The Indigenous World 2025: Paraguay

Written on 25 April 2025. Posted in Paraguay

According to the results of the 2022 National Census, there are approximately 140,206 Indigenous inhabitants of Paraguay, representing 2.29% of the country's total population. These people identify as one of 19 recognized Indigenous Peoples, broken down into five linguistic families: Guaraní (including the Aché, Avá Guaraní, Mbya, Pai Tavytera, Guaraní Ñandeva and Western Guaraní), Maskoy (with peoples such as Toba Maskoy, Enlhet Norte, Enxet Sur, Sanapaná, Angaité and Guaná), Mataco Mataguayo (Nivaclé, Maká, Manjui), Zamuco (Ayoreo, Ybytoso, Tomarâho) and Guaicurú (Qom).

Chapter V of the 1992 National Constitution recognizes Indigenous Peoples as cultural groups pre-existing the formation of the Paraguayan State, guaranteeing them fundamental rights such as ethnic identity, community ownership of their lands, political participation and an education respectful of their specific cultural features.

In addition, Paraguay has a solid legal framework that supports Indigenous rights, having ratified the main international human rights instruments, both in the universal and Inter-American systems.

This article is part of the 39^th 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 activist Funa-ay Claver, a Bontok Igorot, standing alongside Indigenous youth activists and others. They are protesting against the repressive laws and human rights violations suffered through the actions and projects of the Government of the Philippines and other actors against Indigenous Peoples at President Marcos Jr’s national address on 22 July 2024 in Quezon City, Philippines. The photo was taken by Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas and is the cover of The Indigenous World 2025 where this article is featured. Find The Indigenous World 2025 in full here

The Paraguayan State does not guarantee basic living conditions, particularly not in contexts of vulnerability, such as the lands and territories of traditional Indigenous occupation. The water crisis, still unanswered, only exacerbates the exclusion of the Indigenous population, affecting women, children and youth in particular.

Based on the outcomes of the work implemented in 2024, the “Zero Hunger” school lunch programme is not being followed to the letter, especially in the Chaco, one of the country’s regions with the greatest number of Indigenous inhabitants.

Furthermore, the situation of Indigenous youth is facing great challenges in Paraguay. There is still a great deal of discrimination based on ethnic belonging. In addition, society as a whole has yet to eradicate customs contrary to the rights and dignity of the person, such as marked adult-centrism.

[However], age discrimination is an insidious and often unaddressed problem in health, human rights, and development policy, affecting both older and younger populations around the world. On top of this, ageism often intersects with other forms of bias (such as racism and sexism) and affects individuals in ways that prevent them from reaching their full potential and contributing fully to their community.^[1]

Indigenous youth: challenges and issues^{[2], [3], [4]}

It is first and foremost difficult to clearly ascertain what public efforts are being aimed at this particular group in Paraguay since the underlying justification for government plans and programmes is generally expressed in broad and undifferentiated terms. This results in the needs of Indigenous adolescents and youth being overlooked.

According to the 2022 National Census, 38% of Indigenous people are under the age of 14, and a further 28.6% are between 15 and 30 years of age, meaning that the under-30s make up 67.1% of the total Indigenous population. Against this backdrop, the question arises as to what possibilities actually exist for the integral personal development of Indigenous adolescents and youth in the country, and what barriers they face?

The overriding factor to be considered in this regard has to be poverty, and the following figures help us assess the situation of Indigenous youth:

Poverty

The percentage of the Indigenous population living in poverty in 2017 stood at 66.2%, almost three times the national average. In rural areas, where the majority of Indigenous people live, it is even higher, up to 68% of Indigenous individuals.^[5]

Indigenous poverty affects women, children and adolescents disproportionately. 67.7% of women live in poverty, compared to 64.6% of men. By age range, children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 years are most affected since 73.7% of this population lives in poverty. This percentage is even higher (75.7%) in rural areas.^[6][7]

Access to water and school education

At a meeting of Indigenous women in Presidente Hayes, the participants pointed out that those responsible for the school lunch programme had not even consulted^[8] the local communities about their nutritional needs,^[9] consequently distributing foods that were not traditionally consumed by their peoples and which demonstrated clear nutritional deficits.

In addition, according to several public complaints made by the communities, inconsistencies between the number of students to be covered (due to the fact that not all of them are recorded on the Unified Student Registry^[10]) meant that the supplies that did arrive were insufficient and thus failed to reach many Indigenous students.

