.

led to a sizable increase in the numbers of refugees coming in to in coming refugees of numbers the in increase sizable a to led

UNITA organization and the government of Angola. This conflict has conflict This Angola. of government the and organization UNITA

going war in Angola between the forces of Jonas Savimbi and his and Savimbi Jonas of forces the between Angola in war going

ties in the country. One of these conflicts is a spill-over from the on- the from spill-over a is conflicts these of One country. the in ties

T

nificant expansion in conflicts that affect San and other minori- other and San affect that conflicts in expansion nificant

he Republic of Namibia in southern Africa has witnessed a sig- a witnessed has Africa southern in Namibia of Republic he NAMIBIA obtain evidence of the miss- ing people, to no avail. Second, the refusal of the government of Namibia to re- cognize Kipi George, the po- pularly elected chief of the Khwe as Traditional Autho- rity for the area. Kipi George had been an articulate spo- kesperson for the Khwe and had served as Chair of the Working Group of Indig- enous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA). The dispute over his legitimacy became moot when George died of tuberculosis in 2000. There are still questions about the legitimacy of the Khwe Traditional Author- ity, which the government of Namibia has as yet refused to recognize officially under the Traditional Authorities Act of Namibia. Third, in June 2001, SFF and NDF members rounded up more than 80 civilians, most of them !Xun and some Hai// om, on the suspicion of being illegal aliens, at Kahenge Village, west of Rundu. Some of these people were detained, others were required to move to the Namibian government and UNHCR refugee camp at Osire, and still more were told to return to Angola even though they were not Angolan citizens. Fourth, on July 10, 2001, a Khwe man, Hans Dikuwa, died in the custody of the Namibian Defense Forces. At first it was said by the government that he was shot while trying to escape. Subsequently, the government said that he drowned while attempting to cross the river into Angola. The circumstances of the case remain in doubt. Human rights workers have criticized the government of Namibia for not observing the Refugee Convention of the United Nations through failure to protect asylum seekers and refugees and failing to establish immigration tribu- nals and committees to oversee refugee and asylum seeker matters.

The refugee resettlement issue

•

•

In October 2000, the government of Namibia announced that it was •

•

planning to resettle the Osire refugees at a new location, specifically • •

• at M’Kata in what is now Tsumkwe District West, formerly West •

• 405

• 406 though crop yields are relatively low in this semiarid environment. semiarid this in low relatively are yields crop though • •

• bilitation on which they grow maize, beans, melons, and other crops, other and melons, beans, maize, grow they which on bilitation •

•

allocated to them by the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement, and Reha- and Resettlement, Lands, of Ministry the by them to allocated •

•

tively small. Some of them had individual arable agricultural plots agricultural arable individual had them of Some small. tively •

sekele, and Mpungu San) reside in 24 settlements, most of them rela- them of most settlements, 24 in reside San) Mpungu and sekele,

Tsumkwe District West. Today, the various San groups (!Xun, Va- (!Xun, groups San various the Today, West. District Tsumkwe

South African Defense Force. The !Xun are the indigenous peoples of peoples indigenous the are !Xun The Force. Defense African South

the time of the conflict between Namibian liberation forces and the and forces liberation Namibian between conflict the of time the

Angola and were resettled in the area in the 1970s and 1980s during 1980s and 1970s the in area the in resettled were and Angola

in the district originally came from northern Namibia and southern and Namibia northern from came originally district the in

4,500 individuals from 8 different ethnic groups. Some of the people the of Some groups. ethnic different 8 from individuals 4,500

The Tsumkwe District West population stands currently at around at currently stands population West District Tsumkwe The

across an area of 17,850 square kilometers. square 17,850 of area an across

some 6,700 people in 2001, and reside in 60 settlements scattered settlements 60 in reside and 2001, in people 6,700 some

area forms the Tsumkwe District region, whose residents numbered residents whose region, District Tsumkwe the forms area

the town of Grootfontein. Together with Tsumkwe District East, the East, District Tsumkwe with Together Grootfontein. of town the

District West, is a remote area located some 165 km east north-east of north-east east km 165 some located area remote a is West, District

The potential resettlement area at M’Kata, in the center of Tsumkwe of center the in M’Kata, at area resettlement potential The

The resettlement area resettlement The

Angola prior to coming to Namibia. to coming to prior Angola

ing former foraging peoples who lived in southern and south-east and southern in lived who peoples foraging former ing

pastoral groups) and some San, mainly !Xun and Khwe, click-speak- Khwe, and !Xun mainly San, some and groups) pastoral

Nganguela, Lunda, Ndembu and Ovambo (all Bantu-speaking agro- Bantu-speaking (all Ovambo and Ndembu Lunda, Nganguela,

include people from a number of different ethnic groups such as such groups ethnic different of number a from people include

ralism (herding), foraging and wage labour. The Angolan refugees Angolan The labour. wage and foraging (herding), ralism

earned their living in a variety of ways, including agriculture, pasto- agriculture, including ways, of variety a in living their earned

from different settings, both rural and urban, and in the past they past the in and urban, and rural both settings, different from

Somalia. The backgrounds of these refugees are diverse: they come they diverse: are refugees these of backgrounds The Somalia.

Africa (Congo, Rwanda, Burundi) and some from as far away as away far as from some and Burundi) Rwanda, (Congo, Africa

countries in the camp, including a fairly sizable number from central from number sizable fairly a including camp, the in countries

(over 90%). There are also refugees from over a dozen other African other dozen a over from refugees also are There 90%). (over

The majority of the refugees in the Osire camp come from Angola from come camp Osire the in refugees the of majority The

living and working in and around the Osire refugee camp. refugee Osire the around and in working and living

and (4) the need for greater security for the refugees and the people the and refugees the for security greater for need the (4) and

area with sufficient land to allow agricultural activities to take place take to activities agricultural allow to land sufficient with area

refugee population, (3) the desire to establish a refugee resettlement refugee a establish to desire the (3) population, refugee

and natural resources in the present location at Osire to sustain the sustain to Osire at location present the in resources natural and

overcrowding of the Osire refugee camp, (2) the lack of sufficient land sufficient of lack the (2) camp, refugee Osire the of overcrowding

peoples. Several reasons were given for the proposed resettlement: (1) resettlement: proposed the for given were reasons Several peoples. Bushmanland, in north-eastern Namibia, an area dominated by San by dominated area an Namibia, north-eastern in Bushmanland, Most of the groups have experienced substantial social, economic and political changes over time. Some of the more important of these changes include the shift towards greater dependence on agriculture and herd- ing, the enforcement of conservation laws that have affected their re- source acquisition activities (especially hunting), the establishment of local traditional authorities (chiefs) that are recognized by the govern- ment of Namibia under the Traditional Authorities Act, and the setting up of locally-owned and managed community organizations that pro- mote the interests of local people and allow for their participation in land use planning and land conservation and development ef- forts. In Tsumkwe District East, there are some 2,200 people living in 35 communities scattered over an area of 9,303 sq km. The vast majority of these people are Ju|’hoansi San. In early 1998, the Ju|’hoansi established what in Namibia is known as a conservancy to oversee the wildlife resources of the region. A conservancy is a block of communal land in which people are able to gain the rights to utilize the wildlife resources and to make decisions about land use. Nyae Nyae was the first communal area conservancy in Na- mibia, and it has been relatively successful in terms of generating income for its members and assisting them to achieve some of their conservation and development goals. The people of Tsumkwe District West are also engaged in the process of establishing a conservancy, the N=a Jaqna Conservancy, which they hope to have in place in early 2002. The problem in Tusmkwe District West, however, is that the potential resettlement of the refugees could well preclude the efforts to establish the con- servancy, which many of the people see as key to their well-being in the future. In the Tsumkwe District there are two government-recognized San chiefs, one who represents Tsumkwe District West, John Arnold, the !Kung Traditional Authority, and the other who represents Tsumkwe District East, Tsamkxao =Oma, the Ju|’hoansi Traditional Authority. The two San traditional authorities are also members of the Council of Traditional Elders of Namibia. There are also a number of community-based institutions in the region, including village-level development committees, parent-teacher

associations, water committees, community conservancy committees

and church groups. Many of these organizations have been outspo- •

•

ken in their concerns relating to the refugee resettlement issue in •

•

Namibia and about the importance of having local autonomy and the • •

• right of self-determination. •

• 407

• 408 of Namibia. It is for these reasons that local people, donor agencies donor people, local that reasons these for is It Namibia. of • •

• become more dependent on safety nets provided by the government the by provided nets safety on dependent more become •

•

another concern is that the people of Tsumkwe District will have to have will District Tsumkwe of people the that is concern another •

•

and cultural rights, including the right to adequate subsistence. Yet subsistence. adequate to right the including rights, cultural and •

the presence of the refugees will impinge on their social, economic social, their on impinge will refugees the of presence the

them is a violation of their civil and political rights. They also feel that feel also They rights. political and civil their of violation a is them

to resettle large numbers of refugees in their area without consulting without area their in refugees of numbers large resettle to

Local people feel that the decision by the government of Namibia of government the by decision the that feel people Local

tion and disruption of existing social networks. social existing of disruption and tion

creased competition for resources to greater socio-economic stratifica- socio-economic greater to resources for competition creased

psychological and socio-cultural ones. These costs range from in- from range costs These ones. socio-cultural and psychological

those individuals, not only economic costs but also physiological, also but costs economic only not individuals, those

The removal of refugees from one place to another has costs for costs has another to place one from refugees of removal The

kets for goods and services. and goods for kets

employment opportunities, expanded infrastructure and larger mar- larger and infrastructure expanded opportunities, employment

refugee camp will have positive spin-off effects, such as increased as such effects, spin-off positive have will camp refugee

those, admittedly a tiny minority, who believe that the presence of a of presence the that believe who minority, tiny a admittedly those,

of whom are already living below the poverty line. There are also are There line. poverty the below living already are whom of

nate the job market and affect the incomes of local people, the majority the people, local of incomes the affect and market job the nate

Another fear of the local people is that the refugees would domi- would refugees the that is people local the of fear Another

ity of local traditional authorities. traditional local of ity

chiefs with considerable authority will serve to undermine the author- the undermine to serve will authority considerable with chiefs

their area. There is also the sense that the presence of people who have who people of presence the that sense the also is There area. their

degree to which San are able to participate in decision-making about decision-making in participate to able are San which to degree

are concerns that the presence of non-San in the area will affect the affect will area the in non-San of presence the that concerns are

refugees moving into the region would vastly outnumber them. There them. outnumber vastly would region the into moving refugees

lation, which is an indigenous minority. The San realize that the that realize San The minority. indigenous an is which lation,

the social and cultural impacts of the resettlement on the host popu- host the on resettlement the of impacts cultural and social the

Much of the opposition to the resettlement process also relates to relates also process resettlement the to opposition the of Much

in the M’Kata area. M’Kata the in

decline, making it more difficult for them and their livestock to survive to livestock their and them for difficult more it making decline,

of people said that they were worried that the water table would table water the that worried were they that said people of

sources, including water, firewood and wild plant foods. A number A foods. plant wild and firewood water, including sources,

area was that it would place much greater pressure on natural re- natural on pressure greater much place would it that was area

expressed opinion about the potential movement of refugees into the into refugees of movement potential the about opinion expressed

natural and social environments of the area adversely. A commonly A adversely. area the of environments social and natural

the presence of large numbers of refugees could potentially affect the affect potentially could refugees of numbers large of presence the

species, and culturally distinct human populations. They worry that worry They populations. human distinct culturally and species,

the region is well-known for its unique habitats, wildlife and bird and wildlife habitats, unique its for well-known is region the

the issue of resettlement of refugees in their area. Many people feel that feel people Many area. their in refugees of resettlement of issue the

The residents of the Tsumkwe District generally have strong views on views strong have generally District Tsumkwe the of residents The Local concerns and opposition and concerns Local and non-government organizations, including ones working directly with the refugee population at Osire, have opposed the proposed resettlement. Non-government organizations, local authorities in both the Osire and M’Kata regions, and local people have argued that the government of Namibia should carry out detailed consultation efforts prior to any decisions being made about resettlement. Even though no resettlement has taken place, the effects of the government’s announcement regarding the possible move of the Osire camp to M’Kata can already be seen. Some refugee households did not plant crops in 2001 in anticipation of the move, something that will affect their nutritional status and incomes. In M’Kata, people are experiencing feelings of anxiety about the future. Questions have been raised by local people about the effectiveness of their leaders in deal- ing with the government of Namibia, something that could well un- dermine the authority of the traditional authorities. The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa has sought to inform the people of the Tsumkwe District about some of the proposed plans. Local people in M’Kata are appreciative of these efforts. At the same time, they are hoping that WIMSA and the Legal Assistance Centre of Namibia will join the Tsumkwe District communities in an effort to head off the resettlement legally. One suggestion is that the Legal Assistance Center should take the govern- ment of Namibia to court in order to prevent the resettlement from occurring. Another suggestion is that local people mount passive resistance to the resettlement plans. Rather than resettling people in M’Kata, refugees and local people in the M’Kata area note, it would be more beneficial in the long run if Namibia established a comprehensive development program in both the Osire and M’Kata areas. This development program, which should be aimed at promoting the self-sufficiency of local people and conservation of the environment, should be done in such a way that it has extensive local participation in planning and implementation. If social justice is to be achieved in Namibia, all people, both citizens and non-citizens, will need to be able to enjoy the fruits of develop- ment and protection of their human rights.

Meeting the challenges of new values

•

•

Beside the Traditional Authorities of Tsumkwe District West and •

•

East, there are few opportunities in Namibia where San can play • •

• important roles in government decision-making and management. •

• 409

• 410 The Nyae Nyae Conservancy was able to obtain N $100,000 per $100,000 N obtain to able was Conservancy Nyae Nyae The • •

• servancy advertised for joint ventures, and 11 different firms applied. firms different 11 and ventures, joint for advertised servancy •

•

related to the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. In 2001, the Nyae Nyae Con- Nyae Nyae the 2001, In Conservancy. Nyae Nyae the to related •

•

opportunities that are now available through the leasing process leasing the through available now are that opportunities •

over resources. Some of the resources include wildlife and tourism and wildlife include resources the of Some resources. over

Part of the problem of the Ju|’hoansi revolves around competition around revolves Ju|’hoansi the of problem the of Part

time retain their cherished customs, traditions and values. and traditions customs, cherished their retain time

facing the Ju|’hoansi is how to manage these conflicts and at the same the at and conflicts these manage to how is Ju|’hoansi the facing

conflict and inter-community conflict is on the rise, and the challenge the and rise, the on is conflict inter-community and conflict

widening gap between old and new social values. Inter-generational values. social new and old between gap widening

nities’ early faith in the new leaders was steadily eroded on seeing the seeing on eroded steadily was leaders new the in faith early nities’

have suffered mightily in this process. As a result, Ju|’hoan commu- Ju|’hoan result, a As process. this in mightily suffered have

forged new public selves and organizational functions. Individuals functions. organizational and selves public new forged

grandizement and their own traditional altruism patterns as they as patterns altruism traditional own their and grandizement

long-tenured social attitudes of their relatives toward non-self-ag- toward relatives their of attitudes social long-tenured

New Ju|’hoan leaders have been expected to transcend both the both transcend to expected been have leaders Ju|’hoan New

about land and natural resource management. resource natural and land about

the conservancy council who tend to make some of the decisions the of some make to tend who council conservancy the

a whole. Nowadays, it is the Traditional Authorities and members of members and Authorities Traditional the is it Nowadays, whole. a

structures and attitudes of commitment to the health of the region as region the of health the to commitment of attitudes and structures

vanish overnight and give way to smoothly functioning “democratic” functioning smoothly to way give and overnight vanish

were that these leadership and resource management attitudes would attitudes management resource and leadership these that were

pendence in Namibia, both national and developmental expectations developmental and national both Namibia, in pendence

. With inde- With . territories traditional in accesses environmental (n!oresi)

volved balancing the giving — and strategically withholding—of key withholding—of strategically and — giving the balancing volved

relationships with other n!ore kxaosi.. Some of their activities in- activities their of Some kxaosi.. n!ore other with relationships

habitation areas were vested, who formerly maintained coordinating maintained formerly who vested, were areas habitation

or women core-group siblings in whom stewardship of resource and resource of stewardship whom in siblings core-group women or

members. For instance, it was the Ju|’hoan Ju|’hoan the was it instance, For members. , the oldest men oldest the , n!ore kxaosi n!ore

leadership and authority roles and in the activities of community of activities the in and roles authority and leadership

There have been some changes over time within San groups in groups San within time over changes some been have There

ral resources. ral

as marriage, divorce, inheritance, land allocation and the use of natu- of use the and allocation land inheritance, divorce, marriage, as

customary law or traditional laws, those laws that govern such issues such govern that laws those laws, traditional or law customary

. Particular emphasis in the handbook is placed on placed is handbook the in emphasis Particular . Authorities Act Authorities

of Namibia some of the concepts and rules relating to the the to relating rules and concepts the of some Namibia of Traditional

in 2001 of a a of 2001 in that explains to the San the to explains that Traditional Authorities Handbook Authorities Traditional

bution of WIMSA and First Peoples Worldwide was the production the was Worldwide Peoples First and WIMSA of bution

recognition of San traditional authorities in Namibia. A major contri- major A Namibia. in authorities traditional San of recognition

University of Namibia have been important when it comes to the to comes it when important been have Namibia of University

ern Africa and the Center for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) of the of (CASS) Sciences Social Applied for Center the and Africa ern The efforts of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in South- in Minorities Indigenous of Group Working the of efforts The annum for the right to bring tourists in to engage in safari hunting in their area. Some of the funds were used to support the management and administrative costs of the conservancy, and household divi- dends were paid to the people of Nyae Nyae. The Nyae Nyae Conservancy has also been involved in work with film companies that pay a royalty to the NNC for the privilege of working in the Nyae Nyae area. The challenge in early 2002 related to how the management of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy was going to distribute the royalties from these activities, that is, whether funds would be given only to those communities that were most involved in the tourism and film-making activities, or whether the entire member- ship of the conservancy would receive a share. It is these kinds of complex issues that are facing many indigenous peoples around the world: how best to handle the need to ensure equity, transparency and accountability while at the same time pro- viding sufficient resources to sustain the operations of institutions that represent the indigenous people.

