GUEST ARTICLE: Peruvian government highway project threatens Isconahua indigenous people’s survival

By Robert Guimaraes Vásquez (Regional Group for Monitoring Megaprojects in Ucayali, Peru, GRMMU)

A proposed Peruvian government highway project to join the Peruvian Amazon town of Pucallpa (Ucayali region) with the Brazilian town of Cruzeiro do Sul (in Acre State) is threatening the survival of the Isconahua indigenous people who live in “voluntary isolation”. In November 2012, the government of Peru, through PROVÍAS NACIONAL (an agency of the Ministry of Transport and Communications), gave the go-ahead for the implementation of the project, IIRSA Centro, which thus far has advanced as far as the second stage feasibility study.

This area is characterised by its high levels of biodiversity and is home to more than 13,000 indigenous people, including Shipibos, Ashanincas, rivereños (communities who live on the river) and a population that lives in “voluntary isolation” called the ISCONAHUA. The Isconahua are highly vulnerable because their immune systems are not capable of protecting them from diseases that they are likely to contract if they came into contact with outsiders.[1]

Currently, roads and highway borders are non-existent on the Isconahua’s traditional lands, so any such connection with the ‘outside world’ would be totally new. The proposed IIRSA project will therefore put the Isconahuas’ lives at risk and threatens to increase the illegal logging, colonisation, drug dealing and illegal mining that already exist in the area.[2]

Peruvian government’s international obligations

Under the legislation and case law of the Inter-American system, Nation States, including Peru, have a duty to obtain the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of indigenous peoples affected by any decision or action that may affect their rights and territories, including decisions on infrastructure projects. Obviously, as the Isconahuas are not in contact with the outside world, they cannot give their consent to the highway project. Given their extremely vulnerable status, the Peruvian state enacted a law (Law 28736, 2006file:///S:/Communications/ENewsletter/E-News%2019%20-%20February%202013/5_FPPEnews_Feb2013_IIRSAHighwayPeru_RGV_Eng_trackchangesaccepted.doc#_ftn3[3]) establishing the reserves where isolated peoples live as ‘off-limits’. The fact that the Peruvian government is even considering a route for the highway through lands designated as a reserve for isolated peoples raises serious questions about their commitment to fulfil legal duties in domestic and international law.

Any highway interconnection project would compromise the integrity of the Isconahua Territorial Reserve, and the Sierra del Divisor Nature Reserve, a protected area established by the Government of Peru, and risk the serious violation of indigenous peoples’ rights and threaten the very survival of the Isconahua. This situation is exacerbated further by the fact that another government agency, PROINVERSIÓN, is promoting the Atlantic-Pacific Transcontinental Railroad (Peru-Brazil) project (FETAB), which coincides with the highway route. This project will also have highly negative impacts on the lives of local communities and those in voluntary isolation if it goes ahead.

In October 2012, the Regional Group for Monitoring Megaprojects in Ucayali, a coalition of civil society organisations, indigenous leaders and organisations and representatives of native communities, issued a statement rejecting this project.

Also last year, several indigenous organisations collectively urged the national government, through a series of letters to the Presidential Office, to adopt administrative and legal measures, at all levels, on issues that affect the rights of indigenous peoples, such as impacts on indigenous territories, in accordance with the laws and case law of the Inter-American system of human rights, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169, the Constitution and Law No. 29785: Law of the Right to Prior Consultation with Indigenous or Tribal Peoples, recognised in Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization. Any activity carried out by the Peruvian government must obtain the free, prior and informed consent of the concerned peoples.

Call for Action

We call for international solidarity to put pressure on BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank), CAF (Latin American Development Bank) and IDB (Inter-American Development Bank), the main promoters of the IIRSA project, to request the suspension of the project and measures to protect and ensure the collective rights of the indigenous peoples affected by infrastructure megaprojects in the Peruvian Amazon.  

To do this, write to the Office of the President of BNDES, Luciano Coutinho: presidencia@bndes.gov.br

For more information on the subject, visit: http://www.forestpeoples.org/topics/responsible-finance

You can also visit the Regional Group for Monitoring Megaprojects in Ucayali’s blog in order to join the campaign and show solidarity: http://megaproyectosucayali.blogspot.com

If you want to cooperate in other ways, please contact:

Robert Guimaraes Vásquez

Coordinator of the Regional Group for Monitoring Megaprojects in Ucayali 

Escuela Amazónica de Derechos Humanos/EADH

Telephone: 0051 (61) 961598323         Skype: rgv_sh

Address: Jr. Nueva Luz de Fátima 796 - Yarinacocha – Pucallpa – Ucayali – Peru

Email: rgv_sh@yahoo.com, psrgvasquez@gmail.com

We thank the author(s) for contributing this article to the FPP E-Newsletter. The views expressed in this article may not necessarily reflect the views of Forest Peoples Programme.

file:///S:/Communications/ENewsletter/E-News%2019%20-%20February%202013/5_FPPEnews_Feb2013_IIRSAHighwayPeru_RGV_Eng_trackchangesaccepted.doc#_ftnref1[1] http://www.inforegion.pe/medio-ambiente/145640/habria-indigenas-en-aislamiento-en-cercanias-de-carretera-propuesta-pucallpa-cruzeiro-do-sul/

file:///S:/Communications/ENewsletter/E-News%2019%20-%20February%202013/5_FPPEnews_Feb2013_IIRSAHighwayPeru_RGV_Eng_trackchangesaccepted.doc#_ftnref2[2] http://www.americatv.com.pe/portal/programas/prensa/investigaci-n/cuarto-poder/multimedia/cuarto-poder-181112-sepa-por-qu-sierra-del-di

file:///S:/Communications/ENewsletter/E-News%2019%20-%20February%202013/5_FPPEnews_Feb2013_IIRSAHighwayPeru_RGV_Eng_trackchangesaccepted.doc#_ftnref3[3] Article 5, Law 28736, Law for the Protection of Indigenous or original peoples in the state of voluntary isolation or initial contact