APA lobbies support for revision of Amerindian Act

Mar 07, 2019 News

Alluding to the steps taken to make suitable amendments to the Amerindian Act, the Amerindian Peoples Association, (APA) has outlined a need for funding and further sensitization to see the passage of the new legislation in the National Assembly.
According to information released by the APA, the organization is seeking funding to promote further work with the aim of seeing the recommendations through various stages to passage in the National Assembly.
The APA noted, however, that given the current political situation, it is uncertain whether the organization can move forward with its plans.
Calls have been made for the revision of several aspects of the Amerindian Act.
For example, in the mining areas, there have been concerted requests that certain provisions relating to mining deals should be reviewed, revised and reformed, to ensure that the full consent from indigenous peoples is obtained before large scale mining can proceed.
The law currently provides for consent from Indigenous Peoples for small and medium scale mining. However, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs had engaged the National Toshaos Council (NTC) and a consultant -a legal expert to provide advice on how to proceed with some of the amendments being proposed.
Last year, a steering committee for the Amerindian Act 2006 Revision, comprising representatives of the NTC, APA, the Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana, the Guyanese Organization of Indigenous Peoples and the Amerindian Development Foundation, completed training of facilitators to enable a smooth process in making informed recommendations for the Amerindian Act 2006 revision.
The village councils and other residents were also privy to the discussions over the current Act. The councils raised concerns as it related to documents and made recommendations for the revision. The recommendations were expected to be submitted in written form to the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, which officially commenced consultations.

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