Notes and references

1 Suzman, James. 2001. An Assessment of the Status of the San in Namibia. Windhoek, Namibia: Legal Assistance Center. 2 Biesele, Megan and Robert K. Hitchcock. 2000. “The Ju/’hoansi San Under Two States: Impacts of the South West African Administration and the Government of the Republic of Namibia”. In Hunters and Gatherers in the Modern World: Conflict, Resistance, and Self-Determination, Peter P. Schweitzer, Megan Biesele, and Robert K. Hitchcock, eds. Pp. 305-326. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.

BOTSWANA

he Republic of Botswana, a country the size of France that lies

T in the centre of the Southern African region, supports the largest

number of San, the “first peoples” of the Kalahari Desert and adjacent • •

•

areas. The San, who are sometimes called Basarwa in Botswana and •

•

Bushmen in scientific and popular literature and films, have been • • •

• 411

• 412 be able to continue to utilize natural resources (game and wild plant wild and (game resources natural utilize to continue to able be • •

• itants (mainly San and Bakgalagadi), and people were supposed to supposed were people and Bakgalagadi), and San (mainly itants •

•

The CKGR was originally set aside for indigenous Kalahari inhab- Kalahari indigenous for aside set originally was CKGR The •

•

and food distribution) would be stopped as of 31 January, 2002. January, 31 of as stopped be would distribution) food and •

na’s Ministry of Local Government decreed that all services (water, health (water, services all that decreed Government Local of Ministry na’s

mid-1980s, finally came to a head toward the end of 2001, when Botswa- when 2001, of end the toward head a to came finally mid-1980s,

eted human rights issue, which had been debated in Botswana since the since Botswana in debated been had which issue, rights human eted

resettle the remaining residents outside of the reserve. This multifac- This reserve. the of outside residents remaining the resettle

all services in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) and to and (CKGR) Reserve Game Kalahari Central the in services all

in 2001-2002 was the decision by the Botswana government to stop to government Botswana the by decision the was 2001-2002 in

Far and away the most important issue facing the San of Botswana of San the facing issue important most the away and Far

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve issue Reserve Game Kalahari Central The

sistance in places that they themselves choose to live and work. and live to choose themselves they that places in sistance

3

schools and (4) to have equitable opportunities for development as- development for opportunities equitable have to (4) and schools

and gathering, (3) to have their languages recognized and taught in taught and recognized languages their have to (3) gathering, and

land rights, (2) to protect their rights to engage in subsistence hunting subsistence in engage to rights their protect to (2) rights, land

indigenous peoples’ rights advocacy groups, (1) to gain legal ( legal gain to (1) groups, advocacy rights peoples’ indigenous ) de jure de

and their supporters, including non-government organizations and organizations non-government including supporters, their and

to the present in Botswana has been characterized by the efforts of San of efforts the by characterized been has Botswana in present the to

except rights to hunting. to rights except This is why the period from the late 1970s late the from period the why is This

2

Chambers of Botswana ruled that the San have no rights of any kind any of rights no have San the that ruled Botswana of Chambers

Indeed, in 1978, the Litigation Consultant to the Attorney General’s Attorney the to Consultant Litigation the 1978, in Indeed,

, who lack the kinds of rights that others have in Botswana. in have others that rights of kinds the lack who , peoples

The San, for their part, see themselves as indigenous peoples, peoples, indigenous as themselves see part, their for San, The first

Constitution.

Mbukushu and Yeei, have the same rights as other citizens under the under citizens other as rights same the have Yeei, and Mbukushu

number of minorities who, like the Herero, Bakgalagadi, Kalanga, Bakgalagadi, Herero, the like who, minorities of number

the perspective of the Botswana government, the San are but one of a of one but are San the government, Botswana the of perspective the

services, development assistance and employment opportunities. From opportunities. employment and assistance development services,

therefore less advantaged than other groups in terms of access to access of terms in groups other than advantaged less therefore

category of persons who reside in remote rural areas and who are who and areas rural remote in reside who persons of category

and some of their neighbors as Remote Area Dwellers – a broad a – Dwellers Area Remote as neighbors their of some and

other groups in the country. The Botswana government sees the San the sees government Botswana The country. the in groups other

that the San should be considered to be more indigenous than any than indigenous more be to considered be should San the that

indigenous peoples within its borders, Botswana continues to deny to continues Botswana borders, its within peoples indigenous

Unlike South Africa, which officially recognizes the existence of existence the recognizes officially which Africa, South Unlike

of Southern Africa. Southern of

1

total population of San, who currently reside in 6 of the nation-states the of 6 in reside currently who San, of population total estimated to number 47,675 in Botswana. This is 54 per cent of the of cent per 54 is This Botswana. in 47,675 number to estimated foods and medicines). In 1997, the Botswana government, ostensibly to promote conservation, high-end tourism and, according to some ob- servers, the exploitation of diamonds and other minerals, decided to remove some 1,100 San and Bakgalagdi from the reserve and put them in dysfunctional camps on the fringes of their former ancestral area. The remaining 100-150 families have since then struggled for their right to continue to live within the reserve. With the help of a Nego-

tiating Team constituted in 1997, which consists of representatives of

CKGR communities, San organizations such as First People of the •

•

Kalahari, (FPK), the Working Group on Indigenous Minorities in •

•

Southern Africa – Botswana (WIMSA), the Botswana Christian Coun- • •

• cil (BCC), DITSHWANELO (the Botswana Center for Human Rights) •

• 413

• 414 areas outside of the reserve would facilitate the delivery of social services social of delivery the facilitate would reserve the of outside areas • •

• maintained that the resettlement of the people of the Central Kalahari in Kalahari Central the of people the of resettlement the that maintained •

•

position regarding the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The government The Reserve. Game Kalahari Central the regarding position •

•

discussions did not, however, lead to a change in the government’s the in change a to lead however, not, did discussions •

met with the Negotiating Team in November and December 2001. These 2001. December and November in Team Negotiating the with met

cal Government, Margaret Nasha, and the Vice President, Ian Khama, Ian President, Vice the and Nasha, Margaret Government, cal

Botswana government representatives, including the Minister of Lo- of Minister the including representatives, government Botswana

their land and resource rights in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Game Kalahari Central the in rights resource and land their

ment with the Botswana government to allow them to retain and exercise and retain to them allow to government Botswana the with ment

urged the Negotiating Team to attempt once more to come to an agree- an to come to more once attempt to Team Negotiating the urged

52,000 sq km, did not want to leave the Central Kalahari. Instead, they Instead, Kalahari. Central the leave to want not did km, sq 52,000

lived in half a dozen small communities scattered across an area of over of area an across scattered communities small dozen a half in lived

Reserve, who reportedly numbered 589 in August, 2001 and who and 2001 August, in 589 numbered reportedly who Reserve,

The vast majority of the residents of the Central Kalahari Game Kalahari Central the of residents the of majority vast The

teams) by early 2002 had been taken. been had 2002 early by teams)

food rations to registered destitute and orphans, and visits by health by visits and orphans, and destitute registered to rations food

Nation Address that a decision to cut off services (e.g. water provision water (e.g. services off cut to decision a that Address Nation

A week later, the President of Botswana declared in his State of the of State his in declared Botswana of President the later, week A

– held by some of the CKGR residents expired and were not renewed. not were and expired residents CKGR the of some by held –

the subsistence hunting licenses – the Special Game Licenses, SGLs Licenses, Game Special the – licenses hunting subsistence the

being forced out of the reserve due to lack of water. At the same time, same the At water. of lack to due reserve the of out forced being

the central Kalahari had been discontinued and that people were people that and discontinued been had Kalahari central the

man working for WIMSA, reported that water deliveries to people in people to deliveries water that reported WIMSA, for working man

premature and unfounded. In mid-October, Aron Johannes, a San a Johannes, Aron mid-October, In unfounded. and premature

by the Botswana government. Alas, the announcement was, in fact, in was, announcement the Alas, government. Botswana the by

tial amount of land in the CKGR (71%) had been restored to the San the to restored been had (71%) CKGR the in land of amount tial

In September, the international media announced that a substan- a that announced media international the September, In

omen – even though they were later disavowed by the Minister herself. Minister the by disavowed later were they though even – omen

services to CKGR residents would be stopped in early 2002 were a bad a were 2002 early in stopped be would residents CKGR to services

Local Government during a visit to the CKGR to the effect that all that effect the to CKGR the to visit a during Government Local

however, statements made by the Assistant Minister of Minister Assistant the by made statements however, August, In

and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA). Affairs Indigenous for Group Work International the and

advocacy organizations, notably the Global Ministries, The Netherlands, The Ministries, Global the notably organizations, advocacy

with the support of FPK and international indigenous peoples’ rights peoples’ indigenous international and FPK of support the with

porated the findings of community mapping carried out in the CKGR the in out carried mapping community of findings the porated

that had been drawn up by the DWNP. This plan incor- plan This DWNP. the by up drawn been had that Game Reserve Game

endorse the third draft of the the of draft third the endorse Management Plan for the Central Kalahari Central the for Plan Management

Parks (DWNP) and there were hopes that the government would government the that hopes were there and (DWNP) Parks

the Negotiating Team and the Department of Wildlife and National and Wildlife of Department the and Team Negotiating the

During the first half of 2001, several meetings were held between held were meetings several 2001, of half first the During

engage in negotiations with the Botswana government. Botswana the with negotiations in engage and a legal advisor, these families have made sustained efforts to efforts sustained made have families these advisor, legal a and and development assistance and would allow them to integrate more fully into mainstream Botswana society. The San and Bakgalagadi resi- dents of the Central Kalahari, on the other hand, said that they wanted to continue to reside in their ancestral territories. Minister Nasha said in a letter to the head of DITSHWANELO, the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, “We as Government simply believe that it is totally unfair to leave a portion of our citizens undeveloped under the pretext that we are allowing them to practice their culture.”4 The San, on the other hand, said that they wanted to be able to, as they put it, protect their cultural traditions and at the same time earn their livelihoods in ways that they themselves chose. The provision of water and other services were stopped at the end of January 2002. In February, trucks were sent in to the reserve and the people in the various communities were told to load their belongings onto them, so they could be moved to two settlements outside of the reserve, one at New !Xade in Ghanzi District to the west of the reserve and the other at Kaudwane in Kweneng District to the south-east of the reserve. By late February 2002, there were only 67 people left in the reserve, and even they were making preparations to leave. On 10 April, 2002, the lawyers for the Negotiating Team filed a “founding affidavit” at Botswana’s High Court.5 The affidavit called for the restoration of services terminated on 31 January, 2002, and for the restoration of land possession to the residents of the Central Kalahari. The case was dismissed on Friday, April 26, 2002 by the judge of the High Court, who ruled that the first applicant, Roy Sesana, could not, in terms of the law, bring a case of this nature to court, as “he was not a resident of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve”. The case was also dismissed on the basis of technicalities. The Judge of the High Court went further, saying that, “the contents of Roy Sesana’s affidavit were too sophisticated and complex to have been within the knowledge of an illiterate person.” As DITSHWANELO pointed out in a press release on 2 May, 2002, Mr. Sesana was, in fact, a resident of Molapo in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and that his lack of literacy should in no way be taken to mean a lack of knowledge. The Negotiating Team is planning an appeal against the High Court’s decision. It is clear from the ways in which the case was handled by the High Court that the Botswana government is bound and determined not to

recognize the rights of the San and Bakgalagadi of the Central Kala-

hari Game Reserve. It is also clear that the government is upset with •

•

the efforts of the Negotiating Team and its lawyers and the various •

•

San and international indigenous peoples’ rights groups for their • •

• roles in challenging Botswana’s reputation as a model of democracy •

• 415

• 416 community trusts in Botswana has yet to be rescinded formally. This formally. rescinded be to yet has Botswana in trusts community • •

• of Lands, Housing and Environment in January, 2000, regarding 2000, January, in Environment and Housing Lands, of •

• The decision by the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry the and Government Local of Ministry the by decision The •

•

•

Community trusts under threat under trusts Community

with impunity in violating our rights.” our violating in impunity with

“No longer should Botswana Government officials be allowed to act to allowed be officials Government Botswana should longer “No

individuals responsible for wrong-doing to justice. As one San put it, put San one As justice. to wrong-doing for responsible individuals

some effort is made to investigate cases like this one and to bring to and one this like cases investigate to made is effort some

individual liberties and security of the person will continue unless continue will person the of security and liberties individual

charged with any crimes. The concern of San is that the violation of violation the that is San of concern The crimes. any with charged

thoroughly, nor have any of the officers involved in these events been events these in involved officers the of any have nor thoroughly,

The government of Botswana has not investigated these incidents these investigated not has Botswana of government The

of the economic, social and cultural rights of the San. the of rights cultural and social economic, the of

sources, in spite of legislation allowing them to do so, is a violation a is so, do to them allowing legislation of spite in sources,

the failure to allow people to continue to obtain wild animal re- animal wild obtain to continue to people allow to failure the

in 2001, “Hunting is our heritage”. San advocacy groups hold that hold groups advocacy San heritage”. our is “Hunting 2001, in

practices that they consider central to their culture. As one San put it put San one As culture. their to central consider they that practices

mount to harassment and intimidation of people for engaging in engaging for people of intimidation and harassment to mount

government officials are not justified on legal grounds and are tanta- are and grounds legal on justified not are officials government

legally. From the perspective of the people involved, the actions of actions the involved, people the of perspective the From legally.

arrested and detained in spite of the fact that they have been hunting been have they that fact the of spite in detained and arrested

mentally by officials of the state of Botswana but that people are people that but Botswana of state the of officials by mentally

suspected of violating hunting laws are mistreated physically and physically mistreated are laws hunting violating of suspected

problem with these cases does not lie solely in the fact that people that fact the in solely lie not does cases these with problem

Reserve. The case is reminiscent of many other cases in the past. The past. the in cases other many of reminiscent is case The Reserve.

edly beaten by game scouts for hunting in the Central Kalahari Game Kalahari Central the in hunting for scouts game by beaten edly

In March 2001, 5 hunters from Kaudwane were arrested and alleg- and arrested were Kaudwane from hunters 5 2001, March In

2001 (see (see 2001 ). The Indigenous World 2000-2001 World Indigenous The

ment of Wildlife and National Parks and police officers, continued in continued officers, police and Parks National and Wildlife of ment

swana government officials, including game scouts from the Depart- the from scouts game including officials, government swana

The debates over the issue of treatment of alleged ‘poachers’ by Bot- by ‘poachers’ alleged of treatment of issue the over debates The

Subsistence hunting rights hunting Subsistence

vices” (i.e. a radio) were being considered in May 2002. May in considered being were radio) a (i.e. vices”

and charges against them for operating “illegal communication de- communication “illegal operating for them against charges and

Central Kalahari case were being followed by the Botswana police Botswana the by followed being were case Kalahari Central and human rights, to the point that some of the people involved in the in involved people the of some that point the to rights, human and decision held that communities would no longer have the right to make their own decisions on natural resources or to retain their own funds, the benefits of the resources instead being “a national resource, like diamonds”.5 The decision affects the 50 or so community-based natural resource management projects in Botswana, some of which represent constituents who are San. Some community trusts, such as Cgae Cgae (/Xai/Xai) in Ngamiland, stood to make as much as 1 million Pula (a Pula is worth about US $0.15) annually on safari hunting and tourism activities. In spite of the constraints posed by the uncertainty surrounding the Botswana government’s decisions on community trusts, the num- ber of local communities that are interested in becoming involved in natural resource management and utilization is on the up-swing. With the assistance of such San organizations as TOCADI, the Trust for Okavango Cultural and Development Initiatives, communities are engaged in organizing themselves as ‘representative and accountable management groups’ and are attempting to gain official registration with the government of Botswana as legal entities. The communities can do this under national legislation relating to community-based natural resource management activities in areas that are zoned as Community-Controlled Hunting Areas (CCHAs). Some San groups are in the process of attempting to obtain land rights from Government. Regularization of land includes establishing areas that are recognized legally. Careful surveys must be done of areas that take into account both de facto (customary) and de jure (legal) claims to land. These surveys include (1) interviews with local people, (2) assessments of archive materials, including aerial photos and maps and (3) evaluations of records in Land Boards and the files of government land ministries (e.g. the Department of Surveys and Lands in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Environment) and the Attor- ney General’s Chambers and in the local Land Board and the Sub- Land Board. In some areas of rural Botswana, such as the Dobe area (Controlled Hunting Area NG 3, 5,760 sq km in size) and Ncwaagom (Controlled Hunting Areas NG 10 and 11, 800 sq km), community mapping efforts have been undertaken with the assistance of a consultant, Arthur Albertson. Albertson has worked with local San people in the map-

ping, which involves the use of Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS)

instruments, aerial photographs and field surveys. The impacts of •

•

these efforts have been profound. In the case of the Dobe area of •

•

western Ngamiland, which has 8 n!oresi (territories) ranging in size • •

• from 40 sq km (!’Arin//ao) to 244 sq km (G/hii’ahn), communities •

• 417 • 418

•

• . Windhoek, Namibia: Legal Namibia: Windhoek, .

