Mihumisang - Tribal Voices of Formosa

CENTE R F O R W OR L D I N DI GE N O U S S T U DI E S T H E WINT E R 20 21 VO LU ME 20 NUMBER 2 H I G H L I G H T S 1 “Our Struggle Continues.” Confronting the Dynamics of 61 Amending the Rome Statute and Peoples: Crimes Against Dispossession in the Peruvian Amazon Present and Future Generations (CPFG) – Tom Younger Bilingual Bilingual 29 The Brazen Daylight Police Murder of George Floyd and The Racist Origin of American Policing – Zane Dangor 97 Mihumisang-Tribal Voices of Formosa – Amy Eisenberg – Muhammad Al-Hashimi 43 Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Levels and Effects on Plant Nutrition and Health of Indigenous Peoples; a Review of Current Research – Cora Moran, Dr. Rudolph Rÿser & Susan McCleary 110 Denying Indigenous Environmental Justice: Experiences from Australia, Brazil, and Canada – Sakshi The Fourth World Journal is published twice yearly by DayKeeper Press as a Journal of the Center for World Indigenous Studies. All Rights are reserved in the United States of America and internationally. ISSN: 1090-5251 !"#"#$%&#'()$*+"#)&#'$,()"- IN THIS ISSUE EDITORS Rudolph C. Rÿser, PhD Editor in Chief Lukanka – Rudolph C. Rÿser 1 “Our Struggle Continues.” Confronting the Dynamics of Aline Castañeda Managing Editor Dispossession in the Peruvian Amazon Michel Medellín Graphic Designer/Layout Editor – Tom Younger 15 “Nuestra lucha continúa.” Confrontar las dinámicas de despojo en la Amazonia Peruana – Tom Younger 29 The Brazen Daylight Police Murder of George Floyd and The Racist Origin of American Policing Leslie E. Korn, PhD, MPH Contributing Editor Levita Duhaylungsod, PhD Associate Editor (Melanesia) – Muhammad Al-Hashimi 43 Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Levels and Effects on Plant Nutrition and Health of Indigenous Peoples, a Review of Current Research – Cora Moran, Dr. Rudolph Rÿser & Susan McCleary 61 Amending the Rome Statute and Peoples: Crimes Against Present and Future Generations (CPFG) Janaka Jayawickrama, PhD Contributing Editor (Europe) Christian Nellemann, PhD Associate Editor (Europe) Nitu Singh, PhD Associate Editor (Rajasthan, India) – Zane Dangor 78 Modificar el Estatuto de Roma y los Pueblos: Crímenes contra las Generaciones Presentes y Futuras – Zane Dangor Gerald Taiaiake Alfred, PhD Associate Editor (Mohawk Nation, Canada) Anke Weisheit, MA Associate Editor (Africa) 97 Mihumisang-Tribal Voices of Formosa – Amy Eisenberg 110 Denying Indigenous Environmental Justice: Experiences from Australia, Brazil, and Canada – Sakshi 127 Book Review, Popol Vuh, A Retelling By Ilan Stavans DAYKEEPER PRESS Center for World Indigenous Studies PMB 214, 1001 Cooper PT RD SW 140 Olympia, Washington 98502, U.S.A. © 2021 Center for World Indigenous Studies – Rudolph C. Rÿser ON THE COVER | Yushan Tribal College students Other licensing agents: EBSCO PUBLISHING, Inc. Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA GALE GROUP, Inc. Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA INFORMIT, RMIT PUBLISH, Ltd. Melbourne, AUS LUKANKA Lukanka is a Miskito word for “thoughts” FWJ V20 N2 – WINTER 2021 forebearers—grandmothers The world’s youthful states and grandfathers—to retrieve have much to learn from their guidance to meet the tests mature nation parents. The before us. world’s nations originated the most suitable methods for The calendar year of 2020 creating shelters and clothing just passed placed at the for different ecosystems to world’s people’s crisis piled support human life. Over on crisis testing human thousands of years, they tested capacity to endure. Global and followed nutritional RUD OLPH C . R Ÿ SE R disaster rears its ugly head practices and identified and Edi to r i n C h i ef as a result of radical changes used medicines, and they Fou rth Wo rl d J o u rn al in the climate brought on by conceived and implemented two centuries of unrestricted social organization, laws, human development dependent documented plants and on fossil fuels, extractive animals, practiced religions, industries and indiscriminate and traced the cosmos while waste disposal. Economic documenting their growing near collapse brought on by a combination of knowledge rooted in thousands of years of experience. The states are identifiable if they have climate changes and a global viral pandemic demonstrated how fragile is the concept of de facto control over a territory or at least assert capitalism and its incessant demand for wealth claims to such territory and imposed control; they have a population, a centralized government, for the few. Mass human migrations and internal and external refugees are resulting claims sovereignty and the capacity to enter into from unremitting violence committed by state’s relations with other states. These are classical and non-state’s forces and gangs demanding terms that define the modern state today (they control over oil and gas, the sale of illicit drugs, have been around for less than 400 years). The enslavement of men and women, trafficking dynamic and evolving cultures of nations have graced the Earth for thousands of years. All of this of women and children, combined with the consequence of climate changes producing reminds us that when local, regional and global droughts, floods and insect infestations crisis’ surround families, communities and whole peoples it is valuable to turn to knowledge of our WINTER V20 N2 2021 destroying foods and medicines. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL LUKANKA / FWJ V20 N2 - WINTER 2021 In “Making Peace with Nature, A Scientific Blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies” the United Nations Environmental Program Executive Director Inger Andersen issued this 2021 report describing the need for urgent efforts to apply new scientific information to protect and restore the planet. The UN Environmental Program report makes note of these shortcomings of political and institutional leaders: • Biodiversity, ecological collapse: The current mode of development degrades the Earth’s finite capacity to sustain human well-being. • Unrestrained Development and use of fossil fuels: Society is failing to meet most of its commitments to limit environmental damage. • Projected changes in climate, biodiversity loss and pollution: undermines the ability to achieve sustainable development goals. • Reversing human activities that cause climate change, ecosystem degradation and pollution: must be advanced to reduce human health risks, including respiratory disease, water-borne, vector borne, and animal borne diseases, malnutrition, extreme, weather events and chemical exposure. • All human institutions and all human beings must act: transforming social and economic systems for sustainable future. The report notes that these imbalances in climate, biodiversity and spread of pollution contribute to increased migrations, FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL environmental degradation and intensified competition for natural resources, “which in turn can spark conflicts, including between actors with power asymmetries where indigenous peoples or local communities are often vulnerable. The authors of the UNEP report note that indigenous peoples must become partners in the