STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

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EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributionThe health impacts of large projects such as dams can beequally serious. The vast expanse of stagnant water thatforms Brazil’s Tucurui Reservoir led to a plague of Mansoniamosquitoes and a dramatic increase in malaria amonglocal peoples. Cases of water-borne diseases such as riverblindness and schistosomiasis 32 also rose. Forced resettlementalso had damaging consequences for human health. Formerlydispersed indigenous groups were forced to live in settlementswhere they were exposed to new diseases, such as intestinalinfections and influenza, which thrive in dense populations.Poor levels of official health care and the irregular systemof vaccinations, along with unsuitable government-providedmedicines led to many needless deaths among the indigenouspeoples of the Tucurui area.Throughout the Amazon region, there are many accounts of uncontactedpopulations being decimated by curable illnessessuch as malaria, pneumonia and smallpox. In the Camisearegion of Peru, in the mid-1980s, Shell Oil conducted preliminaryexploration for oil and gas reserves. The exploratory work ledto an influx of loggers who used seismic trails as access. Thecontact from oil workers and loggers exposed the Nahua towhooping cough, smallpox and influenza. An estimated 50 percent of the population died. Most of the rest of the group fledthe area. 33Although the Programme of Action for the Second International Decade ofthe World’s Indigenous People refers to a need to establish an internationalmechanism guaranteeing the protection of indigenous peoples in voluntaryisolation and in danger of extinction, and recommends a “special protectionframework” for their protection, 34 these measures have not been implementedby the United Nations system and States.Special measures, including legislation, adopted by some States in response tothe recommendations made by the Forum and the Second Decade Programmeof Action have been piecemeal and, in some cases, counterproductive, as in thesituation whereby indigenous land reserves (Zonas Intangibles) are also subjectto resource authorizations; or where indigenous territories are bisected by theboundaries of States with different legal systems. 35throughout the Amazonregion, there are manyaccounts of un-contactedpopulations beingdecimated by curableillnesses such as malaria,pneumonia and smallpoxMost countries have not established specific institutions to protect the rightsof indigenous peoples in isolation and in initial contact. Some States have32Schistosomiasis is also known as bilharzia, bilharziosis or snail fever.33Lloyd, Soltani and Koeny (2006), 89.34United Nations Organization (2005), paras. 45 and 51.35OHCHR (2007), para. 30.EMERGING ISSUES | 235
EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributioninsufficient economic resources and few specialized staff able to address the situation of these peoples. Inaddition, most States have not established specific programmes or adequate action strategies that, based onthe principle that the characteristic lifestyles of indigenous peoples in isolation should be maintained, wouldensure their right to physical, social and territorial integrity. In some cases, States have even violated this rightor allowed it to be violated.The lack of regulations and oversight institutions has facilitated the arrival of extraction, timber and miningcompanies; of religious entities that seek to make contact with and to convert groups in initial contact; and ofother social actors onto the lands of indigenous peoples in isolation and initial contact, with consequences thatthreaten their existence, including epidemics and deaths. The difficulty of bringing such cases of human rightsviolations before the courts has led to a situation of impunity. 36These factors taken together have created a situation of extreme urgency and emergency which has led thePermanent Forum to “urge Governments, the United Nations system, civil society and indigenous peoples’organizations to cooperate in immediately ensuring effective prohibition against outside encroachment,aggression, forcible assimilation and acts and processes of genocide. Measures of protection should comprisethe safeguarding of their natural environment and livelihood and minimally invasive, culturally sensitive mobilehealth-care services”. 37As the Forum continues its focus in this area, it will seek to implement recommendations from the Expert seminarheld in Bolivia in 2006 and to work cooperatively with States and indigenous peoples through a human rightsbasedapproach, recognising that isolation is the result of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and, inthe majority of cases, a consequence of aggression suffered in the past.Concluding RemarksThis chapter has highlighted five of the most important emerging issues for indigenous peoples throughout theworld. The approval of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has given indigenouspeoples and the international community the impetus to deal with these issues. The Declaration also provides aframework for the partnerships that are required to adequately address these issues and ensure that the rightsof indigenous peoples are respected and protected.36Santa Cruz de la Sierra Appeal in OHCHR (2007), 2.37UNPFII (2006), para 83236 | CHAPTER VII
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STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

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