Govt. disregarding Indigenous land rights in favour of profit – APA representatives

Mar 10, 2019 News

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Indigenous people’s traditional and ancestral land rights are being disregarded, in favour of profits gleaned from mining activities. This contention, from representatives of Indigenous communities across the country to the Association of Padawong Amuk (APA), was one of the hotly discussed issues at the organisation’s 10th General Meeting held last week at Camp Kayuka on the Soesdyke- Linden Highway.
The organisation, which recently changed its name from Amerindian People’s Association, stated that it is urging the government to resolve longstanding land issues that indigenous communities have with the government and mining companies, particularly foreign companies.
The APA is urging a quick resolution to a 20-year long litigation over traditional lands in the Upper Mazaruni area.
In 1967, the government instituted an Amerindian Lands Commission, tasked with mapping and suggesting titles to be issued to Indigenous communities.
In 1991, title was granted individually to each community, though they requested holding collective title to their traditional territory. The Villages of Paruima, Waramadong, Kamarang (Warawatta), Kako, Jawalla and Phillipai in the Upper Mazaruni have long sought legal title over the area defined by the 1959 Amerindian District as one Akawaio/Arecuna district.
Being dissatisfied that their wishes weren’t granted, the Arekuna and Akawaio people brought a landmark case to court for those lands.
In 2008, when they appeared in court again; the issue was adjourned. When they met in 2012 and the community brought forth an anthropologist to provide expert evidence on their claims to their ancestral lands; the government’s defence team disqualified her as a witness and caused the matter to be adjourned once again. Fast forward to 2017, the government filed a submission in defence of its claim.
October 2018 marked 20 years since the Indigenous peoples of the Upper Mazaruni filed a court action against the government of Guyana, seeking legal recognition to their traditional and ancestral lands.
Communications and Visibility Officer of the APA, Dennis Glasgow, said that the government has issued mining rights to miners who are not native to the traditional Akawaio and Arekuna territory, without their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), even though the legal dispute is ongoing. A release from the APA said that the government has been receiving revenue from mining activities on the lands.
The APA also contends that many neighbouring communities like the villages of Chinowieng, Omanaik, Kambaru and Imbaimadai also suffer insecure land tenure rights.
A 2014 report from the APA and the Forest People’s Programme (FPP), called “Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, Forests And Climate Policies In Guyana” states that “there is a proliferation of roads and destructive mining across the region generating resource conflicts, water pollution, environmental damage, deforestation and social harm”, and that government actions to address these problems are “wholly inadequate or absent”.
The APA maintains that these issues exist across both the current political administration and the previous one.
Three notable recommendations of that report were for the “suspension of all mining concessions affecting Amerindian land, territory and natural resources until there has been an effective opportunity for the indigenous peoples to give their consent based on the principles of FPIC”, “Annulment of mineral rights issued to third parties on customary lands without community consent, and restitution of these lands back to the full control of the Akawaios and Arekunas” and “Urgent reform of relevant policies and legislation to protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and resources in the Upper Mazaruni and throughout Guyana”.
Former President of the APA, Mario Hastings, told this publication that the judiciary is supposed to be independent but that politics still has its influence on the process.
He said that he believes the government is acting more in favour of profits from mining companies, than for the interests of indigenous people’s rights to traditional and ancestral lands.
He said, “They are looking at investment and we have been told that mining brings a lot of money to the country – they keep saying that – but the health of the people is at stake.”
The APA’s advocacy for the respect of traditional land rights for Indigenous people extends beyond the Upper Mazaruni area. A recent release stated that it will urge “the Protected Areas Commission to meet with Chenapou Village and the North Pakaraimas District Council with the aim of signing an agreement that 1) resolves the conflicts over the use of Patamona traditional land in the area the Government has designated as Kaieteur National Park; and 2) sets out a mechanism for the sharing of benefits derived from the use of Patamona traditional land as a tourist landmark; and urge the Guyana Forestry Commission to recognize Bethany Village’s traditional lands (including both titled and untitled lands) and to cease interfering with the use by the village of its own forestry resources”.
The APA has also resolved to work toward having the government establish independent mechanisms so that the Indigenous communities in Region One are “protected from the consequences of oil and gas extractive activities,” including the possibility of an oil spill or other environmental hazard that could result from extractive work near the area.
Laura George, of the APA, said that there has been limited outreach with the communities in that region to have them involved in research for environmental and impact assessments.

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