The government is investigating reports that residents of the Orealla and Siparuta settlements were arrested last week by Surinamese coastguards for fishing in the Corentyne River.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge told Stabroek News yesterday that since last week they started investigations into the reports.
“We looked at it last week. They have been released… and we are checking,” Greenidge said in correspondence from Quito, Ecuador, where he is currently on duty with President David Granger for the Fourth Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
The Guyana Empowered Peoples’ Action Network (GEPAN) yesterday wrote to Greenidge seeking his intervention. They said that they were informed yesterday of the incident and that the villagers are being harassed by Surinamese coastguards that patrol the Corentyne River.
“According to information from the Village Council and former Toshao Floyd Edwards, a group of villagers were fishing during the course of last week on the Corentyne River when they were stopped by the Surinamese Patrol and taken to Suriname where they were detained for several hours,” GEPAN letter to Greenidge stated.
“Their families were not informed of the arrest and they were only able to return after having overnighted in Suriname. Attempts from the fishermen to explain to the patrol that they are Amerindians from Orealla who have strong ties with their Surinamese Arawak cousins of Apura, proved futile,” the letter continued.
GEPAN explained that the people of Orealla-Siparuta have depended on the Corentyne River since they initially settled in the area before the establishment of the Guyana and Suriname territorial and maritime boundaries. “They depend on the Corentyne River for fishing which is done mainly through “cadel” (line and hook (s)), and to travel to other parts of Guyana. The Corentyne River represents the main source of daily subsistence for the Amerindians of Orealla – Siparuta,” it added.
Citing UN declarations on the rights of indigenous people, the organisation said it would invoke articles, such as Article 20, which states: “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development, and to engage freely in all their traditional and other economic activities.”
GEPAN is calling on government to act immediately on the issue and “engage the Government of Suriname, the United Nations and other civil society actors to work towards ensuring that the indigenous rights of Amerindians, who depend on the Corentyne River for their livelihood, are preserved.”
Greenidge said that “the story is not quite complete” and that his ministry is continuing to investigate.
