Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) - Peru (Ratification: 1994)

Article 14 of the Convention. Community of Santo Domingo de Olmos. The Committee refers to its previous comments, in which it considered the case of the community of Santo Domingo de Olmos. It noted that Supreme Decree No. 017-99-AG established as uncultivated land (tierras eriazas) 111,565 hectares to which the Olmos community asserts ancestral rights and provided for the land to be registered for the Olmos Special Hydro-Energy Irrigation Project. It further recalls that a constitutional complaint (acción de amparo) filed by the community was ruled inadmissible because the community had not registered or presented a registration certificate. The Committee notes that, in its report of 2008, the Government reiterates that, although the community of Santo Domingo de Olmos now has official legal personality, it has no proper legal representation, which is a prerequisite for filing a land ownership claim to the competent body, the National Agrarian Directorate of the regional government of Lambayeque, and that it is for the community to determine its own legal representation. The Committee again asks the Government to take appropriate steps, in consultation with the community concerned, to identify and remove the obstacles, including the procedural ones, that are preventing the community of Santo Domingo de Olmos from proceeding effectively to claim the lands which it says it has traditionally occupied, in order that it may have access to the procedures prescribed in Article 14, paragraph 3, of the Convention and, as the case may be, obtain effective protection for its rights. The Committee hopes that in its next report the Government will be in a position to provide information on progress made in this regard.

Article 25. Health. The Committee notes the CGTP’s observations concerning Article 25 of the Convention. It recalls that in its comments of 2005 it noted that, according to the Government’s report, the living conditions and health of indigenous peoples were well below the national average and had reached alarming levels. The Committee requests the Government to provide up to date information on measures taken to give practical effect to Article 25 of the Convention.

Articles 26 to 29. Education. In its communication of 2009, the CGTP refers to the National Household Survey carried out in 2007 by the National Statistics and Informatics Institute (INEI), which shows that the learning of Quechua has fallen by 3.3 per cent and the learning of Aymara by 0.5 per cent as compared with the 1993 census. The CGTP states that these percentages indicate that some 20 per cent of the Quechua and Aymara population have stopped learning their languages. Furthermore, Ministerial Resolution No. 0017-2007-ED issued by the Ministry of Education has set a minimum mark of 14 out of 20 to be achieved by indigenous people applying to train as bilingual teachers. It asserts that, as a result of this resolution, indigenous participation in the education process could be eliminated. It further indicates that the entrance examinations for educational institutes take no account of cultural differences and that the marking system overlooks the inter-cultural knowledge of indigenous teachers. In the specific case of bilingual inter-cultural education, the results of the 2009 entrance exams to teacher training institutes show that out of 477 candidates for bilingual primary education, only four were accepted. The Committee recalls that according to Articles 26 and 27 of the Convention, States have an obligation to ensure that members of indigenous peoples have the opportunity to acquire education at all levels on an equal footing with the rest of the national community and, at the same time, to develop education programmes, in cooperation with the peoples concerned, that incorporate their histories, their knowledge and technologies, their value systems and their further social, economic and cultural aspirations. Article 27(2) of the Convention also provides that the competent authority shall ensure the training of members of these peoples and their involvement in the formulation and implementation of education programmes. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to give practical effect to Articles 26 and 27 of the Convention and invites it to respond to the CGTP’s observations.