Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to hear about human rights abuses stemming from IIRSA

LISTEN to the 45-minute hearing that took place on Monday, November 2nd.  Video and audio recordings are available at the OAS website.

Center attorney Leonardo Crippa, joined by Indian leaders from Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, testified this week before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about a series of development initiatives in South America that is putting indigenous peoples at risk.

Today, South American governments and multilateral development banks, such as the Inter-American Development Bank, are promoting the economic integration of all South America through a massive web of interconnected projects.  As planned, this infrastructure development scheme, also known as IIRSA (Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America), will bring large scale deforestation, pollution, roads, and harmful development to the most remote areas of the continent.  The Amazon and Andes will be dammed and carved into giant water transportation highways, and crisscrossed by roads, oil pipelines, and energy lines without regard to the environment or the people who live in these areas.  The impacts on indigenous peoples in particular will be extreme.  Indigenous lands are being confiscated, communities are being forcibly relocated, and the ecosystems indigenous peoples depend on to sustain their cultural integrity, their livelihoods, and their physical survival are in jeopardy.

The Center and our partners - Confederación Andina de Organizaciones Indígena de Perú (CAOI), Organización Indígena Chiquitana de Bolivia (OICH), Centro de Estudios Aplicados a los Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales de Bolivia (CEADESC), and Comunidades Nativas de Pueblos Indígenas de Rondonia de Brasil - were granted a Thematic Hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the impacts of IIRSA.  The Commission is a body of the Organization of American States empowered to consider cases of human rights violations and to make recommendations for remedying these violations. 

The hearing was an opportunity to inform the Commission about the current situation that indigenous peoples of Bolivia, Peru and Brazil are facing regarding infrastructure development projects and extractive industries.  Within the framework of IIRSA, testimony focused on the existing and potential damage from such projects and highlighted the impacts on the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, territories and natural resources.  All this was articulated within the context of human rights obligations in Bolivia, Peru and Brazil.

The Indian Law Resource Center hosted the delegation of indigenous leaders during their stay in Washington, DC.  Center staff helped them prepare their oral and written testimony, and also scheduled a number of other activities to allow the leaders to connect with other influential officials, the media, and human rights advocates about the situation they are confronting. The delegation's visit is part of a larger strategy to influence and improve governmental and MDB safeguard policies, implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and show regional leadership pertaining to human rights of indigenous peoples.  

	Miguel Palacín' Quispe, Coordinador General de Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indígenas (CAOI)	Telma Monteiro, Coordinadora Amazonia de la Asociación de Defensa Etno-Ambiental Kanindé, Rondônia, Brasil
	Rodolfo Lopez, Primer Cacique General de la Organización Indígena Chiquitana, Santa Cruz, Bolivia	Narcisco Roca Tomichá, Presidente de la Central de Comunidades Indígenas de Chiquitos (TURUBO), Santa Cruz, Bolivia