PERU: ALTERNATIVE REPORT 2009 - care.pe Report... · peru: alternative report 2009 2) Indigenous peoples should live freely in their lands and territories, maintaining their collective

PERU: ALTERNATIVE REPORT 2009PERU: ALTERNATIVE REPORT 2009PERU: ALTERNATIVE REPORT 2009

PERÚ: PERÚ: PERÚ:

ON THE FULFILMENT OF THE ILO CONVENTION NO. 169

VERSIÓN ABREVIADA

Peru: AlternAtive rePort 2009 On the fulfilment of the ILO Convention No. 169 Versión Abreviada

Fotos: Graham Gordon

Diseño e impresión Sonimágenes del Perú S.C.R.L Teléfono: 330-4478

Hecho el Depósito Legal en la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú Nº: 2009-13797

Lima – Perú

Octubre del 2009

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Índice

1. EL CONVENIO 169 DE LA OIT .................................................................................5 ¿Qué es el Convenio 169 de la OIT? ...........................................................................5 ¿Cuáles son las ideas centrales del Convenio 169 de la OIT? ........................................5 ¿Cuáles son los criterios para la definición de “pueblo indígena”? ..................................6 ¿Quiénes son los pueblos indígenas en el Perú? ............................................................6 Situación de los Pueblos Indígenas en el Perú ...............................................................7

2. EL INfORmE ALTERNATIVO 2009 y Su uTILIDAD ..................................................8 ¿Qué es el Informe Alternativo sobre el Cumplimiento del Convenio 169 de la OIT? ...................................................................................................................8 ¿Cuál es la finalidad de este Informe Alternativo? ...........................................................9 ¿Qué resultados se han obtenido de Informes Anteriores? ............................................9 Organizaciones involucradas en la elaboración del informe .........................................11

3. VuLNERACIONES A LOS DERECHOS RECONOCIDOS EN EL CONVENIO 169 POR PARTE DEL ESTADO PERuANO .........................................12 3.1 La identidad y la cosmovisión indígena ...............................................................12 3.2 Derecho a la autodeterminación, concertación intercultural institucionalidad estatal y mecanismos apropiados ..............................................14 3.3 El derecho a la propiedad y uso de las tierras y territorios ..................................15 3.4 Derecho al consentimiento previo, libre e informado .........................................17 3.5 Derecho al desarrollo y políticas agrarias ............................................................19 3.6 Derecho a la protección del medio ambiente .....................................................20 3.7 Protección especial de los pueblos en situación de aislamiento voluntario o contacto inicial ...............................................................................22 3.8 Derecho a la salud ............................................................................................23 3.9 Derecho a la educación intercultural bilingüe .....................................................25

4. CASOS EmBLEmÁTICOS .........................................................................................27 1. Pueblo indígena Cacataibo en aislamiento voluntario: Afectación de los derechos a la vida, a la salud, al territorio, al medio ambiente y a no ser desplazados de sus territorios. ...........................................................27 2. Concesiones mineras y de hidrocarburos en los territorios de los pueblos Awajun y Wampís. ................................................................................29 3. Concesiones mineras en la provincia de Chumbivilcas ........................................30

5. RECOmENDACIONES AL ESTADO PERuANO ......................................................31

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the iLO cOnventiOn nO. 169 1.

What is the ILO Convention No. 169?It is an international treaty signed by different States to protect indigenous peoples’ rights throughout the world. It was adopted on June 27th, 1989 by the General Conference of the International Labour Organisation and ratified by Peru in 1993 (via Resolution No. 26253), entering into force in 1994, under constitutional rank.

The International Labour Organisation is an international forum in which every country participates through their government, employer and worker representatives. for more than eighty years the ILO has addressed different issues, one of them being the situation of indigenous peoples.

The ILO Convention No. 169 is the best-known and most important instrument on international rights for indigenous peoples around the world. It is valid not only in the arena of the ILO, but once incorporated into a country’s legislation it can serve as a legal instrument in different instances to improve the situation of indigenous peoples.

What are the main ideas of the ILO Convention No. 169? 1) Indigenous peoples are subjects of the law that exist prior to the creation of modern

States. They have the right to exist and reproduce their culture within their respective countries, without exclusion, discrimination, or imposition.

PERu: ALTERNATIVE REPORT 2009

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2) Indigenous peoples should live freely in their lands and territories, maintaining their collective property for future generations, and the State should provide them with special protection to prevent the degradation or loss of their collective property.

3) Indigenous peoples should have the resources of their territories at their disposal and the means that permit the peoples’ development, including the natural resources that support their culture and economy. As the State implements policies and proposals that can disturb this development, there should be democratic channels of dialog and consultation with the indigenous communities, or with the major peoples that they belong to (and their organisations), in order to achieve consensus or agreement with them.

4) The States should approve measures to tackle the situation of exclusion and marginalisation that indigenous peoples have suffered in their respective countries. A major part of the Convention addresses the topics of labour, education, and health, aimed at directing policies that include this population as citizens, but at the same time respect their identities and worldview.

What are the criteria used to define “indigenous peoples”?According to Article 1, the peoples that the Convention No. 169 regards as “indigenous” are those who have inhabited their territories before the establishment of the states where they live. They are so identified because they have a culture, a language, diverse customs, ways of organisation and a special relation with the land and natural resources.

One of the most important and decisive criteria used to determine whether a people or community is “indigenous” is that they identify themselves as such. It does not matter what term is used, they can also be called “original” or by their own specific identity (e.g., Aymaras, Quechuas, Ashaninkas, Shawi, Haramkbut, etc.). In this report the term “indigenous peoples” is used due to its consensus in international law.

Who are indigenous peoples in Peru?When speaking about indigenous peoples it is usually thought to apply only to native communities, but the concept also includes rural communities, to Amazonian peoples who live in voluntary isolation or initial contact, and a large part of the migrant population, who prefer not to self-identify as indigenous due to the discrimination and marginalisation that this term carries in our society.

The 1993 census calculated that the indigenous population represents about 40% of the total population of the country.1 The Peruvian State continues to use this statistic in different reports presented to international organisations (including the ILO).

The ethnolinguistic map of Peru establishes that more that 72 indigenous peoples coexist in the national territory, grouped in 18 linguistic families. According to the statistics of the ministry of Agriculture (PETT 2002) and the Peruvian Ombudsman (2003)2, there are 1,345 native communities and 5,818 rural communities.

