With the Government of Guyana indicating its willingness to revise the Amerindian Act of 2006, several Indigenous district representatives are calling on the government to examine their Consultation Proposal and are disappointed that community consultations have started without including said proposal.
In a joint release yesterday, the representatives of four districts, the Upper Mazaruni District Council (UMDC), the North Pakaraimas District Council (NPDC), the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC), and the Moruca District Council (MDC), applauded the Government of Guyana’s commitment to revise the Amerindian Act 2006 to bring it in line with its international human rights obligations.
Taking note of the Attorney General’s undertaking to ensure that “the entire process will be driven by the Amerindian communities in the consultative process,” the four District Councils have collaborated to re-share a Consultation Proposal which outlines how the Indigenous peoples expect to be consulted by the government in the legislative reform process. The release informed that this Consultation Proposal was endorsed by all District Councils and submitted to the government in February to assist in its fulfilment of obligations to respect their right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) as grounded in various national and international instruments, including: a) Article 154A of the Constitution, which enshrines the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination in Articles 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, also affirmed in Article 3 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP); b) Article 13 of the Constitution, which protects their right to participate in decision-making in matters that affect our rights, also affirmed in Article 18 of UNDRIP; and c) Article 19 of UNDRIP, which describes their right to FPIC in the context of legislative developments.
According to the release, the Consultation Proposal outlines various steps, including: community capacity building before consultations; how consultations are to be conducted; Indigenous representation on the National Committee; and a reminder for the government to first consider their past compilation of recommendations on how the Amerindian Act should be revised which were submitted in 2019 and again in 2022.
The coalition of councils noted that last year, they were pleased to read about the government’s commitment to establish a National Committee to oversee revision of the Amerindian Act.
However, given the lack of news on further developments, they are calling on the government to share updates on the establishment of this committee and emphasise the importance of Indigenous representation being ensured.
Meanwhile, some consternation was expressed upon learning that the government had begun community consultations this weekend without engaging with their Consultation Proposal. This consultation began in St Cuthbert’s Mission. Further, it was ascertained that government has recently conducted trainings on the Amerindian Act with Community Development Officers (CDOs), Community Support Officers (CSOs), and National Toshaos Council (NTC) representatives with a view to them facilitating revision consultations in their respective villages.
“We are disappointed that the government advanced these plans without consulting communities on our preferred process. While some of our toshaos were included in that training, the training does not conform to the process we proposed in our Consultation Proposal and we consider that an appropriate process must be agreed with our communities before revision can commence”, the councils said.
Given the NTC Conference taking place this week, the councils see this as an opportunity to discuss and agree an indigenous-led legislative reform process as promised by the Attorney-General. “Given there was no questions time afforded to toshaos during the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs presentation on the Amerindian Act revision on Tuesday 29 August 2023, we look forward to commencing these discussions during the dialogue with the Ministry of Legal Affairs (today). However, given the extremely limited time available in these slots, and the significance of the Amerindian Act revision process to our peoples, we request a dedicated full-day meeting to take place as soon as possible between the District Councils, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, and any other relevant Indigenous rightsholders”, the councils added
And according to the councils, it is hoped to reach agreement on four items: 1) the proposed revision process; 2) the budget for consultations and legislative drafting; 3) the roles and responsibilities of different actors in the process; and 4) the timeline for legislative reform.
“In accordance with the Consultation Proposal, we thank the government in advance for respecting Indigenous wishes in the process of revising the key legislation impacting our communities. We look forward to working together as we seek to make Guyana a leader in the protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples,” the release added.
