Crime and militarization pose an existential threat to Indigenous territories across the Amazon Basin, a new report warns.
Published ahead of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) taking place this week in New York, the report finds Indigenous groups are being harmed by restricted access to crucial natural resources, and are suffering health consequences from mining pollution. They’re also being impacted by compromised state and community governance systems, according to the report published by Amazon Watch, a U.S.-based Indigenous rights advocacy group.
Criminal organizations such as Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in Brazil, and the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Colombia, have replaced or weakened state governance across the region, the report notes. In at least two-thirds of municipalities across the Pan-Amazon, such criminal actors “impose systems of social and economic control over communities,” the report says.
Criminal presence in Indigenous territories has led to displacement, environmental degradation, mercury contamination from mining, food insecurity and other threats.
Such criminal groups are frequently involved with several interconnected illicit crimes at once, such as illegal gold mining and drug trafficking. The report says these activities are directly tied to lucrative global markets and cause generational harm locally.
In Brazil’s Munduruku Indigenous Territory, for instance, mercury contamination linked to illegal gold mining has polluted rivers and fish. Locals say the contamination has led to severe and long-lasting health issues, including diarrhea, childhood paralysis and developmental problems.
“These activities reshape local ways of living completely around the exploitation of resources,” report author Rafael Hoetmer, director of the western Amazon program at Amazon Watch, told Mongabay by text message. Meanwhile, government responses to the criminal activity, such as militarization or other repressive strategies, can exacerbate existing risks and still fail to address the root causes.
With support, Hoetmer said, Indigenous people are best positioned to protect themselves. “Where Indigenous organizing is stronger, it has more resilience and capacity to contain the expansion.”
He said government officials rarely know how to work with Indigenous communities to combat organized crime in Indigenous territories, nor do they know how to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into their systems. While there has been some progress in terms of combined state and Indigenous monitoring strategies, participatory and complementary mechanisms are still lacking, he said.
“Indigenous peoples are crucial for any security solution to safeguard critical ecosystems for the future of the climate and the planet,” Hoetmer said. “Therefore, they should be a central actor whose voice needs to be included in international discussions around this.”
Hoetmer pointed to the upcoming U.N. conference on transnational organized crime as an opportunity for including Indigenous groups in discussions “around the protocol against crimes that affect the environment.”
Banner image: Armed police and military forces called by a Canadian mining company carry out operations in Sigchos, Ecuador. Antimining protesters have been demonstrating against a controversial consultation process led by the Ecuadorian government. Image courtesy of Verónica Potes Guerra.
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