Assessment of the Status of the San in Botswana in San the of Status the of Assessment •

•

3 An Cassidy, Lin, Ken Good, Isaac Mazonde, and Roberta Rivers. 2001. Rivers. Roberta and Mazonde, Isaac Good, Ken Lin, Cassidy, •

•

of Local Government and Lands file 2/12, 23 January 1978. January 23 2/12, file Lands and Government Local of •

•

, “Opinion in Re: Common Law Leases of Tribal Land”, Ministry Land”, Tribal of Leases Law Common Re: in “Opinion , 2 D. Will D.

ance Centre. Page 6, Table 1. Table 6, Page Centre. ance

. Windhoek, Namibia: Legal Assist- Legal Namibia: Windhoek, . the Status of the San in Southern Africa Southern in San the of Status the

1 An Introduction to the Regional Assessment of Assessment Regional the to Introduction An Suzman, James, (ed.). 2001. (ed.). James, Suzman,

Notes and references and Notes

cultural and planetary (environmental) rights. (environmental) planetary and cultural

moting not only civil and political rights but also social, economic, social, also but rights political and civil only not moting

nities and organizations have learned about the importance of pro- of importance the about learned have organizations and nities

ment will learn some of the same valuable lessons as the San commu- San the as lessons valuable same the of some learn will ment

is a fair distribution of benefits. It is hoped that the Botswana govern- Botswana the that hoped is It benefits. of distribution fair a is

trusts work better if there is openness and transparency and if there if and transparency and openness is there if better work trusts

planning and decision-making. It has been found that the community the that found been has It decision-making. and planning

the success of these projects is full participation of local people in people local of participation full is projects these of success the

the state of the resource base must be monitored carefully. Crucial to Crucial carefully. monitored be must base resource the of state the

tion must be paid both to conservation and development issues, and issues, development and conservation to both paid be must tion

institutions and they must obtain secure rights over their areas. Atten- areas. their over rights secure obtain must they and institutions

show that, for them to be successful, they must form workable local workable form must they successful, be to them for that, show

Assessments of these trusts by San organizations and researchers and organizations San by trusts these of Assessments

dominate those that are less powerful and influential. and powerful less are that those dominate

Care must be taken to ensure that more powerful groups do not do groups powerful more that ensure to taken be must Care

and conflict management techniques are crucial in such situations. such in crucial are techniques management conflict and

Herero. As the San organizations have learned, careful negotiations careful learned, have organizations San the As Herero.

the case, for example, at Dobe between the Ju|’hoansi and some and Ju|’hoansi the between Dobe at example, for case, the

a region. There are also occasional inter-ethnic disagreements, as was as disagreements, inter-ethnic occasional also are There region. a

community members as to who has what rights over specific areas in areas specific over rights what has who to as members community

ways been easy. Sometimes there are differences of opinion among opinion of differences are there Sometimes easy. been ways

planning and implementation of the community trusts has not al- not has trusts community the of implementation and planning

Groot Laage and Qabo in Ghanzi District (GH 1, 3908 sq km). The km). sq 3908 1, (GH District Ghanzi in Qabo and Laage Groot

Mababe (NG 41, 2,045 sq km), /Xai/Xai (NG 4, 9,293 sq km) and at and km) sq 9,293 4, (NG /Xai/Xai km), sq 2,045 41, (NG Mababe

north of Moremi Game Reserve (NG 18 and NG 19, 1,195 sq km), sq 1,195 19, NG and 18 (NG Reserve Game Moremi of north

There are now community trusts in Ngamiland at Khwaai just Khwaai at Ngamiland in trusts community now are There

cultural trail and tourism program. tourism and trail cultural

Mbukushu, communities have collaborated on the planning for a for planning the on collaborated have communities Mbukushu,

wells. In the case of Ncgwaagom, Bugakwe, G//anikwe, Yeei and Yeei G//anikwe, Bugakwe, Ncgwaagom, of case the In wells.

Council and Tawana Land Board and have drilled several successful several drilled have and Board Land Tawana and Council have been able to obtain water rights from the North West District West North the from rights water obtain to able been have Assistance Centre. Saugestad, Sidsel. 2001. The Inconvenient Indigenous: Remote Area Development in Botswana, Donor Assistance, and the First People of the Kalahari. Uppsala, Sweden: The Nordic Africa Institute. 4 Letter to Alice Mogwe from Minister of Local Government, Margaret Nasha, 7 January, 2002, CLG.1488 XIV [145]. 5 Roy Sesana, First Applicant, Keiwa Setlhobogwa and 241 Others, Second and further Applicants, versus the Attorney General in his capacity as a recog- nized agent of the Government of the Republic of Botswana, Respondent. 6 Ministry of Local Government. 2000. Management of Funds Realized from the Community Based Natural Resources. Savingram LG/3/6/2/1 IV (46), 30 January, 2001. Gaborone, Botswana: Ministry of Local Government.

SOUTH AFRICA

ver the last year, significant progress has been made in advanc- O ing the struggle of indigenous peoples’ rights in South Africa. The Khoi-San peoples, through their own concerted efforts, were re- sponsible for putting their case firmly on the national agenda. This happened despite other major issues that dominated the national agenda, inter alia the presidential elections in Zimbabwe, the continu- ing Aids pandemic controversy and the impact of the worsening situation of the South African currency. Allegations of illegal foreign exchange transactions prompted the government to appoint the My- burgh Commission of Inquiry to investigate the deteriorating eco- nomic situation. Another major focus of the South African government’s actions was the attention afforded to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad). Nepad, as a program, is intended to kick-start economic de- velopment in Africa in order to alleviate poverty and ensure sustainable development throughout the continent. This development has dove- tailed into the United Nations World Summit for Sustainable Develop- ment (WSSD), to be held in Johannesburg in August and September 2002. Ironically, the Khoi-San peoples, as First Indigenous Peoples, had

to struggle to gain recognition from among South Africa’s civil society

•

groups in order to be represented at the WSSD. This is in spite of the •

•

fact that the Khoi-San peoples are hosting a pre-summit conference for • •

•

all indigenous peoples of the world in the run-up to the WSSD. • •

• 419

• 420 larly, the Northern Cape and Western Cape Provinces. Cape Western and Cape Northern the larly, • •

• mote their language, especially through the spoken word in, particu- in, word spoken the through especially language, their mote •

•

Despite this, there is a growing attempt by Khoi-San peoples to pro- to peoples Khoi-San by attempt growing a is there this, Despite •

•

not yet made any significant state finances available in this regard. this in available finances state significant any made yet not •

and the implementation of mother-tongue education projects, it has it projects, education mother-tongue of implementation the and

tion, in favour of the development of the Khoekhoe and San languages San and Khoekhoe the of development the of favour in tion,

Although the South African government is, in terms of the Constitu- the of terms in is, government African South the Although

Implementation of basic language rights language basic of Implementation

different Khoi-San leaders. Khoi-San different

forthcoming”. This uncertainty, at best, has caused unease among the among unease caused has best, at uncertainty, This forthcoming”.

creased importance and little hope that major policy advice would be would advice policy major that hope little and importance creased

instead of the Department of Justice would contribute to its “de- its to contribute would Justice of Department the of instead

anticipated that the shift of the indigenous portfolio to the new DPLG new the to portfolio indigenous the of shift the that anticipated

report correctly report 2001. in standstill The Indigenous World 2000-2001’s World Indigenous The

fecting the First Indigenous Peoples of South Africa came to a virtual a to came Africa South of Peoples Indigenous First the fecting

Presidency from Mr Mandela, progress on Constitutional Affairs af- Affairs Constitutional on progress Mandela, Mr from Presidency

the bureaucratic system of government after Mr Mbeki assumed the assumed Mbeki Mr after government of system bureaucratic the

Partly due to a prolonged process of reorganizing and reprioritizing and reorganizing of process prolonged a to due Partly

National Khoi-San Council Khoi-San National

The activities of the government-initiated the of activities The

ments has also seemingly influenced progress. influenced seemingly also has ments

report. The departure of key officials in certain government depart- government certain in officials key of departure The report.

ties in South Africa had yet to be released at the time of writing this writing of time the at released be to yet had Africa South in ties

pertaining to the constitutional accommodation of Khoi-San communi- Khoi-San of accommodation constitutional the to pertaining

the Department of Constitutional Development and Provincial Affairs, Provincial and Development Constitutional of Department the

the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG), formerly (DPLG), Government Local and Provincial of Department the

Indigenous People’s Rights. Likewise, a set of reports commissioned by commissioned reports of set a Likewise, Rights. People’s Indigenous

the official release of the Human Rights Commission’s research on research Commission’s Rights Human the of release official the

enous peoples, and the South African nation at large, are still awaiting still are large, at nation African South the and peoples, enous

Cabinet or the Office of the Presidency. Meanwhile, the country’s indig- country’s the Meanwhile, Presidency. the of Office the or Cabinet

but with no coherent policy guidance or political commitment from the from commitment political or guidance policy coherent no with but

Different government departments appeared to be more or less helpful less or more be to appeared departments government Different

unchanged, as reported last year (see (see year last reported as unchanged, ): The Indigenous World 2000-2001 World Indigenous The

The policy situation for indigenous peoples in South Africa remained Africa South in peoples indigenous for situation policy The Policy situation Policy Land restitution

No significant change took place in the year under review. The res- toration of land rights for Khoi-San peoples remains a highly emotive issue and much still needs to be done to undo the dispossession they have had to endure from 1652 to the present day.

Khoi-San unity established

In some respects, the year 2001 marked a defining moment in the struggle of Khoi-San peoples in South Africa. For the first time in modern history, all the Khoi-San peoples of South Africa united around a single common objective, namely that of holding a national con- sultative conference. Over 400 delegates of the San, representing the Khomani, !Xu and the Khwe as well as all Khoekhoen, representing the Namas, Griquas, Koranas and groupings from the Western and Eastern Cape, joined forces in a landmark event in March/April in the town of Oudtshoorn. Of great significance was the fact that the De- puty President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Jacob Zuma, opened the conference on behalf of the Presidency, as President Thabo Mbeki was abroad on an official state visit. The National Khoi-San Oorlegplegende Konferensie (NKOK), also known as the National Khoi-San Consultative Conference, was struc- tured around more than 30 national Khoi-San affiliated groups. The duly elected 20-person NKOK Council on which San and Khoekhoe peoples are represented, faced a daunting task in its first year of existence. Lack of funding and capacity made execution of the Coun- cil’s mandate, given to it by the Conference delegates at the Oudt- shoorn Conference, extremely challenging. In some respects, encouraging progress was nevertheless made in order to realize the resolutions unanimously adopted there. The for- mation of the NKOK heralds a new beginning for indigenous peo- ples in South Africa indeed because a basis for unity of purpose has been established. A most daunting challenge is to cement this dramatic development and the new-found unity among indigenous Khoi-San peoples, as San peoples’ organizations had hitherto

seemingly been regarded as the only representatives of indigenous

peoples in South Africa. Progress in creating an awareness of •

•

identity among Khoi-San descendants who, under apartheid, were •

•

classified as coloureds has also markedly been raised. Although • •

• official statistics are not available, there seems to be an increase in •

• 421

• 422 which have the required expertise. required the have which • •

• provincial and local government structures as well as parastatals, as well as structures government local and provincial •

•

peoples themselves are running these projects in partnership with partnership in projects these running are themselves peoples •

•

including the Northern Cape and Northwest Province. The Khoi-San The Province. Northwest and Cape Northern the including •

cated to Khoi-San peoples in different provinces of South Africa, South of provinces different in peoples Khoi-San to cated

approved these recommendations and the available funds were allo- were funds available the and recommendations these approved

Cape, subsequently made recommendations to DACST. Government DACST. to recommendations made subsequently Cape,

stitute for Historical Research (IHR) at the University of the Western the of University the at (IHR) Research Historical for stitute

field of cultural industries. A feasibility study, conducted by the In- the by conducted study, feasibility A industries. cultural of field

(DACST) earmarked funds for Khoi-San poverty alleviation in the in alleviation poverty Khoi-San for funds earmarked (DACST)

ing funds. The Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology and Science Culture, Arts, of Department The funds. ing

ments are responsible for implementing these programs and allocat- and programs these implementing for responsible are ments

were allocated for such programs. The respective government depart- government respective The programs. such for allocated were

Finance’s budget over the last two years when several billion Rand billion several when years two last the over budget Finance’s

of its main objectives. This was made tangible in the Minister of Minister the in tangible made was This objectives. main its of

The national government has declared poverty eradication to be one be to eradication poverty declared has government national The

Poverty alleviation Poverty

taken at the Oudtshoorn Conference. Oudtshoorn the at taken

must report to the conference on the implementation of the resolutions the of implementation the on conference the to report must

2003, to be held at Springbok, Namaqualand, when the executive the when Namaqualand, Springbok, at held be to 2003,

The next NKOK Conference is planned for the third quarter of quarter third the for planned is Conference NKOK next The

sector in order to develop them in the interest of the entire nation. entire the of interest the in them develop to order in sector

tween Khoi-San peoples, government institutions and the private the and institutions government peoples, Khoi-San tween

possibility for the formation of public private partnerships be- partnerships private public of formation the for possibility

and international tourists. Such sites and practices present a real a present practices and sites Such tourists. international and

of growing interest and offer something uniquely new to both local both to new uniquely something offer and interest growing of

interest. Khoi-San rock art, traditional dance and heritage sites are sites heritage and dance traditional art, rock Khoi-San interest.

appears, however, to stem largely from a commercial and tourism and commercial a from largely stem to however, appears,

other cultural groups. The interest among white South Africans South white among interest The groups. cultural other

nationally, not only among Khoi-San descendants but also among also but descendants Khoi-San among only not nationally,

interest in - and publicity around - Khoi-San culture and heritage and culture Khoi-San - around publicity and - in interest

their roots. Both in public and private debates, there is a growing a is there debates, private and public in Both roots. their

of the community are, albeit not publicly, also starting to search for search to starting also publicly, not albeit are, community the of

their Khoi-San identity. Highly educated and prominent members prominent and educated Highly identity. Khoi-San their

longer to be only impoverished rural people who are reclaiming are who people rural impoverished only be to longer

An interesting development is the phenomenon that it seems no seems it that phenomenon the is development interesting An

struggle to restore their rights. their restore to struggle

pressed heritage. This augurs well for indigenous peoples and the and peoples indigenous for well augurs This heritage. pressed the number of people identifying with their forgotten and sup- and forgotten their with identifying people of number the The National Khoi-San Legacy Project

Another poverty alleviation project involving Khoi-San peoples is the government-initiated Legacy Project. Nine different projects have been identified by the Cabinet to depict South Africa’s past, including the Nelson Mandela Museum Legacy Project and the Khoi-San Legacy Project. The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) was mandated to oversee the project. SAHRA, in turn, commissioned the IHR to take the project from the stage of conceptualization to implementation. A series of community workshops were conducted to consult with Khoi- San peoples’ representatives. This was done so that the Khoi-San peoples are effectively and meaningfully consulted in the process as well as able to take on ownership of their culture. A number of sites were identified and are in the process of being developed over the next few years.

