Friday August 29, 2008
Indigenous Groups Win Major Battle in Congress
Milagros Salazar
Inter Press Service
The Peruvian Congress voted Friday to repeal two decrees that opened up communally owned native lands to private investment and that triggered a wave of protests this month by indigenous people in Amazon jungle provinces.
The vote was a rare instance of cooperation between opposition lawmakers and legislators from parties that up to now have been allied with the government, who voted to overturn the decrees on the argument that they undermined the rights of native communities.
Sixty-six lawmakers voted to revoke the decrees and 29 members of the governing APRA party voted against the decision.
The decrees were adopted by the executive branch in an unconstitutional manner and without respecting indigenous groups’ right to be consulted prior to any project on their land, as established by International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169, which has been ratified by Peru.
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