UNSR Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

GENEVA (9 August 2018) - UN human rights experts* have raised alarm over the increase in killings, attacks and other acts of intimidation against human rights defenders in Guatemala, amid restrictive legislative and political attempts to curtail their work.

Between 9 May and 27 July 2018, 11 defenders** who were working to protect various indigenous communities' rights in the context of safe and healthy environment, including access to land and to basic services, were killed. These defenders, the majority indigenous, sought to protect their communities from development and business-related human rights abuses***. The attacks were of an unusually violent nature- four suffered fatal cuts by bladed weapons, including cuts to their ears and throat.

"We are concerned that the frequency and severity of these attacks could have ripple effects throughout the population, sending a message that there are dangerous consequences for defending human rights, especially given that these crimes often go unpunished", the UN experts said.

GENEVA/NEW YORK (7 August 2018) – States around the world must take effective action to guarantee the human rights of indigenous peoples, says a group of UN experts*. In a joint statement marking International day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, the experts say it is crucial that the rights of indigenous peoples are realised when they migrate or are displaced from their lands:

"In many parts of the world, indigenous peoples have become migrants because they are fleeing economic deprivation, forced displacement, environmental disasters including climate change impacts, social and political unrest, and militarisation. Indigenous peoples have shown remarkable resilience and determination in these extreme situations.

We wish to remind States that all indigenous peoples, whether they migrate or remain, have rights under international instruments, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Statement of Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

11th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Geneva
11th of July 2018

GENEVA (22 June 2018) - The executive order signed by the US President on 20 June 2018 fails to address the situation of thousands of migrant children forcibly separated from their parents and held in detention at the border, UN experts* said. In addition, it may lead to indefinite detention of entire families in violation of international human rights standards, they said.

"This executive order does not address the situation of those children who have already been pulled away from their parents. We call on the Government of the US to release these children from immigration detention and to reunite them with their families based on the best interests of the child, and the rights of the child to liberty and family unity," the experts said.

"Detention of children is punitive, severely hampers their development, and in some cases may amount to torture," the experts said. "Children are being used as a deterrent to irregular migration, which is unacceptable."

The UN experts have already expressed to the US Government their grave concerns over the impact of the zero-tolerance policy signed by the Attorney General on 6 April 2018. As a result of the new policy, parents travelling with their children, including asylum-seeking families, were automatically separated and subjected to criminal prosecution as a punitive deterrent from migrating to the United States.

Alleged violations of the rights of indigenous peoples. Communications sent: 1 December 2017 to 28 February 2018.
#Cambodia #Peru #Egypt #Mexico #Philippines #USA #Paraguay #Guatemala #Bangladesh.

See Communications report of Special Procedures A/HRC/38/54, 5 June 2018.

By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (*)
The Washington Post, May 23, 2018.

I did an official 10-day visit from May 1-10 to Guatemala as part of my tasks as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. In a span of five days, while I was there and after I left, Luis Marroquin, Jose Can Xol and Mateo Chamán Paau were killed. They were killed in their fight for their rights to continue owning the lands they live in and live from. All of them are Q'eqchi' Maya.

GENEVA (14 May 2018) – Indigenous peoples and human rights defenders must be removed from a list of more than 600 individuals alleged to be affiliated with "terrorist organizations," the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in a decision on the Philippines issued in the course of the Committee's 95th session, held in Geneva.

The full decision is included below this press release.

The Committee, which monitors the implementation of the UN anti-racism Convention which the Philippines ratified in 1967, addressed what they termed the dire situation faced by indigenous leaders and human rights defenders engaged in the fight against racial discrimination in the country.

Acting under its preventive mechanism — the Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures that aims to prevent existing situations from escalating into conflicts and limit the scale of serious violations of the Convention — the Committee expressed alarm at the inclusion of incumbent and former UN mandate holders on that list.

GENEVA (11 May 2018) – UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, has expressed concerns over the discrimination and marginalisation of indigenous peoples in Guatemala, referring to extreme poverty, malnutrition, forced evictions and criminal prosecutions.

