Indigenous Nicaraguans sue President

By ROBERT SPAIN

The Mayangna (Sumo) Indigenous Community of Awas Tingni has launched a legal suit against Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos for breaching their human rights. The case, to be heard in the court of appeals, cites the government’s failure to adhere to a ruling by the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In August 2001, this body found that the concessions granted to a Korean logging company by the state of Nicaragua amounted to a breach of the Mayangna’s rights to their property, natural resources and environment. The ruling held that these rights were to be enforced on the lands and resources traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples, giving a 15-month deadline for the state to comply. The Community’s civil action, filed on 16 January 2002, claims that the by the expiration date - December 17 2002 - the ordered demarcation and titling of the land had not even begun. By failing to implement this decision, the government has consequently violated the Nicaraguan Constitution and the country’s international legal obligations. The nation had also been ordered to provide $50,000 of infrastructure and services to Awas Tingni by September 17 2002. Although an agreement was reached to build a student boarding house for the Community, construction had not begun.

“For the past 15 months the Community and its advisors have worked in good faith with the government of Nicaragua to carry out the distinct aspects of the implementation” said S James Anaya, Special Counsel to the Indian Law Resource Center (ILRC) and also a legal advisor to the Community. “Despite these efforts,” he continued, “the government has failed to shows the political will and commitment to comply with the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Characteristically for the Latin American region, obedience to the court’s decision has been overshadowed by “unjustified governmental delays, repeated failures to follow through with agreed-upon activities, and a failure to fully involve officials with the necessary authority and mandate to make decisions and to put into practice the measures required to advance the implementation process” according to officials at the ILRC.

This situation may have some ramifications for the numerous indigenous groups populating many areas of Central America, including Honduras. Their rights are often summed up by locals with the refrain “they have no rights.” All over the country, business opportunities take precedence over the rights of indigenous peoples. For several years the ILRC have been helping indigenous communities in the La Moskitia region of Northern Honduras to stop logging forays on their lands. These areas include parts of the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve - where it is already illegal to cut down trees - however it has not stopped the logging and colonization of the region.

Should the action by the Mayangnga prompt Honduran peoples to launch their own suit, they have similarly little guarantee of results. Given that a Nicaraguan Ambassador is famously said to have defended his country’s imposition of a 35% import tax on Honduran products owing to the need to raise capital to fight land battles with Honduras in the Hague, one can only wonder what the internal financial repercussions will be from this - and similar - processes.