On September 13, 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples after more than 20 years of negotiations. Though a positive step in the right direction, indigenous peoples around the world continue to face regular discrimination and violation of their rights.
While there are many threats to indigenous rights, large-scale extractive industries like logging and mining have exacted an especially heavy toll on traditional lands. Industrial development on indigenous territories frequently occurs without local consent, violating community rights. This has been met by the growing strength of indigenous grassroots groups. In partnership with other non-governmental associations and coalitions, local groups are pressuring governments for new policies and legislation that protect indigenous territories and natural resources and respect community-led decisions about their management.
For more than 15 years, Greengrants has been working in partnership with indigenous and traditional peoples all over the world to protect their health, lands, and livelihoods. Our grants to indigenous organizations have supported countless efforts to defend indigenous rights through strategies including education, networking, and legal action.
The work of these dedicated groups has resulted in recent successes on behalf of indigenous and traditional peoples, including landmark court rulings that are setting new standards in protecting traditional lands and cultures. We are pleased to share just a few of these inspiring stories with you, focusing on traditional and indigenous groups in Latin America.
Raposa Serra do Sol, Brazil
A recent victory, and key court case, concerns a dispute over the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous territory in the Amazon state of Roraima, Brazil. The 1.7 million hectare reserve is home to nearly 20,000 members of five indigenous peoples: the Makuxi, Wapixana, Ingariko, Taurepand and Patamona. While the land was legally recognized as an indigenous territory in 2005 by President Luis Ignacio da Silva, continuing struggles with large-scale rice producers from outside the area had led to significant environmental contamination as well as violent attacks against the community.
In 2001, Greengrants supported the Indigenous Council of Roraima with a $5,000 grant so that it could take a case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that resulted in a ruling in September 2008 to uphold the demarcation of their territory. In 2008, Greengrants and or partner, the Center of Socio-Environmental Support in Brazil, gave an additional $6,517 grant to the National Committee in Defense of Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land that enabled local indigenous leaders to continue the domestic legal struggle to secure their traditional lands.
As a result of this struggle, Brazil’s Supreme Court issued a final ruling in December 2008 to uphold the original presidential decree and ordered outside agricultural interests off the disputed land. This ruling vindicates the people of Raposa Serra do Sol and gives indigenous groups throughout Brazil new hope for asserting their own rights.
Saramaka, Suriname
In a landmark decision to the north, the Saramaka people, after years of struggle, celebrate a similar victory. The Saramaka are one of six Maroon communities living along the Suriname River and its tributaries. For years, Maroon peoples in Suriname—descendants of escaped African slaves – have been at odds with the State over the leasing of large-scale logging and mining concessions on their lands, without the free, prior, and informed consent of communities. To defend their territorial rights, the Saramaka brought their case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; it was later handed over to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.
To facilitate their efforts, Greengrants awarded a $3,000 grant to the Association of Saramaka Authorities to build local capacity to gather and analyze information needed for the case, including training in how to map their traditional territories and compile evidence of human rights violations as a result of forest destruction.
The 2007 ruling by the Inter-American Court grants the Saramaka Maroons rights to their ancestral lands, including decision-making authority around natural resource extraction within their territories. It also allows for compensation measures from the government for damage caused by previous logging operations. The Court also concluded that the right to prior consultation, and the right to free, prior, and informed consent and participation in the planning, investment, and development of large-scale mega-projects are necessary safeguards that states are required to employ before granting new concessions. Moreover, this ruling now serves as a valuable precedent in protecting the right of free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous and traditional peoples throughout the Americas confronted by extractive industry activity.
Native Communities of Ucayali, Peru
Greengrants supported the Federation of Native Communities of Ucayali, an indigenous federation in Peru, in successfully repealing a legislative decree that would have weakened indigenous land rights by making it easier to privatize traditional lands and open them up to oil and mining operations. An emergency grant allowed the Federation to bring together community leaders, educate them about the new legislation, and develop a political strategy for its repeal.
To read more about the actions leading up to this victory, click here.
These outcomes remind us of the inextricable link between protecting the environment and the defense of human rights. Long-term investments in promoting just policies that recognize the right to ancestral territories can yield results that reach far beyond individual communities, setting precedents to further indigenous peoplesí rights nationally and around the world.