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HHR 1999 article

Profile image of Richard WitzigRichard Witzig

1999, Health and Human Rights

Abstract

Isolated Amazonian peoples such as the Urarina in Peru remain atrisk of cultural and biological extinction from industrial exploitation and imported diseases. In the last seven years, many Urarina have died in epidemics of measles, cholera, pertussis, and malaria. The Peruvian government has encouraged oil exploration and logging in the Amazon without regard to Urarina rights, and the international treatypromotingindigenous rights that Peru ratified is not enforced. There are, however, two promising developments for indigenous survival. The first is the growing realization of biologists, ecologists, sociologists, and conservationists that conservation of biodiversity and global environmental protection are interconnected with indigenous rights. Secondly, the two declarations on the rights of indigenous peoples proposed by the Organization of American States and the United Nations are more specifically protective of indigenous rights than previous manifestos have been.

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References (44)

  1. J. Cajas, A. Corbera, B. Gualdieri, and G. Solis, "Bibliograffa Etnolingilfstica Urarina," Amazonia Peruana 1993, 23: 173-205. The Urarina idiom is different enough from other Amazonian languages that it possesses its own language family. The Urarina have been labeled "cimarrones," "simacus," "shimacos," and "Ssimakus" (Tessmann's us- age), all of which are derogatory names meaning "savages," and the usage of these terms is embarrassing and demeaning to the Urarina. It is unfor- tunate that in an otherwise fine book, the caption to a photo of an Urarina man labeled him a "shimaco." See A. Davidson, Endangered Peoples (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1993), p. 73.
  2. P. Maroni, Noticias Autenticas del Famoso Rio Marofon (Iquitos: CETA/ IIAP, 1988 [1738]), p. 266.
  3. C. Tessman, "Der Ssimaku," in: Die Indianer Nordost-Peru (Hamburg: F. de Gruyter; 1930), pp. 486-512.
  4. M. Holloway, "Sustaining the Amazon," Scientific American, July 1993, 90-99.
  5. Anti-Slavery International, "Contemporary Forms of Slavery Requir- ing Action by Governments: Examples of a Large-Scale and Persisting Prob- lem in the 1990s" (1999), available from Anti-Slavery International at http:/ /www.charitynet.org/-asi/.
  6. The Chambira oil field formed part of the old Block 3 owned by Petroperu. The drilling rights transferred to Enterprise Oil in 1996 and 1997 were for blocks 65M (in the southern half of Urina territory) and 32 (in the northern half), respectively.
  7. Evidence on file with authors. See also note 6.
  8. Evidence on file with authors.
  9. Analysis performed by Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Facultad de Ingenieria Ambiental, Lima, Peru. Reference No. 059-99, Laboratory No. 20.
  10. USEPA Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, Current Drink- ing Water Standards, available from the USEPA at http://www.epa.gov/ OGWDW/wot/appa.html.
  11. USEPA Office of Water, Compilation of National Recommended Wa- ter Quality Criteria and EPA's Process for Deriving New and Revised Cri- teria, available from the USEPA at http://www.epa.gov/OST/standards/ wqcriteria.html.
  12. Personal observation by one of the authors (RW).
  13. R. E. Quick, R. Vargas, D. Moreno, 0. Mujica, L. Beingolea, A. M. Palacios, L. Seminario, and R. V. Tauxe, "Epidemic Cholera in the Ama- zon: The Challenge of Preventing Death," American Journal of Tropical Medical Hygiene 1993, 48: 597-602.
  14. R. Witzig, "New and Old Disease Threats in the Peruvian Amazon: The Case of the Urarina," Abya Yala News (Journal of the South and Meso American Rights Center) 1996, 10(2): 6-9. Also see two articles avail- able from Abya Yala at http://www.nativeweb.org/saiic/ayn/index.html.
  15. R. S. Witzig and R. H. Barker, Jr., "Atypical Plasmodium vivax Infec- tion in Peru," Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 1994, 88: 198. See also Witzig (note 14).
  16. J. Aramburui, C. Ramal, and R. Witzig, "Malaria Reemergence in the Peruvian Amazon Region," Emerging Infectious Diseases 1999, 5(2): 209- 15. Also available from the journal web site at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/ vol5no2/aramburu.htm.
  17. Survival International, Tourism and Tribal Peoples: The "New Impe- rialism," available from the Survival International web site at www. survival.org.uk/camp5 .htm.
  18. G. Miller and C. Miller, "Take the Shamanic Voyage of Discovery Amazon [sic] for Mushrooms and Medicinal Plants: 'Wild Mushroom Trav- eling Road Show."' Shaman's Drum 1997, 44: 76.
