At the 24th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), it was reported that Amerindians in Guyana continue to face significant land rights violations. The session, taking place at the UN Headquarters in New York from April 21 to May 2, 2025, is being attended by representatives from the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) and the Government of Guyana, represented through the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.
Speaking at the forum on Wednesday, the President of the APA stressed that his organization has long been advocating for legal reforms that would embed the human rights standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which Guyana has already adopted. “However, our people’s right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) is still not respected, nor required in our laws,” he stated. Hastings further highlighted that the government’s current practices violate the Indigenous Peoples’ collective rights to self-determination and land ownership. “Our sacred lands that have been handed down through generations with care and reverence are being stripped, our rivers are being poisoned, and our environment is being desecrated in the name of extractive industries and profit,” he emphasized.
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Hastings also pointed out that while the government often highlights Indigenous communities’ benefits from the Low Carbon Development Strategy, funded through carbon credit sales, this narrative does not tell the full story. “The processes arriving to this agreement were deeply flawed. Again, we were not properly consulted on how our forests and lands would be used in this scheme. We were not allowed to consent to this program with the mandate of our people. And, we were not part of any negotiations to determine how our peoples could have benefited from the national initiative according to our needs prior to the carbon sales agreement,” he explained.
The APA President asserted that stronger adherence to UNDRIP would bolster the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and prevent them from being overridden by corporate or state interests.
Directing a strong appeal to the Government of Guyana, Hastings declared, “We call on the Government of Guyana to take tangible steps towards the revision of the 2006 Amerindian Act, and incorporate the articles of the UNDRIP into our national laws to ensure the protection of our peoples in the face of growing threats from the old and new extractive industries.”
He also urged the government to consider the recommendations that Guyana’s Village and District Councils proposed for amendments to the Act during the revision process. “We also ask that the Permanent Forum monitor the government’s process to ensure that Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples are part of this national exercise that will determine the future of our rights, culture, and lives,” he added.