effort to achieve sustainability. It is this latter recognition that indigenous peoples are part of the power challenge between peoples that must result in the 1.9 billion indigenous people becoming part of the global solution—equal partners in the effort to meet these critical crises that affect the very survival of all human beings. States and indigenous nations are critical to bringing the crises we all face to a neutral condition—no longer escalating out of control. Retaining cultural life, territory and exercising self-determination stand at the heart of the ability of indigenous nations and states to come to the table and formulate and implement mutually beneficial solutions to the crises thus illuminated. States have failed to meet the challenges posed by the emergent crises ever since the 1972 Stockholm Conference convened to meet the “planetary emergency.” The States have been collectively unable to define a path to human sustainability in the face of unrestrained development. I submit that the missing piece of the decisionmaking puzzle for the last fifty years that must be respected by the states is a partnership with the peoples in the world that have the longest experience mitigating adverse effects of human created environmental threats are the world’s indigenous nations. They must become equal WINTER V20 N2 2021 LUKANKA / FWJ V20 N2 - WINTER 2021 partners at the table holding and offering as they do the most effective solutions to the crises now plaguing the world. In this issue of the Fourth World Journal our contributors describe some of the obstacles preventing the full and complete participation of indigenous nations defining and implementing solutions to the crises facing all of humanity. At the same time, contributors to this issue offer solutions and encourage proactive involvement of indigenous nations as equal participants in the process of defining, organizing and implementing solutions as mature societies. Tom Younger, Policy Advisor on Peru to the Forest Peoples Programme writes in “Our Struggle Continues” Confronting the Dynamics of Dispossession in the Peruvian Amazon The Forest Peoples Programme (https://www.forestpeoples.org/ en/staff-and-board) is based in England with a declared mission to advance “self-determination of peoples “by strengthening community governance, mobilization and representation, and the creation and use of political spaces where indigenous and forest peoples’ voices can be heard.” Younger’s work reflects the mission of the Forest Peoples Programme with its added features of Access to Justice, Legal and Policy Reform and Building Solidarity in his article. Dr. Muhammad Al-Hashimi’s “The Brazen Daylight Policy Murder of George Floyd and The Racist Origin of American Policing” is a startling revelation of the roots of American racist policing. Senior Lecturer at Euclid University in Washington, D.C., AlHashimi reveals with passion and intelligence WINTER V20 N2 2021 the “back story” that spawned the institution of racially bigoted policing of communities in the United States. He draws an historical picture rooted in slavery introduced by the British and carried on by Americans to the present day as illustrated by the public murder by police officers of one man: an African American man named George Floyd killed on 25 May 2020. Al-Hashimi discusses at length how early American history shows the role of “slave patrols and militias” that actively and without restraint formed the basis for modern police practices in the United States. Cora Moran, Dr. Rudolph Rÿser and Susan McCleary, in “Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Levels and Effects on Plant Nutrition and Health of Indigenous Peoples, a Review of Current Research” assess the current research describing elevated atmospheric CO2 levels effects on plants and animals and the consequent effects on nutrition and medicines beneficial to human beings. Noting that indigenous peoples depend on 40% to 80% of their diet sourced from wild plants and animals, they are at significant risk or malnutrition arising from the adverse effects of elevated CO2 in the atmosphere. The researchers call for more research to directly examine wild plants and animals on which indigenous peoples rely. Zane Dangor, Special Advisor to the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation discusses in “Amending the Rome Statute and Peoples: Crimes Against Present and Future Generations (CPFG)” changes in the statutes on which the International Criminal Court (ICC) relies. Dangor points to what he considers to be a significant gap in the Rome Statute that fails to take into account FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL LUKANKA / FWJ V20 21 - WINTER 2021 the conduct of crimes and harms committed by Corporations. Such crimes as economically fueled poverty and inequality Dangor points out are responsible for an estimated 21,000 persons that die each day due to hunger and malnutrition. Crimes associated with harmful economic activities and corporate criminal liability reach deeply into the lives and communities of indigenous peoples all over the world. CWIS Associate Scholar Dr. Amy Eisenberg in “Mihumisang – Tribal Voices of Formosa” insightful commentary by individuals from Tao, a people on the south eastern coast of Formosa. She reports that the Tao are “unanimously” opposed to nuclear waste storage on their island and express their concerns and views in this narrative in the voices of individual members of the community. Brazil and Canada.” Sakshi discusses at length the legal challenges faced by indigenous peoples in Australia, Brazil and Canada in particular focused on environmental justice. The author urges that it an essential part of justice for indigenous environmental justice to be part of the legal principles issued within the state legal systems. Rudolph C. Rÿser --- review of Ilan Stavans’ “Popol Vuh, A Retelling” with a forward by Homero Aridjis. Stavans’ “retelling” is discussed in terms of Dennis Tedlock’s earlier translation of the Popol Vuh indicating a contrast between the “shadows” of the original text in contrast to the lighter narrative offered by Stavans. Cambridge University doctoral learner Sakshi studying in the Department of Land Economy writes “Denying Indigenous Environmental Justice: Experiences from Australia, FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 “Our Struggle Continues.” Confronting the Dynamics of Dispossession in the Peruvian Amazon The case of Santa Clara de Uchunya and their fight to obtain justice and regain their territory By Tom Younger Forest Peoples Programme National Geographic, Esri, Garmin, HERE, UNEP-EP-WCMC, USGS, NASA, ESA, METI, NRCAN, GEBCO, NOAA, Increment P Corp.p. ABSTRACT The Shipibo-Konibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya is struggling against the dispossession and devastation of their ancestral lands due to the aggressive expansion of oil palm. This article discusses the social and cultural impacts of agribusiness-led deforestation on the community and their territory. The discussion focuses on the political and legal strategies they have developed together with allies to demand the restitution and remediation of their ancestral lands. Finally, we consider some of the critical successes and challenges the Shipibo-Konibo community faced during the past five years of this struggle. Key Words: indigenous peoples, land titling, deforestation, agribusiness, palm oil, corporate accountability When Santa Clara de Uchunya community members, a Shipibo-Konibo Indigenous community located on the banks of the Aguaytia River in the lowland rainforest of the Peruvian Amazon, talk about their ancestral territory, there is a before and after. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 7 “OUR STRUGGLE CONTINUES.” CONFRONTING THE DYNAMICS OF DISPOSSESSION IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON Luisa, a woman leader from the community, puts it this way: The Shipibo people have inhabited the lands to the west of the Aguaytia and Ucayali rivers for generations. Maps drawn up by missionaries such “Before, we walked freely. Now we are like as “Exploraciones y fundaciones de los misioneros hunted animals. We have to take care de Ocopa en la Montaña del Perú 1750 – 1825”, whenever we walk anywhere, from fear.” which today hangs in the Franciscan Convent of This rupture in time and in people’s relationship with their territory occurred with the entry of a transnational oil palm company, Plantaciones de Pucallpa (today Ocho Sur P). Beginning in 2012, the company destroyed more than 7,000 hectares of forest and stripped the community of a vital part of their traditional lands. Practically overnight - in historical terms - the company’s aggressive expansion of oil palm monoculture has forced radical changes in the community’s way of life. Wilson, a community authority now in his 40s, describes some of these changes: “Before, we used to set out from here to go hunting and sleep in the forest. We would stay out for anywhere between eight and fifteen days. We would make our way there, set up our campfires and eat out there. Three or four families would go together to hunt there. We would build Santa Rosa de Ocopa outside Huancayo, shows the location of “Sipibos.” They occupy the lands which Santa Clara de Uchunya are struggling to reclaim today, several centuries later. Despite this longstanding historical recognition of the Shipibo’s traditional territoriality, the continuing structural oppression of Indigenous Peoples in Peru means that the community lacks full formal recognition of its ownership rights over the entirety of their ancestral territory. Thus, when Plantaciones de Pucallpa’s workers started destroying Santa Clara’s traditional forests in 2012, the community only possessed a collective land title granted in 1986, covering 218 hectares. This site is a minuscule portion of the territory that the community has traditionally owned and occupied for generations, originally covering over 86 thousand hectares. If the community’s lifeways were previously a campfire, and all eat together. That oriented towards abundant and carefully tended was our custom. It’s not that today we no forests, today, in a new context of scarcity created longer want to; now one cannot even walk by the intense enclosure and dispossession of there safely on the other side [of the river, their lands, families from Santa Clara de Uchunya where the plantation is now located] … must depend more and more on the market Nowadays, if they see us, the people there, economy to meet their needs. act like thugs, treating us as though we were thieves. We used to walk freely. They As community members point out time and are putting an end to our customs. again about the game animals, fish, and other Who’s responsible? The State.” forest foods, plant medicines, construction WINTER V2O N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 8 TOM YOUNGER materials, and clean water that they previously provisioned themselves with from within their territory: “There is nothing left.” A community member who just several years ago was able to construct the roof on his house using xebon leaf, harvested from nearby, must now buy corrugated iron sheets; gathering xebon leaf from the territory is no longer tenable due to invading land traffickers. The same goes for traditional medicine. “Our medicine was chuchuhuasi, clavohuasca, sangre de grado, copaiba resin,” says Wilson. “Our elders used to diet these plants for three days to a week to cleanse and heal their bodies.” “Before, we didn’t need injections or pills. Those who felt unwell would go into the forest. Our elders, who are around 80 years old, walk strong because they treated themselves with those medicines. Plant medicines were the best medicine we had. But today, there is no more.” The devastation of the living ecosystems that make up the community’s territory and the loss of practices intimately linked to this place hinder the community’s lifeways and well-being in the present and give rise to anxieties about the future. In that sense, Fidel, a young man, asks, “Our concern as young people is that if we do not know many animals at this age, what will it be like later for our children?” Luisa adds, “Before, we had everything we because we are under threat. That’s why I’m concerned, because tomorrow, in the future, what will our children eat? How are they going to feed their children? I recall how my mother and father fed us, and we can no longer do that. And it’s going to be much worse for them because now there’s nothing. They’re not even going to know what it is to turn a tree into a canoe, as is our custom. They’re not going to know our medicines, because there are none left. Everything is being destroyed. Before we ate well, we grew to be strong and fat, but now, what happens to our children? They suffer from diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration.” The company’s arrival and continuing presence has driven fierce competition for control over lands between groups of non-indigenous/mestizo settlers from other regions of Peru dedicated to what is known locally as “land-trafficking.” Dammert (2019) characterizes this phenomenon as “the perverse and systematic use of State titling mechanisms to incorporate lands into market circuits and profit from them.” Both individuals and organized groups occupy and take possession of lands that lack formal legal recognition and seek to obtain possession certificates from the regional agricultural agencies, typically clearing any forest on such lands in the process. Indeed, forest clearance is incentivized by Peru’s essentially agrarian land-use classification system dating back to the 1970s. The classification system stipulates that people claiming land rights must demonstrate “economic activity,” i.e., by clearing forest to needed. For us, our market was our territory. install agropastoral systems. These possession Now we can no longer walk for even an hour certificates, which may subsequently be FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 9 “OUR STRUGGLE CONTINUES.” CONFRONTING THE DYNAMICS OF DISPOSSESSION IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON converted into individual land titles, may be Indigenous Peoples’ customary land rights. sold to commercial buyers (as was the case with He argued in the case of Santa Clara de Plantaciones de Pucallpa). This forms part of Uchunya that “ancestral property