� ReportofthePeruvianStatetotheILOonthefulfilmentofConventionNo.�69,2004.2 DataorganisedbythePeruvianCentreforSocialStudies,www.cepes.org.pe

On the fulfilment Of the ilO COnventiOn nO. 169

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Situation of the indigenous peoples in PeruThe 2005 and 2007 censuses did not include specific elements to identify indigenous peoples. The State has simply preferred to ignore them; therefore, the statistics from 1993 are still considered valid. Additional studies from the National Institute of Statistics and Information—INEI,3 (national surveys and special reports on demographics) permit the incorporation of “subjective” variables, like ethnic identification. These statistics establish that 57.6% of the population identifies as mestizo, 22.5% identifies as Quechua, 4.8% as “white”, 2.7% as Aymara, 1.7% Amazonian, and 9.1% indicated different categories or did not identify with any of the aforementioned.

Both the CEACR and other international organisations have in recent years solicited information on the situation of indigenous peoples in Peru. Since the State does not have this information, due to its disinterest, it has tried to provide information about the indigenous peoples with general statistics about the “rural population” or about the regions of Peru with greatest concentration of the indigenous population.

This information suggests that these “mostly indigenous” 4 regions are those that suffer the greatest poverty. According to the last National Census (2007), while 68% of the Spanish speaking population has overcome a situation of poverty, only 20% of the native population, 38% of the Quechua population, and 42% of the Aymara population live above the poverty line.

� INEI.StateofthePeruvianPopulation2007,Identificationandethnicgroups.4 AccordingtotheMapofPovertyfromFONCODES-2006,theseDepartmentsare:Amazonas,Ayacucho,Cajamarca,Huancavelica,Huánuco,

Loreto,Pasco.

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the ALternAtive repOrt 2009 And its UsefULness

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What is the Alternative Report on the fulfilment of ILO Convention No. 169?It is an analysis of the level of fulfilment of the ILO Convention No. 169 in Peru, written by indigenous organisations and other organisations that work for their rights.

Peru is under the obligation to submit reports on the Convention fulfilment every five years through an “Official Report”, and the organisations can submit their own views about these rights to the ILO. This report is “alternative” because it presents a perspective that is different from that of the State.

The General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP), which contributed to this report, submitted it formally to the ILO. The ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) will analyse the Alternative Report and the Official Report of the State in their annual meeting in November and December of 2009.


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What is the objective of this Alternative Report?To provide the ILO with an analysis on the situation and rights of the indigenous peoples in Peru, from the perspective of the indigenous and civil society organisations, and to ask for an intervention.To denounce the Peruvian State’s breach of ILO Convention No. 169 in terms of the rights guaranteed by the convention.To give a concerted proposal to the Peruvian government on how to implement public policies that respect the rights of indigenous peoples.To serve as an informational tool for local, regional, and national lobbying.

What results have previous reports obtained?In 2008 we presented a similar report, which has been updated this year. In the 2008 report we alerted the ILO of the Peruvian state’s flagrant breach of the principal rights in the ILO Convention No. 169.

As a fruit of the 2008 report, CEACR issued a request to the Peruvian State that it specify the achievements of the Convention in terms of its beneficiaries, fully identifying them in consultation with their representative organizations, and detailing the measures that deny their full enjoyment of the protection established in the Convention. With respect to this the CEACR specified:

“Identity, recognition, place: Consequently, the Committee again requests that the Government provide, in consultation with the indigenous peoples’ representative institutions, a unified criteria on the peoples subject to the Convention’s coverage, to put an end to the confusion resulting from the various definitions and terms, and to provide specific information on the matter. Furthermore, we insist that the Government take the necessary measures to ensure that all the peoples concerned under Article 1 of the Convention are guaranteed its full coverage and enjoy the rights contained therein regarding equality of conditions, and to provide information on the matter.”

furthermore, the CEACR concluded that in Peru there is a breach of indigenous peoples’ right to consultation, in particular regarding the legislative measures that affect them and consultations related to the exploitation of natural resources in indigenous territories.

It should be noted that in 2008 the indigenous organisations denounced that various laws approved in the implementation framework of the Peru-united States Trade Promotion Agreement or free Trade Agreement were in conflict with indigenous rights:

Law 1015 and 1073, related to the relaxation of the regulation (tax and transfer) of indigenous community lands.Law 1064, which reduces indigenous land ownership rights to favour the commerce of lands. This law is connected to law 1090, the new law of the forest that permitted the conversion of forests into properties for agricultural use and perpetual allocation.Law 1089, which gives broad authority to the Organisation for the formalisation of Informal Ownership (COfOPRI) to revise and reform possession and rural ownership.Law 1020, which establishes new associations in rural areas to promote agricultural development through loans, ignoring and discriminating against the communities.

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Law 994, which encourages irrigation projects and establishes that all “unproductive” lands are the property of the State, to the detriment of the communities that still do not have ownership titles to their lands.

To date, Laws 1015, 1073, 1064, and 1090 have been repealed. At the time, thanks to denunciation made by the Alternative Report 2008, the CEACR had signalled the need to consult with the indigenous communities on whatever law that affects them:

Territory consultation, transfer: The Commission insists that the government immediately advance, with the participation of the indigenous peoples, in the design of appropriate mechanisms of participation and consultation, and exhorts it to consult the indigenous peoples before the adoption of the measures referred to in articles 6 and 17.2 of the Convention and to provide specific information on the matter.

Likewise, in 2008 the indigenous organisations denounced the breach of the right to prior consultation, in particular regarding the exploitation of natural resources in indigenous territories. The CEACR solicited the following information from the state with respect to this issue:

Consultation, Resources: The Committee takes note that, according the report, the Government has realized certain efforts in the matters of consultation and participation; however, it must be noted that the communications, produced with broad indigenous participation, and the report cited by the Ombudsman emphasize that these efforts are specific and isolated instances, and they do not conform to the standards of the Convention (informational meetings instead of consultations for example), and they lack participation and consultation to address the numerous conflicts related to resource use in the lands

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El Perú incumple con el derecho a la consulta de los

pueblos indígenas.

INFORME ALTERNATIVO

2008


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traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples. The Committee expresses its concern over the statements received and the lack of Government commentary on them. The Committee insists that the Government, in participation and consultation with the indigenous peoples, immediately adopt the necessary means to guarantee: 1) the participation and consultation of the indigenous peoples in a coordinated and systematic way, in light of articles 2, 6, 7, 15 and 33 of the Convention; 2) the identification of urgent situations related to the exploitation of natural resources that put the people, institutions, goods, work, cultures and environments of the concerned peoples at risk, and the rapid application of special measures that are needed to safeguard them. The Committee requests that the Government provide information on such measures, together with its commentaries on the communications it has received.

