The Indigenous World 2023: Bolivia
According to the 2012 National Census, 41% of the Bolivian population over the age of 15 is of Indigenous origin, although 2017 projections by the National Institute of Statistics indicate that this percentage is likely to now have increased to 48%. Of the 36 recognized peoples in the country, the majority of those living in the Andes are Quechua- and Aymara-speaking (49.5% and 40.6% respectively). In the lowlands, the Indigenous Peoples are largely the Chiquitano (3.6%), Guaraní (2.5%) and Moxeño (1.4%) who, together with the remaining 2.4%, make up the 36 recognized Indigenous Peoples.
To date, Indigenous Peoples have consolidated their collective ownership of 25 million hectares of land in the form of Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (Community Lands of Origin / TCO), representing 23% of the country's total area. Bolivia has ratified the main international human rights conventions and has been a signatory to ILO Convention No. 169 since 1991. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been in force since the approval of Law No. 3760 on 7 November 2007. With the new State Political Constitution, Bolivia adopted the name of Plurinational State in 2009.
This article is part of the 37th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of an Indigenous person in Tanzania. This photo was taken by Geneviève Rose, and is the cover of the Indigenous World 2023 where this article is featured. Find the Indigenous World 2023 in full here.
Advance of the extractive industries into Indigenous territories and protected areas
The small and medium-sized private mining sector occupies a privileged position in the ruling power bloc nationally, and this has granted it preferential regulatory and/or de facto treatment in terms of accessing areas for the implementation of mining activities in protected areas and on Indigenous territories in non-traditional zones such as the Amazon.
According to recent studies, there are more than 300 gold dredges operating along the 172 km of the Madre de Dios River that runs through the Multiethnic Indigenous Territory II alone, using irrational levels of mercury. This situation arose when Madre de Dios was declared a “fiscal mining reserve”, approved by Supreme Decree 3516/18. And yet only 7% of these operations are legal. This situation was reported to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Toxic Substances.[1] Alongside this, a report[2] highlighted allegations of the existence of multiple dredges searching for gold along the Kaka and Beni rivers in the Madidi National Park. This is located in the northern Amazon Forest of the department of La Paz, one of the most megadiverse areas in the world.[3]
The impact of this activity on the communities that live and depend on these rivers is reflected in the presence of mercury in the fish. It can also be seen in the disappearance of turtle eggs due to the effects of the debris these dredges leave behind when removing the gold. In these cases, these dredges are not operating with the authorization of the State, far less with the Free, Prior and Informed Consultation or Consent (FPIC) of the Indigenous Peoples.
In mid-October, there was a massive demonstration in the city of La Paz on the part of the private mining sector that led to the signing of an agreement with the National Protected Areas Service (SERNAP) and the Mining Jurisdictional Authority aimed at making the procedures for gold mining in the Madidi, Apolobamba and Cotapata parks (La Paz) viable. However, the 18 Indigenous Peoples of the La Paz Indigenous Peoples Organization (CPILAP) managed to obtain the cancellation of this agreement on 7 November through the signing of an act with the Vice-Ministry of Environment and Water that prevents the mining authorization procedures from being formalized.
In March, it emerged that the management of the San Marías Integrated Management Area had been granting authorizations to the mining company, Mincruz S.R.L., to enter the Pantanal Indigenous Territory of the Chiquitano people to exploit its tantalum. The company had in fact been granted an environmental licence at one point but, due to legal restrictions in the protected area, had never been able to commence operations. Within the context of a supposed consultation launched by the company, one of the communities affected agreed to the start-up of operations. Nevertheless, immediately afterwards, due to resistance from other communities settled in the basins of the lower Pantanal, as well as complaints from legislators, the Ministry of Environment and Water revoked the company's environmental licence.[4]
Complaints of mining in Bolivia gained more visibility with the arrival in the country of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Marcos Orellana,[5] who presented the situation to the General Assembly in the context of a thematic report entitled “The Impact of Toxic Substances on the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples”.[6] The Rapporteur reported that Bolivia was becoming a hub for illicit mercury trafficking in the Amazon region. He also explained that mercury contamination was affecting Indigenous Peoples and urged the State to implement an action plan within the framework of the Minamata Convention.[7]
Indigenous autonomy and forest conservation
In the Beni sub-Amazon region, the Multiethnic Indigenous Territory (TIM) has been embarked on a long and bureaucratic process aimed at accessing autonomy, ongoing now for more than 12 years. One of the final steps for implementing the Statute that would enable the formation of the new government was supposed to be completed in 2022: the Plurinational Legislative Assembly’s (bicameral Congress) approval of a law Creating the Territorial Unit. Senate approval was obtained only in October and the Territorial Creation Law is now expected to be enacted in 2023.