The return of the remains of Sarah Baartmann

A special category is afforded to this important issue. On Friday 3 May 2002, the remains of Sarah Baartmann, who left the country of her birth nearly two hundred years ago under duress and was never buried after her death, were returned to South Africa from France having been kept in a Paris museum all these years. The French government finally succumbed to lobbying and advocacy from both the South African government as well as Khoi-San descendants to return the remains. A government-led five-person delegation was in Paris for the official ceremony for handing over of the remains, which will now be buried at a special ceremony later in 2002. Sarah Baart- mann’s final resting place will be decided upon by all relevant stake- holders. This symbol of the oppression Khoi-San peoples had to en- dure has become a pivotal rallying point in the modern-day struggle for Khoi-San women, in particular, and all Khoi-San peoples in gen- eral. Meanwhile, a Khoi-San female academic has been appointed by the University of the Western Cape to co-ordinate an international partnership research project on all issues pertaining to the return of

the remains of Sarah Baartmann.

In conclusion •

•

•

•

There remains much hard work to be done in order to overcome the • •

• major challenges and obstacles facing the indigenous peoples of South •

• 423 • 424 • • • • • •

•

•

succeed.

thetic institutions, will galvanize greater enthusiasm to ultimately to enthusiasm greater galvanize will institutions, thetic

international structures like the United Nations and other sympa- other and Nations United the like structures international Africa. Their determination and will, together with the support of support the with together will, and determination Their Africa.

PART II PART

•

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS • •

•

•

•

• •

• 425 • 426 •

•

sure this was recorded in the minutes of the meeting. the of minutes the in recorded was this sure •

•

reached, the Chairperson would reconvene a formal session to make to session formal a reconvene would Chairperson the reached, •

•

ences and work towards a consensus approach. Once consensus was consensus Once approach. consensus a towards work and ences •

•

Draft Declaration, so as to make it easier to narrow down the differ- the down narrow to easier it make to as so Declaration, Draft

some governments have with specific provisions or principles in the in principles or provisions specific with have governments some

of views in order to identify, as concretely as possible, the problems the possible, as concretely as identify, to order in views of

clarified that the main aim of the discussions was to have an exchange an have to was discussions the of aim main the that clarified

under each agenda item, briefly and to the point. The Chairperson The point. the to and briefly item, agenda each under

and indigenous delegates alike, were able to take the floor and speak and floor the take to able were alike, delegates indigenous and

formal when recording any consensus. All participants, governments participants, All consensus. any recording when formal

informal sessions, informal for generate debate and discussion, and discussion, and debate generate for informal sessions, informal

As in previous sessions, the meetings alternated between formal and formal between alternated meetings the sessions, previous in As

WG-DDIP.)

detail. Articles 7,8 and 11 will be discussed at the 8 the at discussed be will 11 and 7,8 Articles detail. session of the of session th

Articles 6 to 11. (However, only articles 6, 9 and 10 were discussed in discussed were 10 and 9 6, articles only (However, 11. to 6 Articles

Specific discussions on Article 13, pending from the last session; and session; last the from pending 13, Article on discussions Specific

and natural resources; natural and

quest of the indigenous peoples, collective rights, and land, territories land, and rights, collective peoples, indigenous the of quest

General discussions on participation and procedure; and, at the re- the at and, procedure; and participation on discussions General

the following work plan was agreed upon: agreed was plan work following the

After consultations with governments and indigenous peoples, indigenous and governments with consultations After

elected as acting vice-chairperson for the rest of the session. the of rest the for vice-chairperson acting as elected

after some debate and discussion, Mr. José Valencia (Ecuador) was (Ecuador) Valencia José Mr. discussion, and debate some after

Chávez was recalled to Lima urgently at the end of the first week and, week first the of end the at urgently Lima to recalled was Chávez

the first four sessions of the WG-DDIP from 1995-98. However, Mr. However, 1995-98. from WG-DDIP the of sessions four first the

former ambassador of Peru to the UN in Geneva, held this position for position this held Geneva, in UN the to Peru of ambassador former

the third consecutive term. Previously, Ambassador Jose Urrutia, Jose Ambassador Previously, term. consecutive third the

diplomat from Peru, was re-elected as the Chairperson-Rapporteur for Chairperson-Rapporteur the as re-elected was Peru, from diplomat

the opening session of the WG-DDIP, Mr. Luis-Enrique Chávez, a Chávez, Luis-Enrique Mr. WG-DDIP, the of session opening the

previous years, for October-November 2001 but was postponed. At postponed. was but 2001 October-November for years, previous

28 January to 8 February 2002. February 8 to January 28 It was originally scheduled, as in as scheduled, originally was It

1

T

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (WG-DDIP) was held from held was (WG-DDIP) Peoples Indigenous of Rights the on

he seventh session of the Working Group on the Draft Declaration Draft the on Group Working the of session seventh he

RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INDIGENOUS OF RIGHTS

GROUP ON THE DRAFT DECLARATION ON THE ON DECLARATION DRAFT THE ON GROUP

SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS WORKING NATIONS UNITED THE OF SESSION 7 TH General discussions

It is difficult to include all the questions and issues raised or to do justice to the richness of the debate. This is merely an attempt to provide an overview of the discussions that took place at the 7th session of the Working Group on the Draft Declaration in order to enable indigenous peoples and others to understand what are the main issues at stake, and how the discussion is evolving.

Participation and procedure The second day of the WG-DDIP meeting concentrated on procedural issues, focused on:

Alternative methods: There was concern at the slow progress of the working group, given that only two more years remained before the end of the Decade in 2004. Alternative working methods were pro- posed, including:

(i) The establishment of a Bureau by the Government of Mexico, to be composed of the chairperson, 4 regional vice-chairpersons and two indigenous coordinators, to engage in consultations during the work- ing group sessions, as well as between sessions. This proposal did not receive support from other governments who believed it might add another layer (Australia), and therefore make it more cumbersome (Norway). It was also pointed out that it would be difficult to include indigenous representatives as only governments could be part of the Commission on Human Rights’ bodies (New Zealand). Indigenous peoples were generally more favourable but asked for more informa- tion on its practical implications;

(ii) “Friends of the Chair” by Canada, whereby a group of govern- ment and indigenous peoples’ representatives would be appointed to assist the Chairperson during the sessions, a technique used earlier but discontinued. Although this received some support, (New Zea- land and Norway), there was no consensus on either alternative.

However, the Chairperson-Rapporteur identified the lack of political

will on the part of governments to be one of the main reasons for the •

•

slow progress of the working group, rather than any working method- •

•

ology and so the working group continued with its current methods. • •

• •

• 427

• 428 in re-drafting may lead to amendments and/or alterations resulting alterations and/or amendments to lead may re-drafting in • •

• interests as distinct peoples. Mindful that any agreement to engage to agreement any that Mindful peoples. distinct as interests •

•

adopted, will be a strong instrument and will protect their rights and rights their protect will and instrument strong a be will adopted, •

•

to what measures to take to ensure that the final Declaration, when Declaration, final the that ensure to take to measures what to •

many indigenous peoples’ organizations are seriously concerned as concerned seriously are organizations peoples’ indigenous many

with the political and practical implications of the current situation, current the of implications practical and political the with

participated in the preparation of the original text. However, faced However, text. original the of preparation the in participated

and frustrating, bearing in mind that the same governments actively governments same the that mind in bearing frustrating, and

the Sub Commission text, and see any attempts at re-drafting as futile as re-drafting at attempts any see and text, Commission Sub the

Indigenous peoples are consistent in their support for the adoption of adoption the for support their in consistent are peoples Indigenous

sion at the meetings, with brackets indicating where they do not agree. not do they where indicating brackets with meetings, the at sion

ernments introduce more and more alternative language for discus- for language alternative more and more introduce ernments

its provisions or concepts. With each session of the WG-DDIP, gov- WG-DDIP, the of session each With concepts. or provisions its

nally drafted, and have concerns or reservations with one or more of more or one with reservations or concerns have and drafted, nally

agree the adoption of the entire text of the Draft Declaration as origi- as Declaration Draft the of text entire the of adoption the agree

articles as currently worded. However, the majority are reluctant to reluctant are majority the However, worded. currently as articles

consultation process. Many have also stated that they can adopt some adopt can they that stated also have Many process. consultation

Guatemala and, more recently, Mexico as the result of a national a of result the as Mexico recently, more and, Guatemala

Declaration as adopted by the Sub-Commission, two of these being these of two Sub-Commission, the by adopted as Declaration

Very few governments have declared that they can adopt the Draft the adopt can they that declared have governments few Very

brought to the fore with the non-paper process. non-paper the with fore the to brought

tion as originally drafted. At this session, this was question was question was this session, this At drafted. originally as tion

in a process of re-drafting or to continue to defend the Draft Declara- Draft the defend to continue to or re-drafting of process a in

for indigenous peoples to address is the question of whether to engage to whether of question the is address to peoples indigenous for

Another issue that is becoming increasingly urgent increasingly becoming is that issue Another : Criteria Essential

session.

by already having proposals for consideration at the working group working the at consideration for proposals having already by

been held in good faith and as a way of moving the process forward process the moving of way a as and faith good in held been

ity and non-discrimination. Canada explained that the meeting had meeting the that explained Canada non-discrimination. and ity

lack of transparency, and as being contrary to the principles of equal- of principles the to contrary being as and transparency, of lack

pers. Indigenous representatives criticised the October meeting for its for meeting October the criticised representatives Indigenous pers.

during the WG-DDIP sessions to the governmental discussion pa- discussion governmental the to sessions WG-DDIP the during

ticipate in the October meeting, and thus proposed many changes many proposed thus and meeting, October the in ticipate

to the Working Group). The United States Government did not par- not did Government States United The Group). Working the to

paper” in UN language since they had not been formally presented formally been not had they since language UN in paper”

copies of which were available at the meeting (referred to as a “non- a as to (referred meeting the at available were which of copies

proposals for an alternative text to the Declaration were prepared, were Declaration the to text alternative an for proposals

gether and prepare for the WG-DDIP sessions. During this meeting, this During sessions. WG-DDIP the for prepare and gether

ernment of Canada. The objective was for governments to meet to- meet to governments for was objective The Canada. of ernment

ment meeting was organized in Geneva, at the initiative of the Gov- the of initiative the at Geneva, in organized was meeting ment

In October 2001, a govern- a 2001, October In Government inter-sessional consultations inter-sessional Government : : in a weakening of the text, indigenous peoples have been referring to the following criteria as essential:

The Draft Declaration must be approached on the basis of a very high presumption of the integrity of the existing text. In order to rebut this presumption, any proposal must satisfy the following criteria:

1. It must be reasonable. 2. It must be necessary. 3. It must improve and strengthen the existing text.

In addition, any proposal must be consistent with the fundamental principles of:

1. Equality. 2. Non-discrimination. 3. The prohibition of Racial Discrimination.2

This was first introduced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner in 1998, and further developed by the Maori Legal Service in 1999. At the 2002 session, this was also referred to by a number of indigenous organizations, including the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), the African Indigenous Women’s Organization (AIWO), CAPAJ (Comisión Jurídica para el Autodesarollo de los Pueblos Originarios Andinos), the Indigenous Information Network (IIN, Kenya), the Metis National Council (Canada), the Ogiek Rural Integrated Project (Kenya) and the Saami Council, who made the following statement:

These principles and specific criteria, at a minimum, must be guaran- teed if we are to advance negotiations and constructive dialogue with governments concerning the substantive wording of the Draft Decla- ration articles…such negotiations and dialogue must take place in open, plenary forum – not behind closed doors, and consistent with our demands for direct, meaningful and full participation.

Invitation to the Indigenous Caucus: In another development, the governments reaffirmed that an earlier invitation to the indigenous

peoples to attend their meetings was still open. After consultation, the

indigenous caucus decided not to accept the invitation, as they did •

•

not wish to divert time, attention and resources away from the plenary •

•

sessions but left it open for individual indigenous delegations to • •

• attend if they so wished. •

• 429 • 430 • •

• fundamental, and must constitute the basis of the Declaration. the of basis the constitute must and fundamental, •

• the right to development are two collective human rights which are which rights human collective two are development to right the •

• undeniable reality, and their right to self-determination together with together self-determination to right their and reality, undeniable •

For Guatemala, indigenous peoples and their collective rights are an are rights collective their and peoples indigenous Guatemala, For

sition thus: sition

mala, also a signatory to ILO Convention No. 169, affirmed its po- its affirmed 169, No. Convention ILO to signatory a also mala,

it recognized the collective rights of indigenous peoples. Guate- peoples. indigenous of rights collective the recognized it

to the fact that, through its’ ratification of ILO Convention No. 169, No. Convention ILO of ratification its’ through that, fact the to

ing the collective rights of indigenous peoples. Norway also referred also Norway peoples. indigenous of rights collective the ing

national legislation, including constitutional provisions, recogniz- provisions, constitutional including legislation, national

ezuela stated that they recognized collective rights and pointed to pointed and rights collective recognized they that stated ezuela

mala, Norway, Peru, the Russian Federation, Switzerland and Ven- and Switzerland Federation, Russian the Peru, Norway, mala,

A number of governments including Ecuador, Finland, Guate- Finland, Ecuador, including governments of number A

ers.

sal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO 2001), among oth- among 2001), (UNESCO Diversity Cultural on Declaration sal

Peoples’ Rights, 1981, the Convention on Bio-Diversity, the Univer- the Bio-Diversity, on Convention the 1981, Rights, Peoples’

Race and Racial Prejudice, 1978, the African Charter on Human and Human on Charter African the 1978, Prejudice, Racial and Race

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, 1989, the UNESCO Declaration on Declaration UNESCO the 1989, Peoples, Tribal and Indigenous

Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ILO Convention No. 169 on 169 No. Convention ILO Discrimination, Racial of Elimination

enants (ICCPR and ICESCR), the International Convention on the on Convention International the ICESCR), and (ICCPR enants

that recognize collective rights such as the two international cov- international two the as such rights collective recognize that

Indigenous delegates referred to existing international instruments international existing to referred delegates Indigenous

indigenous peoples’ rights. peoples’ indigenous

Indigenous Peoples will be a necessary step for the recognition of recognition the for step necessary a be will Peoples Indigenous

Durban another, but the adoption of this Declaration on the Rights of Rights the on Declaration this of adoption the but another, Durban

on Human Rights], Vienna and [World Conference against Racism], against Conference [World and Vienna Rights], Human on

collective rights, the Declarations adopted at the [World Conference [World the at adopted Declarations the rights, collective

mination…ILO Convention No. 169 is the first step to recognize to step first the is 169 No. Convention mination…ILO

land rights, mineral and forest rights, and the right to self-deter- to right the and rights, forest and mineral rights, land

protect and teach the mother language at all levels: school, university; school, levels: all at language mother the teach and protect

Collective rights contain the right to cultural identity, the right to right the identity, cultural to right the contain rights Collective

pointed out: pointed

a fundamental concept in the discussions. As a Berber representative Berber a As discussions. the in concept fundamental a

integral to any discussion on indigenous peoples’ rights. This is thus is This rights. peoples’ indigenous on discussion any to integral

indigenous rights, such as the right to self-determination, and is and self-determination, to right the as such rights, indigenous

implicit reference to collective rights, and the collective aspects of aspects collective the and rights, collective to reference implicit

The Draft Declaration contains many articles that make specific or specific make that articles many contains Declaration Draft The Collective rights Collective The United Kingdom recognized individual rights only, and referred to minorities. Australia, Canada and New Zealand raised the issue of possible conflicts with individual rights:

Australia appreciates that human rights are usually individual rights rather than group rights or collective rights. However, Australia has been comfortable with the concept of collective rights as the approach is reflected in our domestic legislation and policy relating to indigenous peoples and our support for non-binding UN Declarations on the rights of national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities. Within Australia we have recognized that certain rights may be exercised both individually and/or collectively. These include, for example, certain rights of indigenous peoples which fall under the rubric of ‘native title’. Native title legislation has clearly established collective rights for indigenous peoples under the Australian legal system…Australia ac- knowledges that the possibility of conflict between collective rights and individual rights may need to be examined and resolved in some instances. Be that as it may, Australia does not see a need to seriously question the notion of collective rights as a general concept.

