Re-emphasising that it is opposed to Wayne Vieira mining in its community, the Chinese Landing Village Council (CLVC) says that it wishes to “correct factual errors” which recently appeared in the press.
The Council in a statement on Monday referenced an August 17th news article which it said inaccurately reported it saying that it was not opposed to mining by Vieira, but only wanted the outside miners on his concession to leave.
The Council said the reason given in the news article for the removal of the outside miners, was that they were the ones armed with high-powered guns and posing a threat to the Council.
The Council says, however, that this is a misunderstanding of who is mining in their village.
The CLVC said that the miners on Vieira’s concessions, sometimes called “outside miners” because they are not from their village, are employed by Vieira or his agents; even as it stressed “we have long been opposed to mining by Mr. Vieira, and our position has not changed. Our village has for decades opposed Mr. Vieira’s mining, and we will continue to do so.
The Council said in its press release also, that recent statement by the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) also “seriously mischaracterizes” the situation in their village.
It said that while the GGDMA suggests that Vieira has been prevented from mining on the concessions for more than 12 years, “this is false,”
The Council goes on to say also that while the GGDMA is reported as saying that “the legal property holder must be allowed to pursue his constitutional right to earn a living and not be vilified;” Article 142(2) of the Constitution must be borne in mind.
The Council notes that that Article provides a number of exceptions to a person’s property rights, including when the safety of persons is at risk.
Further, it says it objects to the GGDMA’s assertion that protecting their rights would amount to “giving our titled lands to us to use without regulation or oversight.”
“In the first place, the lands over which we hold title are part of our traditional lands, which our people have owned and successfully governed for thousands of years;” the Council said, while adding that “the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has also recognized the right of indigenous communities in Guyana to regulate the use of resources — including minerals — on our traditional lands.”
The Council went on to say that secondly, it has held legal title to the lands “long before Mr. Vieira obtained prospecting and mining permits over them. The Council said that regardless of the date and extent of its land title, however, it wanted to emphasize that international human rights law is the basis of the IACHR resolution on July 21 calling for precautionary measures to protect members of the community.
On this point, the Council said that international human rights law, as is incorporated in Guyana’s Constitution, “recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples over all of our traditional lands.”
“We are not asking to be given something new, but rather for the Government to properly recognize what we know has always been ours,” the Council declared, stressing that the IACHR, has made findings of fact after receiving information from its (the Council’s) residents, the Government, and “a respected anthropologist.”
“It is disappointing that the GGDMA appears to believe the IACHR’s findings of fact, based upon these sources, constitute Nancy stories,” the Council said.
Background
Stating that it “welcomes the government fact-finding mission and looks forward to the illumination of the truth,” the GGDMA in its statement to the press last week, said it wishes to set the record straight, regarding what it described as unauthorised mining which has been occurring at Chinese Landing for more than 12 years now.
Commenting on the Council’s disappointment with the outcome of the visit of a government `fact-finding’ team to Chinese Landing, the GGDMA said that the rightful property holder— Vieira —has been unlawfully deprived of his right to earn a livelihood while illegality ran amok on the lands for more than 12 years.
The Council has formerly expressed disappointment with the outcome of the visit of a government `fact-finding’ team following a resolution by the IACHR that precautionary measures be put in place for the protection of villagers.
The Moruca District Council (MDC) has since said that it stands in solidarity with the residents of the village of Chinese Landing in Region One and is calling on the government to implement the recent requests of the IACHR concerning the community.
This was stated in a press release on August 16th and published the following day from the MDC which noted that Chinese Landing falls within the Moruca sub-region and is a part of the MDC. It was disclosed that the MDC, which comprises 12 Indigenous villages, met on August 15th, in Santa Rosa Village during an extraordinary session, where the leaders in attendance registered their support for Chinese Landing.
The IACHR on July 21st issued Resolution 41/2023, through which it granted precautionary measures in favour of members of the Indigenous Carib Community of Chinese Landing, who it said are “currently at serious, urgent risk of suffering irreparable harm to their human rights”.
The Commission asked the government to advise it within 20 days from the July 21st edict as to the steps taken. That period has now elapsed and the government has been silent on whether it has complied or asked for an extension.
The grant of the precautionary measures by the pre-eminent human rights body in the region came even though the Government of Guyana had sought to counter the complaints of the Chinese Landing residents.
This newspaper had visited Chinese Landing and reported extensively on the complaints by residents against the activities of the miners, threats to the toshao of the community and the evident cosy relationship between regulatory authorities and the prospectors.
