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International Alliance Charter
(Established
Penang, Malaysia, 15 Feb 1992)
(Revised
Nairobi, Kenya, 22 Nov 2002)
Article 1.
We, the indigenous and tribal peoples of the tropical-forests, present this
charter as a response to hundreds of years of continual encroachment and
colonisation of our territories and the undermining of our lives, livelihoods
and cultures caused by the destruction of the forests that our survival
depends on.
Article 2.
We declare that we are the original peoples, the rightful owners and the
cultures that defend the tropical forests of the world.
Article 3.
Our territories and forests are to us more than an economic resource. For us,
they are life itself and have an integral and spiritual value for our
communities. They are fundamental to our social, cultural, spiritual, economic
and political survival as distinct peoples.
Article 4.
The unity of people and territory is vital and must be recognised.
Article 5.
All policies towards the forests must be based on mutual understanding and
respect for cultural diversity and gender perspectives, for a promotion of
indigenous ways of life, and an understanding that our peoples have developed
ways of life closely attuned to our environment.
THEREFORE WE DECLARE THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES, GOALS AND DEMANDS:
RESPECT FOR OUR RIGHTS
Article 6.
Respect for our human, political, social, economic and cultural rights,
respect for our right to self-determination, and to pursue our own ways of
life.
Article 7.
Respect for our autonomous forms of self-government, as differentiated
political systems at the community, regional and other levels. This includes
our right to control all economic activities in our territories.
Article 8.
Respect for our customary laws and that they be recognized by national and
international law, as equally valid systems of law and decision-making.
Article 9.
Where the peoples so demand, nation states must comply with the different
treaties, agreements, covenants, awards and other forms of legal recognition
that have been signed with us indigenous peoples in the past, both in the
colonial period and since independence, regarding our rights.
Article 10.
An end to violence, slavery, debt-peonage and land grabbing; the disbanding of
all private armies and militias and their replacement by the rule of law and
social justice; the means to use the law in our own defence, including the
training of our people in the law.
Article 11.
The approval and application of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples (1993 version), which affirms and guarantees our right to
self-determination, and the ratification of ILO Convention 169, which guides
States in the application of some of these principles.
Article 12.
The setting up of effective international mechanisms and a tribunal to protect
us against the violation of our rights and guarantee the application of the
principles set out in this charter.
Article 13.
There can be no sustainable development of the forests and of our peoples
until our fundamental rights as peoples are respected.
TERRITORY
Article 14.
Secure control of our territories, by which we mean a whole living system of
continuous and vital connection between man and nature; expressed as our right
to the unity and continuity of our ancestral domains; including the parts that
have been usurped, those being reclaimed and those that we use; the soil,
subsoil, air and water required for our self-reliance, cultural development
and future generations.
Article 15.
The recognition, definition and demarcation of our territories in accordance
with our local and customary systems of ownership and use.
Article 16.
The form of land tenure will be decided by the people themselves, and the
territory should be held communally, unless the people decide otherwise.
Article 17.
The right to permanent sovereignty over the use and ownership of the
territories which we occupy. Such territories should be inalienable,
unleasable, unmortgageable and untransferable.
Article 18.
The right to demarcate our territories ourselves and that these areas be
officially recognised and documented.
LAND RIGHTS FOR OUR NEIGHBOURS
Article 19.
Legalise the ownership of lands used by non-indigenous peoples who live within
and on the forests' margins in the areas that are available once title has
been guaranteed to the indigenous peoples.
Article 20.
Land reforms and changes in land tenure to secure the livelihoods of those who
live outside the forests and indigenous territories, because we recognise that
landlessness outside the forests puts heavy pressure on our territories and
forests.
DECISION-MAKING
Article 21.
Control of our territories and the resources that we depend on: all
development in our areas should only go ahead with the free, prior and
informed consent of the indigenous people involved or affected. We insist on
recognition of our right to veto any developments proposed on our lands
without our consent.
Article 22.
Recognition of the legal entity of our indigenous institutions and
organisations, that defend our rights, and through them the right to
collectively negotiate our future.
Article 23.
The right to our own forms of social organisation; the right to elect and
revoke the authorities and government functionaries who oversee the
territorial areas within our jurisdiction.
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Article 24.
Our policy of development is based, first, on guaranteeing our
self-sufficiency, material welfare, cosmo-visions and spirituality, as well as
that of our neighbours; a full social and cultural development based on the
values of equity, justice, solidarity and reciprocity, and a balance with
nature. Thereafter, the generation of a surplus for the market must come from
a rational and creative use of natural resources developing our own
traditional technologies and selecting appropriate new ones.
Article 25.
Our right to self-development and to redirect the development process away
from large-scale projects towards the promotion of small-scale initiatives
controlled by our peoples. The priority for such initiatives is to secure our
control over our territories and resources on which our survival depends. Such
projects should be the cornerstone of all future development in the forests.
Article 26.
The right of our peoples to be broadly informed, consulted and, above all, to
participate in the making of decisions on legislation or policies: and in the
formulation, implementation or evaluation of any development project, be it at
local, national or international levels, whether private or of the state, that
may affect our futures directly or indirectly.
Article 27.
