I REFER to an article in the Kaieteur News in its issue of Thursday February 21, 2013 under the caption ‘Amerindians write UN on land rights violations – want government pressured to revise Amerindian Act’.
I wish to state the following:
1. The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) and an outfit calling itself the Forest People’s Programme (FPP) of the United Kingdom wrote an urgent, joint 44-paragraph letter (communication) dated February 6, 2013 to seven UN Experts on “the situations of the Akawaio Indigenous communities of Isseneru and

Kako.
2. Firstly, I strongly condemn this letter sent to the UN experts by the APA & FPP as being mischievous, erroneous and misleading against the state of Guyana.
3. The APA is funded by the FPP of the United Kingdom for being anti-government and the joint letter sent to the UN experts is a typical example. The reality is that the APA carries out the directives of the FPP and failing to do so the APA will be starved of funding and die.
4. It is clear that the FPP with its linkage to the APA is meddling in the internal affairs of Guyana under the pretext of “Defending indigenous Peoples Rights”. It is therefore important that an intervention be made to have this International NGO’s agenda in Guyana stopped.
5. Now on the issues. The APA & FPP, in their letter to the experts, are recommending the following, (i) Amendments to the Amerindian Act 2006, particularly the provisions that deal with mining and grants of communal land to villages and communities, (ii) The stopping of Mining on Titled Village Lands such as Isseneru and Kako, and (iii) that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Guyana reformulates its procedures relating to its Amerindian Land-Titling Project.
6. It is apparent that both the APA & FPP are not aware that the state of Guyana has ownership of precious and semi-precious minerals in Guyana and no one else, hence their lack of understanding of the mining issues in Kako and Isseneru Villages.
7. The village residents of Isseneru and Kako are engaged heavily in mining activities for their livelihoods and it’s strange that the APA & FPP are telling the UN experts to let the state of Guyana stop mining in Amerindian Communities because of its negative social consequences. In the letter of deceit to the UN experts, the APA & FPP have given the wrong impression as though it is only “outsiders” who are conducting mining activities in and near the village lands of Isseneru and Kako. A fact-finding mission to these villages now will prove that the APA & FPP are misleading the UN Experts in their communication.
8. Why the court against Kako Village Council? A miner, an Amerindian of the Wapishana tribe was issued with a mining permit from the GGMC to conduct river mining on claims located on the Kako river about three miles above the official buffer zone and not on Kako’s village lands. The location of the miner’s claim will therefore not affect the Kako village (section 53 of the Amerindian Act 2006)because of continued blockage of the Kako River by the Kako Village Council from the miner to get to her mining claims. The miner took court action. The blockage of the Kako River which is a public passageway is a contravention of national law.
9. Why the court action against Isseneru village? The miners who were issued with mining permits prior to the community receiving titleship to its lands in 2007 were required to enter into constructive dialogue with the Isseneru Village Council, and vice versa, for the continuation of mining activities on Isseneru’s village lands. It seemed that this was not done, hence the court action by the miner against the Isseneru Village Council.
10. The APA & FPP are recommending to the UN experts in their letter, that the state of Guyana changes the procedures in the Amerindian Act 2006 (Section 59-64) regarding the grant of communal lands to villages and communities. The fact of the matter here is that the APA poorly advised seven titled communities of the Upper Mazaruni not to accept land demarcation which would have qualified these communities for extensions to their village lands, hence their cries today of land problems. But the APA & FPP did not mention this in their communication to the UN experts.
11. Today, as advised by the APA what the communities are seeking is not extensions to their respective village lands, but territorial rights en bloc, which so far are not permitted in the Amerindian Act 2006 and which may not be applicable with article 46 of the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and its 23rd preambular paragraph.
12. The APA & FPP are recommending to the UN experts that “The UNDP in Guyana complies with its duties pursuant to articles 41 & 42 of UNDRIP by Reformulating its Amerindian Land-Titling Project”. But the UNDP will be engaging the indigenous peoples of Guyana with respect to its Amerindian land-titling project and in accordance with sections 59-64 of the Amerindian act regarding the procedures of grants of communal lands to Amerindian villages and communities and with full respect for article 46 of UNDRIP.
13. In conclusion Mr. Editor, the urgent communication (letter) sent to the UN Experts by the APA & FPP is clearly mischievous and misleading. They have wrongfully used and are using the mining issues of the Isseneru and Kako villages to claim that there are Amerindian land rights violations in Guyana. This is nothing but an unqualified generalization and moreso, the political agenda of the APA & FPP against the state of Guyana.