Major Victory for the Ngobe of Western Panama
On the same day Peru’s Congress voted to repeal two controversial laws, signaling an end to the National Mobilization of Indigenous Peoples of Peru, the Ngobe People of Western Panama won a major victory of their own.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called for the suspension of all activities connected to the Chan-75 Dam, which is being built across the Changuinola River on traditional Ngobe lands by the government of Panama and a subsidiary of the Virginia-based AES Corporation.
For the past two years the Ngobe have been subjected to cruel and vicious abuses for speaking out against the dam and refusing to sacrifice their livelihoods for it. Pregnant Women have been stripped and humiliated, Community members have been forced to sign documents at gunpoint, and many others have been physically beaten.
T Naso Peoples have faced similar abuses, as we were reminded in April when more than 300 police officers demolished an entire village and then surrounded the inhabitants; preventing them from seeking refuge in neighboring communities or gaining access to food or water.
In last week’s decision, as the Center for Biological Diversity explains in the Press Release below , the IACHR has given the Panamanian government 20 days to report on the steps it has taken to comply with their injunction order, while the Commission deliberates further on the situation.
Photo: ACD Panama
Panama’s Ngöbe Indians Win Major Victory at Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Dam Construction Ordered Halted
WASHINGTON— After two years of brutal government repression and destruction of their homeland, the Ngöbe Indians of western Panama won a major victory yesterday as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on Panama to suspend all work on a hydroelectric dam that threatens the Ngöbe homeland. The Chan-75 Dam is being built across the Changuinola River by the government of Panama and a subsidiary of the Virginia-based energy giant AES Corporation.
The Commission’s decision was the result of a petition filed last year by the Ngöbe after AES-Changuinola began bulldozing houses and farming plots. When the Ngöbe protested the destruction of their homes, the government sent in riot police who beat and arrested villagers, including women and children, and then set up a permanent cordon around the community to prevent anyone from entering the area. In addition to threatening the community, the dam will irreversibly harm the nearby La Amistad UN Biosphere Reserve.
“We are thrilled to have the Commission take these measures to protect Ngöbe communities,” said Ellen Lutz, executive director of Cultural Survival and lead counsel for the Ngöbe. “We are hopeful that this will help the government of Panama and AES recognize their obligation to respect Ngöbe rights.”
The Commission, which is a body of the Organization of American States, is still considering the Ngöbe’s petition and issued this injunction, called precautionary measures, to prevent any further threat to the community and the environment while the Commission deliberates on the merits of the case.
Specifically, the Commission called on the government to suspend all construction and other activities related to its concession to AES-Changuinola to build and administer the Chan-75 Dam and abutting nationally protected lands along the Changuinola River.
In addition to Chan-75, for which land clearing, roadwork, and river dredging are already well underway, the order covers two other proposed dam sites upstream. The Commission further called upon the government of Panama to guarantee the Ngöbe people’s basic human rights, including their rights to life, physical security, and freedom of movement, and to prevent violence or intimidation against them, which have been typical of the construction process over the past two years. The Commission required the government to report to it in 20 days on the steps it has taken to comply with the precautionary measures.
Chan-75 would inundate four Ngöbe villages that are home to approximately 1,000. Another 4,000 Ngöbe living in neighboring villages would be affected by the destruction of their transportation routes, flooding of their agricultural plots, lack of access to their farmlands, and reduction or elimination of fish that are an important protein source in their diet. It would also open up their territories to non-Ngöbe settlers.
The dam also will cause grave environmental harm to the UNESCO-protected La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, an international World Heritage Site that is upriver from the dam site. Scientists believe that there is a high risk of losing important fish species that support the reserve’s wildlife, including several endangered species, because the dam will destroy their migration route.
“The Panamanian government must follow the precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and prevent further human-rights violations and environmental damage,” said Jacki Lopez, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, an organization that submitted an amicus curiae to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in support of the Ngöbe.
The Ngöbe people’s situation was the subject of a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People James Anaya, made on May 12, 2009. Anaya concluded that the government ignored its obligation under international law to consult with the communities and seek their free, prior, and informed consent before moving ahead with the construction project. He urged AES-Changuinola to meet international standards for corporate social responsibility and not contribute, even indirectly, to violations of human rights.
