Indigenous Women in Peru Decry Violations of Their Rights

Women witnesses and judges raise their arms at the end of the reading of the sentence of the Ethical Court in Defense of the Bodies and Territories of Women, held in the city of Tarapoto, in the Peruvian Amazon jungle, at the National University of San Martín. Image: Mariela Jara / IPS

By Mariela Jara (IPS)

HAVANA TIMES – “I’ve come here to denounce that in my community we drink water with heavy metals and breath polluted air from the mining activity,” stated indigenous Quechua leader Elsa Mema, at a symbolic Tribunal held in the city of Tarapoto, capital of Peru’s San Martin department in the Peruvian Amazon region.

On April 26, this Ethical Tribunal in Defense of Women’s Bodies and Territories took place. At the open hearing, four cases were presented, involving Peruvian women from the Amazon and Andes regions – among them the area where Elsa Merma lives – who are suffering violations of their individual and collective rights.

The event shined a spotlight on the systematic way the Peruvian government’s actions and lack of actions impacts the well-being of the women, their families, and their peoples. It was part of a series of meetings called Pre Fospa, the national prelude to the Pan-Amazon Social Forum.

The eleventh international edition of the Fospa will take place in three Bolivian sites from June 12–15, with the presence of around a thousand delegates from participating organizations, representing the nine countries that share the 6.7 million kilometers of Amazon territory.  During the Fospa, these groups will share and coordinate their efforts for the defense and protection of this vital territory. One part of this task involves integrating women’s rights into their struggles.

At the Fospa meeting, a group will deliver the Tarapoto letter, a declaration that came out of the three days of collective work and reflection on the part of over 50 indigenous organizations and agencies of civil society. The letter includes the conclusions of the Tribunal.

The Peruvian Tribunal presented their verdict on April 27th, leaving it clear that the government policies and activities of the large companies are impacting the life, health, food security and welfare of the women, as well as their ability to enjoy full human rights.

“The testimonies demonstrate one type of effect on their day-to-day lives, as the result of unilateral government decisions that don’t respect, protect, or guarantee the rights of the indigenous peoples,” the judges established.

The Tribunal was presided over by Amazonian indigenous leader Marisol Garcia, and composed of Mar Perez of the National Coordinator of Human Rights; Cristina Gavancho of the Legal Defense Institute; and Laly Pinedo, a feminist activist from the National Network for the Promotion of Women.

Loidy Tangoa, an indigenous woman from the Shawi people, testifies about her case of discrimination before the Court in Defense of the Bodies and Territories of Women of Peru. She denounced, among other things, that the absence of native language interpreters in justice services violates the rights of indigenous women who do not speak Spanish. Image: Mariela Jara / IPS

Expelled from their ancestral territory

Leona Pizango, a member of San Martin’s kitchwa peoples, denounced that she, her husband and her four children were all expelled from their chacra [small farm] in the community of Callanayaku by forest rangers from the Cordillera Azul National Park, an area comprising 5,225 square miles that was created in 2001 for the protection of its biodiversity.

The government measure failed to take into consideration the fact that the area includes the ancestral lands of the kitchwas, one of 51 officially recognized indigenous tribes of the Amazon. It also ignored their right to receive land titles for their communities, for their legal security and territorial governance.

“I used to raise pigs, chickens, ducks, and to grow yucca and plantains for our food; the park rangers chased us out, cut down all my plants, threw away my things, and didn’t allow us to take anything,” Leona stated, adding that she was relocated to a tiny, remote plot of land, where she had to begin all over again from nothing.

“My husband died shortly afterwards, from sorrow over what had happened to us. I was left a widow, a single mother. With all the grief I had, I have made myself into a strong, upright woman to support my children and make sure they can study, but it’s all been very sad,” she testified.

In delivering their verdict, the judges noted that 29 communities were affected by the establishment of the Cordillera Azul National Park in the area of Bajo Huallaga, where other families have also been displaced.

The case of Leona Pizango demonstrates a pattern of conservation [of the natural areas] carried out behind the backs of indigenous peoples,” ruled the Tribunal. The judges added that the Park was created without the consultation or consent of the kichwa peoples, although it affected their way of life and put their subsistence at risk.

The Tribunal demanded that the Peruvian government respect the right to prior informed consent; restore the land stripped from the native Callanayacu community; and implement compensatory health and education measures for the family of Leona Pizango.

