Wampis people notify Peruvian government of the formation of their autonomous government and remind them of obligation to recognise their ancestral lands

On the 2 May 2017, delegates of the Wampis Autonomous Territorial Government (GTA Wampis) notified the Peruvian government of the recent steps taken to form a single body that represents the Wampis people.

The GTA Wampis reminded the government of its obligation to take the necessary steps to recognise this new institution in accordance with their right as indigenous peoples to self-government, to determine their own institutions as well as to enjoy the formal recognition by the Peruvian government to the full extent of their ancestral territory.

That same day, Wampis delegates held a meeting with representatives of Peru’s Cross-Party Parliamentary Commission on the Amazon and Indigenous Peoples where delegates delivered and explained a technical dossier that supports and justifies the formation of the GTA. The dossier includes a cultural and historic map of the Wampis territory, formal agreements of participating Wampis communities and expert reports.

On presenting the dossier they reminded parliamentarians that “the control of our territory and the exercise of our own self-government is not an aspiration that we are seeking to formalise through the documents that we are submitting to the state, but is something we have already been exercising for thousands of years. What we are doing today is putting this in writing in order to formally notify the state and the wider public.” (1)

Representatives subsequently highlighted that “in exercising our right to self determination there is no contradiction with the UN Charter and nor does this represent any effort to undermine the sovereignty of the Peruvian state. Instead, as is explicit throughout the constitution of the Wampis Autonomous Territorial Government we solemnly uphold our Peruvian nationality and respect of the symbols of the nation and the territorial unity of Peru. As Peru enters the final stretch of its 200th year since the declaration of independence, it now has the opportunity to take the necessary steps to ensure that its indigenous peoples have the opportunity to fully exercise their rights.”

The Wampis have been taking active steps to protect and control their territory and rights which have been upheld by the Peruvian legal system. On the 30 March 2017 and alongside organisations representing the neighbouring Awajún people and supported by human rights organisations, they successfully secured a landmark ruling from a Court cancelling a government contract with oil companies which overlapped their territory. It’s the first time in Peruvian legal history that a judge has ruled that indigenous peoples’ rights to consultation had been violated by an oil and gas concession.

Notes:

The judge ruled that oil concession No.116 had been issued by the government to Maurel Et Prom Perú and Pacific Stratus Energy Perú without prior consultation with affected communities. On this basis the judge ordered that the contract between the government and the company as well as an approved environmental impact assessment had no legal standing. As a result the judge ordered the suspension of all activities and the withdrawal of the companies concerned. The case has been appealed by the Peruvian government.

The formal notification of the Peruvian government follows the Wampis’ own announcement of their decision to form an autonomous government and the adoption of a constitution in November 2015 after more than two years of internal meetings and discussions. 

(1) 2 May 2017, Comunicado de Prensa, GOBIERNO TERRITORIAL AUTÓNOMO DE LA NACIÓN WAMPÍS (see attached document).