Meanwhile, the TIM has been conducting planning and management actions for greater control of the common assets and biodiversity of their territory. In this context and within the framework of the Management Plan defined by the TIM Sub-organization,[8] they have established a framework for declaring the Loma Santa Natural Conservation Area, setting out three management categories that will be managed by the sub-organization and subsequently transferred to the autonomous government of the TIM.
In the Santa Cruz Chaco, the autonomous Guaraní government of Charagua Iyambae managed to get the Agro-environmental Court to declare an Environmental Moratorium in the Ñembi Guasu Conservation and Ecological Interest Area as a precautionary measure against the settlements and land clearance (burning) that had been authorized for peasant communities and which was partly responsible for the large fires that ensued over the 2019-2021 period.[9] Agro-environmental Ruling No. 11/2022 also reaffirms the Indigenous autonomy as the competent local government within the framework of the Plurinational State, making constructive dialogue possible between the authorities and social organizations in order to resolve the environmental conflicts caused by the systematic recurrence of fires since 2018.
The same outcome was not achieved in the case of the conflict triggered in the Bajo del Isoso aream in the same jurisdiction of Charagua Iyambae, due to the clandestine construction of a bridge over the Parapetí River by a Mennonite settlement known as Cuaririrenda, which borders the Guaraní community of the same name.[10] The construction of the bridge without any authorization from the Indigenous government or the competent environmental authorities divided Charagua's organizations: some communities supported its erection[11] together with the construction of the settlement on an area of approximately 14,000 hectares in the so-called Bañados del Isoso, a highly fragile RAMSAR site[12] where it is anticipated more than 100 wells will now be drilled.
This conflict reflects an unresolved issue in the way Indigenous autonomies operate, and that is the role that the grassroots community organizations will continue to play within the context of the new autonomous structures. In the case of the Guaraní, community leaders continue to enjoy greater legitimacy, even to impose their own views on developments or specific decisions, than their own representatives in the autonomous government’s organs of power. This is causing a weakness or contradiction in the State responsibilities enjoyed by these latter. There is therefore a need to review the current model of autonomies so that the different powers dialogue and coordinate but do not overlap with each other, within the context of a vision of Living Well, which is the pillar of this institution-building.
It is also important to point out that the declaration or creation of conservation areas, protected or with restrictions covering part of the territories, has been an important defence strategy against State decisions that violate Indigenous rights and jeopardize the environmental stability of their common assets. The creation of the Loma Santa Conservation Area of the Multiethnic Indigenous Territory has precisely the objective of legally safeguarding environmentally fragile areas and the nuclei of biodiversity reproduction that are fundamental for the continuity of life throughout the territory. The key to these areas is for them to meet the historical demands and objectives of territorial reconstitution and to be under their own administration, recovering and strengthening their own systems of use, control and access to their traditional spaces.
International processes
Organized by IWGIA, the Organization for Legal and Social Support (ORÉ) and the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia (CIDOB), a Regional Seminar on the Right to Autonomy and Indigenous Justice was held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra from 5-7 October. The seminar addressed Indigenous justice from the perspective of the exercise of self-determination and autonomy. In relation to Indigenous autonomies, the debate revolved around the barriers States erect to their full access and exercise, despite important national laws recognizing them, as in the cases of Bolivia, Ecuador and, to some extent, Colombia. There was also a discussion on cases where the lack of a favourable constitutional or legal framework has encouraged certain peoples to generate their own autonomous processes e.g. in the cases of Peru and Chile. In terms of Indigenous justice systems, it was noted that practices of State denial, subordination, invisibility and superimposition on their justice systems persist, although there are some exceptions of complementarity and concurrence with the principles of legal pluralism recognized in a number of constitutions. Finally, it was concluded that, if strengthening these justice systems is a way of strengthening autonomy and the right to self-determination then it is essential for Indigenous Peoples to equip themselves with less reactive and more educational models of justice, as a preventive framework for conflict prevention.
