Peruvian Army Sent to Suppress Peaceful Indigenous Protests Against Resource Extraction in Amazon Basin

Amazon Watch: Oil Production Interrupted as Peru Sends in Army to Suppress Peaceful Indigenous Protests


LIMA, Peru, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Peruvian government Saturday authorized the intervention of armed forces in the Amazon to crack down on growing indigenous protests against new decrees aimed at facilitating the entry of oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies into indigenous lands without prior consultation or consent.

On Monday, sustained protests led the state oil company, Petroperu, to shut down its main oil pipeline. This shutdown comes after a month of protests by more than 30,000 indigenous peoples. Indigenous communities have engaged in peaceful actions and blockades of roads and rivers throughout the Amazon protesting new legislation passed to facilitate the Free Trade Agreement with the USA that undermines their rights.

Videos and photos available on http://www.amazonwatch.org/ show police beating peaceful protesters and firing rubber bullets to break up peaceful Awajun and Huambis demonstrators last week when they blockaded the Corral Quemado Bridge near the northern town of Bagua, resulting in dozens injured and one person missing, who is feared dead.

In a statement, Alberto Pizango, president of the national indigenous rights organization AIDESEP who was criminally charged today for his role in the nationwide protests, stated: "The extraction of gas and oil, logging and the dredging of rivers in search of gold are destroying in a few years social structures, indigenous customs and coexistence strategies that date back thousands of years."

International and Peruvian human rights organizations are widely criticizing the Peruvian government's backward policies on indigenous peoples. In a recent statement President Alan Garcia said that every Peruvian should be entitled to benefit from the nation's natural resources, and not just a "small group of people who had the fortune to be born there."

Atossa Soltani, who heads the human rights and environmental organization Amazon Watch, commented, "Indigenous Peoples are asserting their collective right to determine how and under what conditions 'development' is carried out on their traditionally owned and legally recognized homelands."

"The Garcia Administration is clearly out of step with international conventions on indigenous rights that have been ratified by Peru, not to mention aspects of country's own Constitution. We urge the government of Peru to use restraint and avoid bloodshed, seeking meaningful dialogue to resolve the conflict instead."
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NWT High Court Denies Aboriginal Land Claims and Upholds NT Intervention Program

Violent scenes at High Court after land rights decision

Originally published in WAtoday.com.au (02-02-09)

Protesters stormed inside the High Court and clashed with police after the court dismissed a challenge against the federal intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

Dozens of anti-intervention protesters, both indigenous and non-indigenous, pushed through the court's front doors minutes after it rejected the case brought by traditional owners from the Arnhem Land community of Maningrida.

Carrying banners and clapping, the protesters chanted, "Always was, always will be Aboriginal land," as they moved into the court's main foyer.

Security guards tried to prevent the protesters from entering the building but were quickly overwhelmed.

Police appeared on the scene soon after, triggering scuffles as they tried to force the protesters back outside.

After a tense half-hour stand-off, the protesters took their demonstration to the streets of Canberra.

Under the NT intervention program, launched by the Howard government in a bid to tackle child sexual abuse, the commonwealth took control of township leases, abolished the permit system, introduced welfare restrictions, boosted police numbers and imposed alcohol and pornography bans.

Maningrida traditional owners Reggie Wurridjal and Joy Garlbin took on the commonwealth over its compulsory five-year takeover of their land.

The land, measuring 10.456 square kilometres, includes a township, four sacred sites, an outstation, a sand quarry, a billabong and a ceremonial site.
The elders, along with the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, argued the commonwealth failed to acquire the land on "just terms" as required by the constitution.

But the court, by a six to one majority, rejected their argument, saying the laws underpinning the intervention properly provided for compensation for Aboriginal organisations and people.

Retiring Justice Michael Kirby, in his final judgment in the court, dissented, arguing the case should be sent to trial.

"The law of Australia owes the Aboriginal claimants nothing less," he said.

A majority of justices also overruled a 1969 High Court decision which held that the just terms requirement in section 51 of the constitution did not apply to laws made by the commonwealth for the governing of the NT and ACT.


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Copyright © 2009. Fairfax Digital

Native Rights News is making this material from WAtoday.com.au available in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine codified at Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information. Distribution of this material is for research and educational purposes that will promote social and economic justice and benefit society.

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Posted By Perry Chesnut, Editor to Native Rights News at 2/03/2009 06:52:00 AM