THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE RAPA NUI PEOPLE ON EASTER ISLAND Rapa Nui IWGIA report 15 THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE RAPA NUI PEOPLE ON EASTER ISLAND Report of the international Observers’ Mission to Rapa Nui 2011 OBSERVERS: Clem Chartier, President of Métis National Council, Canada. Alberto Chirif, Anthropologist and Researcher, IWGIA, Peru. Nin Tomas, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Auckland in Aotearoa- New Zealand, and researcher in the area of Indigenous Peoples Rights. Rapa Nui: August 1 - 3, 2011 Santiago: August 4 - 8, 2011 Report 15 IWGIA - 2012 CONTENTS THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE RAPA NUI PEOPLE ON EASTER ISLAND Observer´s Report visit to Rapa Nui 2011 ISBN: 978-87-92786-27-2 PRESENTATION 5 Editor Observatorio Ciudadano 1. Historical information about the relationship between the Rapa Nui Design and layout people and the Chilean State 7 Lola de la Maza Cover photo 2. Diagnosis of the Human Rights situation of the Rapa Nui and their Isabel Burr, archivo Sacrofilm demands, with special reference to the rights of self-determination Impresión Impresos AlfaBeta and territorial rights 11 Santiago , Chile 2.1. Self Determination 12 2.1.1 Right to Consultation over Migration Control 18 2.1.2 Conclusion 20 2.2. Territorial Rights 21 OBSERVATORIO CIUDADANO Antonio Varas 428 - Temuco, Chile 2.2.1. Lands Occupations 21 Tel: 56 (45) 213963 - Fax 56 (45) 218353 E-mail: [email protected] - Web: www.observatorio.cl 2.2.2. Return of Lands 26 INTERNATIONAL WORK GROUP FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS 3. RightS OF IndigEnouS PEoplES in ChilE 30 Classensgade 11 E, DK 2100 - Copenhagen, Denmark Tel: (45) 35 27 05 00 - Fax (45) 35 27 05 07 4. ConcluSionS 31 E-mail: [email protected] - Web: www.iwgia.org 5. REcommEndationS 32 ANNEX Violations of the rights of the Rapa Nui People and Rapa Nui individuals, ACKnowlEdgmEntS according to the American Convention on Human Rights 35 We acknowledge the contribution of the Observatorio Ciudadano, in particular of Consuelo IntERVIEWS 38 Labra, of the Indian Law Resource Center, of International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), as well as that of the Ford Foundation in the implementation of this observation OthER actiVitiES 38 mission and in the preparation of this report. We also express our gratitude to all the individuals and institutions, particularly those of the Rapa Nui people, who provided support and information for the preparation of this report. PRESENTATION This document corresponds to the Report “Ley Pascua” was enacted, as well as the violation prepared by a group of observers from different of territorial rights and of self-determination that latitudes and disciplines, including Clem Chartier, continue to date. President of the Métis National Council, Canada; Alberto Chirif, Anthropologist and Researcher, One of the most serious violations to the rights IWGIA, Peru; and Nin Tomas, Associate Professor of the Rapa Nui, which remains to date, is the of Law and Researcher in the area of Indigenous usurpation of their territory. This was done by Peoples’ Rights at the University of Auckland in means of the registration of the entire Easter Aotearoa-New Zealand. For its preparation, the Island in the name of the State of Chile, carried observers visited Easter Island and Santiago, out in 1933, a time when the Rapa Nui were the capital of Chile, in the month of August considered stateless and lacked all civil and 2011, where they held meetings with traditional political rights. This registration was conducted authorities and Rapa Nui organizations, Chilean in the Valparaiso Recorder of Deeds, a city located authorities, Mapuche indigenous organizations on the continent more than 4,000 kilometers and human rights entities. from the island, excluding any possibility for opposition, using as an argument that the land The purpose of this Report, which has as had no owners. background the recent events concerning the acts of police violence and criminalization of Since the enactment of the “Ley Pascua”, this the territorial claims of the Rapa Nui peoples relationship changed, recognizing the Rapa which occurred in the years 2010 and 2011, is Nui’s rights of citizenship and other benefits, to assess the human rights situation of the Rapa which was reinforced by subsequent legislation Nui people. such as the “Indigenous Act” in the early 90’s that granted special rights to the Rapa Nui and In the first part of theR eport, historical information the ratification of the ILO Convention 169 on is provided regarding the relationship between Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent the Rapa Nui people and the Chilean State, Countries. In practice, however, as explained in beginning with the annexation of the Easter this Report, such legislation has not resulted in Island territory to Chile in the late nineteenth the return of the land and respect for territorial century by