Pandemic, rights and indigenous peoples

Jesus Gonzalez Pazos^[1]

August 9th, International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. We might think it's just another one of those days that the United Nations has been trying to establish throughout the year, containing a diversity, sometimes a bit ghostly, of varied celebrations.

However, Indigenous peoples are not ghosts. On the contrary, today they number approximately 400 million people, a little over 5% of the world's population, although at the same time they account for 15% of global poverty. And despite this, in their limited territories (11%), they have managed to conserve 80% of the planet's biodiversity. This is at a time when the climate crisis that is already affecting us radically calls into question and demonstrates that the capitalist development model is not only unsustainable but dangerous for the very existence of humanity and the planet. We therefore believe that it is worthwhile for the world to pause for a day to consider the enormous wealth of knowledge, management of nature, cultures, and ways of life that these peoples contribute to the planet, but also to reflect on the systematic violation of their rights, which occurs not just one day a year but 365 days a year, accumulating decades and centuries of all kinds of injustices, persecutions, and deaths. And now, all this is aggravated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is hitting them brutally due to the neglect and abandonment, in many cases deliberate, of different governments.

Last May, more than 45 organizations, coordinating bodies, and cooperation networks in Spain published a document entitled “Pandemic, Rights, and Indigenous Peoples.” In it, we expressed our concern about the impact of this epidemic in Latin America, with particular reference to Indigenous peoples. We echoed the news arriving daily through the media and from Indigenous organizations themselves. Both reaffirm the undeniable fact that the coronavirus is now endangering not only people's lives but, in some cases, the very existence of different peoples on that continent. It is well known that today all of the Americas has become the epicenter of the pandemic worldwide, and within it, for example, in the Amazon basin, the disease is completely out of control.

We emphasized a fact that the international system itself has recognized for decades, although it systematically fails to uphold it. As peoples, they possess individual and collective rights, and this is a premise that should guide our vision and relationship with them, even when facing the current pandemic. Neither can be postponed or replaced by urgent measures of mere humanitarian aid, to which cooperation is beginning to be reduced. Solidarity is ineffective if it is not reinforced and guaranteed by the framework of the exercise of the rights that belong to them as peoples. In recent decades, as political actors, Indigenous peoples have made significant progress before various societies and state and international institutions regarding the recognition of their rights. Constitutional advances, legislative developments, international human rights instruments, and specific cooperation strategies are proof of this. But we also pointed out that the gravity of these times calls into question all of this progress if the necessary policies and measures are not implemented to make these hard-won rights effective and to confront the threat of the pandemic. The slogan of leaving no one behind has been largely embraced, but we hope that this decision includes not only people but also their rights; these cannot be relegated to a secondary position.

We will not review the situation in Latin America, but we do want to emphasize that it is one of the regions in the world with the highest levels of inequality and social injustice, which are now exacerbated by the pandemic. In this context, Indigenous peoples are being doubly affected, even facing increasing displays of racism and sexism from certain elites and authorities, as exemplified by the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who has just been denounced before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity and genocide due to his deliberate negligence in the face of the pandemic and the health crisis. Another example is the absolute inaction of the Colombian government despite knowing that the confinement of the population, particularly Indigenous people, is putting their leaders in the crosshairs of armed groups. Or the abandonment by the coup government of Bolivia which, causing an uncontrolled rise in infections, uses the pandemic and its impact as a new pretext to delay, once again, the elections and remain in power until it manages to dismantle the great advances in rights and living conditions of the last fourteen years.

Given this situation, we must reiterate our practical, normative, and legal conviction that we must redouble our efforts, especially regarding the demands of these peoples. Practical, because we must go beyond words, and many years of cooperation and solidarity have shown us that this is the normative path, as recognized by international human rights instruments and strategies for action and cooperation. Legal, of course, because as political actors, Indigenous peoples must be the protagonists of their present and their future. In short, fewer declarations and more real action in the defense and exercise of their rights.

And the scenario the pandemic has created for some of us only reaffirms everything mentioned above, as well as the urgency of addressing it. It cannot be that an International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples passes with some declaration or reference lost in the political life of this planet. There are diverse and multiple responsibilities. Indigenous peoples must continue their decades-long struggle to realize their rights. International solidarity must continue to support, disseminate, and strengthen their struggles. Transnational corporations and oligarchies must withdraw projects that plunder and destroy territories, creating new realities that deepen the climate crisis. Institutions, societies, and the political class must ensure respect for the rights of these peoples and for nature, and of course, for their right to define their present and future from and within their own territories. Let us recall once again an essential fact: they have managed to preserve 80% of the world's biodiversity better than the dominant capitalist system, so the world that calls itself developed in this area has much to learn and little to teach.

^[1] Member of Mugarik Gabe. Text provided by the CLACSO Working Group on Bodies, Territories, Resistances. 2020/08/04.