IPS-English PERU: Indigenous People, Ignored Even by the Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:54:13 -0700 X-Nohoney: yes white-hard - relay H=adsl-63-203-231-61.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net (borg.energy-net.org) [63.203.231.61] X-Sender-Host-Address: 63.203.231.61 X-Sender-Host-Name: adsl-63-203-231-61.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY-WHITELIST ROMAIPS LA EN HD CS IN SU=20 PERU: Indigenous People, Ignored Even by the Statistics Milagros Salazar LIMA, Oct 10 (IPS) - Peruvian President Alan Garc=EDa has promised suppor= t for indigenous family farms and microenterprises. But a new report poin= ts to a bigger challenge that has not been addressed by the government: m= illions of indigenous people in the country are increasingly feeling the = impact of the mining and oil industries and the lack of basic services th= at respect their identity. =94In Peru, the poorest of the poor, the people who do not even have iden= tity documents, the most neglected and abandoned, are indigenous people,=94= the head of the National Human Rights Coordinating Committee's working g= roup on indigenous people, Wilfredo Ardito, in charge of drafting the rep= ort, told IPS. The document is an alternative report on compliance with Convention 169 c= oncerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, adopted= in 1989 by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and in effect sin= ce 1991. The Convention establishes a system of special protections for indigenous= groups and mechanisms of consultation with indigenous people on laws, pr= oductive projects and policies that affect them and the areas where they = live. Of the 17 countries that have ratified the Convention, 13 are in Latin Am= erica. Although Peru ratified the Convention in 1994, it has never made public t= he periodic reports that it submits to the ILO on progress with regard to= compliance. Because of that lack of transparency, nearly 20 human rights organisation= s and indigenous communities drafted the alternative document, which was = submitted to the ILO on Sep. 29 and was officially presented on Tuesday. The conclusions are anything but upbeat. The report, to which IPS had acc= ess before it was presented, states that not even the latest national cen= sus, carried out in 2005, reflected the country's real ethnic and multicu= ltural makeup, to update the statistics on indigenous people and their pr= oblems, even though the law states that such information must be incorpor= ated in the census. This omission must be corrected, because the lack of precise statistics m= akes it difficult to adopt public policies in favour of indigenous people= s, states the report, which seeks to contrast the government's version of= reality with that of civil society before the ILO issues its recommendat= ions. The most recent statistics on Peru's indigenous population date back to a= 1993 census, according to which the country was home to just under nine = million indigenous people, nearly all of whom lived in the highlands. The= great majority of native people in Peru are Quechua, while around seven = percent are Aymara and two percent belong to Amazon jungle groups. But more recent estimates put the proportion at 45 percent, with most of = the rest of the population of 28 million being of mixed-race (mestizo) he= ritage, and around 15 percent of European descent. The alternative report states that the government has favoured mining and= oil extraction by private companies over the conservation of a healthy e= nvironment for indigenous communities and respect for their ancestral ter= ritories. One illustrative case is that of the Achuar people on the Corrientes Rive= r in the country's northern jungle region of Loreto, where the oil indust= ry has been causing damages to the water, flora and fauna for over 30 yea= rs. The California-based Occidental Petroleum has been operating in that area= since the 1970s, and Pluspetrol Norte, a local subsidiary of Argentine-b= ased Pluspetrol, is also currently active there. According to the report, over 50 percent of the 8,000 indigenous people w= ho live in that region have been affected by the activities of oil compan= ies. It cites a Health Ministry study published in May that confirms that= cadmium and lead above acceptable limits were found in the bloodstreams = of local residents, especially children. Petroleum residues in the waste water dumped into the rivers can lead to = the destruction of algae and microorganisms that serve as food for fish, = states the alternative report.=20 In addition, the local people who bathe in the water suffer rashes and ot= her skin problems, says the report, which also mentions cases in which in= digenous people have had no choice but to consume water contaminated by c= hemicals dumped by the oil companies. But the damages do not only involve Achuar Indians and oil companies. Acc= ording to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, there are 850 mines around th= e country, most of them located in indigenous territories, that have caus= ed environmental damages. Mining sector authorities say the damages were caused prior to 1993, when= the country still lacked adequate legislation on the environment. But the alternative report says the country's current legislation still f= ails to guarantee that companies respect the environment, because the req= uirements fall short of international standards, and local communities ar= e not informed and consulted prior to the granting of concessions and app= roval of projects on their land, as stipulated by law. =94The state has the obligation to respect indigenous peoples, their cult= ural identity, world view and right to their ancestral territory. The gov= ernment cannot take unilateral decisions,=94 the chairman of the legislat= ive commission on the Amazon region and indigenous affairs, Carlos C=E1ne= pa, told IPS. A congressional committee made up of C=E1nepa and three of his colleagues= traveled Friday to the Corrientes River, one of the areas where Pluspetr= ol Norte operates, to verify the damages.=20 On his return to Lima Monday, he said the congressional mission confirmed= that =94there is pollution in the area, and that the Achuar are in a sta= te of utter neglect, with no protection from the state.