protecting indigenous livelihoods (case studies: canada, guatemala, west papua)

PROTECTING INDIGENOUS LIVELIHOODS

By Roseanna, King and Gabrie!e - GLST 391Tuesday, March 25, 2014

OUTLINE

1. Intro & definition of livelihood

2. Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA)

3. Response of United Nations

4. Case Studies:

• Canada, Guatemala, West Papua

5. Conclusion and questions

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

INTRODUCTION

Livelihood: a means of securing the necessities of life (food, water & shelter)

Definition can be extended to include society & culture (e.g. traditional knowledge & language)

Indigenous livelihoods have been threatened by colonization, globalization and climate change


SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS APPROACH (SLA)

Development tool used to improve understanding of poor peoples’ livelihoods.


S.L.A. CONTINUED

1. Be people-centred;

2. Be holistic;

3. Be dynamic;

4. Build on strengths;

5. Promote micro-macro links;

6. Encourage broad partnerships; and

7. Aim for sustainability.(IFAD. The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. <http://www.ifad.org/sla/>.)


S.L.A. CRITIQUES

• Lack of guidelines

• Not enough emphasis on informal structures & processes

• Incongruent with conditions of existent context & impractical

• Gender

• Local organizations may lack research capacity.

• (Lasse Krantz, "The Sustainable Livelihood Approach to Poverty Reduction.” Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), 2001. p.25)


U.N.’S RESPONSE

• UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) 2007

• Not “legally-binding under international law”

• Aims to protect the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples

• UNDRIP pdf

• UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

• Definition of Indigenous Peoples established as the original inhabitants of the land pre-colonial era


http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

CASE STUDIES1. Canada

2. Guatemala

3. West Papua


CASE STUDY #1:CANADA

• Threats to Canadian Arctic

• Multilateral agreements

• ICC

• Indigenous resource management in Nunavut Mark Nuttall, Protecting the Arctic: Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Survival. Routledge, 1998. Digital

file. 23 Mar. 2014. <http://www.tandfebooks.com.ezproxy.viu.ca/isbn/9780203989289>.


CANADA CONT’D

• Inuit Circumpolar Conference & Council (Greenland, Canada, Alaska & Siberia):

• “To preserve and promote the unity of Inuit as a single people within the Circumpolar Arctic”

• Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme & Arctic Climate Impact Assessment

• ICC, UN & Millennium Development Goals


CANADA: TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE• Traditional Knowledge (TK):

“systematic way of thinking applied to phenomena across biological, physical, cultural and spiritual systems. It includes insights based on evidence acquired through direct and long-term experiences and extensive and multigenerational observations, lessons and skills...” (ICC 2010)

• Can be combined with science to gather data about the Arctic’s climate and ecosystems and to create and evaluate projects to sustain livelihoods.


CANADA: SEAL HARVESTING• Difference between

commercial hunting and subsistence hunting

• PETA’s Olympic campaign

• Importance of hunting to Inuit identity

• Mary Simon, Nunavut Inuit Leader

• Sheila Watt-Cloutier, former President of the ICC of Canada & Nobel Peace Prize nominee


CASE STUDY #2:

GUATEMALA


GUATEMALA: HISTORICAL & CULTURAL CONTEXT

•Spanish colony until 1812

•A complex caste system based on race


GUATEMALA: POST-COLONIAL ERA

•Long periods of political instability

•13 presidents from 1838-1898 (next slide)


13 PRESIDENTS 1838-1898


CAPITALISM & DICTATORSManuel Estrada CabreraIn office: 1898-1920• How: physically threatened legislators with

firearms after predecessor was assassinated • Legacy: brutality on protest; modernisation

of the nation; market monopolisation by U.S United Fruit Company

Jorge UbicoIn office: 1931-1944• How: being the sole candidate on ballot

after the death of predecessor• Legacy: police state; further modernisation

of the nation; further market monopolisation by U.S United Fruit Company


THE REFORMIST PRESIDENTS

Juan José ArévaloIn office: 1945-1951How: won the first democratic and fair electionLegacy: labour code - union right; social programs; limited land redistribution; indigenous protection; christian socialist; opposed by the rich

Jacobo ÁrbenzIn office: 1951-1954How: won the second democratic and fair electionLegacy: improvements on Arevalo’s policies; agrarian reform; communist sympathizer; opposed by United Fruit and the rich


WHITE TERROR

“Viva, the Army of Guatemala! Death to the Guerrilla Army of the Poor.”