Structural exclusion and discrimination also emerged on 25 July 2024 when teachers at a school in Pozo Colorado decided to close the school due to lack of water in the community. Some 100 Indigenous children were left without classes,^[11] and, consequently, without access to the food provided.

Drug and alcohol use

Indigenous youth are expressing growing concern at the increasing use of drugs and alcohol in their communities, placing them at greater risk. Greater consumption has resulted in increased cases of domestic violence, aggression, exposure to danger, deaths on the roads, suicides and so on.

Community leaders, together with the families, often ask for awareness-raising sessions and action to address this situation but the State’ prevention policies are virtually non-existent in the territory.

Uprooting

In order to continue their primary or secondary education, many Indigenous youth have to leave their communities. Their parents or other relatives pay for their studies and board and lodging in guest houses offered by private institutions but these fees are not accessible to the vast majority of Indigenous families.

Cases of violence and suicide

In addition, there are high rates of domestic violence and adolescent and youth suicide in the communities. So much so that the General Directorate of Health Surveillance reported^[12] that, in 2021, 24 cases of Indigenous suicides were reported in the under 30s while only four were seen in those over 30.

In the year 2022, the situation was similar: of the 30 cases reported as Indigenous suicides, four were of people aged over 30 years and the remaining 26 were among Indigenous youths under this age.

Teenage pregnancies

As regards teenage pregnancies, the General Directorate of Strategic Health Information reported that, in 2018, there were 71 cases of live births to Indigenous child mothers aged 10 to 14 years.^[13]

When we talk about child mothers, we have to mention the cases of sexual abuse committed by at least 71 perpetrators – most of them likely adults. This issue absolutely has to receive special attention from the national child protection system.

In addition, the 2022 National Census revealed that 3.3% of these child mothers are aged 12 to 14, thus excluding them from education and limiting their participation in improving socioeconomic conditions.^[14]

Education and access to university or technical schools

The 4^th National Population and Housing Census 2022 revealed that, among the Indigenous population aged 15 years and above, the average years of schooling received was 4.6. The records show that the urban Indigenous population is more educated than the rural, and that their illiteracy rate is 27.1% compared to a national average of 6%.

In participatory events, young people have expressed a feeling of being abandoned by the State since the system of higher education grants offered by the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute’s programmes are of very limited scope. They only cover university students, ignoring those who wish to train in technical or vocational courses, which do not form part of the formal higher education system.

This lack of access to training opportunities results in low levels of integration into the labour force. According to data from the 2022 National Census, the proportion of Indigenous population aged 10 years and over considered to be in employment is only 38.5%, while the proportion outside the labour force stands at 51.7%.

This means that a large proportion of the Indigenous population of working age does not have access to work and therefore cannot support themselves with their own income. The use of children in the labour force is a violation of their fundamental rights and a barrier to the sustainable development of communities but statistical data reflect that this is a reality for Indigenous families in Paraguay.

Conclusion

Setting the statistical data to one side for a moment, and understanding then that basic survival conditions are not assured: at what point do we need to consider the life plans of Indigenous youth as a collective commitment of our country?

Focusing on Indigenous youth, we see that an individual’s options for emotional, material and professional development, as a subject of rights in an Indigenous community, belonging to a people with its own cultural characteristics and traditional features and immersed in the reality of the country, are very few.

And yet even in such a highly adverse context, Indigenous youths show vigour, enthusiasm, and a critical and questioning capacity of their reality. They would be able to play a leading role in the longed-for social change, if the right conditions were created.

Beyond the mere statements of intent that form the basis of policy plans and programmes such as the National Plan for Indigenous Peoples, the public sector today thus has a fundamental duty to offer Indigenous youth effective policies, from a rights-based approach and involving intersectionality, interculturality, progressive autonomy and participation.

Only then will the life plans of Indigenous youth be achievable in Paraguay.

Recommendations

• Implement actions aimed at eliminating poverty among the communities of the 19 Indigenous Peoples in Paraguay, through appropriate policies and an intercultural approach.
• Ensure the right to food, and the right of access to water and health.
• Improve policies for young people’s first jobs, professional and technical training, and access to higher education.
• Draw up life plans in a participatory manner, together with Indigenous youth and adolescents, with respect for their gradual autonomy and the principle of the self-determination of peoples.

