Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1993)

Other comments on C169

Observation

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The Committee notes the observations of the Central Confederation of Workers–Authentic (CUT-A), received on 30 August 2021.

Articles 2 and 33 of the Convention.Coordinated and systematic action. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s reference in its report to the adoption of the National Plan for Indigenous Peoples 2020–30 (PNPI) by Decree No. 5897 of 25 August 2021. The Committee welcomes the fact that the formulation of the Plan was the result of a participatory process to which over a thousand men and women leaders and focal points from indigenous organizations contributed via 18 regional workshops in all departments of the country. The PNPI comprises four strategic components aimed at: (i) strengthening forms of indigenous identity and world views; (ii) guaranteeing rights; (iii) ensuring access to economic, social, cultural and environmental rights; and (iv) catering for groups requiring special attention. The Committee duly notes, with regard to the participation of indigenous peoples, that the PNPI envisages: strengthening the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI); institutionalizing and coordinating mechanisms for the effective participation of indigenous peoples, agreed upon with them, at the levels of national and local government; and establishing an entity for the participation of indigenous peoples at the political level of decision-making with regard to implementation of the Plan. Moreover, a body will be created to ensure inter-institutional coordination at the highest political level, headed by the INDI, in which budgets and priorities will be agreed upon for the progressive implementation of the plan. The PNPI also envisages the setting up of a system to monitor and evaluate its implementation with a matrix of indicators and stakeholder institutions, including a community monitoring body. The Committee trusts that the adoption of the National Plan for Indigenous Peoples 2020–30 (PNPI) will make it possible to strengthen coordinated and systematic action to implement fully the rights enshrined in the Convention, and requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure the effective implementation of the Plan in all its strategic areas, ensuring the due budget assignment for that purpose. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the establishment and functioning of the entities for the participation of indigenous peoples envisaged by the Plan and on the results of the evaluation of the implementation of the Plan.

Articles 6 and 15 of the Convention.Consultation. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Protocol governing the process of prior informed consent and consultation with the indigenous peoples of Paraguay (Decree No. 1039 of 28 December 2018). The Protocol provides that the coordination of consultation processes will come under the responsibility of the INDI. It stipulates that the indigenous peoples and the proponents of the project for consultation must reach an agreement on reasonable periods and deadlines for the different stages of the consultation process, ensuring that the indigenous peoples have sufficient time to understand the information received and acquire any additional information or clarification. The information supplied to the community must include: the nature, size, setting and duration of the project; the location of the areas and resources which will be affected; a preliminary study of the possible positive and negative impacts of the project; procedures to alleviate possible damage; and all foreseeable implications, including the benefits for the community. The INDI is responsible for adopting regulations for the implementation of the Protocol. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that some 120 consultation sessions have been held in various indigenous communities, most of them relating to housing construction projects. The Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to ensure the implementation of the consultation processes with the indigenous peoples with regard to all legislative or administrative measures which may affect them directly. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken, firstly, to allocate the necessary resources to the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI) to coordinate the implementation of the Protocol on consultation and, secondly, to instruct the indigenous peoples on the content of the Protocol and its regulations in order to ensure their effective participation in the consultation processes. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the consultations held in the framework of the Protocol on consultation, indicating the number of instances in which agreements have been reached.

Article 7(2). Improvement of living conditions. The Committee notes that the CUT-A indicates in its observations that there are deep inequalities separating the indigenous population and the rest of the population, since 75 per cent of the indigenous population lives in poverty and 60 per cent in extreme poverty, which is above the national average. In this regard, the Government indicates that the Tekopora Programme of the Ministry of Social Development, aimed at the protection and promotion of vulnerable families living in poverty, has benefited 29,517 indigenous families totalling 91,007 persons. The resources provided not only make it possible to cover basic needs but also to invest through cooperative schemes in consumer stores that benefit the whole community. Programmes have also been implemented for the provision of sanitation and drinking water services for the Chaco region, with the aim of supplying 87 indigenous communities in the region. The Committee requests the Government to continue taking measures, in collaboration with the indigenous peoples, to reduce the inequalities and the rates of poverty and extreme poverty faced by the indigenous communities, including through national and departmental development plans, and to provide information on the results achieved further to the adoption of these measures.

