Bringing forward the date of Peru’s national census and modifying the self-identification options seem to be ultimately aimed at preventing indigenous people from exercising their rights and remaining in their territories.
This report was made by the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (Aidesep), the National Agrarian Confederation of Peru (CNA), the National Organisation of Andean and Amazonian Women of Peru (Onamiap), the National Federation of Peasant, Artisan, Indigenous, Native, and Salaried Women of Peru (Fenmucarinap)
The associations disapprove of the options the National Institute of Statistics and Information of Peru (INEI) set out for racial self-identification in the census, “mixed”, “white” and “other”, which tend to make native people invisible, create confusion and distort the results of the national survey. The 2017 census confirmed that 25% of Peruvians define themselves as “indigenous”, a percentage which could decrease due to the terminology in the survey which natives are contesting.
The results of the survey could also, according to the association leaders, compromise the sacredness of native territories, coveted by local and foreign business interests, and the obligatory prior consultation with the indigenous people concerning economic projects on this land.
According to the whistleblowers, these options for racial self-identification were not recommended by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal), but the INEI did not heed the recommendation due to pressures from businesses and conservative anti-rights sectors.
In Peru, the census is carried out every 10 years. The most recent was in 2017 and the next was forecast for 2027, but the government brought it forward on the basis that the country had changed a lot due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which began in 2019. The president of Onamiap, Ketty Marcelo, questioned the decision, arguing that there are no transparency conditions in place for a census to be held in the second semester of 2025. One of the reasons is that indigenous communities were excluded from its planning.
She added that they are “being repressed, persecuted, and are on the way to disappearing as organisations for indigenous communities” due to the laws being set by the (mostly conservative) Parliament and approved by the Executive.
She said that for some months now, the indigenous organisations have been accused of politicising the census with their claims by the National Confederation of Private Entrepreneurial Institutions (Confiep), the association most interested in exploiting native territory.
For Fenmucaria president Lourdes Huanca, the census has been brought forward in order to deny the right to prior consultation for decisions that concern indigenous territory. “They want to keep stripping us of our land so that, if they find gold or copper in our territory, they can exploit it without prior consultation,” she warned. PL
(Translated by Natasha Greenidge – Email: natashagreenidge1@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
.jpg)
