Guyana pledges solidarity with indigenous peoples at UN forum

Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai accompanied by a team comprising National Toshaos Council (NTC), and, Indigenous Peoples Commission (IPC) chairpersons Yvonne Pearson and Doreen Jacobis has pledged Guyana’s solidarity with indigenous peoples in other countries, in continuing the struggle for recognition, rights to land and resources and, right to redress. Sukhai made the commitment at a United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples Issues (UNFPII) meeting held in New York.

“From our country’s experience, we believe it is possible for governments to support and promote the enabling environment for the protection and promotion of indigenous people’s rights and to this end would recommend swift action during the current decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples,” Minister Sukhai said.

The Amerindian Affairs minister said with regards to the dialogue on the Doctrine of Discovery and its enduring impact, along with the right to redress, the effects and impacts of colonialism and its concomitant dominance, dispossession and plunder have had severe impact on countries that were victims of the system, as such, no country has had a history of a smooth transition from colonialism and its dominance.

She added that Guyana is a country that did not escape colonialism and its impacts with the earlier post-independence period offering little consolation in addressing indigenous peoples’ rights.

“It was against this backdrop that Guyana, a multiethnic society and a home to approximately 70,000 indigenous peoples, or 9.3 per cent of our population, took on the challenges of ensuring that issues regarding indigenous peoples are mainstreamed into the national development priorities, thereby providing a solid platform for indigenous peoples to participate at all levels of national development,” Minister Sukhai said.

She said, that of the countries that endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), to date, only some countries have exercised the political will to ensure that the principles of UNDRIP are embodied in national constitutions and legislations.

“Indigenous peoples’ rights are well entrenched in Guyana’s national Constitution and are operationalised by the Amerindian Act of 2006… the act is premised on free, prior and informed consent, and provides for land rights, self-governance, sustainable utilisation and management of resources and the environment among other aspects of indigenous economic and social rights and livelihood… the constitutional and legislative provisions are in many ways, aligned with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” Minister Sukhai said.

She informed the forum that Guyana’s indigenous people are also represented by institutions established and well-placed to further foster their wellbeing and development in their respective communities.

These include the Indigenous Peoples Commission and the Amerindian Affairs Ministry, both of which have the mandate to propose policies on Amerindian welfare; and the NTC, which is an independent body, comprised of elected village leaders (toshaos) who participate in decision making on matters affecting Amerindian villages.

She added while indigenous peoples in some countries have been dispossessed and continue to struggle for rights to lands and resources, Guyana’s laws allow for granting of legal titles to lands.

“It makes provision for land demarcation and extensions to strengthen tenure security… today, Guyana’s indigenous population privately own 13.4 per cent of Guyana’s land mass… Guyana is not blinded by our progress and recognises that there is much to be done, to further integrate indigenous priorities into the national development processes.”