=94 He said he wou= ld draw up a report on the findings, to be submitted to Congress. C=E1nepa also said he would revive the debate on the draft General Law on= Indigenous Peoples, with the aim of unifying legislation on the rights o= f native communities, which are only recognised in a piecemeal and someti= mes contradictory fashion in different laws. He added that he would push = for the inclusion of Convention 169 provisions in the bill. Another case that reveals the lack of respect for the right of indigenous= communities to their territories is a legal struggle that has dragged on= for more than 27 years in Puno, in the country's southern Andean highlan= ds region, where the Uro Indians are fighting for recognition of and sove= reignty over their land and the natural resources in the Lake Titicaca Na= tional Reserve. A law passed in August 2005 without prior consultation with the indigenou= s communities stripped them of their right to the land in question. Communities of indigenous people and small farmers occupy 55 percent of f= armland in Peru, which partly explains the land disputes that continuousl= y crop up as companies keen on exploiting the natural resources in rural = areas expand their activities. The alternative report also states that indigenous people must have acces= s to health care that respects their cultural identity and traditions. In April, several women from the indigenous community of Pueblo Nuevo, in= the eastern Amazon region of Ucayali, reported that they had been steril= ised in a local health centre, without having been previously informed of= the nature of the operation and the risks it entailed. As a result, four women suffered serious infections, because they returne= d to their normal activities without any information on the postoperative= care and rest they needed. Their testimony was gathered by the non-governmental Peace and Hope Assoc= iation, which was in charge of the preliminary draft of the report produc= ed by the National Human Rights Coordinating Committee, an umbrella group= =2E =94The problems faced by indigenous people exist in all areas and must be= tackled in an integral manner, due to their complexity. Continuous overs= ight and monitoring are needed, to report cases of violations of these ri= ghts,=94 one of the authors, lawyer Wuillie Ruiz of the Peace and Hope As= sociation, told IPS. On the education front, according to the 1993 census, only 2.5 percent of= indigenous people over the age of 15 had had access to tertiary educatio= n. And of this small proportion, 67.5 percent did not complete their stud= ies. Besides the problems of educational coverage, the report says very little= progress has been made towards the implementation of bilingual and inter= cultural teaching, and towards guaranteeing that it is of good quality. Indigenous people in Peru were also hit hard by the armed conflict that p= lagued the country from 1980 to 2000. Many communities lost access to edu= cation when they were forced to leave their territories or were captured = by the Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas. Between 1989 and 1993, 15,000 Ashaninka and Nomatsiguenga Indians were fo= rced to flee their land in the south-central region of Jun=EDn, while 5,0= 00 were captured by Sendero and held in conditions of slavery to provide = forced labour. In addition, many children from these two indigenous group= s were forcibly recruited into the ranks of the insurgents. Although Sendero was basically destroyed by the turn of the century, a Ju= ne 2004 study on forced displacement by the Norwegian Refugee Council sho= wed that the problem has not entirely disappeared. The study said Sendero cells were still killing and recruiting indigenous= people in the Amazon valleys of Alto Huallaga in the central region of H= u=E1nuco, in Ene in Jun=EDn, and in Apur=EDmac in the south. And last year, leaders of the Ashaninka and Nomatsiguenga communities rep= orted continued threats from Sendero in their territories. In addition, the armed forces, in their =94dirty war=94 against the insur= gents, killed and =94disappeared=94 more than 7,250 civilians who were no= t involved in the conflict, many of whom were indigenous people, accordin= g to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated the politi= cal violence. =94We want to help indigenous people through national agricultural projec= ts like Sierra Exportadora and credits for microenterprise,=94 said the h= ead of the National Institute of Development of Andean, Amazon and Afro-P= eruvian Peoples (INDEPA), Juan Manuel Figueroa.=20 =94We are aware that we have a debt to the country's southern jungle regi= on,=94 he told IPS. Sierra Exportadora is a government programme to be put into effect over t= he next five years on 150,000 hectares in 11 highlands regions, with the = aim of producing more than 20 different farm products for export. The small farmers who enroll in the programme will have access to the Agr= obanco, a state-run bank, through which they will obtain loans and will h= ave guaranteed purchasers for their products. =94This is a social productive project to attack poverty at its roots=94 = in highland areas between 2,500 and 4,500 metres above sea level, where s= ome eight million campesinos live, six million of them in extreme poverty= , President Garc=EDa said before he took office in July. Figueroa also said that he would propose, in the next meeting of the INDE= PA board of directors, making the government=B4s reports to the ILO on Co= nvention 169 public. ***** + PERU: Leaching Out the Water with the Gold (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D34805) + PERU: Indigenous Community to Take Oil Company to Court (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D34380) + PERU: Rights of Isolated Indigenous Communities Violated by Amazon Pipe= line (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D32355) + RIGHTS-PERU: Forcibly Sterilised Women Gain Voice in Congress (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D33918) + PERU: Beggar on a Throne of Gold (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D= 34436) + Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent = Countries (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/62.htm)=20 + National Human Rights Coordinating Committee - in Spanish=20 (http://www.dhperu.org/) (END/IPS/LA IN HD EN SU CS/TRASP-SW/MS/DCL/06) =20 =3D 10101951 ORP009 NNNN