In what can be described as an about-turn, Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai has said that the government lacks the power to grant “outsiders” permission to operate on Indigenous peoples’ lands.
The minister made this statement at a press conference on Thursday, explaining that the government only facilitates the crafting of legally binding agreements between Indigenous communities and investors.
“Government has no authority to provide permission to any outsider… because the law is clear in the Amerindian Act, that the Village Council is the body that approves and makes the decision if they want to lease lands…,” Sukhai said. “… All the ministry does is to ensure on both sides they present their positions. We put it in a legal format, … we want to ensure both sides have a good agreement and we refer it to the Attorney General office for vetting.”
This is the first time the government is advancing this position as it has previously granted mining and logging concessions on titled Indigenous land. The government and the communities of Chinese Landing in Region One and Isseneru in Region Seven are currently engaged in a bitter battle to correct the impacts of mining in those villages. Both villages are titled, but the government, through the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) issued permits for miners to operate in the villages.
At Thursday’s press conference, Sukhai said that though government agencies such as the GGMC and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) issue licensing permits for mining and logging activities, this does not translate to approval to work in the communities. Sukhai emphasised that approval for operation must come from the Indigenous people by way of a village general meeting as catered for in the Amerindian Act 2006. This was in response to a question from Stabroek News about whether the situation faced by Chinese Landing and Isseneru was highlighted on the international stage.
The minister had just boasted: “So, they have discovered that Guyana is way ahead of most of what is being discussed in terms of finding solutions, engaging the Indigenous peoples and actually having in place programmes that have allowed the protection of their rights, having legislation and also addressing development.”
She was reporting on the 2nd session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous People’s Issues held at the UN headquarters in New York. The Amerindian Affairs minister had led a team consisting of members of National Toshaos Council to that meeting.
However, when this newspaper asked the minister for an update on the government’s action to find resolution to the Chinese Landing and Isseneru violations, she said all questions should be directed to the Ministry of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, despite stating that Amerindian Affairs Ministry was set up to protect and advocate for the rights of Indigenous people.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) had both written to the government last year asking that it remedy the violations committed against the Indigenous people.
In the case of Chinese Landing, UNCERD’s Chair Verene Shepherd noted that the information indicated that the Indigenous community obtained title to the land under the former Amerindian Act of 1976 and that the title was reissued in 1991 under the State Lands Act and in 2018 pursuant to the Land Registry Act.
“The information further indicates that the Amerindian Act of 2006 requires medium-scale miners to sign an agreement with a village council before they begin mining activities in its lands and that under the Mining Act mining rights could be conferred over a specified area save and except all lands lawfully held or occupied,” the letter stated.
“It is reported that, in spite of these legal provisions, in September 2021, the High Court of the Supreme Court of the Judicature of Guyana dismissed the claim filed by the Chinese Landing Indigenous community against the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and Mr W Vieira concerning the mining concession, without allowing the case to proceed to trial.”
UN CERD went on to inform that the Chinese Landing community was contending that the High Court’s ruling has led to an increase in unwanted mining which posed a risk to its traditional way of life and its environment. It further alleged that the judicial decision also resulted in an upsurge of a series of incidents of intimidation and assaults on residents of the community, by miners and members of the Guyanese Police Force.
Chinese Landing, a Carib indigenous community, is located along the Barama River in the Barima-Waini region. It received its land title in 1976 under then prime minister Forbes Burnham. The village received its Certificate of Title on August 10, 2018, for 30.06 square miles or 19,241 acres of land.
Between September 25, 1998, and September 26, 2001, four mining permits were issued to Wayne Vieira of Houston, East Bank Demerara, to mine in the Tassawini area in the village.
Since the granting of the permits to Vieira, the community has been engaged in battle with him to preserve the rights of its residents. The gold-rich Tassawini area located in the village is occupied by approximately 500 miners. The situation in Chinese Landing is currently one of economic deprivation. The residents there receive no benefits from Vieira’s operations since it does not employ locals and support community businesses. The residents are also threatened and intimidated by the workers.
Vieira continues to operate without an agreement, breaching the requirements of the Amerindian Act, which expressly states that entry into Indigenous communities must be approved by the Village Council. The miners operating there refuse to adhere to the law and intimidate the council members when they object.
UNCERD also addressed mining projects on Marudi Mountain and their impact on the Wapichan. The letter stated that the committee received, on 17 November 2021, information that the Government of Guyana concluded an agreement with the company Romanex Guyana, Aurous and the Rupununi Miners Association allowing the expansion of mining activities at Marudi Mountain, without consulting and seeking the consent of the Wapichan indigenous people. It is alleged that the mining activities at Marudi Mountain, a sacred area for the Wapichan people and also critically important as several rivers originate in this zone, pose an imminent and grave threat to their cultural heritage and livelihood.
“These allegations, if verified, could amount to a breach of the state party’s duty to protect the rights of the Chinese Landing and Wapichan indigenous peoples to their lands and territories and the right to be consulted. In this regard, the committee recalls its general recommendation No. 23 (1997) on the rights of indigenous peoples, in which it calls upon state parties to ensure that no decision directly relating to the rights or interests of indigenous peoples is taken without their informed consent,” the letter informed.
Isseneru, an Indigenous community in Region Seven consisting largely of people from the Akawaio nation, and the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), approached the IACHR on September 5, 2013, arguing that the government had violated the rights of the community and its members to property, equality before the law, justice and a fair trial, to the protection of mothers and children, to the preservation of health and well-being, and to enjoy the benefits of culture. All of these rights are protected by several Articles of the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man.
The appeal to the IACHR partly stemmed from two High Court rulings against the village’s objections to mining projects. Back in 2013, Justice Diana Insanally made orders for miner Joan Chang against the Isseneru Village Council and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission binding.
Members of the village council had claimed that the company was mining on titled land without the council’s permission and despite cease work orders (CWOs) issued by the GGMC. Justice Insanally pointed out in her ruling that by virtue of Chang being granted a licence to mine prior to the coming into operation of the Amerindian Act of 2006, the Village Council had no authority to stop the operation and the GGMC no authority to issue the CWOs.
IACHR said the government was responsible for at least 16 violations of the rights of the Isseneru community and its members and recommended that reparations be granted to the village as well as that government employs the necessary measures to support Isseneru and its members in their duty to preserve and protect the environment, particularly in relation to the mining operations that the community undertakes on its ancestral lands.
Additionally, the IACHR advised the government to “…amend its legislation in order to ensure that the provisions of the relevant Acts and regulations related to indigenous territorial property are in harmony with the American Declaration, in accordance with international law …”
