Representing…Indigenous rights

An interesting issue has been raised concerning the rights of our Indigenous Peoples by the Upper Mazaruni District Council (UMDC). They’ve aggressively sought to represent the Amerindians in their district – and believe they’re being ignored by the Government. The issue raised is whether – as they claim! – the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) recommendations trump the stipulations of the Amerindian Act of 2006 – our domestic law that addresses Amerindian rights.
Now, the first thing we must note is that UNDRIP is a legally NON-BINDING resolution adopted by the General Assembly in 2007 – the very next year after our Amerindian Act significantly amended our local laws to bring them more in conformity with the new thinking on Indigenous rights. Here, the pioneering European colonisers – the Dutch – had worked out a modus vivendi with the Indigenous Peoples: they acted as “slave catchers” for those poor souls who tried to escape their bondage into the jungles. Amerindians were rewarded with trinkets, primitive tools and guns. The British followed suit when they took over at the beginning of the 19th century! It wasn’t till 1951 they passed an Amerindian Act – which pretty much gave all authority over Amerindians to Governor-appointed District Commissioners.
After Independence, the PNC Government amended this Act in 1976 to confer more authority to the Village Councils and their Toshaus and abolished District Commissioners. In 2006, the PPP Government radically reformed the Act to deepen the powers of the Village Councils and to implement the titling of lands the Amerindians had occupied “from time immemorial”. While the Act confirmed the existence of the old District Councils, they were mainly for coordinating implementation of decisions of the villages in the District.
The UMDC, however, since their formation in the 1990s – funded and advised by overseas NGOs like Rainforest Foundation US – have arbitrarily increased their remit to act as political entities demanding the Act be changed to give them more powers. They insist that Amerindians own the entire Upper Mazuruni and in fact took the matter to the courts – all the way to the CCJ!! They lost and have fought a rear-guard action to push their agenda. They’ve focused on mining in the region – which has grown substantially.
They don’t seem to understand that UNDRIP simply establishes a FRAMEWORK for the rights of Indigenous peoples – and doesn’t impose OBLIGATIONS on member states to implement its provisions. It accepts that states such as Guyana with Indigenous Peoples also have other groups – and the laws of the country must take into cognisance the rights of all citizens!!
Once Indigenous Peoples are free from any kind of discrimination in the exercise of their rights, then, as the CCJ reaffirmed, that’s all that’s required!!

…Venezuelan oil production
Earlier this week, the US Treasury Department issued a general licence to facilitate the exploration and production of oil and gas in Venezuela!! This has been a long-awaited step after Mad Maduro was removed as president by the Yanks – and they announced they’d “run” the country. Especially its oil production – so as to accomplish their strategic goal of reducing the role of the Chinks and Ruskies who’d cosied up to the dictator!!
Now it’s expected that this move could help increase output in the country – but your Eyewitness believes it will take a decade or more to really become significant. The reason is the complexity and costs of extracting the tar-like, sulphur-impregnated Venezuelan oil reserves!! As your Eyewitness has been emphasising, the bottom line is that the 300 million barrels of oil is a fiction created by Chavez that no one has questioned!!
Oil reserves should only be counted if they are COMMERCIALLY exploitable!! That means oil prices gotta be around US$140 a barrel!! Ain’t happening!!

…Americanisation
Your Eyewitness wonders whether the dreadful news that an individual in Canada went on a shooting spree where NINE were killed and 25 injured is part of the Americanisation process that accepts them as a state of the USA??