The 2008 report also addressed the lack of an adequate institution responsible for attending to the problematic indigenous issues in Peru, given that National Institute for the Development of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples (INDEPA), was not functioning adequately. With respect to this, the CEACR has pointed out:

“Coordinated and Systematic Action: The Committee requests that the Government, with the participation and in consultation with the indigenous peoples, provide the institutions and mechanisms expected by Article 33 of the Convention, that it assures these institutions or mechanisms provide the necessary means for the proper execution of their functions, and that they provide information with respect to the adopted measures.”

Organisations involved in the making of this report:�

Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon—AIDESEPNational Confederation of Peruvian Communities Affected by mining—CONACAmIPeruvian farmers Confederation—CCPNational Agricultural federation—CNAAssociation Peace and HopeAssociation for Human Rights in Peru–APRODEH Amazonian Centre for Anthropology and Practical Application—CAAAPCARE, PeruNational Human Rights Coordinator—CNDDHH, Indigenous Peoples Work GroupRights, Environment and Natural Resources—DARInstitute for the Common Good—IBCOxfam AmericaIntercultural Communication Services—SERVINDI

� Alloftheseorganisationscontributedwithinput,analysis,casesandopinions.VladimirPintowasresponsibleforthesystematizationanddraftingofthereport.

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viOLAtiOns by perU Of the rights recOgnised in cOnventiOn nO. 169

3.1 Identity and indigenous cosmovision

Article 5 In applying the provisions of this Convention: (a) The social, cultural, religious and spiritual values and practices

of these peoples shall be recognised and protected, and due account shall be taken of the nature of the problems which face them both as groups and as individuals;

(b) The integrity of the values, practices and institutions of these peoples shall be respected;

The Political Constitution of Peru (Article 2.19) recognises and protects ethnic and cultural diversity at a national level, and Article 89 declares that the State respects the cultural identity of rural and native communities.

In 2008 we denounced the State for the presidential articles published in the series “The Dog in a manger”. In these articles the President questions the legal validity of communal lands and promotes their dissolution. moreover, he ridicules the indigenous organisations and those who defend the environment, calling them enemies of development. Even worse, the articles point out false information, aiming to confuse the population, for example denying the existence of isolated indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon.

unfortunately, we have not seen any improvement this year from our head of state; on the contrary, the racist and discriminatory expressions have become more radical. The most dramatic examples are the Government Palace’s press releases expressing Dr. Alan Garcia’s statements after the tragic events in Bagua:

“Shame on the politicians who, incapable of convincing people in the cities, have gone searching in the heart of the jungle for the barbarity to oppose the State; shame on the dirty politicians who, incapable of winning elections and convincing the nation, gather irrational groups to repeat the past,” he emphasized.6

“The president considered it dramatic that Peruvian democracy has to coexist with signs of primitive barbarity and at the same time with people who search in that barbarity for the illusion of votes that they will never have. Moreover, he lamented that a permanent conspiracy exists that only aims to detain Peru through erroneous, absurd, mistaken 19th century formulas, and

6 07ofJune2009.PressReleasefromthePresidentoftheRepublic:www.pcm.gob.pe

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that since it cannot convince those in the cities or the agricultural workers or in the rural areas, it seeks its army and its weapons in the depths of the jungle, but also in the most backwards and least rational of the country.” 7

“We have suffered an aggression that is a product of a conspiracy of those who do not want Peru to advance, or because of their external interests or elemental ignorance, do not want Peru to progress and want to oppose the development of the country with complaints and aggression.”

Peru today is a point of attraction for investments, nobody can doubt it but many envy it and want to stop it, and they manipulate ignorant people [their “internal fifth columns”], organising them for the benefit of bad politicians that cannot convince the country and search in the most backward and deepest part of our past for instruments to pressure and blackmail Peru.”

8(underlining ours)

The governmental perspective on the indigenous population in Peru is more than clear. Suffice it to say that the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), questioned the ministry of Justice, expressing its surprise at the President’s aggressive discourse in the commissioners’ various questions.

7 Ibid.� �0ofJune2009:PressreleasefromthePresidentoftheRepublic:www.pcm.gob.pe

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3.2 The right to self determination, intercultural participation, appropriate state institutions and mechanisms for participation

Article 2 1. Governments shall have the responsibility of developing, with the

participation of the peoples concerned, coordinated and systematic action to protect the rights of these peoples and to guarantee respect for their integrity.

Article 33 The governmental authority responsible for the matters covered in this Convention shall ensure that agencies or other appropriate mechanisms exist to administer the programs affecting the peoples concerned, and shall ensure that they have the means necessary for the proper fulfilment of the functions assigned to them.

Article 71. The peoples concerned shall have the right to decide their own priorities for the process of development as it affects their lives, beliefs, institutions and spiritual well-being and the lands they occupy or otherwise use, and to exercise control, to the extent possible, over their own economic, social and cultural development. In addition, they shall participate in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of plans and programs for national and regional development which may affect them directly.


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In Peru there are neither laws nor public institutions that encourage and facilitate the participation of indigenous peoples in public policies and programs that affect them. As we have pointed out, the current government has sought to make INDEPA disappear, converting it into an office of the ministry of Women and Social Development (mImDES), through Supreme Decree 001-2007-mImDES.

Despite the fact that Congress re-established the autonomy of INDEPA through Law No. 29146, the government keeps it within the scope of mImDES, as an entity with a welfare-based approach. It has no work related to its original functions of designing intercultural policies and promoting indigenous rights.

Currently there is no indigenous participation in INDEPA’s Board of Directors; therefore, there is no participatory space with indigenous peoples as established in its law of creation.

As a demonstration of its lack of legitimacy, the government has found itself required to create roundtable work groups to resolve the conflicts with indigenous peoples; INDEPA is not fulfilling its institutional function.

To date, despite the fact that four months have passed since the tragedy in Bagua, the government has not demonstrated any major advances in terms of the process of dialog with indigenous organisations. It is indispensable that this process enables the State to reorganise to include indigenous peoples in the state mechanisms, so that their rights are effectively respected.

3.3 The right to ownership and use of lands and territories

Article 141. The rights of ownership and possession of the peoples concerned over

the lands which they traditionally occupy shall be recognised. In addition, measures shall be taken in appropriate cases to safeguard the right of the peoples concerned to use lands not exclusively occupied by them, but to which they have traditionally had access for their subsistence and traditional activities…

2. Governments shall take steps as necessary to identify the lands which the peoples concerned traditionally occupy, and to guarantee effective protection of their Rights of ownership and protection.

