With the aim of bringing clarity on ambiguous provisions, Government will be reviewing the Amerindian Act, and according to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, S.C., this process will involve widespread consultations with the Indigenous community across the country.
He made these remarks on this week’s edition of his televised programme Issues in the News, during which he spoke about the ongoing National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference. Being held from August 28 to September 1, 2023 at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the theme for this year’s NTC Conference is “Advancing Sustainable Village Development in a Low Carbon Economy”.
During the week-long activity, Toshaos and village leaders will have meetings with the country’s leaders, and get opportunities to discuss and make critical decisions regarding their livelihoods and development.
According to AG Nandlall, among the important matters to be discussed is the reformation of the Amerindian Act. “We promised in our manifesto that we will review the Amerindian Act. It’s nearly 30 years old…and the Amerindian community has voiced the view that the Act needs to be reviewed, and that is on our agenda,” he assured.
Nandlall pointed out that there are several important matters that loom large in the current legislation. He said they need to be clearly stated, so as to avoid any misinterpretations that can lead to conflicts. These include issues relating to mining activities and disputes.
“We have to frontally address that, so that we don’t have the Chinese Landing-type fiasco ever erupting again. The reasons why there have been situations of conflict between the mining and the Amerindian community is because there are certain provisions of the Act that require clarity, and hopefully, during this informed process, those issues will be clarified and there will be clear lines of authority and functional responsibility demarcated, separating Amerindian interests from those of mining interests, because we have to find a manner of peaceful co-existence,” he explained.
“It’s common ground that the natural resources of the state remain the resources of the state, and the state will not relinquish those resources. So, we have to have a modus vivendi between the Amerindians and those who are conferred with authority to mine our natural resources,” the Attorney General posited.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued Resolution 41/2023 in July of this year, through which it granted precautionary measures in favour of members of the Indigenous Carib Community of Chinese Landing, whom it said are currently at “serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to their human rights”.
In wake of this decision, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has since sent a team to that Region One (Barima-Waini) community to meet with residents there; and has, further, committed to working with residents to find solutions. Government has also halted all mining activities in the area.
The Chinese Landing issue stemmed from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) granting a mining permit, sometime in the 1990s, to a miner/company to operate within the boundaries of the village’s titled land. However, that Indigenous community has been up in arms over that approval, which it said did not have the consent of the Village Council.
But when the GGMC had taken steps to issue a Cease Work Order (CWO) to the miner/ company, the case was taken to the High Court, which had ruled in favour of the miner/company. The High Court decision was subsequently overturned by the Court of Appeal. However, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) reversed this in 2017, resulting in the Amerindian community approaching the IACHR on the matter.
During a presentation on Monday at the NTC Conference, Chinese Landing Toshao Orin Fernandes pleaded with the Council to protect the rights of Indigenous people in the community.
“We call on the NTC to advocate on our behalf for the Government to allow Chinese Landing residents to continue their subsistence mining activities, since there are no other means of earning a living in our community,” the Toshao stated.
Nevertheless, to avoid a repeat of this issue, Government plans to iron out any ambiguity in the Amerindian Act during the review process.
AG Nandlall, during his programme, revealed that the Legal Affairs Ministry will be leading this revision of the Amerindian Act, along with the Amerindian Affairs Ministry. He assured that this exercise would be a consultative one, especially with the Indigenous community.
“Of course it’s going to be a consultative one, and it will be driven by those consultative processes. There is not going to be an imposition on the Amerindian community, but the Amerindian community will be engaged, and the Act will be reviewed based upon the interactions and consultations held with the Amerindian community,” the Legal Affairs Minister asserted.
