"How long are we going to defend our territory for nothing?” UN reiterates recommendation to Peruvian State to protect Indigenous peoples' territorial rights in Cordillera Azul National Park

CERD's recommendations and requests to the Peruvian State

In its letter, CERD stresses the need for the Peruvian State to comply with its repeated recommendations on the protection of the territorial rights of Indigenous peoples.

 

"The Committee wishes to reiterate to the State party its previous recommendations (CERD/C/PER/CO/22 to 23), in particular with regard to the protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure the protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples to own, use, develop and control their lands, territories and resources in full security, including through the necessary legal recognition and protection in accordance with international standards. It further encourages the State party to ensure that Indigenous peoples are consulted on all administrative and legislative measures that may affect their rights, with a view to obtaining their free, prior and informed consent, taking into account the traditions and cultural characteristics of each people, and that such consultations are carried out in a systematic and unavoidable manner, within a timely and reasonable period, providing sufficient and appropriate information to the Indigenous peoples consulted." [Unofficial translation].

 

Given that part of the PNCAZ is inhabited by Kakataibo Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, CERD also, "recommends that the State party redouble its efforts to ensure the protection and physical and cultural survival of Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation or in a situation of initial contact".

Finally, CERD requests the Peruvian State to "provide updated and detailed information in its forthcoming 24th and 25th reports combined in a single document, which was due on 29 October 2022, on measures taken to address concerns regarding the impact of the establishment of the Cordillera Azul National Park and the implementation of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation" (REDD+) project on the Kichwa and Kakataibo Indigenous peoples."

Samuel Pinedo, president of the Federation of Indigenous Kechwa Peoples of Bajo Huallaga San Martin (FEPIKBHSAM) points out the following,

 

"I think this is an interesting opportunity to call to attention the Peruvian State, because they are trying to mislead and misinterpret our pronouncements and what we are seeking. Currently they are seeking to divide. We don't want for this to be simply a call to attention, but rather for our territorial and collective rights to prevail, because SERNANP doesn't want to set up basic advocacy plans. They say that we are doing well, that money is being invested, but where is this money? We want them to take us into consideration based on our original culture and guidelines".

 

Likewise, Marisol García, president of the Federation of Indigenous Kechua Chazuta Amazonas Peoples (FEPIKECHA) mentions the following:

 

"We defend one hundred percent of our existence, we depend on our territory. Our rights and international agreements were in place long before the natural protected areas. They say that there are protected area regulations that we cannot break, but in reality the forests are protected by the Indigenous peoples, not by MINAM or the NGOs that have contracts to administer the PNCAZ, because they only administer things from their offices because they don't know the territory. Faced with the exclusion of our basic needs going unattended, the only thing we want is to be recognised. We don't want protected areas to be annulled, but we do want them to recognise that we do the work of defending the forest and biodiversity. It is not right that the State does not comply with signed agreements. At the end of the day, we are human beings who enjoy ourselves as living beings. They can't take away a right, the protected areas are imposed on the territorial rights of Indigenous peoples. They do not protect the forests, if they do not profit from them, because no corresponding studies have been done, since the statistics of logging, deforestation and threats to environmental defenders have not been stopped. The climate crisis is deepening and it is necessary to work in a coordinated manner. It is not enough that we are attended to with projects, we need equitable management with Indigenous peoples. And that those benefits that are earned are recognised with transparency."

 

Lack of State protection and death for defenders of the Kichwa people in San Martín

This latest communication from CERD came just a week after the murder of the Kichwa leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado, from the Kichwa community of Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu, located in the district of Huimbayoc and whose lands are in the so-called buffer zone of the Cordillera Azul National Park. Serious delays in the titling of the Kichwa people's territories have left these communities in a situation of extreme vulnerability, exposed and unable to defend themselves against illegal logging, land trafficking and drug trafficking without any legal consequences for those responsible.

During the same week that Quinto Inuma was murdered, leaders of the Kichwa people were in Lima to continue with their advocacy processes for the demarcation and recovery of their lands occupied by the Cordillera Azul National Park. There they held dialogues with representatives of the General Directorate of Agrarian Property, Sanitation and Rural Cadaster (DIGESPACR), advisors of the Commission of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, Environment and Ecology of the Peruvian Congress and the Ombudsman's Office, with a key point on their agenda being SERNANP's refusal to implement Ministerial Resolution 136-2022-MIDAGRI, which allows for the demarcation of Indigenous lands within protected areas, facilitating the protection of the Kichwa people's territorial rights.

In this regard, the president of FEPIKECHA stated the following:

 

"Faced with the assassination of defenders, the State has us assassinated because of exclusion, because in a country of many cultures, the State does not recognise us. We are one with the territory, we are not an extra... How long are we going to defend our territory in exchange for nothing? It is necessary to contribute to the effective defence of our territory, integrity and life. They have a historical debt for dispossessing us of our territory, something has been taken from us that we have not asked to be taken away from us, now we are asking for it to be returned to us".

 

The lack of State protection for Indigenous peoples and their territories is not an isolated incident, but is part of an institutional framework that does not respect collective rights over ancestral lands. A clear example of this is the struggle of the Kichwa community of Puerto Franco for the recognition of their territory, which is currently occupied by the Cordillera Azul National Park. The State created this protected area without obtaining free, prior and informed consent, violating the territorial rights of the Kichwa communities and other Indigenous peoples whose territories it overlaps. For this reason, the community, together with their regional organisation, the Ethnic Council of the Kichwa Peoples of the Amazon (CEPKA), initiated a legal process in 2020 for the restitution of their territorial rights. Although a first ruling declared their claim well founded, the process is currently ongoing due to an appeal by the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM), the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI) and the NGO Centro de Conservación, Investigación y Manejo de Áreas Naturales (CIMA) (which has the current administration of the PNCAZ).