3. Adequate procedures shall be established within the national legal system to resolve land claims by the peoples concerned.

The Political Constitution of Peru guarantees: “The ownership rights over land, whether private or communal, or in any other associative way” (Article 88), and states that, “rural and native communities legally exist and have legal recognition. They are autonomous in their organisation, communal work, and in the use and free disposition of their lands, as well as economically and administratively, within the scope of law. The ownership of their land is imprescriptible, except in case of abandonment as stated before” (Article 89).


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According to what we denounced in the 2008 Report, this government has approved various laws with legal rank that threaten indigenous ownership, among these are the repealed laws 1015, 1073, and 1064. Nonetheless, the following are still in force:

-Law 994 which promotes private investment in irrigation projects for the expansion of the agricultural frontier

The aforementioned law promotes irrigation projects in “unproductive” land (tierras eriazas), except those with ownership titles (private or communal). Hence, communities without property titles are unprotected (Article 3), even in cases of ancestral possession, and they could be displaced by the irrigation projects promoted through this law.

moreover, Article 12 of this law establishes that eviction is possible in only three days for people invading or usurping the areas that have been destined to irrigation projects. Anyone without title in such areas could be considered as an “invader”. Hence, communities without a title could be subject to a concession for irrigation, evicted, and its members may even be subject to a criminal accusation.

ILO Convention No. 169 protects indigenous territories even when the land is not titled. Historical possession of those lands conveys ownership that the State should recognise. The Inter American Court of Human Rights has stated so in many cases involving indigenous communities.

D.L.994

D.L.1089

D.L.1064

D.L. 1073


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- Law 1089 establishes a temporary regime of formalisation and titling of rural properties.

This regulation empowers COfOPRI with broad authority to formalise “unproductive” and rural lands nationwide, within a period of four years.

Although the regulation of this law has limited COfOPRI’s capacities so that it does not realize these activities in native or rural communities, it has not properly guaranteed these communities’ relations with other actors, in terms of limits, shared possession, or other conflicts.

moreover, although it does not have direct power to reform communal property, COfOPRI is promoting individual land titling. This law needs to be analysed together with Law 1064, described above. COfOPRI could validate certain forms of third-party intervention within communal lands (invader settlements, private owners), and formalise the division of this land into individual plots and its subsequent sale at an alarming rate.

3.4 Right to free, prior and informed consentPrior, free and informed consent on legal or administrative measures that may affect indigenous peoples.

Article 61. In applying the provisions of this Convention, Governments shall:

a) Consult the peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular through their representative institutions, whenever consideration is being given to legislative or administrative measures which may affect them directly;

2. The consultations carried out in application of this Convention shall be undertaken in good faith and in a form appropriate to the circumstances, with the objective of achieving agreement or consent to the proposed measures.

Article 152. In cases in which the State retains the ownership of mineral or

sub-surface resources or rights to other resources pertaining to lands, governments shall establish or maintain procedures through which they shall consult these peoples, with a view to ascertaining whether and to what degree their interests would be prejudiced, before undertaking or permitting any programmes for the exploration or exploitation of such resources pertaining to their lands.


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The united Nations Declaration on the Rights on Indigenous People, approved by the united Nations Assembly on September 13, 2007, and many judgments from the Inter-American Court,9 have already established that the objective of these consultations is to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples.

In other words, the State cannot develop any extractive projects in indigenous lands without carrying out a previous process of consultation with the communities.

The Inter-American Court has clarified the minimum content of this process in its judgments, which includes that it is according to peoples´ customs and traditions, implemented with good faith, and in an informed, previous and timely manner.

In Peru there is a total breach of this mandate.10 With respect to laws and administrative decisions, neither Congress nor the ministries, regional or local governments have established official procedures to consult the indigenous peoples’ organisations when they approve laws that can affect them.

Likewise, the State of Peru has systematically violated the right to consultation in the exploitation of natural resources in indigenous peoples’ lands. for decades it has been developing a mining and oil policy that affects these territories without establishing any mechanism of consultation or of indigenous participation as established in ILO Convention No. 169. In the Alternative Report 2008, we denounced the regulations of the ministry of Energy and mining for not considering real mechanisms for consultation and participation of indigenous peoples. The ILO experts have ratified this denunciation, as mentioned before. furthermore it has been a matter of an express pronouncement made by the Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal, in its judgement on the conflict between the regional government

9 CIDH.CaseoftheSaramakaPeoplevs.Suriname,sentencingon2�ofNovember2007.�0 TheonlyexceptionsaretheregulationsoftheLawofNaturalProtectedAreas.INRENAisobligatedtoestablishaprocessofdialogueand

consultation.


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of San martin and the ministry regarding the superposition of the petroleum lots in the area of Regional Conservation of the Cordillera Escalera (Staircase Range).

Currently, different initiatives from Congress, the Peruvian Ombudsman, and the indigenous organisations are under debate regarding the implementation of the right to consultation in Peru.

3.5 The right to development and to agricultural policies

Article 19National agrarian programs shall secure to the peoples concerned treatment equivalent to that accorded to other sectors of the population with regard to:a) The provision of more land for these peoples when they

have not the area necessary for providing the essentials of a normal existence, or for any possible increase in their numbers;

b) The provision of the means required to promote the development of the lands which these peoples already possess.

The current government of Peru has not developed any agrarian policy to promote or include the communities in their proposals for modernisation and development. On the contrary, the agrarian policies seek to generate other forms of organisation, promoting the dissolution of communities.


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Examples of this policy are the following laws within the “package” of reforms to implement the free Trade Agreement with the united States:

-Law 1020, for the promotion of the organisation of agricultural products and for the consolidation of rural property for agricultural loans. This law creates new forms of association in rural areas (The Agricultural Associative Entity) and new “Sustainable Productive units” to promote agricultural development through loans. Communities are not included anywhere in this policy of “organisation of agricultural producers”, as it only supports the association of individual producers.

The Government does not give consideration to any measure that reinforces or promotes communal identity, in violation of Article 2, numeral 19 of the Political Constitution, which protects the cultural and ethnic plurality of the Peruvian nation. When the traditional ways of organisation in indigenous peoples’ lands are ignored, it disrespects this cultural diversity. moreover, it promotes laws and policies that generate dependency on the agricultural products and loss of food sovereignty:

- Law 1077, compensation programme for competitiveness, establishes compensations for agricultural competitiveness through the adoption of technologies by small and medium producers for the production of cotton, corn, and wheat. There is a risk that this technology promotes single-crop farming and loss of biodiversity.