is a thing a more extensive and ongoing process across of the past” and unequivocally stating that the Peruvian Amazon of the commodification Indigenous Peoples want to enforce “the law of collectively held Indigenous lands and their of the jungle.” On the other hand, Huamán forced incorporation into a commercial land made numerous public announcements on market, ever-expanding commodity production, the urgent need to recognize the ‘customary and international circuits of capital accumulation. The consequences highlighted above have led to the reconfiguration and emergence of social hierarchies based on gender, race, and class. possession rights’ of settlers. Furthermore, he attempted to change prevailing forest laws to dissolve the ‘permanent production forests’ to achieve this goal, making clear the priority he attributed to non-indigenous These include: • The destruction of Santa Clara de people’s rights and their uses (Forest Peoples Programme et al., 2018, p. 15). Uchunya’s communal and household autonomy and non-monetary territorial • The Shipibo people’s territoriality – provisioning systems. The losses force both comprising the multiple ways they relate to men and women to seek waged work where their territory – has been largely ignored possible, often outside of the community, by the State in its interventions, as will be increasing the burden of care work for expanded upon below. These interventions women and elderly people who remain in have tended to focus at best on important the community. though narrowly conceived “environmental • Men and women from the community have been divested of the power to decide over what happens within their lands, with decisions taken by mestizo men representing the Peruvian State in offices in the cities of Pucallpa and Lima, as well as the Euro-American men who direct Ocho aspects” of the case, such as quantifying deforestation. • The racialized hierarchies according to which the plantation itself operates are also worthy of remark. While white, EuroAmerican men hold power over the running Sur and its US-based investors. A stark of Ocho Sur P’s plantation, Shipibo leaders example of such racialized discourses are have observed that many of the 1,700 comments made by the Ucayali Agrarian workers whose labor is exploited there are Agency’s ex-director, Isaac Huamán Pérez, themselves Indigenous people from Ucayali who repeatedly expressed his rejection of and neighboring regions such as Loreto. WINTER V2O N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 10 TOM YOUNGER FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 11 “OUR STRUGGLE CONTINUES.” CONFRONTING THE DYNAMICS OF DISPOSSESSION IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON The resulting conflicts have exposed the Pucallpa, for deforestation. The case was initially Shipibo-Konibo community to intimidation, investigated by the First Corporate Provincial threats, and attacks. Community members, Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Environmental leaders, and allies who have made a stand to Matters of Ucayali before being transferred to protect their territory against the spread of the First Supra-provincial Corporate Specialized land grabbing and forest destruction have been Prosecutor against Organized Crime in Lima. This subjected to verbal abuse, threatened and warned was carried out after it was determined that the to abandon their homes, received death threats, case involved organized crime. In January 2018, and been shot at on multiple occasions. These the Fourth National Preparatory Investigation abuses and threats have prevented community Court issued a precautionary measure ordering members from moving through their territory. the company to immediately suspend its People who have asserted their right to freely activities. However, this injunction was never access their traditional lands have been met by enforced, and five years after the original groups of men wielding machetes, sticks, and complaint was filed, the company continues its firearms. Shipibo land defenders have also been operations with impunity. targeted and defamed by regional authorities and regional press, and media (Forest Peoples Programme, 2020a, p. 14-16). In May 2016, the community, together with their representative Indigenous organization, the Federation of Native Communities of “We continue struggling” - strategies for resisting the dynamics of dispossession. For the past six years, the community has been fighting to defend what remains of their forests, waters, and way of life, prevent further deforestation and oil palm expansion, and ultimately, to ensure legal and practical control over their ancestral territory. The community has taken direct action to intervene and halt further deforestation, protested, and denounced these violations and the devastation caused to their home locally and internationally. The community has taken a series of legal Ucayali (FECONAU), presented a constitutional lawsuit against the company and the Regional Government of Ucayali public registry officials who facilitated the land grab. This lawsuit seeks the restitution, collective titling, and remediation of the community’s ancestral lands. The claim was rejected by two courts in Ucayali before being admitted for consideration by Peru’s highest Court, the Constitutional Tribunal, which in August 2018 announced that it would resolve the case. A hearing took place in September 2019. The community’s claim was strengthened by an amicus curiae expert legal briefing provided by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli- actions to defend their territory, using criminal Corpuz, underscoring Peru’s legal obligations to and constitutional judicial mechanisms. In May formally recognize the community’s traditional 2015, the community filed a criminal complaint lands (2019). The community is currently against the palm oil company, Plantaciones de awaiting the Court’s ruling on their case. WINTER V2O N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 12 TOM YOUNGER The community has also shared their The community and allies have targeted formal international spaces, such as the Inter-American complaints with the RSPO against Plantaciones de Pucallpa 2 and companies that have been Commission on Human Rights (2018) and during buying and processing oil palm from their a formal mission by the UN Special Rapporteur devastated lands, including the miller OLPESA on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders to and Peru’s largest consumer goods company, Alicorp. 