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Sukhai slams EU’s awarding of project to Amerindian group
By awarding the Amerindian People Association (APA) a 150,000 Euros project in front of the National Toshaos Council, the European Union has breached the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Pauline Sukhai, Minister of Amerindian Affairs
This notion was expressed by Pauline Sukhai, Minister of Amerindian Affairs during a recent press conference. The Minister was at the time updating the media on her recent engagement at the UN forum, where the APA called on Government to slow the EU funded Voluntary Partnership Agreement of the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade process (FLEGT).
Sukhai said she believes the Non-Governmental Organization is probably confused about its objectives, since it is executing agency of the same FLEGT project it wants to see slow down.
In April, the European Union provided the APA with a grant to strengthen the active participation of civil society in the Voluntary Partnership Agreement of the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade process (FLEGT).
The aim of this project is to support the active participation of the Amerindian communities in the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) development process in a manner that supports the national roadmap and builds synergies with the ongoing efforts of the National Technical Working Group, the coordinating body for EU- FLEGT in Guyana.
The VPA aims to promote sustainable forest management by further promoting forest legality and securing access to European markets for legally-harvested and sustainable Guyanese forest products.
This specific project will build the capacity of identified Amerindian Village Councils and villagers, indigenous peoples’ organizations and civil society to become actively engaged in the FLEGT VPA discussions at the local and national levels, as well as to enable their effective participation in the development and implementation of the FLEGT VPA in Guyana.
According to Sukhai, this is not the first time the APA has called for the slowing down of the project. She enlightened that the APA wrote to the EU requesting same even after receiving a “huge chunk of funds to proceed with it.” The Minister finds the APA’s position on this matter contradictory.
The Minister lashed out at the European Union for granting the APA the project even though the NTC, the democratically elected body to represent Amerindians, had also applied to execute same.
She argued that the APA is a third party to the elected Amerindian leaders in this country and therefore should not have been granted the funds to execute monitoring and awareness sessions under the FLEGT.
“And here it is the EU turning a blind eye to the NTC who is the legitimate representatives of the Amerindian peoples. They were elected through a democratic process. NTC applied and was refused and the EU awarded it to a third party. That is a breach of the UNDRIP,” she said.
Sukhai explained the UNDRIP speaks of Indigenous people being in charge; and must be the one determining what they want to do and not third party. Nonetheless, the EU awarded the grant to a third party that is not responsible ad cannot empower all Amerindians.
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