- Likewise Law 1060 promotes agricultural innovation with dependent technologies: transgenic seeds, hybrid seeds, agrochemicals, etc. These are highly damaging to human health in addition to being environmental contaminants, reducing biodiversity, and degrading resources including soil and water.

On the contrary, laws that could favour small agricultural producers are neglected. The most obvious example is the lack of political will to implement Law No. 29264, which establishes the Agricultural Debt Restructuring Programme (PREDA). The programme would create the necessary mechanisms to reconstruct the agricultural workers’ debts that expired the 31 of December 2007 on loans acquired through State entities and the national financial system.

3.6 The right to environmental protection

Article 74. Governments shall take measures, in co-operation with the

peoples concerned, to protect and preserve the environment of the territories they inhabit.

The use of natural resources is according to the stipulations in Article 66 of the Political Constitution of Peru, which establishes that renewable and non-renewable natural resources belong to the Nation and only the State can grant concessions. Law No. 26821, the Organic Law of Natural Resource use, identifies as natural resources all natural components, subject to human use for the satisfaction of their needs, and that have a current or potential market value. Among these are soil, subsoil and lands for their capacity as forests, reserves, and for agricultural use, among others.11

11 LawNo.26�2�


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forest lands cannot be a matter of private acquisition. In accordance with the norms established in Article 66 of the Constitution, forest lands differ from “agricultural lands,” which can be held under legal ownership, in private, communal or other associative forms.

In spite of this constitutional framework, the current government has tried to promote the change of the use of forest lands into “agricultural” lands so they can be transferred to private landowners. This was established through Law 1090, which the Legislature repealed due to the protest of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon.

This significant modification of national legislation is related to the promotion of bio fuels. Supreme Decree No. 004-2008-AG declares it to be in the national interest to plant Samoa fibre (Caña Brava) and bamboo plantations in deforested lands determined by INRENA. Likewise Supreme Decree No. 0016-2008 declares it to be in the national interest to plant castor oil plant and pinion plantations as an alternative to promote the production of bio fuels in the jungle.

All of this adds up to the crisis generated by the indiscriminate expansion of mining and hydrocarbons in the mountains and jungle, respectively.

According to the data from the Peruvian Ombudsman, conflicts of a social-environmental nature have increased from 19% in January 2006 to 47% in June 2009. These conflicts are concentrated in the regions of the country with the greatest poverty, which also have the largest concentration of the indigenous population. Also, according to the information reported by the Peruvian Ombudsman,12 three-fourths of the areas in which social-

�2 ReportonSocialPoliticalConflict,June200�–June2009.


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environmental conflicts are occurring are in conditions of poverty (45% in extreme poverty). Two of every three social-environmental conflicts occur in rural areas, where the average illiteracy rate is 20%. Exclusion is clearly a distinctive characteristic underlining the large majority of the populations involved in the conflicts.

It is interesting to analyse the current Peruvian government’s willingness to dialogue and seek agreement, given that in January of 2006, of the 100% of existent conflicts, only 9% were in “active” conditions, that is to say in a situation of social mobilisation, while 88% were in “latent” conditions, and 3% en route to solution. In June of 2009 we affirm that 83% of conflicts are active and only 17% are latent.

3.7 Special protection for indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation or initial contact

Article 14 1. The rights of ownership and possession of the peoples concerned

over the lands which they traditionally occupy shall be recognised. In addition, measures shall be taken in appropriate cases to safeguard the right of the peoples concerned to use lands not exclusively occupied by them, but to which they have traditionally had access for their subsistence and traditional activities. Particular attention shall be paid to the situation of nomadic peoples and shifting cultivators in this respect.

Indigenous peoples in isolation and initial contact are Amazonian groups that have not connected with the rest of society or have decided to disconnect themselves for various reasons. They are in a very vulnerable situation since they do not have any defences against Western diseases. Likewise, their territories are threatened by wood and oil companies, and by other external actors.

In 2008 we denounced that in spite of the fact that the indigenous peoples in isolation or initial contact have been recognised by the Peruvian state through Law No. 28736, extractive activities are still being permitted inside of the reserves created for these peoples. furthermore, the protection regime created by this law has never been implemented.

This year we are denouncing that the executive has decided to implement hydrocarbon projects that directly threaten the security of many of these peoples. A particular concern is Lot 67, awarded to the Perenco oil company, which will begin drilling wells in the Tigre and Napo river basins in the region of Loreto, an area that has solicited the creation of a reserve for these peoples. 13

13 This northern Amazonian are is joined with the Yasuni area in Ecuador. The area is ecologically fragile and home to at least four indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation.


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3.8 The right to health

Article 251. Governments shall ensure that adequate health services are made available

to the peoples concerned, or shall provide them with resources to allow them to design and deliver such services under their own responsibility and control, so that they may enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

2. Health services shall, to the extent possible, be community-based. These services shall be planned and administered in cooperation with the peoples concerned and take into account their economic, geographic, social and cultural conditions as well as their traditional preventive care, healing practices and medicines.

In 2004, the National Health Sanitary Strategy for Indigenous Peoples was approved, with the aim of promoting, coordinating, and monitoring concrete actions that reduce the health breach of the indigenous peoples, bringing them closer to the health indicators that exist at a national or regional level. Among the most important elements of this proposal, the following should be highlighted:

It proposes to adapt the health system to the indigenous cultureIt seeks to broaden the health options for excluded populationsIt strengthens the health services with human, logistical, and financial resourcesIt strengthens communal workIt implements actions to protect the environmentIt develops a system for monitoring and vigilance.

••••••


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Nonetheless, there have been no significant advances in any of these areas. We still lack registration systems that can graph the situation and health challenges of the different ethnicities with specificity, with the aim of developing and prioritizing more efficient strategies to improve health. The state registries are organized by geographic categories, not by ethnic ones.

The Peruvian Ombudsman in its Ombudsman’s Report 134 (2008) “The health of the Native Communities: a challenge for the State”14:

“19. The intercultural health policy in the Health Sector has established the bases for a progressive change of paradigm in medicine. Nonetheless, its implementation takes place with weak articulation with the National Centre for Intercultural Health. Furthermore, this specialized body on the matter lacks the normative functions and capacity to direct and incorporate the intercultural focus in the integral health policy.

20. The Health Strategy for Indigenous Peoples is an instrument with the objective of adapting the provision of health services with an intercultural focus, in consideration of the diversity of the ethnic groups that it attends. Currently it is under the authority of the National Centre for Intercultural Health. Nonetheless, the health establishment personnel in the native communities are not aware of this strategy, which reduces its effectiveness in fulfilling its objectives.