3 testimonies and demanded solutions in Peru in January 2020 (OHCHR, 2020). While the actions mentioned above have been primarily directed towards the Peruvian State, the community and allies have also sought to hold accountable the companies involved by using Successes, challenges, and limitations While the community is still fighting for a definitive solution to ensure the restitution non-judicial redress mechanisms. One of them is and remediation of their territory, their unified the complaints mechanism of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO),1 a global body that significant successes. seeks to improve the sustainability of palm oil supply chains. Both Plantaciones de Pucallpa and another plantation which expanded at the same time immediately to the south, Plantaciones de Ucayali, form part of a complex web of agribusiness companies that have used secrecy rules in overseas jurisdictions to avoid accountability for their activities. This corporate web has come to be known in Peru as the “Melka stance and determination have resulted in some At great personal risk, community members have organized territorial patrols to monitor their lands and undertaken the self-demarcation of their territory (despite this being an obligation of the Peruvian State). Community members intervened on multiple occasions to prevent further logging of their forests by settlers, exercising their right to administer Indigenous justice in defense of their territory to confiscate logging equipment. Group” of agribusiness companies, named after Czech-US businessman Dennis Melka. Melka, who was previously implicated in agribusinessled deforestation and human rights violations as co-founder and joint CEO of Asian Plantations Ltd in Malaysia, gained notoriety in Peru and globally during recent years for industrial-scale deforestation and rights violations associated with his oil palm and cacao plantations in Ucayali and Loreto. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 1 https://www.rspo.org/ The RSPO describes itself in these terms: “… not-for-profit that unites stakeholders from the 7 sectors of the palm oil industry: oil palm producers, processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks/ investors, and environmental and social non-governmental organisations (NGOs), to develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil.” 2 https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/global-finance-tradepalm-oil-rspo/press-release/2017/press-rspo-ruling-condemnsplantaciones-de. 3 https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/palm-oil-rspo/ press-release/2019/amazonian-community-fights-lands-aredestroyed-sustainable-palm. WINTER V20 N2 2021 13 “OUR STRUGGLE CONTINUES.” CONFRONTING THE DYNAMICS OF DISPOSSESSION IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON In September 2015, the Peruvian Ministry of significant milestones, the structures of impunity Agriculture ordered Plantaciones de Pucallpa to in Peru mean that the condemned plantation has suspend its operations. been able to keep operating on the community’s In April 2016, the RSPO issued the company with a stop-work order. The community’s continued resistance and mounting legal actions are likely what precipitated the auction of Plantaciones de Pucallpa and Ucayali’s plantations to Ocho Sur P and U in July 2016, with Plantaciones de Pucallpa subsequently withdrawing from the RSPO in October 2016. In February 2017, United Cacao – another company linked to Melka and one of Plantaciones de Pucallpa’s financiers - was excluded from the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. When the Constitutional Court agreed to resolve the community’s claim for protection in August 2018, this marked the first time that the Court would decide on the titling of Indigenous territories. The Court’s decision has the potential to set a vital precedent for Indigenous Peoples across the country -many of whom lack any form of official recognition of their traditional lands. The community’s defense of their territory gained a further boost in February 2020 when the Regional Government of Ucayali repealed a regional ordinance that sought to remove protections for more than 3.5 million hectares of rainforest and facilitate the invasion of Indigenous lands, including a significant part of the community’s territory. Despite these WINTER V2O N2 2021 lands. The legal actions started by the community – including both the criminal investigations and the constitutional lawsuit – have been subject to intense delays and setbacks. Administrative processes have faced similar obstacles. Despite the community and allies’ best efforts, even a partial land title extension covering the community’s lands between the river Aguaytia and the oil palm plantation is still yet to be fully formalized. Community leaders who have taken a stand in defense of their lands have been subjected to criminalization, threats, and violence. Despite having reported these threats to various State entities – including members of Congress, the Human Rights Ombudsman, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the Regional Government of Ucayali, the Regional Police of Ucayali, etc. – members of the community and FECONAU have not received effective protection measures. All but two of the dozen personal security guarantees requested by community members since 2017 after receiving death threats have been rejected by the Ministry of the Interior, allowing the perpetrators to continue to act with impunity. Furthermore, complaints filed following shootings in December 2017 and July 2018 against members of the community, FECONAU, and legal support organization, the Institute of Legal FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 14 TOM YOUNGER Defense, were thrown out due to the Interior regard for Indigenous Peoples’ experiences means Ministry’s incapacity to identify those responsible that such investigations and judgments usually persons. Community members who have exercised fail to consider the social and cultural effects of Indigenous justice by confiscating chainsaws and environmental crimes. expelling land-traffickers from their lands have also been subject to further intimidation and repression. Traffickers who accuse them of crimes Mounting resistance from the community and allies from 2014 onwards and the high- such as aggravated robbery, seeking damages profile denunciations against Plantaciones and duress took actions in the form of malicious de Pucallpa have been met with numerous judicial proceedings. Responding to these spurious company attempts to avoid accountability and to allegations compounds the psychosocial impacts neutralize demands for justice. Amidst increasing experienced by community members and demands economic disruption, Plantaciones de Pucallpa more of their limited energy and resources. and Plantaciones de Ucayali used trusts and A significant barrier that impedes the community’s access to justice is that they are not considered to be an affected party subsequent auctions organized irregularly in June 2016. Both plantations were sold for USD $62 million to two recently formed companies, Ocho Sur P and U. regarding the deforestation which has taken place in their territory. Peruvian law stipulates The shares for both companies would appear that forests constitute the “patrimony of the to be owned by a third company, Peruvian Palm nation.” Therefore, it is the State – and not the Holdings Ltd, incorporated in Bermuda a few community – that is harmed by these crimes. weeks after the RSPO issued its stop-work order. Peru’s position disregards the fact that it is The holding company’s formation was initiated frontline community members who are actively the day after news emerged that Peruvian organizing to patrol and protect their territories authorities had verified and documented that and forests--something which the State does Plantaciones de