Chris Chapman is Amnesty International’s Advisor on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights. Working with communities around the world, he has seen how states continue to violate the rights of Indigenous Peoples, failing to involve them in decisions that affect them, most recently during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Inspired by the incredible people he’s met and interviewed, and his years working in human rights, Chris has now penned a research guide on how to assess whether people have been effectively involved in decisions that affect them and been able to influence them.
Can you tell me about your role at Amnesty and what it involves?
I am a researcher and advisor for Indigenous Peoples’ rights. I’m currently focusing on conservation and protected areas and how they impact Indigenous Peoples. Quite often, protected areas are established on lands claimed by Indigenous Peoples. For example, on the borders of Paraguay and Brazil, an Indigenous People has been evicted to make way for a hydroelectric dam. The company has created protected nature reserves around the new borders of the river, yet the displaced Indigenous People have no right to go into those nature reserves, due to lack of consultation by governments.
I also support people at Amnesty who are doing research on the situations of Indigenous Peoples and provide advice.
Is there a piece of research that has had a lasting impact on you?
I was inspired by a joint project between Amnesty’s human rights education team and our Philippines office. They worked with communities all over the Philippines, shared lots of resources on running human rights campaigns, and now they apply these to the most important and pressing issues in their communities. It’s a great example of how Amnesty can share skills and experience and empowers others.
Another inspiring experience was working with Elias Kimaiyo, an activist and leader for the Sengwer Indigenous People in Kenya. We worked together on a report that came out in 2018. Elias never had the opportunities many of us have had but it’s not held him back. He tells the truth about what is happening to the Sengwer whether it’s to his local MP, in Nairobi, or in Geneva or Brussels. He’s also an amazing photographer and video maker. While I was writing up the research, I learnt he had been out in the field filming the Kenya Forest Service who were evicting his people from their forest. He was shot at by one of the rangers and it permanently damaged his arm. But he continues the work.
When governments take decisions that might impact on people’s human rights, there is an obligation to consult those people and involve them meaningfully in decision-making.
Chris Chapman
What’s the aim of Amnesty’s new research guidelines, Public participation in decision-making ?
Amnesty’s new guide is for researchers on how to research processes of public participation in decision-making. When governments take decisions or implement projects that might impact on people’s human rights, there is usually an obligation to consult those people and involve them meaningfully in decision-making.
This guide provides guidance to researchers who want to research such processes to make sure the government has fully complied with its obligations. The researchers could be from NGOs like Amnesty, or academics, or people from the affected communities themselves. It’s about seeing if things are being done as they should – whether that involves consulting the public on projects such as clearing informal settlement housing, building a dam, or passing a new law which will affect a particular group of people.
The research guide is incredibly engaging – it’s beautifully presented and packed with photographs, so hopefully it’s appealing and useful to those who want to use it. Within it, there’s a series of practical tools for researchers, such as example lists of questions which you need to ask in a particular situation. For example, if a mine or a dam is being built, there is a checklist for what information communities should receive. I really hope researchers will pick it up and use it.
Why is the guide needed?
When the public aren’t consulted by the government on issues that affect them, it can affect their human rights negatively. In some cases, governments just tell people what they’re going to do without listening to them. In addition, Indigenous Peoples have the right to free, prior and informed consent, which means that they should be not only consulted, but that the proposal should not go ahead against their will.
According to Amnesty’s new report, What If Indigenous Consent Is Not Respected?, states failed to consult Indigenous People during the COVID-19 pandemic. What impact did this have?
During the pandemic, governments were scrambling to take emergency action very quickly – they closed schools and learning went online. Many Indigenous communities who live in rural areas didn’t have sufficient access to the Internet. In some cases, there weren’t enough devices for a remote connection for schooling and materials weren’t provided in specific languages.
Governments took steps to close down schools without taking into account the issues Indigenous peoples would face. They weren’t ready for these challenges and failed to adapt their policies, which led to a detrimental impact on children’s education. Their schooling effectively ended, causing a long-lasting impact.
How does it feel to hear these stories?
It’s really sad. Sometimes we talk about how human rights researchers get a bit blasé because they hear so many accounts and you’re exposed to human rights violations every day. But when you hear first-hand accounts, it’s obviously going to affect you and if it doesn’t, maybe it’s time to reach out for support, as it could be a sign that you’ve reached burn out.
How could Indigenous Peoples be included in their government responses to emergencies?
Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines have put an emergency response protocol in place, covering what the government should do when there’s an emergency. Initially designed for floods and hurricanes, it could easily be adapted for pandemics.
The plan details what the government should do immediately after a disaster, as well as numerous initiatives that can be done immediately or staggered over time. It’s a great idea and if Indigenous Peoples have such a protocol, governments should comply with them, it would provide a starting point for knowing how to consult on pandemic responses.
Finally, how did you get into this area of work?
I was always interested in human rights. I was a member of a local Amnesty group in my twenties and passionate about dealing with injustices in the world. I travelled around and worked in Guatemala just as the peace accords had been signed, ending decades of civil conflict. There were people who had gone into exile and who wanted to return, or they had gone into hiding in remote places in Guatemala. They wanted to return to normal life, but they wanted international observers in their communities because they still didn’t trust the army. So I worked in a rainforest community for five months, teaching maths, and getting involved in the community’s activities – it was an incredible experience where people told me about what happened during the civil war. It was powerful and inspired me to work within the human rights field.