All major development initiatives should be preceded by social, cultural,
health and environmental impact assessments, carried out with the full
participation of local communities and indigenous peoples. All such studies
and projects should be open to public scrutiny and debate by the indigenous
peoples affected.
Article 28.
National or international agencies considering funding development projects
which may affect us, must set up tripartite commissions - including the
funding agency, government representatives and our own communities as
represented through our representative organisations - to carry through the
planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the projects. In all
such negotiations, the right to involve technical advisers and professionals
of our choice.
Article 29.
The cancellation of all mining concessions in our territories imposed without
the consent of our indigenous organisations. Mining policies must prioritise,
and be carried out under, our control, to guarantee rational management and a
balance with the environment. All mining on our lands should be subject to our
free, prior and informed consent and should be carried out subject to freely
agreed, openly negotiated, legally binding contracts assented to by our own
indigenous institutions, communities and peoples.
Article 30.
An end to imposed development schemes and fiscal incentives or subsidies that
threaten the integrity of our lives, forests and territories.
Article 31.
A halt to all imposed resettlement programmes.
Article 32.
The problems caused in our territories by international criminal syndicates
trafficking in products from plants like poppy and coca must he confronted by
effective policies which involve our peoples in decision-making.
Article 33.
Promotion of the health systems of the indigenous peoples, including the
revalidation of indigenous medicine and health care, and the promotion of
programmes of modern medicine, with measures to ensure our free and equal
access to them. Such programmes should allow us to have control over them,
providing suitable training to allow us to manage them ourselves.
Article 34.
Establishment of systems of bilingual and intercultural education. These must
revalidate our beliefs, religious traditions, customs, and knowledge; allowing
our control over these programmes, by the provision of suitable training, in
accordance with our cultures; in order to achieve technical and scientific
advances for our peoples, in tune with our own cosmo-visions, and as a
contribution to the world community.
Article 35.
Promotion of alternative financial policies that permit us to develop our
community economies and develop mechanisms to establish fair prices for our
products.
FOREST POLICY
Article 36.
Halt all new logging concessions and suspend existing ones, that affect our
territories. The destruction of forests must be considered a crime against
humanity and a halt must be made to the various anti-social consequences, such
as roads across indigenous cultivations, cemeteries and hunting zones; the
destruction of areas used for medicinal plants and crafts; the erosion and
compression of soil; the pollution of our environment; the corruption and
enclave economy generated by the industry; the increase of invasions and
settlement in our territories.
Article 37.
Logging concessions on lands adjacent to our territories, or which have an
impact on our environment, must comply with operating conditions - ecological,
social, of labour, transport, health and others - laid down by the indigenous
peoples, who should participate in ensuring that these are complied with.
Commercial timber extraction should be prohibited in strategic and seriously
degraded forests.
Article 38.
The protection of existing natural forests should take priority over
reforestation.
Article 39.
Reforestation programmes in indigenous peoples’ territories must be subject
to our free, prior and informed consent and should be prioritised on degraded
lands, giving priority to the regeneration of native forests, including the
recovery of all the functions of tropical forests, and not being restricted
only to timber values.
Article 40.
Reforestation programmes on our territories should be developed under the
control of our communities. We should select species in accordance with our
needs.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
Article 41.
Programmes related to biodiversity must respect the collective rights of our
peoples to cultural and intellectual property, genetic resources, gene banks,
biotechnology and knowledge of biological diversity; this should include our
participation in the management of any such project in our territories, as
well as control of any benefits that derive from them.
Article 42.
Conservation programmes must respect our rights to the use and ownership of
the territories and resources we depend on. No programmes to conserve
biodiversity should be promoted on our territories without our free, prior and
informed consent as expressed through our indigenous organisations.
Article 43.
The best guarantee of the conservation of biodiversity is that those who
promote it should uphold our rights to the use, administration, management and
control of our territories. We assert that guardianship of the different
ecosystems should be entrusted to us, indigenous peoples, given that we have
inhabited them for thousands of years and our very survival depends on them.
Article 44.
Environmental policies and legislation should recognise indigenous territories
and systems of natural resource management as effective 'protected areas', and
give priority to their legal establishment as indigenous territories.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Article 45.
Since we highly value our technologies and believe that our biotechnologies
can make important contributions to humanity, including 'developed' countries,
we demand guaranteed rights to our collective intellectual property in both
national and international law, and control over the development and
manipulation of this knowledge.
RESEARCH
Article 46.
All investigations in our territories should be carried out with our free,
prior and informed consent and under joint control and guidance according to
mutual agreement; including the provision for training, publication and
support for indigenous institutions necessary to achieve such control.
INSTITUTIONS
Article 47.
The international community, particularly the United Nations, must recognise
us indigenous peoples as peoples, as distinct from other organised social
movements, non-governmental organisations and independent sectors, and respect
for our right to participate directly and on the basis of equality, as
indigenous peoples, in all fora, mechanisms, processes and funding bodies so
as to promote and safeguard the future of the tropical forests.
EDUCATION
Article 48.
The development of programmes to educate the general public about our rights
as indigenous peoples and about the principles, goals and demands in this
charter. For this we call on the international community for the necessary
recognition and support.
Article 49.
We indigenous peoples will use this charter as a basis for promoting our own
local strategies for our actions.
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