Pucallpa continued operating not do. Rather than supporting this community- in violation of the stop orders. Melka, who led territorial defense, the State limits itself previously directed Plantaciones de Pucallpa, was to offering community leaders who face death one of Peruvian Palm Holdings’ directors until threats for undertaking this dangerous work mid-2020. ineffective and reactive protection protocols for human rights defenders. This also prevents the Other Peruvian Palm Holdings directors include community from participating in and giving principals and partners from several US-based momentum to criminal investigations, which private equity firms specializing in agribusiness instead must depend on prosecutors who often investments, including Anholt Services (USA) lack the resources and personnel to investigate Inc. and AMERRA Capital Management LLC. The former also previously invested in United and resolve cases. Furthermore, this lack of FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 15 “OUR STRUGGLE CONTINUES.” CONFRONTING THE DYNAMICS OF DISPOSSESSION IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON Oils Ltd. SEZC, the original parent company of Melka’s plantations in Ucayali, which was domiciled, like Melka’s other company, United Cacao, in the Cayman Islands. AMERRA reports having made private debt investments initially in palm oil in Peru in September 2015, though it is unclear whether these investments related to Plantaciones de Pucallpa. This use of complex corporate structures and secrecy jurisdictions, such as the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, has made it very difficult to trace the owners and financiers of Ocho Sur and holding them accountable for these destructive investments proves an enduring challenge. This specific case of land tenure and human rights violations by Ocho Sur again raises legitimate questions over international investors and financiers’ accountability to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who are directly and indirectly harmed by actors and business operations receiving transnational finance credit. The Peruvian State’s unwillingness to resolve the case has continued effects on the community, their territory, and way of life. A satellite analysis published in October 2020 found that between 2012 and August 2020, some 15,721 hectares of the community’s forests—an area three times the size of Bermuda—were destroyed (Forest Peoples Programme, 2020b). The oil palm plantation owned by Ocho Sur P SAC operates on at least 6,845 hectares of these lands, while deforestation of the lands surrounding the plantation continues to increase. While the highest deforestation rates occurred in 2013, during the initial clearance for the plantation, the secondhighest rates were recorded in 2019. This more recent forest destruction has been happening in the community’s territory to the west of the plantation. Rates of forest loss in mid-2020 WINTER V2O N2 2021 during the pandemic lockdown were already 35% higher than for the same period in 2019. Alternatives - Remain in the territory, regain the future. “I feel worried, because five years have passed. It’s because of corruption, I think, that they won’t title us once and for all; they just continue to mess us around. But we as a community continue fighting to recover our lands, for our children.” -Efer Silvano, community leader from Santa Clara de Uchunya This paper began by describing the consequences of massive deforestation and oil palm expansion on the community of Santa Clara de Uchunya’s lifeways, practices, and their autonomy in terms of access to their territory, food, water, plant medicine, and other materials. We discussed how the oil palm plantation’s establishment was both facilitated by and has, in turn, accelerated local processes of land trafficking, based on the dispossession and commodification of collectively held Indigenous lands. In turn, these processes have led to the reconfiguration of social hierarchies based on gender, race, and class, often linked to control over the territory. In response to this situation, the community and its allies have undertaken a series of resistance strategies, ranging from direct action and protest to legal court actions, from advocacy in international human rights fora to non-judicial redress mechanisms. Though these actions have successfully disrupted the company and halted the further expansion of the plantation, they have not met their goals of land FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 16 TOM YOUNGER restitution and remediation, and violence and deforestation against the community continue. The Peruvian State has failed to support the community’s efforts to defend its territory and protect community members and allies who face threats, attacks, and criminalization. Furthermore, the fact that frontline Indigenous communities such as Santa Clara are prevented from fully participating in investigations over deforestation is a significant obstacle to social and ecological justice and protection. Simultaneously, the company’s destructive operations have been facilitated by the use of elaborate corporate structures and secrecy jurisdictions, which has posed significant practical challenges for holding these actors to account and raises key questions around corporate accountability for downstream business actors, investor companies, and financial institutions. During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic expanded across the Peruvian Amazon, infecting more than 10,000 Indigenous people and claiming the lives of many, including cherished Indigenous elders, knowledge-bearers, and leaders. During the National State of Emergency, Ocho Sur did not cease its agro-industrial activities. On 5 June, when the Ombudsman’s Office of Ucayali, together with the Regional Health Directorate Ocho Sur’s facilities to monitor labor and health conditions, they discovered that 35 out of 39 4 A community member said, “In June, a health team entered Santa Clara de Uchunya and counted some 15 cases [of COVID-19]. There FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL That Amazonian Indigenous Peoples find themselves on the frontlines of the pandemic and health crisis, as well as the ongoing dangerous struggle to protect their territories and forests of life during an unprecedented planetary climate and biodiversity emergency, makes visible the deep fractures of inequality and power which underlie the interconnected eco-social crises of our moment. Confronting both the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic of violence and dispossession means putting Indigenous Peoples’ rights and self-determination at the center of responses to the immense challenges faced by forest peoples and the whole of humanity. Crucially, this means recognizing Indigenous territories. As one collective of Amazonian Indigenous organizations put it in a statement issued from Yarinacocha in Ucayali in July 2020: “We live in a system that has always relegated of Ucayali and Public Prosecutors, arrived at workers – 90% - tested positive for COVID-19. have been two deaths already, an elderly lady and a baby, with coronavirus symptoms(...) The company has got rid of our medicinal plants, our clinic. Where will we get medication during the pandemic? They’ve closed off the forest to us, and they treat us like thieves within our own territory. This is sad, and we want action to be taken now; the Court must return our land that we and our grandparents have taken care of for many years.” us and made us invisible. But today we say: Enough is enough! No more! It is time for change, justice, and equality!” 