COUNTERINSURGENCY & INTERNATIONAL BACKING

● US sent military advisors to teach counterinsurgency tactics from 60’s to late 70’s

● US, Israel & Argentina armed the Guatemalan army (US officially banned arm export in 1979 due to human right violations by the Guatemalans)

● CIA provided intelligence on suspected targets throughout 60s to 80s, fully knowing the situation


DRAIN IN THE OCEANPresident E!aín Ríos Montt, center, at the time of his military coup in Guatemala, March 1982

In office: 1982-1983, overthrown by General Oscar Mejía VictoresLegacy: crimes against humanity


1982-1984: The Peak of the Mayan Genocide


PEACE & CURRENT INDIGENOUS PROTECTION

• Rigoberta Menchú: Former Guatemalan Mayan exile, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1992

• Tirelessly lobbied the international community into mediating peace talk between government and rebels

• Civil war was over in 1996


CASE STUDY #2:

WEST PAPUA


CASE STUDY #3 West Papua


FORGOTTEN BIRD OF PARADISEUndercover in West Papua


http://youtube.com/v/CaGou3vB3A0

http://youtube.com/v/CaGou3vB3A0

WEST PAPUA

• History of West Papua• Natural resources:

• Grasberg Mine• Oil industry

• Transmigrasi• Forced migration• Independence

movement


ANTHROPOLOGY OF WEST PAPUA• Home to 250+ diverse tribes with

own languages & cultures

• Mountain Tribes use subsistence farming (yams, sweet potatoes, pigs)

• 50 yrs of missionary activity => most Papuans Christians; others retain traditional beliefs

• Pre-1960s: much of West Papua unknown to outside world. Today: young Papuans use mobile phones, study in universities around Indonesia, etc.


HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN WEST PAPUA

“Many Papuans live in a constant state of fear and intimidation. People living in villages across West Papua can at any time be subject to military sweeping operations.

Under the pretence of looking for insurgents, the military have repeatedly swept through entire rural areas killing arbitrarily and burning whole villages to the ground, destroying subsistence food crops and livestock and forcing people to flee into the forests where they are prone to starvation and disease.”

- http://freewestpapua.org/info/human-rights/


http://freewestpapua.org/info/human-rights/




THE YONGGOM AND OKI TEDI MINE

• Yonggom traditionally used swidden agriculture

• Mining -> less biodiversity; harms local ecosystems. River has “gone bad”

• Growing grassroots resistanceo International awareness =>

harmful?

• In favour of development; just a form that protects traditional subsistence patterns + local ecosystems

Kirsch, Stuart. "Acting Globally: Eco-politics in Papua New Guinea." Journal of International Institute 3.3 (1996): n. pag. Michigan Publishing. Web.


TRANSMIGRASI

• Java + Bali = 60% of population; 6% of land area

• Sent to populate + farm rural areas.

• 700,000 HA of land taken from local peoples

• Immigrants control 80% of Papuan businesses; majority of education, media, etc.

• 80% of transmigrasi sites “failed improve settlers’ living standards” (let alone West Papuans’!) - 1989 French study

• World Bank provided $800 million in loans to fund transmigrasi

• Plan = 1 Papuan family : 9 Javanese families (planned minority)

• Severe malnutrition for Papuans by 1980s:

o 30 years life expectancy, 60% infant mortality, widespread diseases (measles, whooping cough, STIs => lower fertility)

Brundige, Elizabeth, Winter King, Priyneha Vahali, Stephen Vladeck, and Xiang Yuan. Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control. Rep. Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic Yale Law School, Apr. 2004. Web.


WEST PAPUA INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT

• 100,000 to 400,000+ Papuans killed by Indonesian military

• Persecution (rape, torture, etc) for displaying Morning Star flago Filep Karma: given 15-year prison

sentence for this

• Freedom Flotilla

• “Everybody understands that West Papua is next” - Rex Rumakiek, West Papua National Coalition for Liberation


CONCLUSION

1. Global demand for variety of cheap goods, resources, labour increasing.

2. Globalization has led to compromising of indigenous livelihoods.

3. Has also led to organized radical-mainstream responses (ICC) to protect livelihoods, environment, human rights, etc. (Not limited to indigenous issues).

4. Tensions will grow with: increasing populations, resource scarcity, migration, global demand.


DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What is your opinion of the seal hunt/harvest?

• Can corporations play a role in helping to protect indigenous livelihoods in West Papua and other places?

• Did the US commit genocide in Guatemala?

• Is the Indonesian government/army committing genocide in West Papua?


protecting indigenous livelihoods (case studies: canada, guatemala, west papua)

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