The recent shutting down of eight miners working on Isseneru’s titled land coupled with what appears to be the application of a new mechanism to deal with mining on Amerindian lands has raised alarm among villagers of the Region Seven community, who say that they are being put under pressure for complaining to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) over their land rights.
Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) officials recently stopped the eight miners, who are villagers, from working on Isseneru’s titled land, saying that they had no permission from the agency to mine. Villagers said that they were told that a special mining permit will be needed for mining in Amerindian titled areas but there has been no consultation on this matter.
“They are now being made to pay for [the petition to the IACHR]… the other miners,