LAND FORUM LAC 2021. SESSION 6

Territorial Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Constituent Processes in Latin America

October 14 - 10:30 A.M. LIMA

Latin America is home to approximately 46 million indigenous peoples. In all the countries of the region, indigenous peoples face strong impacts on their territories that profoundly affect their ways of life and livelihoods and involve a risk to their survival, due to the prioritisation of extractivist policies, land grabbing for agribusiness, illegal activities, among others.

The Covid-19 pandemic further highlighted the structural inequalities that indigenous peoples face socially, economically and territorially, as well as the weak guarantee of their collective rights. Indigenous women are particularly affected as they face an enormous workload as the main caregivers in their families and communities.

In recent years, some countries such as Ecuador and Bolivia have reformed their constitutional and legal frameworks in response to the demands of indigenous movements, recognising the rights of nature, the rights to protection and control of their lands, territories and natural resources, the rights to participation and consultation, the rights to indigenous jurisdiction and customary law, and the rights to maintain their own institutions, forms of government, languages and cultures, among other, as key factors in achieving “Good Living”, which would also contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda's goal of leaving no one behind. Chile is currently in the midst of a Constituent process and territorial rights are one of the main demands of indigenous peoples. In Peru and Guatemala, there are also calls for the formation of Constituent Assemblies to discuss and incorporate the rights of peoples to their territories and self-determination.

In this session of the Land Forum, experiences of constituent processes will be shared and how indigenous peoples' territorial rights have been strengthened in countries where they are incorporated in constitutions. It will also address the challenges for their implementation and how constitutional recognition is a key factor in achieving the SDGs.

DATE AND TIME

October 14

• 10:30 a.m. Lima, Quito, Bogota and Panama City
• 11:30 a.m. La Paz
• 12:30 a.m. Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Asuncion and Brasilia
• 09:30 a.m. Central America

LANGUAGES

Spanish and simultaneous translation into English and Portuguese.

PANEL: Territorial Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Constituent Processes in Latin America

Welcome

• Zulema Burneo, Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Land Coalition

Moderates: Karina Vargas, Observatorio Ciudadano (Chile)

Introductory Presentation: Indigenous Peoples, Land Rights and SDGs

• Dr Myrna Cunningham, President of the Board of Directors of FILAC, Miskitu people (Nicaragua).

Panel: Territorial Rights in Constitutions

• The Constituent Convention in Ecuador and the recognition of territorial and environmental rights. Manolo Morales, Founder of the Environmental Management and Law Corporation - Ecolex (Ecuador)
• The Constituent Convention in Bolivia and the recognition of the territorial rights of indigenous, native and peasant peoples. Toribia Lero Quispe, Member of Parliament and President of the Commission on Indigenous Nations and Peasant Peoples, Cultures and Interculturality of the Plurinational Assembly of Bolivia (Bolivia).
• The Constitutional Convention process and the guarantee of territorial rights in Chile. Manuela Royo, Coordinator of the Human Rights Convention of the Constituent Convention of Chile (Chile)

Comments

• Melania Canales Poma, President of the National Organisation of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru (ONAMIAP, Peru)
• Leiria Vay, Member of the Political Management Team of the Committee for Peasant Development (CODECA, Guatemala)

Synthesis and closing

• Delfina Mux, Maya, Coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Axis, Oxfam Central America Cluster.