21. In Peru, though certain specific initiatives exist, the State lacks a policy for the formation of intercultural health professionals. On the contrary, the biomedical approach still predominates in the centres of formation of health professionals.

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22. The state has not achieved the fulfilment of its obligation to guarantee the availability, accessibility, and cultural adequacy of the service to the population of the native communities.”

3.9 The right to bilingual intercultural education

Article 27 1. Education programs and services for the peoples concerned shall be

developed and implemented in co-operation with them to address their special needs, and shall incorporate their histories, their knowledge and technologies, their value systems and their further social, economic and cultural aspirations.

2. The competent authority shall ensure the training of members of these peoples...

Article 28 1. Children belonging to the peoples concerned shall, wherever practicable,

be taught to read and write in their own indigenous language or in the language most commonly used by the group to which they belong.

2. Adequate measures shall be taken to ensure that these peoples have the opportunity to attain fluency in the national language or in one of the official languages of the country.

3. Measures shall be taken to preserve and promote the development and practice of the indigenous languages of the peoples concerned.


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Bilingual Intercultural Education (EIB) is recognised as a right in Article 17 of the Constitution and in Law No. 27818. This law specifies the State’s obligation to adapt its educational programs as a function of each of the areas where indigenous peoples live, and likewise establishes cultural diversity as a value that should be protected and promoted by the State.

The Constitution affirms that “every person has the right to ethnic and cultural identity; the State recognises and protects the ethnic and cultural plurality within the Nation; every Peruvian citizen has the right to use his or her own language through an interpreter before any state authority.”15 moreover, the Law of Aboriginal Language Recognition, Preservation, fomentation and Diffusion16 recognises Quechua and Aymara, besides Spanish, as official languages in places where they are predominant. These aboriginal languages are in the map of the “Linguistic and Cultural Patrimony of Peru, Linguistic families and Peruvian Languages,” and their preservation, fomentation, and diffusion are considered to be of national interest.

To evaluate these policies’ success of lack thereof, we should analyse the degree of use and recovery of original languages. The National Survey of Homes in 2007 published by the INEI indicates that we have backtracked in that almost 20% of the Quechua and Aymara population have stopped learning their language as their primary tongue. 17 Despite the reduction of school absenteeism in rural areas, there is an increase in the quantity of the population that is monolingual.

This situation is extremely serious and confirms the report recently published by uNESCO, which establishes that both languages are in danger of disappearing over the long term.

It should be mentioned that the Amazonian region of Peru has generated an opposite tendency. In contrast to Quechuas and Aymaras, those in the Amazonian region who have learned their native tongue during their childhood has increased from 0.1% to 0.2%. This demonstrates the importance of the bilingual intercultural educational process that has been a central demand the indigenous organisations. It shows the concrete results of the work realised by the Superior Pedagogical Institute of Loreto (ISPPL) and by the programme Formation of Bilingual Teachers of the Peruvian Amazon (FORMABIAP), initiated by AIDESEP, which has formed bilingual teachers for more than two decades that cover more than ten Amazonian languages.

Nonetheless, this has not been taken into account by the ministry of Education, which has established uniform criteria for admission to universities (a minimum note of 14) to qualify future students, excluding the majority of indigenous applicants from the field for the last three years. Of the 70 applicants to primary education with the EIB, not one has been accepted. In this way they have killed AIDESEP’s very successful formation program for bilingual teachers.

15 PoliticalConstitutionofPeru,�99�,Article2.�9.�6 LawNo.2��06,2�ofNovember200�.�7 Accordingtothe�99�census,�6.6%ofthePeruvianpopulationlearnedQuechuaintheirchildhood.Accordingtothe2007ENAHOitwasonly

��.�%inthatyear.TheAymarapopulationhasgonefrom2.�%to�.�%inthesameperiod.

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reccOmendAtiOns tO the perUviAn stAte

Official Report on Convention No. 1691. Publish the Official Report 2008-2009 of the Peruvian State on the fulfilment of

Convention No. 169 on the website of the National Institute for the Development of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples (INDEPA), the Congress of the Republic and the ILO, as well as providing a complete copy to all the national indigenous organisations. In 2008, the report was only sent to the workers organisation, the CGTP.

2. Establish a process of dialogue and gathering opinions from the indigenous organisations on the fulfilment of Convention No. 169 in Peru, which will become a central component in the Peruvian State’s reports. Indigenous participation must be guaranteed in the final preparation of such reports.

The right to recognition and protection of indigenous identity

3. formally provide data on the socioeconomic situation of the Peruvian indigenous peoples. We suggest an indigenous census as a component of a national programme aimed at revaluing and promoting the diverse indigenous peoples of Peru, through the diffusion of their cultures, languages, values, and worldviews.

4. Peru is regarded as a multicultural and multiethnic country and this must be reflected at every level of government, particularly in the Presidency of the Republic. It is urgent that the government drastically modify its perceptions and discourse against the indigenous population. A public act of taking responsibility or apologising to the Peruvian indigenous population is needed, realised by the central government or another State power.

The right to enjoy all fundamental freedoms and human rights

5. Ensure that all the indigenous organisations, their members or representatives, can effectively enjoy all their human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially the right to organise and to protest.

6. It is particularly important to promote understanding of Article 10 of ILO Convention No. 169 among the operators of justice, to promote alternative measures to incarceration and the deprivation of freedom in cases that involve indigenous peoples.

7. An important element to start the serious process of reconciliation between the Peruvian State and the indigenous peoples is the suspension of the penal process against its leaders, through the procedures cleared by the Constitution and the respect of their indigenous organisations.

4.


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The right to appropriate institutional mechanisms8. Restructure INDEPA completely. This institution has lost its original intention and

requires substantial transformation. The Board of Directors must be re-established, but with joint membership between the State and indigenous people. This Board must have the function not only of deliberation but also of institutional policy direction. Its members, in particular indigenous representatives, must have access to any public information of interest for the populations they represent.

9. INDEPA, or the institution that replaces it, must have the effective capability to elaborate public policies that guarantee the respect of indigenous rights. The emitting of opinions related to all matters that affect the indigenous peoples, including development projects in their territories, must be included among this institution’s capacities. Likewise it must have resources and specialised personnel; in particular, the president of this institution should be named with the support of the indigenous organisations represented in the Board of Directors.

10. Develop a National Plan for the Rights of the indigenous peoples, which includes actions for the implementation of ILO Convention No. 169 and the united Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The right to self-determination and intercultural consultation

11. Establish a new model of relationship with indigenous peoples. The general policies that affect them should be discussed with them within a democratic framework for building strategic consensus. Indigenous peoples should have a voice in national and sector debates on appropriate development models and programmes. The government should support their inclusion in such development processes.

