Paraguay: Further information: Return of Indigenous land still pending
The Paraguayan indigenous community Sawhoyamaxa are unable to sustain their traditional activities, essential for their survival. While negotiations have reopened, effective action by the authorities is needed to ensure they can return to their traditional land. The community is still living in destitute conditions alongside a nearby highway.
Further information on UA: 162/12 Index: AMR 45/007/2012 Paraguay Date: 7 December 2012
URGENT ACTION
RETURN OF INDIGENOUS LAND STILL PENDING
The Paraguayan indigenous community Sawhoyamaxa are unable to sustain their
traditional activities, essential for their survival. While negotiations have reopened,
effective action by the authorities is needed to ensure they can return to their traditional
land. The community is still living in destitute conditions alongside a nearby highway.
On 11 October hundreds of members of the Indigenous Leaders from Bajo Chaco Network (Coordinadora de
Lideres Indigenas del Bajo Chaco) blocked road access to the Chaco region. They were protesting at the local
authority’s lack of compliance with the 2006 Inter-American Court Human of Rights decision ordering Paraguay to
restore traditional lands to the Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community. According to the community, negotiations
between the government and the landowner started again in late November as a result of the protests. The
community state that they have been told that the landowner has been offered alternative lands. Despite
welcoming continued negotiations, the Sawhoyamaxa remain concerned about a lack of clarity regarding the terms
of the negotiations and the fact that they have not been given a proper timeframe. The General Prosecutor’s Office
(Procuraduría General de la República) is in charge of coordinating the negotiations.
For over two decades the Sawhoyamaxa have fought a legal battle to return to a portion of their ancestral land, a
plot of about 14,400 hectares, in an area on the eastern side of the Chaco region. In September 2011 an initial
agreement was made by the Paraguayan authorities, the owner of the land and Sawhoyamaxa indigenous
community leaders. This laid the groundwork for the restitution of the community’s ancestral land. However, in June
2012 these negotiations stopped completely after new authorities took office as a result of an impeachment to
former president Fernando Lugo.
Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:
Calling on the General Prosecutor to take immediate and concrete steps to ensure an agreement is
reached with the current owner of the Sawhoyamaxa’s ancestral land by the end of the year;
Calling on the General Prosecutor to keep the community informed, to ensure the full participation of the
Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community in all plans around the compliance of the Inter American Court of Human
Rights judgment and to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before implementation.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 17 JANUARY 2013 TO:
Attorney General of Paraguay
Don Pedro Rafael Valiente Lara
Procurador General de la Republica de
Paraguay
José Berges 1007 c/Perú
Asunción, Paraguay
Fax: +595 21 212 220 (keep trying)
And copies to:
Sawhoyamaxa indigenous community
(through NGO Tierraviva)
Manuel Domínguez Nº 1073 e/ EEUU y
Brasil
Asunción, Paraguay
Email: pg.pedrovaliente@pgr.gov.py
Salutation: Dear Procurator General/
Estimado Procurador General
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the second update of UA 162/12. Further information:
http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR45/001/2012/en and http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR45/006/2012/en
URGENT ACTION
RETURN OF INDIGENOUS LAND STILL PENDING
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Since the 1990s around 100 families of the Sawhoyamaxa community, of the Enxet ethnic group, have been living alongside the
Pozo Colorado-Concepción road. They are demanding the right to live on their ancestral land, which today is in the hands of a
private owner. As a result of the failure of the Paraguayan state to resolve their land claims, and with the help of an NGO that is
supporting their claims, Tierraviva, the Sawhoyamaxa community took the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights, and subsequently to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights. The Court found violations of their rights to fair trial and
judicial protection, to property and to life. The judgement from the Inter American Court obliged the Paraguayan authorities to
return the ancestral lands to the communities within a period of three years. This period ended on 19 May 2009. An Inter
Institutional Commission for the Compliance with the International Judgements (Comisión Interinstitutional para el Cumplimiento
de las Sentencias Internacionales, CICSI) is supposed to coordinate the State compliance with international judgments. On 19
June 2012 the Paraguayan Supreme Court requested information from the government about the measures carried out to
comply with the Inter American Court order.
There are pictures on ADAM located here:
https://adam.amnesty.org/asset-bank/action/viewAsset?id=165655
https://adam.amnesty.org/asset-bank/action/viewAsset?id=165656
Name: Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous community
Gender m/f: both
Further information on 162/12 Index: AMR 45/007/2012 Issue Date: 7 December 2012