New Zealand recognized collective rights in the Draft Declaration, but on an article to article basis. It recognized collective rights in national legislation - the Treaty of Waitangi recognized the individual and collective rights of the Maori - but wished to balance collective rights with the interests of the Government and of individuals.

Canada’s position could be summed up in the following statement:

The Canadian Constitution recognizes and affirms those aboriginal and treaty rights in existence as of, or created after April, 1982…Some of these rights, such as hunting or fishing rights, although held by the collective, may be exercised by the individual.

The position of the Government of Canada, as previously expressed, is that the recognition in the Draft Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples as collective rights, should be considered on an article by article basis…The Canadian delegation can support the inclusion of standards

in the Draft Declaration, such as collective rights to land or self-

government, where those rights: •

•

•

•

- Are of fundamental significance to indigenous peoples; • •

• - Do not deny individuals or third party rights; and •

• 431

• 432 when we made treaties. However, many states today utilise the minerals the utilise today states many However, treaties. made we when • •

• on the plea that we never used land as a commodity to own and sell and own to commodity a as land used never we that plea the on •

•

under duress. Sometimes, governments deny us our ownership rights ownership our us deny governments Sometimes, duress. under •

•

governments on the basis of treaties or laws that were imposed upon us upon imposed were that laws or treaties of basis the on governments •

Our rights to our lands and territories today are interpreted by state by interpreted are today territories and lands our to rights Our

As described by a representative from the Chittagong Hill Tracts: Hill Chittagong the from representative a by described As

sources and colonization. and sources

militarization, exploration and exploitation of forest and mineral re- mineral and forest of exploitation and exploration militarization,

peoples described the erosion of their land rights by colonization, by rights land their of erosion the described peoples

are rights enjoyed and exercised in a collective manner. Indigenous manner. collective a in exercised and enjoyed rights are

as indigenous peoples’ rights to land, territories and natural resources natural and territories land, to rights peoples’ indigenous as

This discussion was related to the previous one on collective rights collective on one previous the to related was discussion This

Land, territories and natural resources natural and territories Land,

group should look into the articles that dealt with collective rights. collective with dealt that articles the into look should group

individual in the Draft Declaration, the next session of the working the of session next the Declaration, Draft the in individual

was no agreement as to which rights were collective and which were which and collective were rights which to as agreement no was

consensus on the existence of collective rights. However, since there since However, rights. collective of existence the on consensus

The Chairperson, in his summary of the discussion, noted the general the noted discussion, the of summary his in Chairperson, The

WG-DDIP 2002) WG-DDIP

Proposals by Indigenous Representatives to the Report of the of Report the to Representatives Indigenous by Proposals

(Annex II: (Annex ments of moral principles, nor is this current practice. practice. current this is nor principles, moral of ments

not usually referred to in declarations, which contain general state- general contain which declarations, in to referred usually not

party interests should not be included in this Declaration as they are they as Declaration this in included be not should interests party

external and internal, neo-colonisation and globalisation. Third globalisation. and neo-colonisation internal, and external

corporate interests because of the historical processes of colonisation: of processes historical the of because interests corporate

It is indigenous peoples who need to be protected from states and states from protected be to need who peoples indigenous is It

third party rights. Indigenous peoples did not agree: not did peoples Indigenous rights. party third

forward, Guatemala proposed the inclusion of a separate article on article separate a of inclusion the proposed Guatemala forward,

current vacuum in protecting indigenous peoples’ rights. As a way a As rights. peoples’ indigenous protecting in vacuum current

of Indigenous Peoples. The declaration was aimed at filling the filling at aimed was declaration The Peoples. Indigenous of

would defeat the main purpose of drafting a Declaration on the Rights the on Declaration a drafting of purpose main the defeat would

and corporate interests in the Draft Declaration, and argued that this that argued and Declaration, Draft the in interests corporate and

sion. Indigenous representatives saw this as a way of including state including of way a as this saw representatives Indigenous sion.

This reference to third party rights generated much debate and discus- and debate much generated rights party third to reference This

identifiable rights and obligations. and rights identifiable - Can be expressed clearly enough to result in practical and practical in result to enough clearly expressed be Can - upon such lands although states did not mention sub-soil rights when the concerned treaties were negotiated. It is a situation of “Heads I win, tails you lose”.

The Indian Law Resource Centre informed the working group of the recent decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Case of the Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community vs. Nicaragua of 31 Aug 2001, which found that:

... indigenous peoples have, as a matter of international law, collective rights to the lands and natural resources that they have traditionally used and occupied. The Court further stated that governments violate the human rights of indigenous peoples when they fail to take affirma- tive legislative or administrative measures to protect and enforce these property rights and when they authorize access to indigenous lands and resources without consulting with indigenous peoples or obtaining their consent.

Some governments, including Australia and France, clarified that while they recognized the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, this had to be seen within the context of environmental protection, restitution and compensation. Australia described the existing draft as containing genuine and conceptual problems that had to be ad- dressed, particularly with reference to articles 26 and 27 of the Declaration, which specified the “exclusive rights” of indigenous peoples to their lands and natural resources, and thus could be taken as denying third party rights. Peru wished for more clarifica- tion of the terms “use and possession” and also expressed concern at certain conflict of interests that might arise. New Zealand referred to the Treaty of Waitangi, which recognized the land rights of the Maori, and suggested that the different articles in the Draft Decla- ration relating to land rights be placed together in one comprehen- sive article. Indigenous representatives made specific reference to national and international laws recognizing indigenous land rights, includ- ing ILO Convention No. 169, article 5 of the Convention on the Elimi- nation of Racial Discrimination, and article 27 of the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Within this context, indig-

enous representatives also drew attention to the general comments, as •

•

well as the concluding observations, of the UN Human Rights Com- •

•

mittee on Canada, Mexico and Norway, which stated that the right to • •

• self-determination, and consequently the right to collective human •

• 433

• 434 “in accordance with human rights standards” (Finland, France and France (Finland, standards” rights human with accordance “in • •

• Alternative language proposed included the insertion of the phrase the of insertion the included proposed language Alternative •

•

safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental freedoms of others.” of freedoms fundamental the or morals or health order, safety, •

•

land, the UK and USA, and the USA also supported the reference to “public to reference the supported also USA the and USA, and UK the land, •

The inclusion of third party rights was supported by Canada, New Zea- New Canada, by supported was rights party third of inclusion The

morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. of freedoms and rights fundamental the or morals

count measures necessary to protect public safety, order, health or health order, safety, public protect to necessary measures count

Implementation of the rights in this Declaration shall take into ac- into take shall Declaration this in rights the of Implementation

rights was suggested by some governments and read as follows: as read and governments some by suggested was rights

addressed and clarified. A new general paragraph on third party third on paragraph general new A clarified. and addressed

the article as presently worded; merely that some issues needed to be to needed issues some that merely worded; presently as article the

stressed that not a single state had denied the terms and concepts in concepts and terms the denied had state single a not that stressed

others had problems with some of the terminology. However, it was it However, terminology. the of some with problems had others

temala, Finland, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland and Venezuela), while Venezuela), and Switzerland Norway, Mexico, Finland, temala,

clarified that some governments could accept the original text (Gua- text original the accept could governments some that clarified

Canada read out the accompanying comments to the document and document the to comments accompanying the out read Canada

tion of human remains. human of tion

the use and control of ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatria- the to right the and objects; ceremonial of control and use the

have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to right the sites; cultural and religious their to privacy in access have

traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect and protect maintain, to right the ceremonies; and customs traditions,

Manifest, practice, develop and teach their spiritual and religious and spiritual their teach and develop practice, Manifest,

language for article 13 that related to the right of indigenous peoples to peoples indigenous of right the to related that 13 article for language

DDIP and was based on a governmental paper proposing alternative proposing paper governmental a on based was and DDIP

This discussion was carried over from the previous session of the WG- the of session previous the from over carried was discussion This

Article 13 Article

Discussion on specific articles specific on Discussion

process.

articles. He described this dialogue as an important step in the in step important an as dialogue this described He articles.

some states wished for more clarification on specific aspects of some of aspects specific on clarification more for wished states some

the special relationship of indigenous peoples to their lands but that but lands their to peoples indigenous of relationship special the

The Chair pointed out that there was a general consensus around consensus general a was there that out pointed Chair The

C/79/Add. 112, CCPR/C/79/Add.109 and CCPR/C/79/Add.105). and CCPR/C/79/Add.109 112, C/79/Add.

the right to their land and natural resources (UN documents CCPR/ documents (UN resources natural and land their to right the

concluding observations on Canada, it was evident that this included this that evident was it Canada, on observations concluding rights generally, also applies to indigenous peoples, and that from the from that and peoples, indigenous to applies also generally, rights New Zealand), and that it should also be “subject to domestic law” (Australia and Canada). However, Australia, Canada and New Zea- land all clarified that they supported the underlying principles guid- ing article 13 but that they wished to have some issues clarified. Guatemala and Switzerland objected strongly to the reference to na- tional law as being “unacceptable”, as did Finland and Norway. Norway stated that such a reference would undermine the overall objective of the process, which is to develop universal standards on the rights of indigenous peoples. The Indian Treaty Council was firmly opposed to basing the dis- cussion of the working group on anything other than the Sub-Commis- sion text of the Draft Declaration. The paper under consideration by the working group was from last year, and did not reflect current realities as government positions may have changed, as in the case of Mexico, which was now prepared to adopt the Declaration as origi- nally drafted. In addition, this procedure of introducing documents that did not indicate which positions were held by which governments made it difficult for indigenous peoples to identify who to address. Indigenous peoples objected strongly to the amendments, includ- ing the reference to third party rights as mentioned earlier, and to “domestic laws” as summed up by the Maori delegate of Te Kawau Maro:

Domestic law should conform to International law; to do otherwise is to be in breach of a General Principle of International Law. Mr. Chairman, International Law should not be subject to domestic law, if that statement is rejected then we should all go home now…what is the point? It is precisely for reasons that domestic law has not afforded adequate protection for Indigenous Peoples that we come to an inter- national forum. Let’s be clear about the relationship between domestic law and international law. Domestic law is the vehicle by which international law is taken and implemented into domestic legal sys- tems. International law influences, guides [and] directs domestic law. It is suggested the term “subject to domestic laws” within an interna- tional context is an incorrect phrase and should cease to be used.

The representative of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference stressed:

... the purpose of this process is to establish international standards •

•

concerning the distinct rights of indigenous peoples. The introduc- •

•

tion of this language could potentially narrow our right to maintain • •

• and have access to our religious and sacred sites. Rather, any state •

• 435

• 436 New Zealand, although the latter stressed it could support this con- this support could it stressed latter the although Zealand, New • •

• as there was no definition in international law, as did Australia and Australia did as law, international in definition no was there as •

•

land. However, Canada questioned the concept of “mental integrity” “mental of concept the questioned Canada However, land. •

•

Denmark, Finland, Guatemala, Mexico, Norway, Peru and Switzer- and Peru Norway, Mexico, Guatemala, Finland, Denmark, •

states were able to accept the article as originally drafted: China, drafted: originally as article the accept to able were states

rity, children and references to specific conventions. The following The conventions. specific to references and children rity,

The discussion focused on genocide, physical and mental integ- mental and physical genocide, on focused discussion The

to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. the of Rights the on Convention the to

rate article on the rights of indigenous children, including a reference a including children, indigenous of rights the on article rate

referred to the Convention on Genocide, 1948, and proposed a sepa- a proposed and 1948, Genocide, on Convention the to referred

The government discussion paper included alternative language that language alternative included paper discussion government The

mental integrity, liberty and security of person. of security and liberty integrity, mental

In addition, they have the individual rights to life, physical and physical life, to rights individual the have they addition, In

children from their families and communities under any pretext. any under communities and families their from children

cide or any other act of violence, including the removal of indigenous of removal the including violence, of act other any or cide

and security as distinct peoples and to full guarantees against geno- against guarantees full to and peoples distinct as security and

Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace freedom, in live to right collective the have peoples Indigenous

The original text is as follows: as is text original The

Article 6 Article

urge these governments to expeditiously reconsider their position. their reconsider expeditiously to governments these urge

separate mechanisms can be created for this purpose...Therefore, we purpose...Therefore, this for created be can mechanisms separate

responsibilities”. There are separate mechanisms to handle them, or them, handle to mechanisms separate are There responsibilities”.

their concerns, “such as balancing indigenous rights against state against rights indigenous balancing as “such concerns, their

address them in this Declaration. There are other ways to take care of care take to ways other are There Declaration. this in them address

difficulties or apprehensions may be, it is simply not appropriate to appropriate not simply is it be, may apprehensions or difficulties

13 as it exists in the text are not convincing. However genuine their genuine However convincing. not are text the in exists it as 13

... the difficulties expressed by some governments in adopting Article adopting in governments some by expressed difficulties the ...

pressed an opinion shared by other indigenous organizations: indigenous other by shared opinion an pressed

The representative of AIPP (Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact) ex- Pact) Peoples’ Indigenous (Asia AIPP of representative The

(ii) domestic laws and (iii) third party interests. party third (iii) and laws domestic (ii)

around three main issues: references to (i) human rights standards; rights human (i) to references issues: main three around

the indigenous peoples but that governments had concerns centred concerns had governments that but peoples indigenous the

The Chairperson agreed that there was a convergence of opinion with opinion of convergence a was there that agreed Chairperson The

tional human rights law pertaining to indigenous peoples and others. and peoples indigenous to pertaining law rights human tional prescription of domestic law would have to be consistent with interna- with consistent be to have would law domestic of prescription cept. Norway supported retention of “physical and mental integrity” and referred to Article 1 of the Convention against Torture, which already included this concept. Although Australia supported the underlying principles of the article, it believed it could be strengthened, and agreed with Canada and New Zealand regarding alternative language to include specific references to the Genocide Convention. Japan also preferred the alter- native language proposed in the government paper. Sweden sup- ported efforts to strengthen the text and was able to accept the term “indigenous peoples” but had reservations regarding collective rights per se. It supported the alternative text with references to the Genocide Convention, as did Denmark. The USA believed that the current text did not fully reflect international law on genocide and supported the alter- native language, which referred specifically to the Genocide Convention. Some states were concerned that the original working on the re- moval of indigenous children was too broad and could include the adoption or transfer of custody of indigenous children in the best interests of the child. Australia, China, Denmark, Guatemala, Peru, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, among others, stated they could support a new separate article (new article 6.1) on the rights of indigenous children. Indigenous representatives did not agree with the references to specific conventions, and did not believe it strengthened the text in any way, quite the contrary. An indigenous Batwa representative described the genocide of Tutsis in the Central African Republic and the need to protect indigenous peoples from this happening again in the future. The representative of Ka Lahui Hawaii clarified that if the Declaration included references to specific conventions such as the Genocide Convention or the Convention on the Rights of the Child, then this would severely curtail its scope as it would then be appli- cable only in those countries that had ratified the relevant conven- tions. The USA for instance, which was well known for not ratifying international standards, could thus not be held accountable for spe- cific conventions it had not adhered to. With reference to the earlier discussions on collective rights and the refusal of some states to recognize this fundamental right of indigenous peoples, the Genocide Convention contained references to collective rights. Guatemala shared

the concern of indigenous peoples and declared that it would be

detrimental to include references to specific conventions. •

•

There term “integrated with other inhabitants of the state” was •

•

referred to in the alternative text. This was strongly opposed by indig- • •

• enous representatives, including from Kuna Yala (Panama) and Jhar- •

• 437

• 438 recalled the mandate of the working group, which was to adopt a new a adopt to was which group, working the of mandate the recalled • •

• including the representative of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Circumpolar Inuit the of representative the including •

•

to belong” as it did not exist in international law, several participants, several law, international in exist not did it as belong” to •

•

In response to Canada’s assertion that it did not recognize a “right a recognize not did it that assertion Canada’s to response In •

Zealand, and in other parts of the world. the of parts other in and Zealand,

with their own land, territories and resource rights, e.g. in the USA, New USA, the in e.g. rights, resource and territories land, own their with

concluded between indigenous peoples and states as nations and peoples and nations as states and peoples indigenous between concluded

and Peoples,1960, while others drew attention to agreements and treaties and agreements to attention drew others while Peoples,1960, and

ing the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries Colonial to Independence of Granting the on Declaration the ing

international instruments that dealt with the concept of “nation”, includ- “nation”, of concept the with dealt that instruments international

The representative of Ka Lahui Hawaii pointed to pointed Hawaii Lahui Ka of representative The ...” integrity tional

therefore raise questions and expectations about territorial and constitu- and territorial about expectations and questions raise therefore

adoption in an aspirational document like the Draft Declaration could Declaration Draft the like document aspirational an in adoption

has been traditionally associated with Indigenous peoples in Australia. Its Australia. in peoples Indigenous with associated traditionally been has

tions”, which was not used in the national context, “nor is it a term that term a it is “nor context, national the in used not was which tions”,

specific concerns about the original text, including about the term “na- term the about including text, original the about concerns specific

New Zealand stated that it could support the first sentence. Australia had Australia sentence. first the support could it that stated Zealand New

including Guatemala, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, among others. among Switzerland, and Sweden Norway, Guatemala, including

Some governments clarified that they could adopt the original text original the adopt could they that clarified governments Some

standards, and discrimination/disadvantage. and standards,

the possibility of conflict between customary law and human rights human and law customary between conflict of possibility the

The discussion centred on identity, “the right to belong”, “nations”, belong”, to right “the identity, on centred discussion The

kind may arise from the exercise of such right. such of exercise the from arise may kind

customs of the community or nation concerned. No disadvantage of any of disadvantage No concerned. nation or community the of customs

indigenous community or nation, in accordance with the traditions and traditions the with accordance in nation, or community indigenous

Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to belong to an to belong to right the have individuals and peoples Indigenous

The original text of the article is as follows: as is article the of text original The

Article 9 Article

absurd, even historically speaking. historically even absurd,

we live our lives – you say integrate. The proposal on integration is integration on proposal The integrate. say you – lives our live we

non-integrate. Now when indigenous peoples say “enough is enough”– is “enough say peoples indigenous when Now non-integrate.

mitting genocide. In India for 300 years or so, the tendency has been to been has tendency the so, or years 300 for India In genocide. mitting

integrate. They have been busy homogenizing, exploiting us…even com- us…even exploiting homogenizing, busy been have They integrate.