The right to environmental protection12. Ensure that indigenous peoples have institutional and normative safeguards

that protect their territories. The ministry of Environment, INDEPA or other independent entity aimed at promoting development projects, should have concrete competencies and capacities to monitor such projects and to intervene during their application, or to interrupt or terminate their activities when these are shown to be damaging to the indigenous territories.

13. Promote a public debate that ensures equal participation of Andean and Amazonian indigenous peoples concerning the impacts that may be caused by the indiscriminate incorporation of transgenic crops over their traditional knowledge and biodiversity.

The right to free, prior and informed consent14. Pass a framework Law on Consultation with indigenous peoples respecting the

parameters and procedural conditions established for them in ILO Convention No. 169, the united Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the relative rulings of the Inter-American Human Rights System. Recognising therefore that consensus or free, prior and informed consent are the sought-after end in all consultation processes, and that this consent is indispensable when the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples are at risk.


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15. modify the regulations for citizen participation of the mining and hydrocarbon sub-sectors, to establish a consultation process that is truly fit to ILO Convention No. 169. No further concessions of indigenous territories should be granted while this point remains unresolved.

16. Respect and promote independent environmental monitoring systems organised by indigenous peoples. make ineffective the laws that promote the co-opting of these monitoring systems by the companies that realise extractive activities.

The right to participation in the benefits of development17. Establish a normative framework to allow indigenous peoples to participate in the

benefits of projects related to the exploitation of natural resources within their territories. This norm should be passed in consent with representative organisations of indigenous peoples.

The right to ownership of their lands and territories18. The Congress should repeal the Legislative Decrees 994, 1089 and 1020 published

within the implementation framework of the free Trade Agreement with the united States, because they adversely affect the collective rights of indigenous peoples. They should formally seek the opinion of the indigenous organizations and different commissions and the congressional workgroup that they have recommended.

19. Every law that seeks to make more flexible the conditions for transferring lands of indigenous ownership implies a violation of the principles and content of the ILO Convention No. 169. Therefore, mechanisms should be implemented to ensure special debate, consultation and prior, free and informed consent of the peoples involved over any proposal of this type.

20. Though Law 1064 has been repealed, it is still necessary to clearly establish the prevalence of indigenous property ownership over all forms of individual or associative ownership, including state ownership (except by force majeure or public need duly supported).

21. Suspend COfOPRI’s presence in the native and rural communities. Guarantee that this entity does not act as a direct or indirect promoter of the subdivision of communal territories.

22. Refocus the Land Entitlement and Registration Programme (PTRT III) of the Inter-American Development Bank towards the granting of land titles to rural and native communities, so that all communities will have their land titles within a 5-year period.

Rights of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation23. Immediately implement the protection regime established in Law No. 28736 to

make sure there is no unauthorised access to indigenous territories where the population is in voluntary isolation or initial contact.

24. Revise Law No. 28736, incorporating the observations made by representative organisations of indigenous peoples. Particularly, ensure that neither the State nor private sector can undertake activities that put at risk the life and health of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation or initial contact.


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25. Immediately suspend hydrocarbon activities in Lots 67 and 39, superimposed on the proposed Napo and Tigre Reserve, as well as the activities in Lot 33, superimposed on the southern area of the proposed Cashibo-Cacataibo Reserve.

The right to development26. The agricultural development policies should consider traditional ways of organisation

in rural and native communities. The Peruvian State should develop specific norms and implement policies that respect, promote and consider indigenous peoples.

27. modify the laws that promote association to the detriment of communal unity. In particular Law 1077 and 1060.

28. Establish a specific budget to prioritise development projects for indigenous peoples, and implement the laws that promote specific attention to their needs as agricultural producers, in particular the Law of PREDA, 29264.

The right to health29. Strengthen the National Centre for Intercultural Health (CENSI) with the necessary

legal competencies and capacity to direct and include an intercultural focus in the integral health policy, which includes the effective implementation of the indigenous peoples’ Health Strategy, with monitoring mechanisms.

The right to bilingual intercultural education30. Strengthen the National Direction of Rural, Bilingual and Intercultural Education

with enough budget and personnel at a national and local level to develop the necessary mechanisms that allow the implementation of an intercultural approach in the education system, whether rural and urban, indigenous or non-indigenous.

31. Establish mechanisms of differentiated evaluation, with an intercultural perspective, for bilingual teachers. This measure should be implemented in the framework of integral programmes oriented at increasing the number and improving the quality of bilingual intercultural educators.

32. Prioritise the quality of bilingual education, in comparison with other educational processes, as a permanent criteria in the budget determined by results.

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5.1 Cacataibo indigenous people in voluntary isolation: Impact on the rights to life, health, territory, environment, and to not be displaced from their territories.

The Cacataibo indigenous people

The Cacataibo indigenous people live in voluntary isolation at the headwaters of the Pisqui (tributary of the ucayali), Santa Ana, Pindayo and Rio Blanco (tributaries of the Aguaytia) Rivers, the basin of the Zungaruyacu, San Alejandro (tributary of the Pachitea) Rivers, and the headwaters of the Aguaytia River. They also inhabit parts of territories that are titled or under application for extension by different native communities.

Like other indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation that exist in Peru, the isolated Cacataibo groups are populations that are highly vulnerable to contagious diseases (respiratory, infectious). In the face of this reality, the main way to protect the populations in isolation is to create reserves that guarantee their survival. 18 This is the practice utilised in the majority of countries with similar situations, including Brazil, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

18 FiveterrotorialreservescurrentlyexistinPeru,whilesixproposedreservesarestillwaitingapprovalbytheState.

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Both the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon (AIDESEP) and the Native federation of Cacataibo Communities (fENACOCA) have been soliciting the Peruvian state for the creation of two indigenous reserves (North and South). The Institute for the Common Good (IBC) provided technical support to the promoters of this process, beginning in 2002. In 2005 and 2006, the Peruvian Ombudsman recommended, unsuccessfully, the formalisation of the territory of the Cashibo-Cacataibo indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation.

Hydrocarbon concessions: The main threat to the health, environment, territories, and the right to life of the Cacataibos in voluntary isolation.

Despite the proven existence of these uncontacted people in the described area, in September of 2005 the State authorized the company Petrolifera Petroleum of Peru S.A.C. to explore the hydrocarbons in Lot 107, superimposed on 50% of the area of the proposed Northern Territorial Reserve. In the first months of 2008, the workers of Petrolifera Petroleum of Peru found traces of the presence of the isolated indigenous peoples in the proposed Northern Cacataibo Territorial Reserve. unfortunately, the company did not report the majority of these findings.

