Indigenous communities from the Peruvian Amazon basin have reached fourty days on hunger strike protesting over ten government decrees affecting their resources and their territory. Alan Garcia's cabinet has authorised the military to intervene in order to supress the turmoil, which has caused the blockade of roads, airports and fluvial routes.

A multisectorial commission has been set up this week as requested by the Peruvian Jungle Inter-Ethnic Development Association (AIDESEP). The commission is aimed at solving the problems affecting the Amazonian peoples of Peru, and is composed of government members and representatives of AIDESEP. The indigenous members have declared they will not stop the protests unless decrees are repealed.

In fact, the Amazonian indigenous communities celebrated the abolition of one of the laws by a Peruvian Congress' commission last Tuesday. Despite the political move, the decree, which dealt with the forest law, was not finally repealed in yesterday's plenary session of the Congress. As reported by Los Andes, decrees were enacted following the signing of the Free Trade Treaty between Peru and the US. Indigenous peoples say the decrees violate their right to land and their access to basic resources such as water. They also believe their implementation infringe the Peruvian Constitution and international agreements, specifically the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the covenant 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

According to IPS Noticias, decree 1064, for instance, declares Amazonian territory to be suitable for agricultural purposes, which would allow private companies to exploit natural resources.

As a result of social mobilization, Amazonian peoples forced the government to repeal two decrees last August.

Indigenous regional diplomacy
The protests by the Peruvian indigenous peoples have been backed by a number of social organizations of Peru and other indigenous movements from South America and the rest of the world. The Andean Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations (CAOI) has issued a press release in which it is stated that the United Nations "will declare on the violation of indigenous rights in Peru". The Andean Coordinator is expecting the Human Rights Commission to reprove the Peruvian government for "breaking the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Covenant 169 of the International Labour Organization and the Convention on Human Rights".

Picture: Protests by indigenous peoples from the Amazonian region (AIDESEP).

Further information:

• El Comercio: Nativos siguen con bloqueos pese a instalación de comisión multisectorial
• LaRepública.pe: Sin Pizango, Yehude Simon instala la Comisión Multisectorial Amazónica
• IPS Noticias: INDÍGENAS-PERÚ: Falta de acuerdo con gobierno aviva protesta