UNSR Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

Statement of Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
17th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
New York, 18 April 2018

The Special Rapporteur, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, will hold individual meetings with representatives of indigenous peoples and organizations during the seventeenth annual session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. The meetings will be held in the afternoon of 17th and morning of 19th of April 2018. Representatives of indigenous peoples and organizations may request a meeting with her with regard to matters that fall within her mandate, including allegations of human rights violations.

Process to request a meeting with the Special Rapporteur:

Requests for a meeting should be accompanied by written information on the issues to be presented to the Special Rapporteur, or relate to written information previously submitted to her. All requests should also state the names of the persons who will be attending the meeting.

Tarja Halonen
"29 March, 2018
"Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
"UN Special Rapporteur for rights of indigenous peoples

"My dear friend Vicky,

"My attention was drawn to very disturbing legal tangles threatening you as well as several indigenous leaders and human rights defenders in the Philippines as a result of your work defending the indigenous populations of the Philippines. And this has happened while you as UN Special Rapporteur for rights of indigenous peoples enjoy UN guarantees of immunity.

A UN special rapporteur writes about being added to the government's terror list

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

Financial Times 29 March, 2018

When I learnt that the Philippine government had accused me of being a terrorist, my immediate reaction was to hug my grandkids, fearing for their safety. Then, I started to speak out. Again.

I am the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. My mandate is to report when communities anywhere in the world are forced to relocate, their lands uprooted, their leaders either deemed criminals or killed. Not everyone wants to hear it, but the message needs to be spread. In the Philippines, they are shooting the messengers.

The country leads Asia in the number of murders of indigenous and environmental activists, with 41 people killed last year. The most recently reported assassination was that of indigenous leader Ricardo Mayumi; he was killed this month for insisting that indigenous communities lived where the government wanted to place a dam.

I am one of hundreds of people on a new government list of "terrorists". This list, on a legal petition filed in a Manila court, includes many indigenous leaders and activists and their legal representatives as well as four paramilitary group members, who are wanted for the killing of an indigenous leader in 2012.

In lumping its critics together with criminals, the government seeks to make us all guilty by association and, thus, the next targets of the vigilantes and rogue police officers who have led President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war against drugs. Now, he has started a new war — with new targets.

"We call upon the Government of the Philippines to guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples, and particularly indigenous human rights defenders, in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples"

"We call on the Philippine Government to immediately remove the names of Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Joan Carling, Jose Molintas and other indigenous human rights defenders from the list, and to ensure their physical safety. We urge the Government to uphold its obligations under international human rights instruments and its duty to guarantee the right to promote and to strive for the realization of human rights under the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders."

See statements 

EXPERT MECHANISM ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

21 March 2018. The United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is joining the concern expressed by UN human rights experts  and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues  on the recent terrorism accusations levelled against Victoria TauliCorpuz, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. These unsubstantiated allegations brought by the Philippine Government authorities constitute an unacceptable attack on her mandate, its independence, and more broadly on her work as a human rights defender. The Expert Mechanism finds it unacceptable that, as she undertakes a report on the criminalisation of indigenous human rights defenders, she has herself become a victim of this phenomenon.

The Expert Mechanism would also like to express its support to Joan Carling, former member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Jose Molintas, former member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, who are also the targets of these unsubstantiated accusations.

We call upon the Government of the Philippines to guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples, and particularly indigenous human rights defenders, in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international human rights instruments, including the human rights treaties.

GENEVA (8 March 2018) - UN human rights experts have expressed grave concerns about terrorism accusations levelled against the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a Philippine national.

The legal petition listing her name is an unacceptable attack against the mandate holder by the Philippines Government, they added.

"We are shocked that the Special Rapporteur is being targeted because of her work defending the rights of indigenous peoples," said Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and Catalina Devandas Aguilar, Chairperson of the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures.

The UN expert was named in a Government petition filed last month in a Manila court, accused of terrorism and alleged membership of the New People's Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines along with over 600 others.

"The accusation against her comes after the public comments made, jointly with other Special Rapporteurs, in relation to the militarization, attacks and killings of indigenous Lumad peoples by members of the armed forces in Mindanao; this accusation is considered as an act of retaliation for such comments," the experts said.

The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples is collecting information in preparation of her country visit to Guatemala scheduled to take place from 1 to 10 May 2018.

In accordance with the established practice of mandate-holders, the Special Rapporteur welcomes all relevant submissions that indigenous organisations and other stakeholders may wish to transmit for her consideration in preparation of this visit, such as:

- Recent analytical reports or surveys on indigenous peoples in Guatemala
- Information on the policy, programmes and legal framework with respect to indigenous peoples
- Priority issues/concerns and situations that warrant the attention of the Special Rapporteur
- Suggestions on issues to examine and related locations to visit
- Contact info for indigenous organisations and civil society representatives to meet in different regions in relation to suggested locations to visit

Kindly submit information by 1 April 2018 to indigenous@ohchr.org.

Please indicate "2018 Visit to Guatemala" in the subject heading of the email submission.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), has initiated the preparation of her next thematic report on criminalisation and attacks against indigenous peoples defending their rights under human rights treaties and the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. The report will specifically consider the collective impact on indigenous communities and consider the design of prevention and protection measures. This report will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2018.

Washington, D.C. - The Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Antonia Urrejola, together with the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, express their concern at the approval of Law No. 30723, "Law that declares the construction of highways in frontier areas and the maintenance of highways in the Department of Ucayali as a priority and national interest". The Rapporteurs consider that its implementation would affect protected natural areas, indigenous reserves, and territorial reserves for indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact.

GENEVA (30 January 2018) – A US presidential order slashing the area of land in the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and paving the way for the extraction of natural resources is outrageous and should be reversed, a UN human rights expert has said.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said the US Government should be stepping up protection of sacred areas, not reducing protection.