....historically, it has been the ones dominating us who have not wanted to wanted not have who us dominating ones the been has it ....historically,

khand Organization for Human Rights declared: Rights Human for Organization khand

and integration of indigenous peoples. The representative of the Jhar- the of representative The peoples. indigenous of integration and kand (India), who described the historical processes of assimilation of processes historical the described who (India), kand standard on indigenous peoples, and that to limit the Declaration to existing standards would defeat the entire exercise. However, Ca- nada supported “the freedom of indigenous peoples and individu- als to belong to an indigenous community or nation in accordance with the tradition and customs of the community or nation con- cerned”. Sweden withdrew a proposal to include “where those traditions and customs are consistent with international human rights stand- ards” after listening to the opinions of indigenous representatives, and given that their concerns were also met by articles 1 and 45 of the Declaration, as well as the draft Declaration as a whole. Australia and Canada proposed deleting the second sentence (also supported by New Zealand) as the issue of protection against disadvantage was covered in other articles and might be perceived as prohibiting af- firmative action programmes. The Chairperson noted that there was a great convergence of opi- nion but that some concepts were not sufficiently clear as to lead to consensus, and thus had to be explored further.

Article 7 There was a brief general debate on Article 7:

Indigenous peoples have the collective and individual right not to be subjected to ethnocide and cultural genocide, including prevention and redress for:

a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities; b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources; c) Any form of population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights; d) Any form of assimilation or integration by other cultures or ways of life imposed on them by legislative, administrative or other measures;

e) Any form of propaganda directed against them.

•

•

The main focus of discussion was on genocide and ethnocide, land •

•

dispossession, population transfer (forced relocation), assimilation • •

• and negative propaganda. No government paper was circulated for •

• 439

• 440 and natural resources as one of the forms of provoking the ethnocide the provoking of forms the of one as resources natural and • •

• Here, it refers to the dispossession of the indigenous lands, territories lands, indigenous the of dispossession the to refers it Here, • •

•

•

Autodesarollo de los Pueblos Originarios Andinos): Originarios Pueblos los de Autodesarollo •

as stated by the representative of CAPAJ (Comisión Jurídica para el para Jurídica (Comisión CAPAJ of representative the by stated as

concepts and terms. This view was shared by all indigenous peoples, indigenous all by shared was view This terms. and concepts

on indigenous peoples and thus it was appropriate to introduce new introduce to appropriate was it thus and peoples indigenous on

international law, this was a process of developing a new standard new a developing of process a was this law, international

indigenous cultures. Even if these terms were not yet accepted in accepted yet not were terms these if Even cultures. indigenous

standing that this included forced assimilation and the destruction of destruction the and assimilation forced included this that standing

ing the reference to ethnocide and cultural genocide, on the under- the on genocide, cultural and ethnocide to reference the ing

Norway clarified that it had no major problems with article 7, includ- 7, article with problems major no had it that clarified Norway

as it was not found either in the Rome Statute or its Elements of Crime. of Elements its or Statute Rome the in either found not was it as

nities and cultures, Canada questioned the term “cultural genocide” “cultural term the questioned Canada cultures, and nities

cide was essential for the continued existence of indigenous commu- indigenous of existence continued the for essential was cide

such as “assimilation”. While affirming that protection against geno- against protection that affirming While “assimilation”. as such

other concepts that are harmful to indigenous peoples and cultures, and peoples indigenous to harmful are that concepts other

further the prohibition on “integration” as this concept differs from differs concept this as “integration” on prohibition the further

Canada made some initial comments indicating the need to examine to need the indicating comments initial some made Canada

Peoples is totally compatible and consistent with the Rome Statute… Rome the with consistent and compatible totally is Peoples

elements...art. 7 of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous of Rights the on Declaration Draft the of 7 elements...art.

(a) (b) (c) (d) and (e)...In all cases, the crime has individual and collective and individual has crime the cases, all (e)...In and (d) (c) (b) (a)

genocide can be committed in five different ways. These...refer to art. 6 art. to These...refer ways. different five in committed be can genocide

In the statute and elements of crime, the ICC elaborated how the crime of crime the how elaborated ICC the crime, of elements and statute the In

cide, war crimes and crimes against humanity: against crimes and crimes war cide,

International Criminal Court, which will have jurisdiction over geno- over jurisdiction have will which Court, Criminal International

who referred to the definition of genocide in the Rome Statute for an for Statute Rome the in genocide of definition the to referred who

ened by the remarks of the representative of Rights and Democracy and Rights of representative the of remarks the by ened

at diluting the indigenous composition of the area. This was strength- was This area. the of composition indigenous the diluting at

policy implemented in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the 1980s aimed 1980s the in Tracts Hill Chittagong the in implemented policy

nocide taking place in his country, including the population transfer population the including country, his in place taking nocide

curred with this position and gave an example of the cultural eth- cultural the of example an gave and position this with curred

representative of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples’ Forum con- Forum Peoples’ Indigenous Bangladesh the of representative

current definitions of genocide did not fully cover this term. The term. this cover fully not did genocide of definitions current

ent parts of the world. In addition, this was necessary to fill a gap as gap a fill to necessary was this addition, In world. the of parts ent

continuing practice committed against indigenous peoples in differ- in peoples indigenous against committed practice continuing

original article, as it was of vital importance given the historic and historic the given importance vital of was it as article, original

Guatemala strongly supported the reference to ethnocide in the in ethnocide to reference the supported strongly Guatemala

mala, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland. and Norway Mexico, mala, this article. In support of article 7 as originally drafted were Guate- were drafted originally as 7 article of support In article. this and cultural genocide of indigenous peoples. It is not about creating a new right “exclusive” to indigenous peoples, but of filling a gap in the normative framework of international human rights to protect the survival of indigenous peoples who do not enjoy any collective pro- tection which guarantees their continuity at present.

The Chair proposed that the discussions could continue at the next session of the working group, and asked the governments to present their proposals then.

Article 10 The original article of the Draft Declaration was as follows:

Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands and territories. No relocation shall take place without the free and in- formed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agree- ment on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.

The main themes during this discussion centred on the issues of forcible removal and relocation; free and informed consent; just and fair compensation; and the option to return. The discussion, as with all the above articles, was based on the original article with references to the government discussion paper. A number of states were able to accept the article as originally drafted, including Guatemala, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland, while Cuba affirmed its support for the collective rights of indigenous peo- ples. While Canada accepted the principle that indigenous peoples and individuals should not be removed arbitrarily from their lands, it found the text to be ambiguous and needing clarification to include situations where removal is required, for example, for reasons of health or safety. Australia agreed, and also had concerns about the require- ment for agreement on compensation prior to removal taking place as this was not possible in those cases where rapid action may be required. Many indigenous representatives described their practical experiences of forced relocation without any compensation and as a result of polices

or projects, such as in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh (dam,

and influx of settlers) and the Likanantay community in northern Chile •

•

as a result of copper mines, among other such situations. •

•

New Zealand interpreted the article to mean that there should be • •

• no forced relocation, and wished to include the right to redress as •

• 441

• 442 Indigenous representatives stressed that this was contrary to the spirit the to contrary was this that stressed representatives Indigenous • •

• tioned this approach as not being a true reflection of the debate. the of reflection true a being not as approach this tioned •

•

sion in the report of the government discussion papers. They ques- They papers. discussion government the of report the in sion •

•

clause, indigenous representatives voiced their concern at the inclu- the at concern their voiced representatives indigenous clause, •

that followed when the report was read out and agreed clause by clause agreed and out read was report the when followed that

While reading through the draft report, and during the discussion the during and report, draft the through reading While

graph on third party rights). party third on graph

3

sensus on various articles of the Draft Declaration (a separate para- separate (a Declaration Draft the of articles various on sensus

Annex 5 – Proposal by the Guatemalan Delegation to Facilitate Con- Facilitate to Delegation Guatemalan the by Proposal – 5 Annex

“Tupaj Amaru”; Annex 4 – The Mexican Proposal of a Bureau; and Bureau; a of Proposal Mexican The – 4 Annex Amaru”; “Tupaj

issues discussed; Annex 3 - Comments by the NGO Movimiento Indio Movimiento NGO the by Comments - 3 Annex discussed; issues

contained the views and positions of the indigenous peoples on the on peoples indigenous the of positions and views the contained

draft); Annex 2 - Proposals by Indigenous Representatives, which Representatives, Indigenous by Proposals - 2 Annex draft);

accurately reflect the fact that some states can accept the original the accept can states some that fact the reflect accurately

discussions based on the Sub-Commission text (a new title to more to title new (a text Sub-Commission the on based discussions

- A Compilation of amendments proposed by some states for future for states some by proposed amendments of Compilation A -

ing with a summary of the discussions and five documents: Annex 1 Annex documents: five and discussions the of summary a with ing

This included the following documents: (a) the report of the meet- the of report the (a) documents: following the included This

through and adopt the report. the adopt and through

On the afternoon of the last day, the working group met to read to met group working the day, last the of afternoon the On

Report and future work plans work future and Report

This ended the discussions on the specific articles. specific the on discussions the ended This

ing the article. the ing

stantive issues of article 10, and thus could see no problem in adopt- in problem no see could thus and 10, article of issues stantive

Guatemala pointed out that there was general agreement on the sub- the on agreement general was there that out pointed Guatemala

which no remedy or redress, other than restoration can be adequate. be can restoration than other redress, or remedy no which

spiritual connectedness to the land which needs to be restored and for and restored be to needs which land the to connectedness spiritual

This is because our peoples possess a special, unique, particular and particular unique, special, a possess peoples our because is This

...compensation by itself may not provide adequate remedy or redress. or remedy adequate provide not may itself by ...compensation

of Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta who clarified: who Alberta of Nations First 8 Treaty of

representatives affirmed this approach, including the representative the including approach, this affirmed representatives

ples have to their lands and territories in this context. Indigenous context. this in territories and lands their to have ples

count the particular value of the special relationship indigenous peo- indigenous relationship special the of value particular the count

compensation. Norway also emphasized the need to take into ac- into take to need the emphasized also Norway compensation.

was also supported by Guatemala as being wider in scope than scope in wider being as Guatemala by supported also was

tions only. This proposal to include indemnity for forced relocation forced for indemnity include to proposal This only. tions compensation was sometimes understood to have financial connota- financial have to understood sometimes was compensation of dialogue and equal participation on which the working group was based, and did not include the interchange of views that took place in the meeting itself in a spirit of positive and constructive dialogue. Norway and some other governments stressed that the report should also include the arguments for retaining the original text, clarified by many governments during the discussions, in order to provide a more balanced perspective. Mexico and Guatemala also raised the question as to whether, in the future, the report should identify the positions held by specific states instead of the current practice of using the anonymous general term of “states” prefixed with “some”, “many”, “a few” etc. The proposed dates for the next session of the working group are 2- 13 Dec 2002. For the next session, it was agreed that the working group would consider articles 3, 31, 36 and 25-30 on lands and complete the discussion on articles 7, 8 and 11 pending from this session.

Conclusion

At the end of the meeting, the Working Group on the Draft Declaration had adopted not one single article. However, substantive issues were discussed, and the positions of the individual states made clearer during this session. A positive aspect of this process is that indig- enous peoples have been able to engage in dialogue and discussion with the governments in a constructive manner, and to do their best to address and allay their concerns. What seems increasingly uncertain is whether the Declaration can be adopted within the framework of the Decade and, if this is not the case, what the next step should be. This is the question that indig- enous peoples, and those states that sincerely wish to see a Declara- tion on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted, have to address.

Notes

1 Editor’s note: This article is an abridged version of the original text by Mrs. Chandra Roy. Due to our limited space, we are unfortunately unable to include the introductory section, in which the author provides extremely useful infor- mation regarding the background of the Working Group, indigenous participa-

tion, working methodologies etc. For a full version please visit our website at:

•

http://www.iwgia.org •

•

2 ATSIC 2001: Setting International Standards: An analysis of the United •

•

Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the first six •

• sessions of the Commission on Human Rights Working Group, Prepared for •

• 443 • 444

• Economic and Social Council – ECOSOC. – Council Social and Economic •

•

within the United Nations system, being a subsidiary organ to the to organ subsidiary a being system, Nations United the within •

• The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is located at a high level high a at located is Issues Indigenous on Forum Permanent The •

•

•

Description of the Permanent Forum Permanent the of Description

candidates.

special reference to the indigenous processes for nominating their nominating for processes indigenous the to reference special

résumé of events that have taken place over the last year, with year, last the over place taken have that events of résumé

of the Forum, a short description of the nature of the Forum and a and Forum the of nature the of description short a Forum, the of

brief summary of the historical process that led up to establishment to up led that process historical the of summary brief

of indigenous peoples. In this issue, we will endeavour to give a give to endeavour will we issue, this In peoples. indigenous of

a Permanent Forum that would respond to the needs and demands and needs the to respond would that Forum Permanent a

resentatives and the government delegations around establishing around delegations government the and resentatives

during the negotiation process between indigenous peoples’ rep- peoples’ indigenous between process negotiation the during

informaion has been provided on the debates that have taken place taken have that debates the on provided been has informaion

detailed of editions previous In The Indigenous World, Indigenous The

high level body within the United Nations. United the within body level high

tives of states and non-state actors have been accorded parity in a in parity accorded been have actors non-state and states of tives

the United Nations. It marks the first time in history that representa- that history in time first the marks It Nations. United the

indigenous peoples and their representatives into the structure of structure the into representatives their and peoples indigenous

nity. The new UN body brings new ground, as it formally integrates formally it as ground, new brings body UN new The nity.

cerns known and to gain standing within the international commu- international the within standing gain to and known cerns

long struggle of indigenous peoples to make their needs and con- and needs their make to peoples indigenous of struggle long

This decision was a breakthrough achievement in the decades- the in achievement breakthrough a was decision This

recommendation of the Commission on Human Rights. Human on Commission the of recommendation

T

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on July 2000, on the on 2000, July on Issues Indigenous on Forum Permanent

he United Nations Economic and Social Council established the established Council Social and Economic Nations United he

THE PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES INDIGENOUS ON FORUM PERMANENT THE

www.unhchr.ch/huridoca.nsf/Documents?openFrameset

3 For more details please see the WG-DDIP report on: report WG-DDIP the see please details more For 3

edition at page 34. page at edition chard, June 2001, 3 2001, June chard,

rd the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission by Sarah Prit- Sarah by Commission Islander Strait Torres and Aboriginal the The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will comprise 16 mem- bers, eight of which will be nominated by governments and eight by the President of ECOSOC, on the basis of broad consultation with indigenous groups. The selection process will have to take into account principles of representativity, and the diversity and geographic distribu- tion of indigenous peoples. All members of the Forum will act as independent experts on indig- enous affairs on a personal basis for a three-year period with the possi- bility of re-election or nomination for a further term. The Forum’s mandate is a broad one, covering all indigenous issues relating to economic and social development, human rights, the environ- ment, culture, education and health. Specifically, the Forum will have to:

• Provide expert advice and recommendations on indigenous af- fairs to the UN Economic and Social Council. • Raise awareness and promote the integration and coordination of activities related to issues of concern to indigenous peoples within the UN system. • Prepare and disseminate information on indigenous peoples is- sues.

