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News > Peru

Indigenous Leaders in the Amazon Need Immediate Protection

  • Indigenous activists occupy the state-run oil company Petroperu, Oct. 1, 2020.

    Indigenous activists occupy the state-run oil company Petroperu, Oct. 1, 2020. | Photo: Twitter / @MercoPressNews

Published 1 October 2020
Opinion

Richard Rubio warned that at least five Peruvian human rights defenders have been killed since April.

The Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP) and the Law, Environment, and Natural Resources (DAR) NGO reported that Indigenous peoples asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to "intercede" so that the governments of the Amazonian countries "take effective protection measures."

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Leaders of Indigenous communities in the Amazon asked this multilateral organization to "call attention" to Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil due to the murders, threats, and human rights violations they face in their territories.

The Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), which represents the Indigenous peoples of the nine countries, launched this alert call during the 177th session of the IACHR, which has been held virtually since Monday.

In this context, the AIDESEP Vice-President Richard Rubio warned that at least five human rights defenders have been killed in Peru since April.

"Coordinated and multisectoral measures are urgently needed," he said, adding that the Peruvian state must quickly ratify the Escazu Agreement that it signed in Sept. 2018.

This international instrument is the first global pact containing binding provisions for protecting individuals and organizations that defend human rights in environmental matters.

Within the Peruvian Congress, however, the ratification of that agreement has been the subject of discussions that have yielded no concrete results in over the last month.

"Meanwhile, there is no access to justice for the murdered Indigenous brothers," Rubio stressed.

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