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Peru government to seek repeal of controversial indigenous land laws

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Peruvian Prime Minister Yehude Simon announced Monday that the Executive Branch would ask the Peruvian Congress to repeal controversial land laws that led to indigenous protests and violent clashes last week when police attempted to disperse groups blocking access routes. Last week, the congress temporarily suspended legislative decree 1090, the Forest and Wild Fauna Law and legislative decree 1064, establishing the legal framework for agricultural land usage in the wake of the protests. Peru's largest indigenous organization, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP), was excluded from Monday's negotiations, but will participate in talks beginning Tuesday. Also Monday, the Peruvian government signed a 12-point memorandum of understanding with indigenous groups promising to submit a proposal for repealing the laws to the congress by Thursday. Peruvian President Alan Garcia decreed the controversial laws under powers to implement a free trade agreement with the US. The laws would open Amazon land to development by international companies. Simon maintained Tuesday that the repeal of the laws would not harm a Peruvian-US free trade agreement. In November 2008, Simon declared a state of emergency when violence broke out amidst indigenous protests over a new law reducing revenue to the province from local mining operations. In August 2008, protests over a controversial law that reduced the majority by which a tribe must agree to sell communal land to oil and natural gas companies led the Peruvian government to declare a state of emergency over widespread indigenous protests.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 16, 2009 (boomark / email).