The Forum will hold an annual ten-day meeting at either the UN head- quarters in Geneva or the UN head office in New York, or any other place the Permanent Forum may decide, in line with the UN’s existing proce- dures and financial regulations. The meetings will be open, like those of the Working Group on Indig- enous Populations. Governments, intergovernmental organisations, NGOs and indigenous peoples’ organisations will be able to participate in the Forum as observers. The Permanent Forum will submit an annual report to the ECOSOC Council on its activities, including any recommendations, for its ap- proval. The report will be distributed to the relevant UN bodies, funds, programmes and agencies. Funding for the Permanent Forum will come from existing resources, through the regular budget of the United Nations and its specialised agencies, and via possible donations.

Five years following its establishment, ECOSOC will undertake an

evaluation of the Permanent Forum’s rules of procedure, including the •

•

method for selecting its members. • •

•

•

• •

• 445

• 446 America, South America, Central America, and Pacific with one rotat- one with Pacific and America, Central America, South America, • •

• the basis of seven geo-cultural regions: Asia, Africa, Arctic, North Arctic, Africa, Asia, regions: geo-cultural seven of basis the •

•

dation was that the eight indigenous experts should be nominated on nominated be should experts indigenous eight the that was dation •

•

for the nomination of the eight indigenous experts. Their recommen- Their experts. indigenous eight the of nomination the for •

Already in 2000, indigenous peoples agreed on a regional division regional a on agreed peoples indigenous 2000, in Already

would nominate candidates for the indigenous members. indigenous the for candidates nominate would

through regional consultations organised by indigenous peoples, w peoples, indigenous by organised consultations regional through hich

by the resolution on the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, was Issues, Indigenous on Forum Permanent the on resolution the by

the broad consultation of indigenous organisations”, as established as organisations”, indigenous of consultation broad the

have particularly focused on the fact that the best way of “ensuring of way best the that fact the on focused particularly have

For this reason, over the last year the indigenous organisations indigenous the year last the over reason, this For

enous organisations means. organisations enous

any criteria by which to define what “broad consultation” with indig- with consultation” “broad what define to which by criteria any

consultation with the indigenous organisations, it does not specify not does it organisations, indigenous the with consultation

ments will be made by the President of ECOSOC on the basis of wide of basis the on ECOSOC of President the by made be will ments

candidates. Although the resolution refers to the fact that the appoint- the that fact the to refers resolution the Although candidates.

that of controlling the nomination process for the eight indigenous eight the for process nomination the controlling of that

ment, one of the main demands of the indigenous organisations was organisations indigenous the of demands main the of one ment,

nent Forum, and more particularly following its official establish- official its following particularly more and Forum, nent

Throughout the whole discussion process on establishing the Perma- the establishing on process discussion whole the Throughout

for nominating candidates nominating for

Indigenous processes of regional consultation regional of processes Indigenous

people, to service the Permanent Forum. Permanent the service to people,

an independent Secretariat, staffed by qualified indigenous qualified by staffed Secretariat, independent an

necessary financial resources to make possible the creation of creation the possible make to resources financial necessary

• That of achieving the allocation, from the UN system, of the of system, UN the from allocation, the achieving of That •

eight indigenous experts. indigenous eight

• That of ensuring indigenous control over the nomination of the of nomination the over control indigenous ensuring of That •

enous organisations during this year were: year this during organisations enous

In this respect, the two most important challenges faced by indig- by faced challenges important most two the respect, this In

spond to the expectations of indigenous peoples. indigenous of expectations the to spond

recently established Permanent Forum would be in a position to re- to position a in be would Forum Permanent established recently

that ECOSOC’s resolution was adequately implemented and that the that and implemented adequately was resolution ECOSOC’s that

Permanent Forum in 2000, however, for there was a need to ensure to need a was there for however, 2000, in Forum Permanent

The challenges did not end with the official establishment of the of establishment official the with end not did challenges The

Forum on Indigenous Issues Indigenous on Forum The path towards the first session of the Permanent the of session first the towards path The ing seat between the three major regions – Asia, Africa and Central/ South America and the Caribbean. During 2001, the indigenous organisations held a number of me- etings with the vice-president of ECOSOC and with Mrs. Mary Ro- binson, High Commissioner for Human Rights, in which they en- dorsed the above-mentioned regional distribution of the indigenous experts and expressed their concern that, unless the indigenous peo- ples were able to recommend their own candidates, through the wid- est possible regional indigenous consultations, there would be a risk of certain governments trying to control or influence the nomination process for indigenous candidates. This would obviously occur with- out the participation or consent of the indigenous peoples and would run counter to the spirit of the establishment of the Permanent Forum. In February 2001, the High Commissioner for Human Rights dis- tributed a circular inviting indigenous peoples’ organisations to sub- mit their individual nominations and requesting them to send their lists of candidates prior to 1 October 2001. This circular caused a great deal of concern among many indig- enous organisations, as the request for individual nominations side- lined their own regional consultation processes, which were consid- ered the only way of ensuring the support of indigenous organisa- tions and the legitimacy of the candidates. In May and July 2001, indigenous representatives held meetings with the vice-president of ECOSOC in which they once again ex- pressed their points of view on the nomination process and defended their proposal for candidates via regional consultations. In spite of a lack of official funding to support the indigenous regional consultation process, the indigenous organisations organ- ised their consultations for the nomination of candidates during the second half of 2001. These consultations were held to nominate can- didates from Asia, Central America, South America, Russia, the Pa- cific and the Arctic. The candidates nominated through these indigenous regional con- sultations were

South America - Amazon Region: Mr. Antonio Jacanamijoy South America – Andes/Southern Cone: Mr. Aucan Huilcaman

Asia: Mr. Parshuram Tamang

Africa: Mr. Ayitegau Kouevi •

•

Arctic: Mr. Ole Henrik Magga •

•

Russia: Mr. Pavel Sulyanziga • •

• Central America: Mr. Marcial Arias •

• 447

• 448 an intervention was made to the plenary in which they once more high- more once they which in plenary the to made was intervention an • •

• Forum. ECOSOC accepted this request from the indigenous caucus and caucus indigenous the from request this accepted ECOSOC Forum. •

•

would be possible to speak on the agenda point devoted to the Permanent the to devoted point agenda the on speak to possible be would •

•

indigenous caucus, meeting in Geneva, decided to ask ECOSOC if it if ECOSOC ask to decided Geneva, in meeting caucus, indigenous •

session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and so the so and Populations Indigenous on Group Working the of session

This meeting of ECOSOC took place on the same dates as the 19th the as dates same the on place took ECOSOC of meeting This

Forum appropriate to its broad mandate. broad its to appropriate Forum

in its 2002-2003 budget, an allocation of resources to the Permanent the to resources of allocation an budget, 2002-2003 its in

Finally, the resolution called upon the General Assembly to consider, to Assembly General the upon called resolution the Finally,

members no later than 15 December 2001. December 15 than later no members

• The ECOSOC President would announce the choice of the 16 the of choice the announce would President ECOSOC The •

lished between the regions for the three remaining places. remaining three the for regions the between lished

operating within the UN system with a rotational system estab- system rotational a with system UN the within operating

by Governments would correspond to the five regional groups regional five the to correspond would Governments by

• The regional distribution of the eight experts to be nominated be to experts eight the of distribution regional The •

2001.

• The first session would be held in New York from 13 to 24 May 24 to 13 from York New in held be would session first The •

Issues and adopted a resolution in which it was established that: established was it which in resolution a adopted and Issues

more considered the issue of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous on Forum Permanent the of issue the considered more

The substantive meeting of ECOSOC held in Geneva in July 2001 once 2001 July in Geneva in held ECOSOC of meeting substantive The

s resolution, July 2001 July resolution, s ’ ECOSOC

individual nominations from different indigenous organisations. indigenous different from nominations individual

tions, the Office of the High Commissioner received approximately fifteen approximately received Commissioner High the of Office the tions,

In addition to the candidates nominated by the regional consulta- regional the by nominated candidates the to addition In

adequate procedures for the election of the indigenous “experts”. indigenous the of election the for procedures adequate

established a particularly constructive precedent in the search for search the in precedent constructive particularly a established

proved and perfected on future occasions but the experience has experience the but occasions future on perfected and proved

undoubtedly only a start, and these processes will need to be im- be to need will processes these and start, a only undoubtedly

eight indigenous expert members of the Permanent Forum. This was This Forum. Permanent the of members expert indigenous eight

own “experts”, thus guaranteeing the necessary legitimacy of the of legitimacy necessary the guaranteeing thus “experts”, own

enous organisations to reach a consensus around nominating their nominating around consensus a reach to organisations enous

edly represented the first significant effort on the part of the indig- the of part the on effort significant first the represented edly

arduous and, in some cases, a source of controversy but they undoubt- they but controversy of source a cases, some in and, arduous

The processes by which these consultations were organised was often was organised were consultations these which by processes The

Pacific: Mrs. Mililani Trask Mililani Mrs. Pacific: North America: Mr. Willie Littlechild Willie Mr. America: North lighted the importance of the fact that the nomination process should take into account the recommendations of the regional indigenous con- sultations and also the need for the Permanent Forum to have its own secretariat plus the financial resources necessary to fulfil its mandate.

Nomination of the 16 members of the Permanent Forum

At the end of December 2001, the President of ECOSOC made known the names of the Permanent Forum members.

The experts nominated by the governments were:

Mrs. Otilia Lux García de Cotí (Guatemala) Mr. Marcos Matias Alonso (Mexico) Mr. Wayne Lord (Canada) Mrs. Ida Nicolaisen (Denmark) Mr. Yuri A. Boitchenko (Russian Federation) Ms. Njuma Ekundanayo (Democratic Republic of Congo) Mr. Yuji Iwasawa (Japan)

The nomination of one expert from the Asia regional group remained pending.

The indigenous experts appointed by the President of ECOSOC were:

Mr. Ayitegau Kouevi (Togo) Mr. Willie Littlechild (Canada) Mr. Ole Henrik Magga (Norway) Ms. Zinaida Strogalschikova (Russian Federation) Mr. Parshuram Tamang (Nepal) Ms. Mililani Trask (United States of America) Mr. Antonio Jacanamijoy (Colombia) Mr. Fortunato Turpo Choquehuanca (Peru)

Unfortunately, the ECOSOC President did not appoint all the can- didates elected in the regional consultations but it is important to

note that, of the eight indigenous experts appointed, 6 are the result

of regional consultation nominations. This is in fact significant •

•

recognition on the part of ECOSOC of indigenous peoples’ internal •

•

processes and a great achievement in the process of recognition of • •

• the right of indigenous peoples to identify their own indigenous •

• 449

• 450 with the challenge of establishing and developing rules of proce- of rules developing and establishing of challenge the with • •

• ments, indigenous peoples’ representatives and NGOs are faced are NGOs and representatives peoples’ indigenous ments, •

•

within the United Nations system. Members of the Forum, govern- Forum, the of Members system. Nations United the within •

•

ensure that the Permanent Forum is able to fulfil its role successfully role its fulfil to able is Forum Permanent the that ensure •

that will require great efforts on the part of all those involved to involved those all of part the on efforts great require will that

historic milestone but it also marks the beginning of a long process long a of beginning the marks also it but milestone historic

The establishment of the Permanent Forum undoubtedly marks an marks undoubtedly Forum Permanent the of establishment The

Final considerations Final

a body with very little direct influence and a minimal capacity for action. for capacity minimal a and influence direct little very with body a

the most effective way of preventing it from fulfilling its role, turning it into it turning role, its fulfilling from it preventing of way effective most the

its own secretariat and a programme of inter-sessional activities would be would activities inter-sessional of programme a and secretariat own its

Depriving the Forum of the financial resources with which to establish to which with resources financial the of Forum the Depriving

fulfil the task entrusted to it by ECOSOC. by it to entrusted task the fulfil

a Permanent Forum with the necessary funding to be able to satisfactorily to able be to funding necessary the with Forum Permanent a

extent the UN system is prepared to commit itself to the establishment of establishment the to itself commit to prepared is system UN the extent

of the continuing major challenges and it still remains to be seen to what to seen be to remains still it and challenges major continuing the of

The issue of funding of the Permanent Forum thus continues to be one be to continues thus Forum Permanent the of funding of issue The

was for the first session of the Permanent Forum to be held. be to Forum Permanent the of session first the for was

sidered in the biannual budget (2002 and 2003) of the United Nations United the of 2003) and (2002 budget biannual the in sidered

to gain the necessary funding, the only and exclusive allocation con- allocation exclusive and only the funding, necessary the gain to

and in spite of all the efforts made by the indigenous organisations indigenous the by made efforts the all of spite in and

it the capacity to implement its mandate adequately. Unfortunately, adequately. mandate its implement to capacity the it

of a secretariat that would service the Permanent Forum, thus giving thus Forum, Permanent the service would that secretariat a of

mands for allocation of the funding necessary for the establishment the for necessary funding the of allocation for mands

hard for the financial bodies of the UN system to consider their de- their consider to system UN the of bodies financial the for hard

Throughout the whole year, indigenous representatives fought representatives indigenous year, whole the Throughout

establishment of the Permanent Forum. Permanent the of establishment

main demands of the indigenous organisations in relation to the to relation in organisations indigenous the of demands main

qualified indigenous staff, has been and continues to be one of the of one be to continues and been has staff, indigenous qualified

secretariat, reporting directly to the ECOSOC secretariat, and with and secretariat, ECOSOC the to directly reporting secretariat,

budget of the financial resources necessary to establishing its own its establishing to necessary resources financial the of budget

necessary to fulfil its mandate and the allocation from the UN regular UN the from allocation the and mandate its fulfil to necessary

The need for the Permanent Forum to have the financial resources financial the have to Forum Permanent the for need The

The independent secretariat and financial resources financial and secretariat independent The

esses. expert members of the Permanent Forum through consultation proc- consultation through Forum Permanent the of members expert dure for the Permanent Forum that will not reduce its capacity for action and that will enable it to implement its broad mandate in the best possible way. It is clear that the process, which requires that the Permanent Forum move from theory to action, from good intentions to concrete results that are of benefit to indigenous peoples, consoli- dating the recognition and protection of their fundamental rights within the UN system, will be a long and difficult one. With the greatest of efforts, indigenous peoples have accomplished the goal to establish the Permanent Forum and the first obstacle has been surmounted but there still remain many obstacles ahead. The firm and coordinated support of all those involved in the process will be essential if the process is to move forward successfully, and if the Permanent Forum is to be capable of responding to the expectations of the indigenous peoples.

SPECIAL UN RAPPORTEUR ON THE SITUATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

n 2001 the Commission on Human Rights decided to appoint a ISpecial Rappporteur on the Situation of the Human Rights of Indig- enous People. Later this year, the Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights appointed Dr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, a Mexican re- search professor specialized in indigenous rights, as the Special Rap- porteur for a three year period. The appointment of the Special Rapporteur is a significant achieve- ment of indigenous peoples in their on-going pursuit for the protection and recognition of their fundamental rights by the United Nations. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur is:

• To gather information and communications from all relevant sources – including governments, indigenous peoples and their communities and organisations – on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples.

