The Summit of Peoples ‘Declaration’, which summarizes the conclusions drawn from discussions held in Lima between 13 and 16 May between representatives of civic organizations and NGOs from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, is now available. The Summit consisted in a series of conferences, debates and assemblies organized as a response to the Latin America-Caribbean and European Union (LACEU) Summit of heads of state and government that took place at the same time, also in Lima.

The signatories of the Declaration call for governments of the two regions to replace “neoliberal” relations with an interaction based on “the free determination of peoples and respect for human rights, democracy and the environment”. They also accuse the United States and the EU of acting “contrary to the sovereignty of peoples” and ask the EU to “recognize its historical debt to the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, especially to indigenous peoples”.

The Summit, which attracted members of indigenous peoples from across Central and South America, focussed on economic links between Latin America and the Caribbean on the one hand and the EU on the other, but also examined the collective rights of peoples, citing “the primacy of the market” as a major cause of “inequality, social polarization, environmental degradation and discrimination”.

The Declaration reminds readers that natural resources “belong to peoples, not to transnational corporations” and calls for “strategic companies to be nationalized in the name of development”. It also criticises European countries for turning their continent into a “fortress”, claiming that “by shutting its borders, [Europe] violates the right of asylum and criminalizes migrants and civic organizations”.

The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), an international institution set up by Lelio Basso acting at the request not only of states but of peoples and communities, was invited to the Summit to “pass judgment” on the contribution of European transnational corporations and state and international organizations to the current social, economic and environmental situation of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. The PPT will issue its final report soon.

The various European organizations that took part in the Summit included Catalonia’s Observatori del Deute en la Globalització, the Basque Country’s Ekologistak Martxan, the pan-European Corporate Europe Observatory, Transnational Institute from the Netherlands, the European-Latin American net Euralat and Shell to Sea from Ireland.

Further information:

• Enlazando Alternativas: Declaración de la Cumbre de los Pueblos
  
• Enlazando Alternativas: Programa i participants de la Cimera [pdf]
  
• IPS: UE-AMÉRICA LATINA: V Cumbre entre la pobreza y el ambiente [about the LAC-EU Summit of heads of state and government]
  
• Transnational Institute: Permanent Peoples' Tribunal: Second Session on European transnational companies in Latin America and on neoliberal policies