Letter to UN Special Rapporteur detailing impacts of COVID-19 on Indigenous rights in Peru

Peru's Federation of Native Communities of Ucayali and Tributaries (FECONAU) has sent a letter to Jose Francisco Cali Tzay, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Representing 35 communities of the Shipibo, Awajún and Asháninka people in the Ucayali region, the letter and report, sent in June, provide relevant, first-hand information assessing and reporting on the impact of COVID-19 on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

The letter documents the existing initiatives undertaken by the Peruvian Government at its various levels, but also the deficiencies in terms of protection and safeguards, and some of the Indigenous People’s own strategies in the battle against the pandemic. The report is to be submitted to the General Assembly in October 2020.

The Shipibo Indigenous People have the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 to date in Peru, so it is hoped that this letter will bring to the attention of the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council the fundamental concerns that have arisen since the beginning of the spread of the pandemic in indigenous territories.