• To formulate recommendations and proposals on measures

and activities to prevent and remedy violations of the human • •

•

rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. •

•

• To work in close relation with other special rapporteurs, spe- •

• •

• 451

• 452

•

(ACHPR) concerning the promotion and protection of the human the of protection and promotion the concerning (ACHPR) •

A • within the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Peoples’ and Human on Commission African the within • •

•

n interesting and promising process is currently developing currently is process promising and interesting n •

•

AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS (ACHPR) RIGHTS PEOPLES’ AND

THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN ON COMMISSION AFRICAN THE

Email: [email protected] Email:

Fax: 41 22 917 90 10 90 917 22 41 Fax:

8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland 10, Geneva 1211 Paix, la de Avenue 8-14

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Human for Commissioner High the of Office

peoples

Special Rapporteur on the situation of the human rights of indigenous of rights human the of situation the on Rapporteur Special

Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen Rodolfo Mr.

Any information intended for the Special Rapporteur may be sent to: sent be may Rapporteur Special the for intended information Any

mation.

ing to the violation of their rights, so that he can act on such infor- such on act can he that so rights, their of violation the to ing

Rapporteur mechanism by submitting to him information pertain- information him to submitting by mechanism Rapporteur

enous organisations and communities to make use of the Special the of use make to communities and organisations enous

IWGIA would like to take this opportunity to encourage indig- encourage to opportunity this take to like would IWGIA

http://www.unhchr.ch/indigenous/rapporteur.htm

of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: Human for Commissioner High the of

CN.4/2002/97 Add1) can be found on the web site of the UN Office UN the of site web the on found be can Add1) CN.4/2002/97

The Special Rapporteur’s first rapport ( E/CN.4/2002/97 and E/ and E/CN.4/2002/97 ( rapport first Rapporteur’s Special The

agenda for his future activities. future his for agenda

human rights issues faced by indigenous peoples and set out the out set and peoples indigenous by faced issues rights human

in April 2002, Dr. Stavenhagen provided an overview of the main the of overview an provided Stavenhagen Dr. 2002, April in

In his first rapport, presented to the Commission on Human Rights Human on Commission the to presented rapport, first his In

violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples. indigenous of rights human the of violations

and communications with governments with regard to the alleged the to regard with governments with communications and

The work of the Special Rapporteur involves fact-finding missions, fact-finding involves Rapporteur Special the of work The

sion on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Human of Protection and Promotion the on sion

of the Commission on Human Rights and of the Sub-Commis- the of and Rights Human on Commission the of cial representatives, working groups and independent experts independent and groups working representatives, cial rights of indigenous peoples and communities in Africa, and we give here a short update for the past 1-2 years. The background to the initiation of the process can briefly be summarized as follows: in 1999, IWGIA held a conference on the situation of indigenous peoples in Africa in cooperation with PIN- GOs Forum in Tanzania. This conference recommended that the Af- rican Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights should be encour- aged to address the human rights situation of indigenous peoples in Africa, which it had so far never done before. One of the members of the African Commission – Commissioner Barney Pityana from South Africa - participated in the Tanzania conference and, during the following sessions of the African Commission in Rwanda and Alge- ria respectively, he brought up the issue. Initially, the African Com- mission tended to reject the issue, as it did not find the term indigenous peoples applicable to African conditions. The main argument was that all Africans are indigenous to Africa and that no particular group can claim indigenous status. However, during the 28th Ordinary Session of the African Commis- sion, which took place in Benin in October 2000, the situation of indigenous peoples was on the agenda as a separate agenda item. Although the issue was initially not positively received, its inclusion on the official agenda was a crucial historical step forward since it gave the Commission and indigenous people the possibility of pur- suing the matter further. During the Benin session, a “Resolution on the Rights of Indigenous People/Communities in Africa” was adopted by the Commission. The resolution resolved to set up a working group with the following mandate:

• To examine the concept of indigenous people and communities in Africa; • To study the implications of the African Charter on the human rights and well-being of indigenous communities; • To consider appropriate recommendations for the monitoring and protection of the rights of indigenous communities.

The adoption of this resolution was a remarkable step forward, indi- cating the willingness of the African Commission to debate the issue.

The 29th Ordinary Session of the African Commission took place in

Tripoli, Libya from 23 April – 7 May 2001. For the first time ever, five •

•

indigenous representatives participated in this session, and they were •

•

allowed to present a statement, even though none of their organiza- • •

• tions have observer status with the Commission. The indigenous •

• 453

• 454 be to develop a Conceptual Framework Paper. This paper would be would paper This Paper. Framework Conceptual a develop to be • •

• meeting, it was agreed that the first task of the Working Group would Group Working the of task first the that agreed was it meeting, •

•

mission which took place from 13 – 27 October 2001. During the During 2001. October 27 – 13 from place took which mission •

•

ber 12, 2001, prior to the start of the 30 the of start the to prior 2001, 12, ber

Session of the African Com- African the of Session • th

The Working Group held its first meeting in the Gambia on Octo- on Gambia the in meeting first its held Group Working The

designated secretary to the Working Group. Working the to secretary designated

Fiona Adolu from the secretariat of the African Commission was Commission African the of secretariat the from Adolu Fiona

• Marianne Jensen (IWGIA, independent expert) independent (IWGIA, Jensen Marianne •

• Mohamed Khattali (indigenous expert – Tuareg, Mali) Tuareg, – expert (indigenous Khattali Mohamed •

• Zéphyrin Kalimba (indigenous expert – Batwa, Rwanda) Batwa, – expert (indigenous Kalimba Zéphyrin •

• Naomi Kipuri (indigenous expert – Maasai, Kenya) Maasai, – expert (indigenous Kipuri Naomi •

issioner Andrew Chigovera (from Zimbabwe) (from Chigovera Andrew issioner Comm •

Rezag Bara (from Algeria) (from Bara Rezag

• Commissioner and chairman of the African Commission Kamel Commission African the of chairman and Commissioner •

(from South Africa) South (from

• Commissioner Barney Pityana (chairman of the Working Group) Working the of (chairman Pityana Barney Commissioner •

African Commission to serve on the Working Group were: Group Working the on serve to Commission African

Working Groups on other topics. The members nominated by the by nominated members The topics. other on Groups Working

human rights issues of concern, and there are presently also other also presently are there and concern, of issues rights human

nisms that exist within the African Commission to study various study to Commission African the within exist that nisms

Working Group. The “Working Group” model is one of the mecha- the of one is model Group” “Working The Group. Working

experts. It is not an open forum with broad participation like the UN the like participation broad with forum open an not is It experts.

nominated by the African Commission in their personal capacity as capacity personal their in Commission African the by nominated

African Commission is a small task force to which a few people are people few a which to force task small a is Commission African

Group on Indigenous Populations. The Working Group under the under Group Working The Populations. Indigenous on Group

This Working Group has a different nature than the UN Working UN the than nature different a has Group Working This

established by the African Commission. African the by established

” was ” ing Group on the Rights of Indigenous People/Communities in Africa in People/Communities Indigenous of Rights the on Group ing

During the private session of the 29 the of session private the During Session in Libya, the “ the Libya, in Session Work-

th

with other human rights NGOs and interested state parties. state interested and NGOs rights human other with

sion, they got the chance to voice their concerns and discuss directly discuss and concerns their voice to chance the got they sion,

missioners and, through the seminar they organized during the ses- the during organized they seminar the through and, missioners

African Commission. They actively lobbied the governments and Com- and governments the lobbied actively They Commission. African

people had the opportunity of presenting their cases directly to the to directly cases their presenting of opportunity the had people

mission in Libya was very important as, for the first time, indigenous time, first the for as, important very was Libya in mission

The indigenous participation in the session of the African Com- African the of session the in participation indigenous The

Group on the Rights of Indigenous People/Communities in Africa. in People/Communities Indigenous of Rights the on Group

African Commission for the future work of the proposed Working proposed the of work future the for Commission African

seminar during the session and presented recommendations to the to recommendations presented and session the during seminar representatives participated and spoke in the session, organized a organized session, the in spoke and participated representatives the first step in the formulation of a report to be submitted to the African Commission – presumably in April-May 2003. It was decided that the paper should make some initial discussion of the character- istics of indigenous peoples in Africa and give an idea of which groups of peoples we are talking about, defining their concrete human rights problems. A first draft of this paper would have to be ready before the next session of the Commission, where it would be dis- cussed at a one-day round table meeting. It was decided that, provided funding could be obtained, a wider consultative seminar should be conducted in 2002 to discuss the findings of the Conceptual Framework Paper with a broader audience of indigenous people and experts on the issue. It was furthermore considered that it was important for more in- digenous people themselves to participate in the forthcoming ses- sions of the African Commission in order to present their situation, and that their organizations should apply for observer status with the Commission so that they would be allowed to participate and speak in the sessions. Another important activity of the Commission is the preparation of an analysis of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights seen in the light of the discussion of the human rights of indigenous peoples. In the 30th Session in the Gambia, two of the indigenous repre- sentatives of the Working Group and IWGIA made statements under agenda item 10(i) “Situation of indigenous people”, which is main- tained as an agenda point under agenda item 10 “Promotional Activi- ties”. In his statement, the representative of the government of South Africa welcomed the establishment of the Working Group as an im- portant initiative. However, some of the commissioners strongly voiced their opposition to the issue, stating that the African Commission seemed to be taking on its fragile shoulders an issue that was not the concern of the Commission. They maintained that the term indigenous could not be used meaningfully in an African context and that it implied negative colonial connotations. This position was, however, contested by other commissioners, reflecting the differing positions within the Commission. A first draft of the Conceptual Framework Paper was produced by the Working Group prior to the round table meeting, which took place

st

as planned prior to the 31 Ordinary Session of the African Commis- •

•

sion in Pretoria, South Africa from 2-16 May 2002. The round table •

•

meeting was attended by the members of the Working Group and four • •

• invited experts. The draft paper was discussed, and the approach •

• 455 • 456 • • • • • •

•

•

tween African governments and indigenous peoples. indigenous and governments African tween

important message and help facilitate a much needed dialogue be- dialogue needed much a facilitate help and message important

vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples, this will send a very a send will this peoples, indigenous as such groups vulnerable

sion does endorse the significance of supporting marginalized and marginalized supporting of significance the endorse does sion

Commission is a major platform of debate, and if the African Commis- African the if and debate, of platform major a is Commission

peoples remains difficult in an African context. However, the African the However, context. African an in difficult remains peoples

and encouraging. There is no doubt that the issue of indigenous of issue the that doubt no is There encouraging. and

attitude on the part of the African Commission is very commendable very is Commission African the of part the on attitude

with the issue and in cooperating with the Working Group. This open This Group. Working the with cooperating in and issue the with

Several commissioners have now expressed an interest in dealing in interest an expressed now have commissioners Several

indigenous peoples and minorities. and peoples indigenous

sioners to take an active interest in the issue of the human rights of rights human the of issue the in interest active an take to sioners

generally positive and constructive, encouraging more of the commis- the of more encouraging constructive, and positive generally

ments. The comments from those commissioners who spoke were spoke who commissioners those from comments The ments.

the Botswana Center for Human Rights and IWGIA also gave state- gave also IWGIA and Rights Human for Center Botswana the

Organisations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), Organization Labour International the as such Organisations

indigenous experts gave statements on behalf of the Working Group. Working the of behalf on statements gave experts indigenous

a progress report of the work of the Working Group and two of the of two and Group Working the of work the of report progress a

During the 31 the During session, Commissioner Barney Pityana presented Pityana Barney Commissioner session, st

seminar in October 2002. October in seminar

report, which will hopefully be discussed at a wider consultative wider a at discussed be hopefully will which report,

table meeting it was agreed to proceed with the further drafting of the of drafting further the with proceed to agreed was it meeting table used in the paper seemed to be generally accepted. During the round the During accepted. generally be to seemed paper the in used PART III PART

IWGIA PUBLICATIONS AND

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dio Antropológico sobre la Evolución en las Formas de Ocupación del Espacio del Ocupación de Formas las en Evolución la sobre Antropológico dio •

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Tierra, Territorio y Territorialidad Indígena. Un Estu- Un Indígena. Territorialidad y Territorio Tierra, Roberto Balza Alarcón. Balza Roberto • •

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maps. ISBN: 87-90730-55-0. ISBN: maps. •

• CORPI, Racimos de Ungurahui & IWGIA 2001, 175 p., ill. & ill. p., 175 2001, IWGIA & Ungurahui de Racimos CORPI,

Amazonas. Amazonas. •

Una Historia Para el Futuro. Territorios y Pueblos Indígenas en Alto en Indígenas Pueblos y Territorios Futuro. el Para Historia Una longe.

García Hierro, Pedro, Alberto Chirif Tirado & Alexandre Surrallés Ca- Surrallés Alexandre & Tirado Chirif Alberto Pedro, Hierro, García

US$ 10.00, GBP 7,00, DKK 85,00.ISBN: 87-90730-58-5. 85,00.ISBN: DKK 7,00, GBP 10.00, US$ p. 171 2002.

. Forest Peoples’ Programme & IWGIA, & Programme Peoples’ Forest . Interamericano de Derechos Humanos Derechos de Interamericano

Guia para los Derechos de los Pueblos Indigenas en el Sistema el en Indigenas Pueblos los de Derechos los para Guia Fergus MacKay. Fergus

443-9.

& IWGIA 2002. 442 p., ill. & maps. 130 MXP – US$13.50. ISBN 968-496- ISBN US$13.50. – MXP 130 maps. & ill. p., 442 2002. IWGIA &

CIESAS libertad y autonomía: impactos regionales del zapatismo en Chiapas. en zapatismo del regionales impactos autonomía: y libertad

Tierra, Mattiace, Shannan L, Rosalva Aída Hernández y Jan Rus (eds). (eds). Rus Jan y Hernández Aída Rosalva L, Shannan Mattiace,

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IWGIA 2002. 256 p., ill. & maps. S/60 – US$ – S/60 maps. & ill. p., 256 2002. IWGIA la sobreviviencia y la libertad. la y sobreviviencia la

Los pueblos indígenas en aislamiento. Su lucha por lucha Su aislamiento. en indígenas pueblos Los Beatriz Huertas Castillo. Castillo. Huertas Beatriz

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Sustainable Development 4/2001 Poverty 4/2002 Poverty 4/2001 Development Sustainable

Self-Determination 3/2001 Urban Indigenous 3/2002 Indigenous Urban 3/2001 Self-Determination

Militarization 2/2001 Bolivia (in print) 2/2002 print) (in Bolivia 2/2001 Militarization

Perspectives and Challenges 1/2002 Challenges and Perspectives

International Processes – Processes International 1/2001 Racism

Indigenous Affairs 2001 Indigenous Affairs 2002 Affairs Indigenous 2001 Affairs Indigenous

87-90730-46-1

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Racism against Racism No.105 Suhas Chakma & Marianne Jensen (eds.): Jensen Marianne & Chakma Suhas No.105

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ASUNTOS INDÍGENAS 2001 ASUNTOS INDÍGENAS 2002 Racismo 1/2001 Procesos Internacionales – Perspectivas y Desafíos 1/2002 Militarización 2/2001 Bolivia (en preparación) 2/2002 Auto-determinación 3/2001 Indígenas Urbanos 3/2002 Desarrollo Sostenible 4/2001 Pobreza 4/2002.

PUBLICATIONS IN OTHER LANGUAGES

Marianne Jensen and Greta M. Maganga (eds.): Wenyeji Asilia Katika Afrika Mashariki, Kati Na Kusini (Swahili translation of Indigenous Affairs no. 2/ 99 on Hunter-Gatherers and Pastoralists in Africa); IWGIA 2001, 148 pages. ISBN: 87-90730-44-5 - US$ 10.50; GBP 7,30; DKK 85,00

Jens Dahl & Alejandro Parellada (eds.): Katutubong Mamamayan (Tagalog - Philippines - translation of Pueblos Indígenas); IWGIA 2001, 131 pages ISBN 87-90730-40-2

Jens Dahl & Alejandro Parellada (eds.): Masyarakat Adat di Dunia. Eksistensi Dan Perjuangannya (Bahasa - Indonesia translation of Pueblos Indígenas) IWGIA 2001, 139 p. ISBN 87-90730-39-9

Jens Dahl & Alejandro Parellada (eds.): Thai translation of Pueblos In- dígenas) IWGIA 2001, 127 p. ISBN 87-90730-30-5

In Danish

Annelin Eriksen & Knut Rio: STILLEHAVSFOLK I MELANESIEN Red. Käthe Jepsen; IWGIA 2002, 40 s. (ill.) ISSN: 1399-9540 / ISBN: 87-90730-54-2 DKK 25,00 Morita Carrasco: MAPUCHE – Et indiansk folk i Argentina og Chile Red. Käthe Jepsen; IWGIA 2001, 40 s. (ill.)

ISSN: 1399-9540 / ISBN: 87-90730-38-0 DKK 25,00

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