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Govt. asked Int’l human rights body to withdraw precautionary measures over allegations of abuse of Amerindians at Chinese Landing – Teixeira
Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana (GoG) has formally asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to withdraw its precautionary measures issued over the alleged abuse of Amerindians at Chinese Landing, Barama River, Region One.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira
Last July, IACHR issued precautionary measures, in relation to claims of human rights abuses against Indigenous people living at Chinese Landing, by large-scale miners, specifically Mr. M.V, the legal holder of mining licences for their titled lands.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, on Wednesday during her press conference told reporters that in December 2023, the government wrote to the IACHR asking for a response to their submission which responded to the human rights petition filed by the Chinese Landing Village Council, the Amerindian Peoples Association of Guyana (APA), and the Forest Peoples Programme, against the government.
“In fact, what we did with Chinese Landing we asked for a withdrawal of the precautionary measures as they are not based on facts and it’s a misrepresentation, so we asked formally to the IACHR to withdraw the petition against Guyana.”
Minister Teixeira noted that since responding to the petition the government has only received an acknowledgement of receipt from the Human Rights body, but not an actual response in relation to the submissions. However, she acknowledged that from previous engagements, she is aware of the process when dealing with human rights petitions.
“They were certain sensitivity with the documents that we do have, they are very, very important in terms of the health findings, in terms of the findings to do with mining and very interesting,” the minister added.
She noted that the government’s submission to the IACHR was done by reputable technical officers of the government. “We attached all the appendixes including all the fact-finding mission documents of mining, health, tests that were done on urine for mercury, blood for mercury etc.,” the minister said.
Moreover, she said too, “My view is that it would have been good to see a response from IACHR to our submission before releasing the documents. However, it is now from earlier last year we have not received anything.”
Following the issuance of the IACHR precautionary measures, the Government had sent in a “fact finding team” to Chinese Landing on August 6 2023.
According to the Commission, the Carib community which has approximately 210 residents is currently at serious risk of suffering irreparable harm to their human rights by miners and even some members of the Guyana Police Force. Details of those risks were outlined in a petition to the international body.
The IACHR had also requested that the government implement a number measures to protect the Indigenous people from harm. Those requests are: for the government to take the necessary measures to protect the rights to life and personal integrity of the members of the Indigenous Carib Community of Chinese Landing with a cultural, gender-based, and age-appropriate perspective to prevent threats, harassment, and other acts of violence against them, to consult and agree upon the measures to be adopted with the people of Chinese Landing and their representatives and to report on the actions taken to investigate the events that led to the adaptation of this precautionary measure, so as to prevent such events from reoccurring.
It is believed that the miners have polluted the waterways and this has severely affected the health of residents.
Kaieteur News had reported that Toshao Orin Fernandes has already tested positive for mercury poisoning, according to the IACHR Resolution. Statements were also taken from villagers regarding the alleged collusion between police ranks and the miners, threats to their lives and terrorizing of them for the disputed lands. Water samples were also taken to test for possible mercury contamination.
- Barama River, Gail Teixeira, Government, human rights, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, precautionary measures
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