Madrid, December 2, 2019. In the framework of the celebration of COP 25, the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), in coordination with Law, Environment and Natural Resources (DAR), carried out the Press conference “Proposal for a Regional Consultation Protocol of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon and COICA” in hall 4 of the Mocha Room of the Madrid Fair (IFEMA).
At this conference, the Regional Consultation Protocol from the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon (English version) was launched in order to strengthen the right to free, prior and informed consent of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and international standards, to strengthen local protocols that exist in the region and as a mechanism to protect indigenous defenders against the violation of the human rights of indigenous peoples and the threats of their territories in the Amazon basin.
There are several threats faced by indigenous defenders in the Amazon; illegal activities, persecutions of external actors, aggressive investment policies at the expense of respect for human rights, criminalization, conflict overlapping extractive operations and infrastructure in indigenous territories, among others. In this way, the very people that defend it are the ones that have been developing protection mechanisms against this increase in threats.
Therefore, this initiative was proposed by COICA, with the technical support of DAR, because “the right to prior consultation is not being implemented with full guarantees or meeting international standards in this area,” Robinson López warned, coordinator of Climate Change and Biodiversity of the COICA Coordinator.
Robinson López, immediately, announced that there are cases of violation of prior consultation in Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, also in Colombia where such consultation processes have been implemented ignoring indigenous peoples and allowing the entry of large oil projects that cause the increase of global warming. This has been happening throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, at the IV Amazon Summit of COICA, it was reported that about 400 indigenous leaders have been killed in the Amazon basin in 2017, which has increased in 2018 and 2019.
«We are called to do a great job in building our own protocols of self-government and governance, according to the customs and customs in autonomy and self-determination,» he said.
In the Amazon basin there are 7.5 million square kilometers all currently threatened, 511 indigenous peoples, of them 100 isolated villages not yet contacted, according to a report by the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT Colombia). In that sense, López stressed that prior consultation is a fundamental tool to protect the territories and the indigenous peoples themselves, defenders of the land, the territory and the environment.
For his part, Juan Carlos Jintiach from COICA said that at least 5,000 highly organized communities and the organization he represents, within the framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and ILO Convention 169, have made efforts with allies, so that the prior consultation is a flag of struggle to have an interaction with the governments. He pointed out that they work with the Amazonian indigenous agenda highlighting fundamental principles of respect for human rights, indigenous peoples in isolation, the governance of each indigenous organization and the protection of peoples as great defenders of the forest.
It should be noted that this work is part of a broad COICA strategy for recognizing the indigenous people as a defender of the environment, land and territory, which has various instruments to enforce their collective rights. Therefore, this instrument is also part of the work being carried out by the COICA Defenders Program, also with the technical support of DAR, with the objective of developing mechanisms for the immediate and effective attention of indigenous defenders Amazonians who are under situations of threat, violence, criminalization and persecution, in a scenario of violation of their rights and their territories, with a gender, preventive and collective perspective.
COICA statement
Finally, DAR’s Jackeline Borjas read an official pronouncement of COICA before the emergency declaration they launched at the public event. The document calls on the States of the Amazon basin participating in COP 25 to respect and guarantee the right to free and informed prior consultation and consent. Also to implement processes aimed at establishing intercultural dialogues that allow the informed consent of the indigenous people and the development of their peoples.
Equally, they should respect and recognize the (self) Consultation protocols constructed from the concept of indigenous peoples. That they recognize the proposal of the Regional Consultation Protocol of COICA that seeks to demand better standards and the consent of indigenous peoples, with the construction of a dialogue between equals. Likewise, that they declare the nullity of the projects, lots, measures or other rights granted that violate the international standards of protection of the right to self-determination, autonomy, consultation, consent and territory of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin and that accordingly remedy the environmental, social, cultural and spiritual impacts that have originated.
NOTE:
COICA represents 9 national organizations that are: COIAB (Brazil), CIDOB (Bolivia), AIDESEP (Peru), CONFENIAE (Ecuador), OPIAC (Colombia), ORPIA (Venezuela), APA (Guyana), OIS (Suriname) and FOAG (French Guiana).