5 4 https://convoca.pe/investigacion/ucayali-el-90-de-lostrabajadores-de-ocho-sur-testeados-dieron-positivo-para-covid5 Statement from collective of Amazonian Indigenous organizations, Yarinacocha, Ucayali, July 2020 WINTER V20 N2 2021 17 “OUR STRUGGLE CONTINUES.” CONFRONTING THE DYNAMICS OF DISPOSSESSION IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON REFERENCES [1] Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (2018, 5 December). Perú: pueblos indígenas de la Amazonía. [Youtube video]. CIDH. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH809nYti2M&t=126s [2] Dammert, J.L. (2019, 14 January). “Tráfico de tierras en Ucayali: apuntes para comprender el fenómeno.” Oxfam Blog. Retrieved from https://peru.oxfam.org/latest/blogs/tr%C3%A1fico-de-tierras-en-ucayali-apuntes-para-comprender-el-fen%C3%B3meno [3] Forest Peoples Programme, Instituto De Defensa Legal, Consejo Étnico de los Pueblos Kichwa de la Amazonía, Federación de Comunidades Nativas del Ucayali y Afluentes y el Grupo de Pueblos Indígenas de la Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos del Perú (2018, 30 March). Shadow Report About Peru For the Consideration of CERD During Their 95th [4] Session (23rd April to 11th May 2018) Violation of The Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Peru – With a Focus on The Amazonian Regions of Ucayali and San Martín. 30 March 2018. pp. 15 – 16. Retrieved from: https://Tbinternet.Ohchr.Org/Treaties/CERD/Shared%20Documents/PER/INT_CERD_NGO_ PER_30812_E.Pdf [5] Forest Peoples Programme (2020a). Ending Impunity: Confronting the drivers of violence and forest destruction on the agribusiness and extractives frontier in the Peruvian Amazon: a rights-based analysis. Retrieved from: https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/lands-forests-territories-law-policy/report/2020/ending-impunity-confronting-drivers-violence-and [6] Forest Peoples Programme (2020b). Deforestation of indigenous lands still increasing around Ocho Sur oil palm plantation in Peruvian Amazon. Forest Peoples Programme. Retrieved from: https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/deforestation-indigenous-lands-increasing-oil-palm-plantation-peru-ocho-sur [7] United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (2020). End of mission statement by Michel Forst, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Visit to Peru, 21 January – 3 February 2020. OHCHR. Retrieved from: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25507&LangID=E [8] United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2019, 3 October). Amicus Curiae, Constitutional Tribunal of Peru, Case No: 03696-2017-AA/TC, Submission. OHCHR. Retrieved from: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/SR/Amicus_curiae_Peru_Oct_2019.pdf WINTER V2O N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 18 TOM YOUNGER This Article may be cited as: Younger, T. (2021) “Our struggle continues.” Confronting the dynamics of dispossession in the Peruvian Amazon, Fourth World Journal. Vol. 20, N2. pp. 6-18. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tom Younger Tom Younger offers this perspective as an action-researcher and anthropologist who has been working in solidarity with the community of Santa Clara de Uchunya since 2016. Since 2017, Tom has worked with Forest Peoples Programme, an international organisation which supports Indigenous and forest peoples in the defence of their rights and territories in more than twenty countries throughout Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. FPP supports Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ struggles to create political spaces through which to defend their collective rights, govern their territories and determine their futures. Tom lives in Glasgow, Scotland. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 Learn Indigenous sciences to address climate change Learn how to become an activist scholar and change the world! Define Co2 and its effects on plants Apply mindfulness for self-care and successful studies Explore how the colors of plants, fruits, and vegetables provide medicine and nutrition Contrast Indigenous ways of knowing and western knowledge systems BECOME AN ACTIVIST SCHOLAR! nativeroots.cwis.org 20 “Nuestra lucha continúa.” Confrontar las Dinámicas de Despojo en la Amazonia Peruana El caso de Santa Clara de Uchunya y su lucha para obtener justicia y recuperar su territorio Por Tom Younger Programa para los Pueblos de los Bosques Traducción de Inglés a Español por Aline Castañeda Cadena National Geographic, Esri, Garmin, HERE, UNEP-EP-WCMC, USGS, NASA, ESA, METI, NRCAN, GEBCO, NOAA, Increment P Corp.p. RESUMEN La comunidad Shipibo-Conibo de Santa Clara de Uchunya está luchando contra el despojo y devastación de sus tierras ancestrales debido a la agresiva expansión de la palma aceitera. Este artículo analiza los impactos sociales y culturales de la deforestación liderada por los agronegocios en la comunidad y su territorio. La discusión se centra en las estrategias políticas y legales que han desarrollado junto con aliados para exigir la restitución y remediación de sus tierras ancestrales. Finalmente, consideramos algunos de los éxitos y desafíos críticos que la comunidad Shipibo-Conibo enfrentó durante los últimos cinco años de esta lucha. Palabras clave: pueblos indígenas, título de la tierra, deforestación, agronegocios, palma aceitera, responsabilidad social Cuando los miembros de la comunidad de Santa Clara de Uchunya, una comunidad indígena Shipibo-Conibo ubicada a orillas del río Aguaytia en la selva baja de la Amazonia peruana, hablan de su territorio ancestral, hay un antes y un después. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 21 “NUESTRA LUCHA CONTINÚA.” CONFRONTAR LAS DINÁMICAS DE DESPOJO EN LA AMAZONIA PERUANA Luisa, una líder de la comunidad, lo pone de esta forma: “Antes nosotros andábamos libremente. Ahora estamos como animales perseguidos. Tenemos que andar con cuidado, de miedo.” Esta ruptura en el tiempo y en la relación de las personas con su territorio se produjo con la entrada de una empresa transnacional de palma aceitera, Plantaciones de Pucallpa (hoy Ocho Sur P.) A partir de 2012, la empresa destruyó más de 7,000 hectáreas de bosque y despojó a la comunidad de una parte vital de sus tierras tradicionales. Prácticamente de la noche a la mañana, en términos históricos, la agresiva expansión de la empresa de monocultivo de palma aceitera ha forzado cambios radicales en la forma de vida de la comunidad. El pueblo Shipibo ha habitado las tierras al oeste de los ríos Aguaytia y Ucayali durante generaciones. Mapas elaborados por misioneros como “Exploraciones y Fundaciones de los misioneros de Ocopa de la Montaña del Perú 1750-1825”, que hoy cuelga en el Convento Franciscano de Santa Rosa de Ocopa en