At the end of a 10-day visit to the country, the UN human rights expert urged the Government to reconstruct its relationship with indigenous peoples. She also called on the Government to ensure accountability and reparations with respect to Guatemala's civil war from 1960 to 1996.

The number of people living in poverty in Guatemala has increased 22 per cent in the last 10 years, she said. Around 40 per cent of indigenous peoples live in extreme poverty and more than half of all indigenous children are malnourished.

En mi calidad de Relatora Especial sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas, he llevado a cabo una visita a Guatemala del 1 al 10 de mayo de 2018. Quiero dar las gracias al Gobierno por su invitación al país y por su cooperación durante la visita.

En el transcurso de mi visita, me he reunido con representantes de alto nivel de varios ministerios, el Congreso de la República, la Corte Suprema de Justicia, la Corte de Constitucionalidad, la Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos, la Comisión Presidencial contra la Discriminación y el Racismo (CODISRA) y la Comisión Presidencial Coordinadora de la Política del Ejecutivo en Materia de Derechos Humanos (COPREDEH), entre otros. También me reuní con autoridades indígenas, mujeres indígenas, organizaciones de la sociedad civil, representantes del sector empresarial, el Sistema de Naciones Unidas y la comunidad internacional.

He podido visitar comunidades indígenas, en donde mantuve reuniones a las que asistieron unas 10,000 personas de los pueblos maya Mam, Sipakapense, Chuj, Akateko, Q'anjob'al, Ixil, Kaqchikel, Tz'utujil, K'iche', Ch'orti, Q'eqchi', Poqomchi', Achi y comunidades multilingüísticas de Ixcán y Petén, en los departamentos de San Marcos, Chiquimula, Alta Verapaz y Santa Rosa, así como con representantes de los pueblos Xinka y Garífuna.

"Hay racismo y discriminación estructurales que aún imperan en temas de educación, salud, acceso a justicia, y el poder está muy concentrado, tanto en términos económicos como políticos, en manos ladinas", dijo Tauli-Corpuz, en referencia al término utilizado en Centroamérica para personas no indígenas. Y el caso de Chuub "es apenas la punta del iceberg: debajo del agua hay miles de personas indígenas siendo criminalizadas"

 "La situación para las personas indígenas aquí de verdad es muy mala, muy muy preocupante, porque hay tantos temas pendientes... Desde 1996, cuando se firmaron los acuerdos de paz, que incluyen uno para el reconocimiento de los derechos a la identidad y culturas indígenas, en realidad solo se ha implementado el 20 por ciento de lo previsto para estas comunidades."

By Somini Sengupta (*)
May 3, 2018

Source: New York Times.

UNITED NATIONS — Victoria Tauli-Corpuz is a tiny woman who's used to standing up to power.

A lifelong rights activist who is now the United Nations special rapporteur for the rights of indigenous peoples, her job is to hold governments accountable for violations. For years, she has traveled the world to hear the grievances of indigenous people and press for their rights at the highest levels.

Each time, after a week or two on the road, she has returned home to the Philippines. Returned to her family, her friends, her beloved pine forests.

These days, though, Ms. Tauli-Corpuz is feeling rattled. The president of her country, Rodrigo Duterte, has included her on a list of suspected terrorists.

Fearing for her safety, she left home. For two months, the 65-year-old grandmother has been hopping from city to city with just one suitcase in tow. Hauling two, she says, would be too much.

She is not sure when she will return.

GENEVA (27 April 2018) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, will carry out an official visit to Guatemala from 1 to 10 May to examine a number of issues including land tenure, mega-projects, evictions, racial discrimination, access to justice, and economic, social and cultural rights.

'I will examine the consultations undertaken in Guatemala to seek the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples before any project affecting their lands, territories or resources is approved," said Ms Tauli-Corpuz.

"I will also pay attention to reports indicating that indigenous rights defenders and indigenous authorities are being threatened and criminalised, and will study the protection measures available for leaders and communities at risk," the Special Rapporteur added.

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.