Regional Government of Loreto denounced before the IACHR for the illegal granting of Forestry Concessions

The Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO), the Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) and Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) have sent a letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to urge the Peruvian State, and specifically, the Regional Government of Loreto, to address serious violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation (PIA), due to the granting of illegal forestry concessions in their territories.

The request submitted by ORPIO and civil society organisations in Peru asks the IACHR to request information from the Peruvian State, the Regional Government of Loreto (GOREL) and its Forestry Development Department on actions taken to cancel the forestry concessions that overlap the areas of the requested Indigenous reserve Yavarí Mirim and the already-created Indigenous reserve Yavarí Tapiche for Indigenous Peoples in Isolation.

In addition, the letter also addresses the serious threats posed by recent declarations made by the Regional Governor of Loreto, Elisban Ochoa, who has publicly affirmed that Indigenous Peoples living in isolation and initial contact do not exist and that the PIACI Law (Law N°28736), created to safeguard them, is an obstacle to the development of Loreto.

Therefore, through the letter, the GOREL is called upon to address the critical situation of Indigenous Peoples living in isolation and initial contact in Loreto and to prioritise the cancellation of the 47 illegal forest concessions that endanger their lives, health and peace by superimposing on the areas of Indigenous reserves both already established and in the process of being established.