"It is outrageous to witness the dismantling of the Bears Ears National Monument, in what constitutes a serious attack on indigenous peoples' rights in the United States," said Tauli-Corpuz.

As of 2 February 2018, the land will be open to projects that may cause irreparable damage such as oil and gas drilling, uranium and potash mining and mineral exploration. "Native American sacred lands and artefacts that were once protected may also be subjected to vandalism and looting," the expert said.

By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Pope's visit allows these communities to have their voices heard and their struggle better understood.

This week, Pope Francis will meet with indigenous peoples in Peru and Chile contending with poverty, conflict, discrimination, and environmental destruction.

They hope the Pope, who has been a powerful ally to the world's indigenous peoples, will amplify their message that to overcome these struggles, governments and corporations must respect their rights to the lands and forests that have sustained them for generations.

Francis, the first Pontiff in history to hail from Latin America, made history last year when he called for the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands and their right to free, prior, and informed consent.

GENEVA (15 January 2018) – Three independent experts* appointed by the UN have expressed concerns about recent reports that indigenous Sengwer peoples in western Kenya have been attacked and forcibly evicted from their homes as a result of the implementation of the Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation project, an EU-funded water management project.

"The Sengwer are facing repeated attacks and forced evictions by agents of the Kenya Forest Service, which is an implementing agency in the project financed by the European Union," the experts said.

On 25 December 2017, more than 100 armed Forest Service guards entered the traditional lands of the Sengwer in the Embobut Forest, firing gunshots, burning at least 15 homes and killing their livestock.

GENEVA (27 December 2017) – The ongoing militarization of Mindanao in the Philippines is having a massive and potentially irreversible impact on the human rights of some of the island's indigenous Lumad communities, UN experts* have warned.

"Thousands of Lumads have already been forcibly displaced by the conflict and have seen their houses and livelihoods destroyed," the Special Rapporteurs said.

"They are suffering massive abuses of their human rights, some of which are potentially irreversible. We fear the situation could deteriorate further if the extension of martial law until the end of 2018 results in even greater militarization.

"We urge the Philippines to observe its obligations under international law to protect the human rights of indigenous peoples, including in the context of armed conflict. The authorities must ensure that all human rights abuses are halted and that there is justice and accountability for past attacks.

"This includes killings and attacks allegedly carried out by members of the armed forces against the indigenous communities," they added.

GENEVA (20 December 2017) – A new law promoting road-building in remote areas of the Peruvian Amazon would impact indigenous territories and threaten the very survival of the peoples living there, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, has warned.

The bill, awaiting presidential approval after being adopted by Congress, would permit road construction and trail conservation in the Ucayali region, affecting indigenous peoples, including groups living on the Kugapakori Nahua Nanti territorial reserve.

"This law could have irreversible consequences for the survival of these groups, whose isolation places them at higher risk of impacts on their human rights," said Ms. Tauli-Corpuz.

"Past experiences in which road construction or similar activities led to forced contact have generated irreversible impacts, such as the physical and cultural extermination of indigenous peoples in isolation, owing to factors such as their immunological weakness.

"I urge the Government, before the final approval of this bill, to engage in a broader debate to consider alternatives and take into account the impact that this project would have on the human rights of the people living in this area."

Presentation of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to the ICCA Consortium General Assembly 2017

Thank you for inviting me to speak in your General Assembly. I have to apologize, however, because I cannot be present with you today because ì am doing my country mission to Mexico.

You asked me to speak about my mandate as the Special Rapporteur. I was appointed to this post by the Human Rights Council in June 2014 and I ended my first term in June 2017. However, my term was extended to another 3 years so this will end in 2020. In terms of the mandate defined by the Human Rights Council these are the following;

"Responsibilities of the States and private sector with respect to prior consultation with

indigenous peoples and free, prior and informed consent"

Presentation by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous

peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

For the Expert Seminar on free, prior and informed consent

Organized by Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 

(4 -5 December 2017)

AGROECOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS: A PERSPECTIVE FROM INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Ciudad de México, 01 de diciembre de 2017.- La Oficina en México del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos (ONU-DH) expresa su profunda preocupación por las más de 4000 personas desplazadas de manera forzosa que enfrentan una situación insostenible en los municipios de Chenalhó y Chalchihuitán, como consecuencia de un conflicto histórico limítrofe entre las comunidades de ambos municipios. Varias de las personas desplazadas, muchas de ellas en una situación particular de vulnerabilidad (niños, niñas, personas mayores y mujeres embarazadas) han sido forzadas a enfrentar condiciones precarias e inhumanas, incluyendo la falta de condiciones adecuadas de salud, la ausencia de un lugar de refugio adecuado y poco o nulo acceso al agua o a la alimentación, además de encontrarse en una situación continua de inseguridad.

[Ciudad de México, 17 noviembre 2017] La Relatora Especial de la ONU sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, urgió a México a alcanzar una relación igualitaria y respetuosa con los pueblos indígenas para terminar con un "serio patrón" de abusos de derechos humanos.

"A medida que integrantes de pueblos indígenas iban compartiendo conmigo sus problemas y sus historias, pude reconocer un serio patrón de exclusión y discriminación, que a su vez se refleja en la falta de acceso a la justicia, entre otras violaciones de derechos humanos", apuntó la experta, en una declaración que dictó hoy en la sede de la ONU en México.

Su declaración de cierre de misión incluye hallazgos preliminares y expresa preocupaciones en un amplio rango de problemáticas entre las que se incluyen: tierras y territorios, autonomía, auto-determinación y participación política, auto-adscripción, violencia, impunidad y acceso a la justicia.