Partner Organizations:
Center for Biological Diversity
Cultural Survival
International Rivers
La Alianza para la Conservacion y Desarrollo
Global Response
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 220,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Name: peter galvin
Email: pgalvin@biologicaldiversity.org
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this is a gross misrepresentation of the actual events, the developer of the project aes has relocated and built all new infrucstructure for the people living in the affected area, this area was subject to slash and burn agriculture over the last 50 to 75 years, they area is now better protected that before the project. while enviormentalist look at this project they misrepresent themselves, the future of panama in development and future productivity of the country depends on panama become oil dependent free, the detractor of this project are being funded by oil cartel affliates. the economic boom in the area to citizen of panama that were at near or below poverty level has now increase they have working farms and customers to consume the products they produce. the progress of panama can not be curtails by foreigner interfering in legal establish projects, that have met all enviormental standard for a project of this type
I find it intriguing how proponents of Paraguay’s hydro plans can so blatantly dismiss the needs and rights of the NASO and the NGBOBE communities who will be affected by the dams- and just assume they know what’s best.
What about those women and children who were stripped naked and then dragged out in the street by police? Or those families who were herded in like cattle just two months ago after the police destroyed their village like a bunch of barbarians?
These things happened because the NASO and the NGBOBE are trying to defend their lands and their rights which are being threatened by part of the government’s hydro dams. This is according to the NASO and NGOBE , who lived on the land long before Paraguay existed.
They just want the govenrment to respect their rights. Is it too much for them to handle?
Monday, 22 June 2009
PRESS RELEASE NGABE COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY THE CHAN 75 PROJECT
We the Ngabe people from the communities affected by the CHAN 75 Project, make a call of attention to the government of Panama, to execute the precautionary measure adopted on June 17, 2009 by the Interamerican Court of Human Rights which consists of “suspending the construction and other activities related to the concession given to the company AES Changuinola throughout the Changuinola River, until the organs of the Interamerican System of Human Rights adopt a definite on the current subject”.
The Commission also requests the State Party “to adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the free movement , life and personal integrity of the members of the Ngabe community with the purpose to avoid actions of violence or additional intimidatory”.
We request to the government of Panama to protect the rights of all the peoples affected by this project, we repeat that we the Ngabe people have occupied this area since ancient times; and at the same time we convey that we are not against the development of politics of the state of Panama, but the rights of the indigenous people affected must be guaranteed since we live in this country characterized for being a state of rights and in this project, the state has abandoned us to favor a transnational company.
Both the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples Rights, James Anaya in his recent visit, and the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights have pointed out the need to adopt measures to protect our rights in this case of the hydroelectric project CHAN 75, which has affected our human rights and is a threat against the environment.
The Ngabe families will fight and defend with our lives so that our country- Panama- can execute this precautionary measure immediately.
We call upon all our Ngabe brothers and sisters wherever they may be to be alert and ready for both this project and others which intend to threat our natural resources and urge the state to execute this measure.
In the event of not following this measure, we would be forced to call upon all the organized social organizations across the country to accompany us in this fight. For our lives and land we are willing to give our blood if needed, because without land or rivers, we are nothing.
Given in Changuinola, on the 19th June 2009
AES has been a values-based enterprise from the very beginning. We have always believed in integrity as a prerequisite for the success we seek. We think of work as fun, and by that we mean thoroughly engaging, challenging, rewarding and enjoyable. Our culture is energetic, collaborative and thrives on a passion for individual and collective excellence. And we have always believed in the power of making a difference wherever we work and live.
We need more information on this matter, some thing are very confusing
A real opinion from a resident…
Hello, My Name is Abel Miranda and I am an resident and also a Ngobe and I want all of you to join our group in facebook called ABIA YALA, PACHA MAMA http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=129496360760
Thank You so much…
Abel Miranda
Panamanian Ambientalist
What is it you’re finding to be confusing, Roy?
Panama is one of the countries in the region with the most progressive legislations of indigenous matters, since it recognizes the autonomy and other Rights of the indigenous people.
Panama has created five reservations, which take up 22% of the country’s territory. Panama’s indigenous population has right to a 10% of the total Panamanian territory.
The project is important for the WHOLE COUNTRY, not just 22% of the population.
What’s the point of legislation if the government isn’t going to obey it?
That is what you’re saying here! That Panama should disregard indigenous rights for the so-called “greater good.” Garcia says that too. So does Uribe. (referring to a previous comment here)
The Panamanian government provided to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights sufficient information to illustrate the legal aspects regarding the land situation of the Panamanian indigenous tribes and their human rights.