The present report of the Special Rapporteur, which was originally published in an unedited version on 4 March 2011, is the result of an exchange of information and communications with the Government of Guatemala and other relevant stakeholders and of the Special Rapporteur’s official visit to the country in June 2010.
These observations focus on the crucial question of the rights of indigenous people in the context of extraction and other types of projects that directly affect their traditional territories. In the annex to this report, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the specific case of the communities affected by the Marlin mine, in the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipacapa, Department of San Marcos.
Currently in Guatemala, the business activities under way in the traditional territories of the indigenous peoples have generated a highly unstable atmosphere of social conflict, which is having a serious impact on the rights of the indigenous people and threatening the country’s governance and economic development. The repercussions include numerous allegations concerning the effects on the health and the environment of the indigenous people as a result of the pollution caused by the extractive activities; the loss of indigenous lands and damage to indigenous people’s property and houses; the disproportionate response to legitimate acts of social protest, and the harassment of and attacks on human rights defenders and community leaders.
In the report, the Special Rapporteur expresses his grave concern at this situation and calls upon the Government and other interested parties, including businesses, to take urgent measures to guarantee the rights of the indigenous people concerned. The current debate has focused on the lack of consultation with indigenous people on the projects, furthered by the lack of domestic regulations on consultation and a series of misunderstandings about the content and scope of the regulations that do exist.
In these observations, the Special Rapporteur hopes to contribute to the debate with several specific considerations and recommendations, in the light of the international instruments that regulate consultation with indigenous people and are binding on Guatemala. In addition, the Special Rapporteur identifies other basic issues which, in his opinion, have also contributed to the currently unstable situation. In particular, he emphasizes the alarming lack of legal protection for the rights of indigenous people over their traditional lands and territories, which leaves Guatemala lagging behind other countries in the region that have made progress in that regard.
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