Natalia Rodríguez Olmedo is a human rights lawyer and a member of the legal team of Tierraviva a los Pueblos Indígenas del Chaco, an organization that works for the promotion and defence of the human rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Paraguay, with an emphasis on territorial restitution. 

Lidia Ruiz Cuevas is a social worker and Executive Coordinator of Tierraviva a los Pueblos Indígenas del Chaco since 2020.

This article is part of the 39^th 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 activist Funa-ay Claver, a Bontok Igorot, standing alongside Indigenous youth activists and others. They are protesting against the repressive laws and human rights violations suffered through the actions and projects of the Government of the Philippines and other actors against Indigenous Peoples at President Marcos Jr’s national address on 22 July 2024 in Quezon City, Philippines. The photo was taken by Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas and is the cover of The Indigenous World 2025 where this article is featured. Find The Indigenous World 2025 in full here

Notes and references

^[1] UNAS. (12 August 2022). Día de la Juventud.  https://fec.unsa.edu.pe/blog/2022/08/12/dia-internacional-de-la-juventud-12-deagosto/#:~:text=Puede%20considerarse%20como%20el%20periodo,org%C3%A1nica%20e%20intelectual%2C%20capacidad%20adaptativa

^[2] CDIA Observa. (13 March 2024). Las desigualdades en la niñez y adolescencia de Paraguay: un monitoreo para no dejar a nadie atrás.

 https://www.cdiaobserva.org.py/2024/03/13/informe-las-desigualdades-en-la-ninez-y-adolescencia-de-paraguay-un-monitoreo-para-no-dejar-a-nadie-atras/

^[3] Brizuela, Bárbara and Quiñónez, Nathalia (2023). Situación de la Niñez Indígena en Paraguay. Public Prosecutor's Office.  https://ojs.ministeriopublico.gov.py/index.php/rjmp/article/view/336/479  

^[4] “Jóvenes indígenas reclaman políticas públicas con visión intercultural y mayor participación”. Tierraviva, 26 November 2018. https://www.tierraviva.org.py/jovenes-indigenas-reclaman-politicas-publicas-con-vision-intercultural-y-mayor-participacion/

^[5] General Directorate of Statistics, Surveys and Census. (2017). Encuesta Permanente de Hogares. https://www.ine.gov.py/Publicaciones/Biblioteca/Resultados%20EPH/PRINCIPALES%20RESULTADOS%20EPH%202017.pdf

^[6] Ibid.

^[7] In view of these percentages, it is worth considering the results of the National Poverty Reduction Plan (PNRP) “Jajapo Paraguay", implemented by the government of Mario Abdo Benítez, with a time horizon of 2030. The PNRP document was participatory in its design, including Indigenous and peasant representatives. 13 September 2023.

https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/par205031.pdf

^[8] No consultation protocol was implemented in the community. Nor was there any news of this having been done in other communities of the Enxet people or other peoples.

^[9] The Indigenous women of Espinillo said that the children refuse to eat cucumbers, beets and other products since they are used to eating prickly pears, the fruit of the caraguatá and other Indigenous vegetables or varieties. It is clear that the State’s approach to programme implementation lacks interculturalism.

Source: Tierraviva fieldwork report.

^[10] “Hambre Cero: ministro reconoce que reparten almuerzo sin tener certeza de la cantidad de alumnos”. ABC, 08 August 2024. https://www.abc.com.py/politica/2024/08/08/hambre-cero-ministro-reconoce-que-reparten-almuerzo-escolar-sin-tener-certeza-sobre-cantidad-de-alumnos

^[11] “Niños no van a la escuela por falta de agua”. Telefuturo, 25 July 2024. https://www.telefuturo.com.py/ninos-no-van-a-la-escuela-por-falta-de-agua

^[12] MSPBS/DIGIES/DES. Subsistema de Información de Estadísticas Vitales (SSIEV) Data as of 14 September 2023.

^[13] MSPBS/DIGIES/DES.

^[14] UNFPA. (09 October 2024). Cómo el UNFPA ayuda a proteger a la juventud indígena paraguaya contra el embarazo adolescente.https://www.unfpa.org/es/news/c%C3%B3mo-el-unfpa-ayuda-proteger-la-juventud-ind%C3%ADgena-paraguaya-contra-el-embarazo-adolescente

Tags: Youth, Human rights