After years of lobbying efforts by fENACOCA, it has achieved the reduction of hydrocarbon Lot 107 so as to not affect the proposed Northern Territorial Reserve. Nonetheless, this April the Peruvian state conceded hydrocarbon Lot 133 to Petrolifera Petroleum of Peru S.A.C. This lot is superimposed on almost the entirety of the proposed Southern Cacataibo Territorial Reserve, affecting the isolated Cacataibo indigenous peoples who live within this area.

These hydrocarbon concessions bring with them the presence of workers in the Cacataibo people’s territory, which implies the possible exposure to contagious diseases that are lethal for them, as well as displacement from their ancestral territories and adverse effects

on their cultural patterns. The presence of extractive activities also creates the potential interference of other external actors (migrants, for example).

Actions in defence of indigenous rights:

In December of 2007, fENACOCA, with the support of IBC, solicited the Inter American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) for an urgent provisional measure obligating the Peruvian state to immediately suspend Petrolifera Petroleum of Peru’s operations, for threatening the life and personal integrity of the Cacataibo indigenous peoples in isolation.

In October 2008, testimonies of the ex workers of the company contracted by Petrolifera Petroleum of Peru revealed that during the laying of the cables for seismic exploration in hydrocarbon Lot 107, numerous vestiges of the presence of Cacataibos in isolation were found, which were not duly reported to the national authorities.19

At the beginning of 2008, Petrolifera Petroleum of Peru S.A.C. finalized the work on the seismic cables on the Cacataibo territory, and today hydrocarbon Lot 107 rules out the proposed Northern Cacataibo Reserve.

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5.2 Mining and Hydrocarbon Concessions in the Territories of the Awajun and Wampis Peoples.The scene of major social conflict in the indigenous mobilisations of 2008 and 2009 has been the Awajun Wampis territory in the region of Amazonas. This can be explained by a combination of particular conditions in the region, but also by the Peruvian state’s constant aggressions against the aforementioned population in the imposition of extractive activities.

One of the particular features of the region is the majority presence of the indigenous population, consisting of the Awajun and Wampis peoples, both belonging to the Jibaro linguistic family. Currently they reside in the provinces of Condorcanqui and Bagua; approximately 50% of the regional territory is in the power of indigenous people.

Violation of conservation agreements and imposition of mining activities

After the war of Cenepa, the foreign relations ministries of Peru and Ecuador agreed on an integration policy that includes an ecological protection zone in both adjacent borders (Coangos and Cenepa, respectively). That same year, the State of Peru declared the entire District of Cenepa (863,277 hectares) a Reserved Zone via Supreme Decree 005-99-AG. Supposedly, this process closed the possibilities of opening the mountain range to the mining claims that still exist there and that, according to mINEm, have been archived.

In this context, the ODECOfROC, an indigenous organisation in Cenepa, agreed to accept the creation of the “Ichigkat Muja” park, which had already been supported by a study realised by Conservation International and other NGOs, which emphasized it as a priority conservation zone. The communities then participated in the process of the categorisation of this area, in agreement with the law and fulfilling ILO Convention No. 169, and they gave their acceptance in accordance with the regulations of the Law of Natural Protected Areas, Supreme Decree 038-2001-AG.

Nonetheless, the Peruvian state has violated the established agreements with the indigenous peoples, in that the Conservation Area that was created does not correspond to what was established in the original Technical Study.

Hydrocarbon Activities, Lots 116 and 147

In 2006 (12 of December) Peru-Petro signed a contract with the Hocol company for exploration and exploitation, granting it the concession of Lot 116. This lot is located in the basin of the marañon, between the provinces of Condorcanqui (in Amazonas), and Datem del marañon (in Loreto); containing an expanse of 853,381.655 hectares.

Since knowledge of the existence of this petroleum lot came about, the communities of the area have displayed their rejection of any hydrocarbon activity in the marañon basin. The Organisation of Indigenous Amazonian Peoples of Peru (ORPIAN) has received the requests from its bases and has realised different visits to the city of Lima to present reports and complaints before Congress and mINEm.

Nonetheless, the central government has insisted on going through with the project and convened an informational workshop for the date of march 29, 2008 in Santa maria de


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Nieva, which could not be completed because of the general rejection of the indigenous population.

Currently the Hocol company cannot begin its work, nor does it have a presence in the city of Bagua; nevertheless, the Peruvian state insists in the continuation of the petroleum projects and has granted concession of Lot 147, contiguous to Lot 116, to the Indian company Jindal Steel and Power Limited-Enigma Oil and Gas. This concession was recently produced on the 10 of September 2008.

5.3 Mining concessions in the province of ChumbivilcasAccording to the NGO Cooperation, in the region of Cusco the expansion of mining has been more indiscriminate. The land occupied by mining activity has increased from 303,225 hectares in 2002 to 1,012,438 in 2008. This situation is so worrying that the Regional President of Cusco has requested a meticulous revision of all the processes of mining concessions that have been approved in his region. To this end he sent a communication to mINEm in April of 2008. The most affected province is Chumbivilcas, where the concessions cover almost 89% of the territory.

The capital and the area with the highest concentration of the population is the district of Santo Tomas. It is home to 21 rural communities, representing 35.82% of the territory of the province and 2.68% of the territory of the region of Cusco.

Chumbivilcas is almost entirely an indigenous province, and the vast majority of the population lives in communities (almost 90%) and maintain very strongly their regional identity, reclaiming their pre-incan past as warrior peoples (the Chumpi Willcas) and as the first to rise up against Spanish colonisation. This expresses itself in different aspects of daily life, through their rituals, arts and handicrafts, dress, etc.

The established processes in ILO Convention No. 169 have not been followed in the granting of any of these concessions. On the contrary, it is the mining companies themselves that establish direct relations with the communities in order to start their operations, without these communities having had any prior references from the State.

Mobilisation and general rejection of the mining activity

In June of this year there was a broad popular mobilisation that maintained 13 days of strikes and protests in the provinces on Chumbivilcas, Sicuani and Espinar, which resulted in the death of an indigenous community member, Remigio mendoza Ancalla, as a product of the intervention of the national police. Policeman Alejandro montes de Oca was also gravely wounded. The rejection of the mining activity was one of the central reasons for the strike. Overall, it is a fight for the vital space of the communities before the unconsulted presence of external actors, which in practice implies the dispossession of their ancestral lands.

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