  19. Evidence regarding the tour operators' activities on file with authors.
  20. Shaman's Drum, Editorial policy 1997, 44: 18.
  21. See Randall's Adventure and Training at http://www.netservers.com/ -randall/index.htm.
  22. J. G. Kublin, R. S. Witzig, A. H. Shankar, et al. "Molecular Assays for Surveillance of Antifolate-resistant Malaria," Lancet 1998, 351: 1629-30. See also Aramburd, Ramal, and Witzig (note 16).
  23. Observation by one of the authors (RW) and Dr. Andreas Langeheinecke of Fundacion Alemana Ayuda a los Nativos (FAAN).
  24. A. S. Benenson (ed), Control of Communicable Diseases Manual, 16th ed. (Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 1995), pp. 347- 51.
  25. Center for Economic and Social Rights, Rights Violations in the Ecua- dorian Amazon: The Human Consequences of Oil Development [report] (New York, 1994), pp. 1-68; Center for Economic and Social Rights, "Rights Violations in the Ecuadorian Amazon," Health and Human Rights 1994, 1(1): 82-100.
  26. J. Lowe, "AIDS Stalks Amazonia," Earth Island Journal 1993, 8(1): 30.
  27. V. Maguifia Cueva, Codigo Civil Peruano (Lima: AFA Editores S. A., 1997). The relevant section is Articles 134-39.
  28. Constituci6n Politica del Peru. Ratified by public referendum on Oc- tober31, 1993.
  29. Ley de Inversion Privada Tenencia de Tierras del Territorio Nacional, Comunidades Campesinas y Nativas, Law no. 26505, pub. July 18, 1995. Article 7 reads: "Without an existing contract with the landowner, no mineral exploitation rights are established. In the case where the miner- als or oil field is considered a national interest by the ministry advice, from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the landowner will receive previ- ous compensation, for the title of mineral rights, with just price and cor- responding indemnity."
  30. Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Indepen- dent Countries (International Labor Organization Convention 169), June 1989. Recognized by Peru by legislative resolution no. 26253, December 2, 1993. 31. Law # 26253.
  31. United Nations. ABC de las Naciones Unidas (New York: United Nations Press, 1995). See also F. Newman and D. Weissbrodt, Interna- tional Human Rights: Law, Policy, and Progress, 2nd ed. (Cincinnati: Anderson, 1996), p. 274.
  32. Agence France-Presse, "Colombia Indians Backed," New York Times, 23 September 1997, sec. A. 35. Organization of American States, proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, available from the Organization of American States at http://www.oas.org/EN/PROG/indigene.htm.
  33. American Convention on Human Rights, OEA/Ser. L./V/II.23 doc. Rev. 2, entered into force July 18, 1978, Article 46.
  34. Ley de Deslinde y Titulacion, Law no. 24657, pub. March 30, 1987. 38. See Witzig (note 14).
  35. See the Doctors for Global Health internet site at www.dwabrams.com/ don/dgh/index.html.
  36. Freundeskreis Indianerhilfe e.V., Gottingen, "Hilfsproject am Rio Chambira in Peru," Mitteilungen, May 1998: 34-39.
  37. Cultural Survival, "Cultural Survival Special Projects Update," Cul- tural Survival Quarterly 1995, 19(2): 8. Although no longe. affiliated with Cultural Survival, ARPI maintains a web site at http:// eagle.cc.ukans.edu/-apri/index.html and is still soliciting donations. APRI is still listed with Echoing Green at www.echoinggreen.org/scripts/ fellows/fellow_display.asp?fellowid=89&projectid= 107. Contrary to APRI claims of a health care, educational, empowerment, and resource program on their website, the authors' personal experience in the Chambira with the Urarina indicates that the APRI presence in the Chambira from the 45 months from July 1995 to April 1999 spanned one month, hardly the amount of time needed to perform a project as compre- hensive as advertised.
  38. G. Colby and C. Dennett, Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil (New York: HarperCollins, 1995).
  39. A. R. Ramos, Sanuma' Memories: Yanomami Ethnography in Times of Crisis (Madison: U. Wisconsin Press, 1995).
  40. J. F. Eder, On the Road to Tribal Extinction: Depopulation, Deculturation, and Adaptive Well-being among the Batak of the Philippines (Berkeley: U. California Press, 1987).
  41. E. F. Moran, Through Amazonian Eyes: The Human Ecology of Ama- zonian Populations (Iowa City: U. Iowa Press, 1993).
  42. S. Stevens (ed), Conservation through Cultural Survival: Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997);
  43. F. Grifo and J. Rosenthal (eds), Biodiversity and Human Health (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997).
  44. V. A. Leary, "The Right to Health in International Human Rights Law," Health and Human Rights 1994, 1(1): 25-57.

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