On 22 March, the Human Rights Committee adopted its concluding observations on Bolivia's report concerning respect for civil and political rights in the country. With regard to the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the State was reminded that it must consult in good faith in order to obtain their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) before adopting and implementing any measure that may affect their way of life and/or culture. In addition, the State was urged to redouble its efforts to ensure that no measures are adopted that could affect protected areas or Indigenous territories, as well as to protect Indigenous Peoples in a situation of high vulnerability, including the prompt regulation and implementation of Law 450 of 2013.[13]
Leonardo Tamburini is the Executive Director of ORÉ (Organization for Legal and Social Support), a lawyer from the Università degli Studi di Macerata (Italy), former Director of the Centre for Legal Studies and Social Research (CEJIS Bolivia), and legal advisor to the Guaraní Autonomy of Charagua Iyambae.
This article is part of the 37th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of an Indigenous person in Tanzania. This photo was taken by Geneviève Rose, and is the cover of the Indigenous World 2023 where this article is featured. Find the Indigenous World 2023 in full here.
Notes and references
[1] CEJIS. Indígenas de la Amazonía norte denuncian la violación de sus derechos al Relator de sustancias tóxicas de las NNUU. Bolivia: CEJIS, 15 December 2022. Available at https://www.cejis.org/indigenas-de-la-amazonia-norte-denuncian-la-violacion-de-sus-derechos-al-relator-de-sustancias-toxicas-de-las-nnuu/
[2] Gustavo Jiménez Gonzáles. “Madidi: dragas acechan uno de los parques más biodiversos del mundo”. Mongabay, 14 May 2020. Available at https://es.mongabay.com/2020/05/bolivia-dragas-en-el-parque-madidi/
[3] Madidi National Park is home to 3,174 Tacana, Leco and Quechua people living in 31 communities. The park overlaps with the Tacana I, Lecos de Apolo, and Lecos de Larecaja Indigenous Territories (TIOC). https://programs.wcs.org/identidadmadidi/MADIDI/CULTURAL-RELEVANCE.aspx
[4] Juan Manuel Ijurko. “Revocan licencia ambiental a empresa minera que operaba en le ANMI San Matías”. El Deber, 7 July 2022. Available at https://eldeber.com.bo/santa-cruz/revocan-licencia-ambiental-a-empresa-minera-que-operaba-en-el-anmi-san-matias_285321
[5] See https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-toxics-and-human-rights
[6] See https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a77183-impact-toxic-substances-human-rights-indigenous-peoples-report
[7] United Nations Environment Programme. Minamata Convention on Mercury. UNO, September 2019. Available at https://www.unep.org/resources/report/minamata-convention-mercury
[8] ORE. Plan de Gestión y Control Autónomo de los Recursos Naturales y Biodiversidad del Territorio Indígena Multiétnico (TIM). IWGIA, 2022. Available at https://iwgia.org/es/recursos/publicaciones/4952-plan-de-gestión-y-control-autónomo-de-los-recursos-naturales-y-biodiversidad-del-territorio-ind%C3%ADgena-multiétnico-tim.html
[9] Plurinational Agro-environmental Order No. 11/2022. Bolivia, 9 February 2022. Available at https://arbol.tribunalagroambiental.bo/tujllaki/web/index.php?r=site%2Fvisorresoluciondoshtml&codresolucion=ANA-S1-0011-2022
[10] Roberto Navia Gabriel. “El puente ‘clandestino’ de los menonitas lleva la deforestación a los Bañados de Isoso y amenaza al Kaa Iya”. Revista Nómadas, 26 January 2022. Available at https://www.revistanomadas.com/el-puente-clandestino-de-los-menonitas-lleva-la-deforestacion-a-los-banados-de-isoso-y-amenaza-al-kaa-iya/
[11] “Puente construido por menonitas tiene un aval con los comunarios”. Eju Tv, 4 February 2022. Available at https://eju.tv/2022/02/puente-construido-por-menonitas-tiene-un-aval-con-los-comunarios/
[12] It is the largest wetland in the country with 615,882 hectares and is partly within the Kaa-Iya National Park of the Gran Chaco, bordering the Isoso TIOC of the Guaraní people. The Bañados del Isoso collects the great system of surface and underground waters of the Parapetí river basin, which even penetrates the Paraguayan Chaco. It is registered under code 1087-BOL 04 dated 17 September 2001. See https://web.archive.org/web/20190605174730/http://www.redeschaco.org/index.php/sincategoria/253-el-rio-parapeti-y-los-banados-del-izozog
[13] Document CCPR/C/BOL/CO/4, original in Spanish, 2 June 2022.
Tags: Global governance, Human rights
