Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (Ratification: 2002)

Article 7 of the Convention. Development. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the policies, plans and activities undertaken by the Ministry of the People’s Power for Indigenous Peoples, including: the coordination, inspection, rehabilitation and construction of housing, which resulted in the delivery of 96 housing units in six states in 2022 and 146 in 2023; healthcare and the delivery of food modules; the extension of social protection; and the provision of various materials and inputs to the most vulnerable indigenous population. The Committee also notes the adoption of the Third Socialist Economic and Social Development Plan of the Nation: Plan de la Patria 2019–25, which includes the Sectoral Plan for Indigenous Peoples, which incorporates action intended, among other aims, to make progress towards indigenous bilingual intercultural education; ensure the social protection of indigenous peoples and communities; strengthen their own production and exchanges with indigenous peoples and communities; speed up the demarcation of indigenous territories; and develop the system of decent services and infrastructure.

The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the participation of indigenous peoples in the formulation, application and evaluation of the Sectoral Plan for Indigenous Peoples and on the progress achieved within the framework of the Plan. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the manner in which it is ensured that the policies, plans and activities implemented by the Ministry of the People’s Power for Indigenous Peoples reflect the priorities set by the peoples and communities concerned, including examples of the manner in which some of the activities implemented by the Ministry have been identified and designed in practice.

Article 14. Land disputes. The Committee refers to its previous comments on the mechanisms that exist to resolve disputes that arise in the context of land demarcation and titling processes, and notes the information provided by the Government on the recognition of the special indigenous legal system and the coordination mechanisms with the ordinary legal system. The Committee requests the Government to clarify how and to what extent the special indigenous legal system, in coordination with the ordinary legal system, in practice addresses and resolves disputes that arise between indigenous peoples and third parties, as well as between indigenous communities, in the context of demarcation and titling processes.

Article 26. Education. The Government indicates that 45 educational institutions were rehabilitated in 2023 in the State of Zulia and various specific linguistic training activities were undertaken, and it provides information on the number of indigenous educational institutions in each state. The Committee notes that the Sectoral Plan for Indigenous Peoples envisages specific activities to promote universal access to quality bilingual intercultural education in all indigenous peoples and communities and the adaptation of national education plans with indigenous cultural content. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved within the context of the Sectoral Plan for Indigenous Peoples in achieving universal access to bilingual intercultural education and the remaining challenges. It also requests the Government to provide information on any measures adopted to ensure that members of indigenous peoples have the opportunity to acquire education at all levels at least on an equal footing with the rest of the national community.

[The Government is asked to reply in full to the present comments in 2025]