signing a Treaty or “Agreement of rights and self-determination of the Rapa Nui Wills” in the year 1888 with Rapa Nui authorities of peoples. the time. This agreement established the basis of this relationship, becoming an essential tool for In the second part of the Report, an updated determining land rights and self-determination analysis of the human rights situation of the of the Rapa Nui people. Rapa Nui people and their demands is made, with particular regard to land rights and self- The thesis of the authors is that this agreement determination. The background information is part of a Polynesian tradition of making is presented in more depth with respect “international treaties” between peoples in their to their collective demand to recover their travels throughout the Pacific Ocean and, in this ancestral territory, to respect their right to self- context, they accepted the Chilean government, determination under International Law, and but they did not hand over the territory and the for the full recognition of the 1888 Treaty or investiture of traditional Rapa Nui authorities “Agreement of Wills”. The commitments made was maintained. This was violated by the Chilean and not met by the Chilean State to respond State, which submitted the Rapa Nui to a series to the demands of the Rapa Nui people are Map of Easter Island. {{PD-PCL|http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/islands_oceans_poles/easterisland.jpg}} of afflictions, holding them in conditions of also examined. It especially examines the semi-slavery, as stateless and denied of all civil demand for effective political participation and and political rights until 1967 when the so-called control over their political institutions by way REPORT RAPA NUI 5 of establishing a “Special Statute,” a method of and dissemination of the critical human rights 1. HISTORical inFORmation ABout thE RElationShip BE- Immigration Control, and a special reference to situation of the Rapa Nui people, which must efforts to achieve compliance with the right of be urgently addressed by the Chilean State twEEN thE Rapa Nui PEoplE and thE ChilEan StatE indigenous peoples to prior consultation. based on the international commitments it has assumed in this regard. The Report also analyzes the information about the Rapa Nui people’s collective demand to obtain restitution of the territory from which they The annexation of Easter Island by the Chilean over lands and territory was retained by the have been deprived, giving rise to the peaceful State was effected by an “Agreement of Wills”, Maori chiefs under the Treaty. occupation of public and private buildings of on September 9, 1888, a Treaty signed by the In spite of being separated by an ocean, the the island by members of the Rapa Nui people IWGIA navy captain, Policarpo Toro, in representation between August 2010 and February 2011. This similarity of these recorded customs, suggests of the Chilean State and the Rapa Nui king, was used as leverage to demand recognition of a common practice may have existed amongst Atamu Tekena. This document, which was their rights to ancestral property, an occupation OBSERVATORIO CIUDADANO Pacific peoples of demarcating the retention written in Castilian and Rapa Nui/ancient that was brutally suppressed by the Chilean of land and authority in the collective hands of state, thereby criminalizing social protest in the Tahitian, established a relationship between the “tangata henua” (people of the earth), while claim for legitimate rights. the Chilean State and the Rapa Nui. There are assigning a lesser authority to foreigners as differences between the texts. The Castilian text The third section of the Report refers to the newcomers. During the Mission, Professor Tomas refers to an absolute transfer of sovereignty by overall situation of the Rights of Indigenous attended a meeting with members of Te Moana the Rapa Nui to Chile. The Rapa Nui/ ancient Peoples in Chile. This context highlights the lack Nui a Kiva, a Pan-Pacific association of indigenous Tahitian text, however, speaks of “what is above of constitutional recognition, the absence of a chiefs living within the Polynesian triangle formal mechanism for prior consultation in case is written (agreed upon)”, indicating that the created by Hawaii, Rapa Nui, and Aotearoa. They of measures which may affect them directly or agreement only refers to use of the surface stated that the process of creating Treaties is to ensure their political participation, and the without transferring title of the land to Chile.1 not a monopoly of western nations, but was an lack of clear measures for the implementation Rapa Nui claim that their right of ownership over ancestral tradition frequently engaged in when of the ILO Convention 169 in force in Chile the entire territory of Rapa Nui was recognized their ancestors travelled between the Pacific since September 2009. This section also as well as the investiture of its chiefs, with the includes background information on the lack Islands.