The Indigenous condition

Sep 03, 2017 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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By H.E. David Granger

The United Nations General Assembly, ten years ago on Thursday 13th September 2007, adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

The ‘Declaration’ recognises the right of indigenous peoples “…to belong to an indigenous community”. It is in their own communities that indigenous peoples will be better able to practice, preserve and promote their distinct way of life.
Guyana possesses 212 indigenous villages and communities which are widely dispersed across the country with a population of almost 80,000 persons or 10 per cent of the population. The indigenous people have rights to about 30,000 km2 or about 14 per cent of the national territory.
It is no easy task to administer so many communities over such a vast area from Arau to Orealla and from Morawhanna to Masekenyari. Many communities are isolated and separated by long distances from the main administrative centres in the regions in which they are located. Communications and transportation are difficult. This situation presents challenges to finding solutions to the myriad problems which confront indigenous communities.
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, therefore, would be a meaningless scrap of paper if the State did not take account of the quality of life within indigenous communities.
The State must aim at improving the situation of indigenous people – as members of their communities and as citizens of this country.
The National Toshaos’ Council (NTC), under the Amerindian Act, is responsible for promoting good governance and for the preparation of plans for improving the quality of life of indigenous communities. The Council must do so. It must strive, continuously, to improve the social and economic conditions of their communities.
It was in an effort to solve the real problems facing the communities that I proposed a ten-point Plan of Action for Hinterland Development in my address to this Council, on the 28th of August, 2015.
It was in an effort to solve the real problems facing the communities that I proposed the establishment of a five-member National Indigenous People’s Authority (NIPA) to ensure faster implementation of decisions of the NTC and other agencies in my address to this Council on the 22nd of August, 2016. It is now one year since.
You will recall that the NIPA was aimed at ensuring that adequate administrative expertise and organizational structures were available to support improvements in the indigenous people’s quality of life.
The Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs and together with the National Toshaos’ Council have an obligation to work together towards improvement in the economic and social conditions of indigenous communities in several ways:
– In education, we must work together to improve the standard of education, in terms of access, attendance and achievement, especially at the primary and secondary levels, in hinterland communities. Indigenous communities must not be left behind.
I have personally visited Annai, Bartica, Cabacaburi, Kumaka, Kwakwani, Mabaruma, Whyaka-Mainstay, and my wife has visited other communities, to hand over boats, buses or bicycles. We have adopted the motto: “Every child in school” to ensure that every child can get to school.
– In economic development, we must work together to create jobs for our young people in their communities and reduce poverty and unemployment. The Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) and the Youth Entrepreneurship and Skills Training (YEST) programme have been working to help young people to become self-employed.
Communities in the Rupununi, Potaro-Siparuni and Barima-Waini are embarking on agro-processing and adding value to their natural resources and farm produce. We must promote small- and medium-scale industries within communities to provide work and generate wealth for our women and youth.
– In the environment, we must work together to reduce environmental hazards, water contamination and land degradation that causes floods. Swollen rivers recently inundated communities in Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Potaro-Siparuni and Rupununi regions, causing destruction and discomfort.
We must work together to prevent pollution of our rivers. These rivers are used by our communities for cooking, cleaning, drinking and washing. Pollution caused by reckless mining and logging threatens the lives and livelihoods of communities.
– In social protection, we must work together to reduce the incidence of alcoholism, incest, murder, non-communicable diseases, people-trafficking, prostitution, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and suicide within certain communities. One community, tragically, has had an average of seven suicides per year over the past decade. Anti-social behaviour undermines the cultural fabric of communities and lowers everyone’s quality of life.
We must work together, also, to protect our hinterland and border communities, from the threat of transnational criminal syndicates. Instability on our borders can generate agents of violence and death who can entice our young people into criminality and inflict harm on our citizens.
The Government of Guyana cannot ignore the everyday living conditions of our hinterland communities. The Government will continue to work through the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs to solve the persistent problem of hinterland underdevelopment. This Council, also, must be concerned about the economic and social problems which undermine the quality of life within some communities.
I said last year that the National Toshaos’ Conference was not a ‘talk shop’. It is a workshop. It is a forum for planning and problem-solving. It is a platform for performance. It is a means to strengthen the administration and to advance the social and economic development of villages and regions.
I urge the Council to adopt the administrative measures needed to improve the quality of life of our indigenous peoples.
I assure the Council of my administration’s support to provide a good life for the indigenous people.

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