Greetings all and thank you. In Guyana, Indigenous Peoples, despite having titles to our lands, have no ownership over the resources from them, nor are we consulted when these resources want to be exploited by companies or our government.
We, the Amerindian Peoples Association, have been calling for our government to reform our laws, and practices to enshrine the human rights standards of the UNDRIP that our country has already adopted. However, our peoples right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), are still not respected, nor required in our laws.
Government actions directly violate our collective rights to self-determination and our land. Therefore, stronger incorporation of the UNDRIP would increase the protections of our rights and ensure that they are respected and upheld, rather than overridden by corporate or state interests.
Our government speaks glowingly about Indigenous communities benefiting from funding from its Low Carbon Development Strategy through the sale of carbon credits. However, this is not the full picture. The processes arriving to this agreement were deeply flawed. Again, we were not properly consulted on how our forests and lands would be used in this scheme. We were not allowed to consent to this programme with the mandate of our people. And, we were not part of any negotiations to determine how our peoples could have benefitted from the national initiative according to our needs prior to the carbon sales agreement.
Our sacred lands that have been handed down through generations with care and reverence are being stripped, our rivers are being poisoned, and our environment is being desecrated in the name of extractive industries and profit.
Chair, we are witnessing the reckless seizure of our lands and resources without a seat at the decision-making table to avoid the devastation that such actions can cause. All this is justified in the name of economic development, without our participation, while fostering division among our peoples.
We call on the Government of Guyana to take tangible steps towards the revision of the 2006 Amerindian Act, and incorporate the articles of the UNDRIP into our national laws to ensure the protection of our peoples in the face of growing threats from the old and new extractive industries.
We ask that the government takes on the recommendations made by Guyana’s Villages and District Councils for amendments to the Act in the national revision process.
We also ask that the Permanent Forum monitor the government’s process to ensure that Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples are part of this national exercise that will determine the future of our rights, culture, and lives.
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