Article 14. Lands. In its previous comments, the Committee emphasized the need to continue making progress on the regularization of lands that indigenous peoples have traditionally occupied and on the titles granted to them. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on progress made in the processes of expropriation and transfer of lands to the following indigenous communities: Sawhoyamaxa (14,404 hectares), Xákmok Kásek (7,701 hectares) and Yakye Axa (11,312 hectares), in compliance with the judgments handed down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Committee also notes the declaration of expropriation of 219 hectares in the district of Carlos Antonio López, department of Itapúa, to the INDI, for subsequent assignment to the Y’aká Marangatu indigenous community.

The Committee further notes the Government’s statement that there are many disputes regarding lands because of a clash between private third-party ownership and indigenous collective ownership. In this regard, it notes that the INDI emphasizes that an impact on the rights of third parties is not sufficient grounds for denying the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands, given that these rights cover a wider concept relating to the collective right to survival. The INDI adds that if land rights are viewed from the perspective of productivity and the agricultural system, this takes insufficient account of the particular features of indigenous communities. The CUT-A, for its part, refers in its observations to land disputes arising from occupations of indigenous lands by landless peasant farmers (campesinos) and to attempted forced evictions and harassment of indigenous communities, including with the intervention of armed non-government agents, as was the case with the Veraró community (department of Canindeyú), the Guyra Payu and Huguá Po’i communities (department of Caaguazú), and the Jacuí Guasú community (department of Itapúa). It underlines the lack of a public policy for tackling this problem. In this regard, the Committee observes that the United Nations Human Rights Committee, in its concluding observations of 2019, expressed concern at the slow progress made in registering and returning land and the consequent lack of comprehensive access for indigenous communities to their lands and natural resources (CCPR/C/PRY/CO/4, paragraph 44).

While the Committee understands the complexities related to the recognition of lands that indigenous peoples have traditionally occupied and the grant of title to them, it requests the Government to intensify its efforts to move forward in the appropriate processes in this regard and to provide information on progress made. In view of the existence of legal disputes between indigenous peoples and third parties regarding the ownership of lands, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary steps to resolve the disputes and to reach agreements with the parties involved. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps without delay to investigate the facts relating to the occupation of lands by landless peasant farmers (campesinos) and also relating to forced evictions and harassment of indigenous communities, and to provide information in this respect.

Article 20. Recruitment and conditions of employment. For a number of years, the Committee has been urging the Government to strengthen the State’s presence in the Chaco region in order to put an end to economic exploitation, in particular debt bondage involving indigenous workers. The Committee notes the Government’s reference to the Paraguay Okakuaa project aimed at enhancing compliance with the labour legislation and improving decent working conditions, with the emphasis on preventing and combating forced labour. In this context, awareness-raising activities regarding labour rights have been carried out, with a particular focus on indigenous populations in the department of Boquerón. Talks have also been held with local actors and indigenous leaders to discuss concepts, regulations, indicators and vulnerabilities relating to forced labour.

The Committee notes that the CUT-A refers to the working situation of indigenous workers in the Chaco region, emphasizing that pay negotiations are conducted verbally and hence the workers have no means of demanding fulfilment of the agreed conditions. On livestock farms, indigenous workers are unpaid and only receive food and permission to live on the farm, in precarious conditions and without social protection. The CUT-A also indicates that the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (Ministry of Labour) does not have the necessary resources to carry out periodic controls of the situation of these workers through intervention by labour inspectors.

While recognizing the action taken by the Government to combat exploitation and forced labour of indigenous workers in the Chaco region, the Committee requests the Government to intensify its efforts to ensure that the offices of the Ministry of Labour in the Chaco region, including the labour inspectorate, have the necessary resources to monitor the observance of the labour rights of these workers, particularly those located on remote farms, to respond to complaints and to penalize violations. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on progress made in this respect. The Committee also refers to its comments on the application of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29).

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.