History
The Amerindian People’s Association (APA) was formed in 1991 at a conference for Indigenous leaders in Georgetown. These leaders had met to discuss various problems affecting their communities and felt that there was the need for an independent organization to represent their issues especially as these were not being addressed by the government. Such issues included natural resources exploitation on traditional Indigenous lands by large mining and logging companies and various forms of human right abuses including police brutality.
The APA was therefore formed to actively support community initiatives to address human rights violations and to work towards improving the general conditions of the Indigenous Peoples of Guyana. The organization was first led by a Steering Committee which later became the Executive Committee. The APA held its First General Assembly in Georgetown in 1992 and has since held seven others, the last at Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, in 2011.
The organization was registered under the under the Friendly Societies Act (Laws of Guyana) in January 1998.
The APA first opened its office in 1993 with part time voluntary assistance. In 1994, the organisation employed its first paid member of staff and from this time onward began taking more sustained actions in working with indigenous communities to deal with the various issues confronting them. Since the first Assembly, the APA has grown, increasing the membership of the Executive Committee, extending its programme and outreach and enhancing its capacity to respond to the requests for support by indigenous communities throughout Guyana.