United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)
25 April-6 May 2022
“Indigenous peoples, business, autonomy and the human rights principles of due diligence including free, prior and informed consent”
Photo sourced by Gemma Kentish at the 21st Session of the UNPFII, 18th of April 2022.
Incomindios Side Event at the UNPFII
4 May, 2022
“Protection of Indigenous Rights in the Green Energy Transition: Current Case Studies in Mexico”
This event explored current case studies of green energy projects and their impacts on Indigenous communities in Mexico, through presentations and Q&A from Rosa Marina Flores Cruz, Flavio Ayuso, and Betty Garrido.
Presentation 1: Rosa Marina Flores Cruz - Community Resistance to Renewable Energy Megaprojects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Figure 1: Presentation by Rosa Marina Flores Cruz at the Incomindios Side Event at the 21st Session of the UNPFII, May 4th, 2022.
Figure 2: Photo of Rosa Marina Flores Cruz at the Incomindios Side Event at the 21st Session of the UNPFII, May 4th, 2022. Sourced by Incomindios UK.
Rosa is an Indigenous Afro-Apoteca from Istmo de Tehuantepec in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. She is an Indigenous Activist and researcher working on topics like rural feminism, environment and energy. She is also a part of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT).
She focuses her activism on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, located in the state of Oaxaca. The southern part of the Isthmus is one of the windiest areas in the world which has created high interest in the land from foreign investors intent on building wind farms.
The right to prior consultation processes has been manipulated by the Mexican government to justify projects which are built on and destroy Indigenous property. The wind farms were created to change the lands from agricultural to industrial.
The response has been for locals to come together and voice the injustices they are facing. Since 2020, the resistance has increased. As long as there are risks to local people through forced displacement, abandonment of cultures, there is no such thing as green energy.
Crucially, young Indigenous women are at huge risk from rape and abuse from the outsourced employment. Companies also use organised crime, especially against women, to ensure the ongoing success of their projects.
Legal and social action is necessary to raise awareness of the collective rights Indigenous Peoples are entitled to, such as the right to security, to life, and to health. These projects fundamentally get in the way of Indigenous Peoples essential human rights.
Presentation 2: Flavio Ayuso - El Ejidos Facing the Energy Transition in Mexico
Figure 3: Photo of Flavio Ayuso at the Incomindios Side Event at the 21st Session of the UNPFII, May 4th, 2022. Sourced by Incomindios UK.
Flavio is an Indigenous Mayan from Muna, a municipality located in the Southern part of the State of Yucatán, Mexico. He focuses on El Ejidos (communal housing) in Mexico which closely relates to the issues Rosa presented. El Ejidos were strengthened after the Mexican revolution, where the belief that everyone who works the land has a right to live on and preserve the land became widespread.
In 2013, there was a major neoliberal amendment to the agrarian laws in Mexico. This enabled El Ejidos to be transformed into private land owned by foreign investors. This caused conflicts at the community level. Essentially, the Mexican government was allowing private companies to set up shop on Indigenous land as a form of greenwashing.
'Usufructos' refers to land agreements where companies can ‘rent’ El Ejido land. Yet, these lease agreements can last for 120 years. So these ‘temporary’ rental agreements are a facade of the government to convince Indigenous Peoples that they are on their side. This is abhorrent and Indigenous Peoples are being legally prevented from entering their own land.
Figure 4: Photo sourced from Flavio Ayuso's presentation at the
Incomindios Side Event at the 21st Session of the UNPFII, May 4th, 2022.
Flavio details the consultation process which rarely gets taken into action. Often, information is missing, the language is written incredibly technically, there is no transparency on information when asked for it (government and businesses) and consultations are written in Spanish, when the local language is Mayan.
Indigenous Peoples human rights are being affected by the lack of FPIC: the right to consultation, to health, and to self determination are not being fulfilled. We have to ask ourselves if consultation is the correct way to go about privatisation, as it is clearly not working for anyone but the governments and corporations.
Presentation 3: Betty Garrido, Local Activist
The final presentation came from Betty Garrido, a local activist from the Ixil community where she has been defending the territory and organising the people to develop strategies so they can fight the mega projects. She details how the local population do not know what the laws are, and therefore are unequipped to defend themselves and their rights. This is how mass forced displacement happens.
Betty stresses how Indigenous Peoples are not concerned with the economy or profits, they simply want to be with their families and their communities. They need oxygen, not flooding. The generators are affecting nature, animals, deforestation and basic health and safety.
Figure 5: Photo of Betty Garrido at the Incomindios Side Event at the 21st Session of the UNPFII, May 4th, 2022. Sourced by Incomindios UK.
The government and corporations are taking away life, culture, animals, and future livelihoods. Indigenous Peoples need support from the government in the form of resources; they need seeds, crops, and equipment to preserve their land and nature. The government needs to understand that if the land dies, the people die. Betty is passionate in her argument and wants to make the world aware of the injustices being faced on a daily basis by Indigenous Peoples in Mexico at the hands of their own government.
Figure 6 Photo from the Incomindios Side Event at the 21st Session
of the UNPFII, May 4th, 2022.
Q&A Session:
Q: It is also important to seek retroactive justice for those Indigenous Peoples who the system has already failed by forcibly removing from their homes and land. What would retroactive justice ideally look like in this context?
A: Rosa - This depends highly on the context of the communities that are taking part in it. Sometimes there are solutions to the big problems that the communities are facing - but these solutions tend to be ‘one size fits all’. Indigenous communities are very different from each other through their cultural, social, political, legal, spiritual systems. Therefore, we need to understand their own specific way of life and then we can come up with an answer and approach as to how to provide restorative justice.
Q: How do you and your communities organise against those megaprojects?
A: Betty - In Ixil, we are trying to inform people on the problems that energy generators create. They affect our rivers a lot, so we are trying to make people aware of this. People like Marina are crucial in helping us understand the legal language that is seen in contracts and are used to confuse us. So helping people to understand what contracts they are signing and what the consequences are is so important.
Q: What are the consequences for women of the communities due to these projects of renewable energy?
A: Rosa - In my understanding, both in the Yucatán and Isthmus area, one key ingredient is that decision making has always focused on men. All decisions should be balanced, and involve both men and women. This starts a pattern and excludes women from decision making of such huge choices concerning their land. Also, male workers come to the area, as do their executives. The men come into the main bars in the towns and villages. You could perceive they are interested in the young women, and they use their powers to abuse them. More attention needs to be paid towards this. We do not know the damage that has been done to local women but levels are especially high at the start of projects. This has impacts on the social fabrics of communities.
Q: Under what conditions, if any, would Indigenous Peoples be supportive of green projects?
A: Rosa - This is a difficult question to answer. The violence and aggressiveness with which the projects arrive in our communities makes it difficult for us to see these projects differently. We only associate wind farms and generators with displacement. They are seen as symbols of violence, so it is hard to view green initiatives in different ways.
Flavio - I have spoken to my peers and we believe the best option is to let communities and Indigenous individuals be self-determined, let them decide for themselves, this has to come first. We need to reframe capitalist development as a unilateral endeavour. First we need to prioritise self-determination before we can address projects of development.
Click below to access the webinar for the Incomindios Side Event at the 21st Session of the UNPFII, 2022.
Comentarios