In the auditorium of the National University of San Martin, in the Amazonian city of Tarapoto, the ethical court was held, whose ruling provides symbolic justice to indigenous Peruvian women in the face of the inaction of the State. In the background, Leona Pizango, a Kichwa indigenous woman, testifies before the court in one of the four cases presented. Image: Mariela Jara / IPS

Without access to justice for not speaking Spanish

Loidy Tangoa felt she’d been denied access to justice because she didn’t speak Spanish. She stated that the government authorities don’t comply with the laws requiring the presence of official interpreters for health and legal matters.

“I’ve come to make known the discrimination indigenous women of the three indigenous groups of the San Martin region [awajun, kichwa and shawi] experience, for wearing clothes that identify us, for not knowing Spanish, or for maintaining our own beliefs,” Lody Tangoa declared.

She asserted that the authorities don’t consider them to be people with the same rights as the rest. As an example, she described what happens at the local police stations. “We’re mistreated there; they don’t listen to us, and since they don’t speak our native language, we don’t understand what they say to us,” she explained.

She added that they need interpreters “who can assist us when we present a domestic violence complaint.” Barriers such as these impede the women’s access to justice. “I’ve seen this with my sisters from the three different peoples,” Tangoa – herself a member of the shawi peoples – added.

The Tribunal’s verdict affirmed that conducting public services in a language different from one’s own serves to maintain the marginalization and violence that indigenous women experience. They urged the government to promote the development of native women as interpreters, so as to facilitate their peoples’ access to justice and health.

The four indigenous women who testified in their cases before the court in defense of the bodies and territories of the Amazonian and Andean women of Peru are closely following the reading of the court’s ruling. Image: Mariela Jara / IPS

A slow death

Gilda Fasabi and Emilsen Flores of the kukama kukamiria people, located in Peru’s eastern department of Loreto, denounced the contamination of the Marañon river by petroleum runoff from the State-owned “Nor Peruano” oil pipeline. The river’s contamination affects their peoples’ right to water, sustenance, and health.

“We’re filed a lawsuit asking to have the river Marañon classed as a subject of law, because in our vision of the universe it’s a living being, and because we can’t live without water,” Flores testified. She also recalled that when she was a girl, her grandparents cured their illnesses by calling on the spirits of the water. Now they’re suffering from these diseases due to the contamination.

Two years ago, the Kukama Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana presented a lawsuit against the government and the State company PetroPeru. This was granted a favorable verdict in the lower courts, which also ruled that the Marañon River, which flows into the Amazon, is a subject of rights, with the indigenous peoples as its representatives. On May 9, the Loreto High Court will issue their ruling.

“We’ve asked the judges to support our petition. Enough of oil spills, because they’re killing us slowly,” Flores demanded.

Gilda Fasabi explained that drinking the contaminated water has affected the women’s reproductive health. They’ve suffered frequent miscarriages, and children have been born “missing a leg, an arm, an ear.”

The Tribunal affirmed that the kukama people are suffering the consequences of petroleum activity which has brought them nothing but devastation and suffering. It urged the State to guarantee them access to safe drinking water, identify those whose bodies have been contaminated by heavy metals, and – following due previous consultation – to implement a health program for their treatment, and another for comprehensive reparations.

In reading their sentence, the court defended the bodies and territories of the indigenous women of the Peruvian Amazon. It was chaired by the leader of the Kichwa people, Marisol García, and was made up of Cristina Gavancho, on her left, as well as Mar Perez and Laly Pinedo on her right, recognized for their work in defense of human rights, indigenous peoples and women. Image: Mariela Jara / IPS

Not for hate, but for justice

In her testimony, Elsa Merma, a rural Quechua woman from Espinar Province in the south Andes department of Cuzco, clarified that her declaration to the Tribunal denouncing the mining activity in her zone wasn’t motivated by hate, but by justice.

Thirteen rural communities in the district and province of Espinar have been affected over the past 40 years, principally by copper mining. A series of companies have come and gone in this mountain zone, located at an altitude of over 4,000 meters (13,100 feet). The current one is the Antapaccay Mining Company.

“Since we’ve been coexisting with the mining companies, our health has been much affected, as well as our agriculture, our cattle-raising. Everything is contaminated, everything has heavy metals, and it’s worse for the women, because we’re at home on the farm caring for our children. There’s no more good living in our communities,” Elsa Merma expressed.

The Tribunal upheld the Espinar women’s claim that their sexual and reproductive health has been greatly impacted, and that they’re suffering increased burdens on their labors in the home. It urged the government to conduct studies to identify those people who have heavy metals in their bodies, and to put in place programs for health and remediation, through dialogue and consultation with the population.

Their conclusions were immediately relayed to the authorities in San Martin, Loreto and Cuzco, the three departments where the villages who brought their cases and testimonies to Tarapoto are located. These conclusions will also be circulated among the indigenous peoples and their organizations.

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