las afueras de Huancayo, muestra la ubicación de “Sipibos”. Ocupan las tierras que Santa Clara de Uchunya lucha por reclamar hoy, varios siglos después. A pesar de este reconocimiento histórico de larga data de la territorialidad tradicional de los Shipibo, la continua opresión estructural de los pueblos indígenas en Perú significa que la comunidad carece de un reconocimiento formal pleno de sus derechos de propiedad sobre la totalidad de su territorio ancestral. Así, cuando los trabajadores de Plantaciones Wilson, una autoridad comunitaria que ahora tiene 40 años, describe algunos de estos cambios: de Pucallpa comenzaron a destruir los bosques tradicionales de Santa Clara en 2012, la comunidad solo poseía un título de propiedad “De acá, más antes, nos íbamos a montear, colectiva otorgado en 1986, que cubría 218 hasta hacer una cama. Allí parábamos ocho días, hectáreas. Este sitio es una porción minúscula quince días. Nos íbamos allí, hacíamos candelas del territorio que la comunidad ha poseído y allí, allí comíamos. Se iban como tres o cuatro ocupado tradicionalmente durante generaciones, familias, a cazar allí. Hacíamos una candela, originalmente cubriendo más de 86 mil hectáreas. allí entre todos comer. Esa era la costumbre de nosotros. No es como si fuera que, hoy en Si las formas de vida de la comunidad estaban día, ya nosotros no se quiera; ya ni siquiera al orientadas anteriormente hacia bosques otro lado ya no se puede andar allí tranquilo… abundantes y cuidados, hoy, en un nuevo hoy en día, si nos ven, se ponen esas personas contexto de escasez creado por el intenso encierro como matones, como si fuéramos ladrones. y despojo de sus tierras, las familias de Santa Libremente que andábamos. Se están acabando Clara Uchunya deben depender cada vez más las costumbres de nosotros. ¿Quiénes son de la economía de mercado para satisfacer sus [responsables]? El mismo Estado.” necesidades. WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 22 TOM YOUNGER Como los miembros de la comunidad señalan En ese sentido, Fidel, un joven, pregunta: una y otra vez sobre los animales de caza, el “Nuestra preocupación como jóvenes es que, si pescado y otros alimentos del bosque, las plantas nosotros no conocemos muchos animales a esta medicinales, los materiales de construcción y el edad, ¿cómo será más adelante para nuestros agua limpia que antes se aprovisionaban desde hijos?” dentro de su territorio: “No queda nada”. Luisa agrega: “Antes teníamos todas las cosas. Un miembro de la comunidad que hace solo unos años pudo construir el techo de su casa con hoja de shebon, cosechada en las cercanías, ahora debe comprar láminas de hierro corrugado; recolectar hojas de shebon del territorio ya no es sostenible debido a la invasión de traficantes de tierras. Lo mismo ocurre con la medicina tradicional. “Nuestra medicina era chuchuhuasi, clavohuasca, sangre de grado, resina de copaiba,” comenta Wilson. “Nuestros viejos iban a hacer dietas, una semana, tres días, a tomar las purgas de allí. A curarse el cuerpo.” Para nosotros, era mercado nuestro territorio. Ahora no podemos ni caminar ni una hora, porque somos amenazados. De esa manera, yo me preocupo, mañana, más tarde, ¿qué comerán mis hijos? ¿Cómo ellos van a alimentar a sus hijos? Así como nos habían alimentado mi madre y mi padre a nosotros. Y ahora nosotros no podemos. Y ellos van a ser peor, porque ya no hay. Ni van a conocer cuál es palo para hacer canoa, como es nuestra costumbre. No van a saber qué es medicina, porque ya no hay. Todo lo están agotando. Antes comíamos bien, nosotros crecíamos fuerte, gordo, pero ahora nuestros hijos ¿qué pasa? Están con diarrea, con vómito, “Más antes no necesitamos una ampolla, no deshidratados…” necesitamos una pastilla. El que se sentía un poco enfermo, iba al monte. Los abuelos que La llegada y la presencia continua de la empresa ya tienen 80 años caminan fuerte, porque ellos ha impulsado una feroz competencia por el se trataban con esas medicinas. Las purgas de control de las tierras entre grupos de colonos no vegetales eran la mejor medicina que teníamos indígenas/mestizos de otras regiones del Perú nosotros. Pero hoy en día ya no hay ya.” dedicados a lo que se conoce localmente como “tráfico de tierras.” La devastación de los ecosistemas vivos que componen el territorio de la comunidad y la Dammert (2019) caracteriza este fenómeno pérdida de prácticas íntimamente ligadas a como “el uso perverso y sistemático de los este lugar dificultan la vida y el bienestar de la mecanismos de titulación del Estado para comunidad en el presente y generan inquietudes incorporar tierras a los circuitos de mercado y sobre el futuro. lucrar con ellas.” FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 23 “NUESTRA LUCHA CONTINÚA.” CONFRONTAR LAS DINÁMICAS DE DESPOJO EN LA AMAZONIA PERUANA Tanto los individuos como los grupos organizados ocupan y toman posesión de tierras que carecen de reconocimiento legal formal y buscan obtener certificados de posesión de las agencias agrícolas regionales, típicamente talando cualquier bosque en dichas tierras en el proceso. De hecho, la tala de bosques está incentivada por el sistema de clasificación del uso de la tierra esencialmente agrario de Perú que se remonta a la década de 1970. El sistema de clasificación estipula que las personas que reclaman derechos sobre la tierra deben demostrar “actividad económica”, es decir, talar el bosque para instalar sistemas agropastorales. Estos certificados de posesión, que posteriormente pueden convertirse en títulos de propiedad individuales, pueden venderse a compradores comerciales (como fue el caso de Plantaciones de Pucallpa). Esto forma parte de un proceso más extenso y continuo en la Amazonia peruana de mercantilización de tierras indígenas de propiedad colectiva y su incorporación forzada a un mercado comercial de tierras, producción de productos básicos en constante expansión y circuitos internacionales de acumulación de capital. Las consecuencias destacadas anteriormente han llevado a la reconfiguración y al surgimiento de jerarquías sociales basadas en género, raza y clase. Éstos incluyen: - La destrucción de los sistemas de posible, a menudo fuera de la comunidad, lo que aumenta la carga del trabajo de cuidados para las mujeres y los ancianos que permanecen en la comunidad. - Hombres y mujeres de la comunidad han sido despojados del poder de decidir sobre lo que sucede dentro de sus tierras, con decisiones tomadas por hombres mestizos representantes del Estado peruano en oficinas en las ciudades de Pucallpa y Lima, así como por los hombres euroamericanos que dirigen Ocho Sur y sus inversionistas con sede en Estados Unidos. Un claro ejemplo de esos discursos racializados son los comentarios del ex director de la Agencia Agraria de Ucayali, Isaac Huamán Pérez, quien expresó repetidamente su rechazo a los derechos territoriales consuetudinarios de los pueblos indígenas. Argumentó en el caso de Santa Clara de Uchunya que la “propiedad ancestral es cosa del pasado” y afirmó inequívocamente que los pueblos indígenas quieren hacer cumplir “la ley de la selva”. Por otro lado, Huamán hizo numerosos anuncios públicos sobre la urgente necesidad de reconocer los “derechos consuetudinarios de posesión” de los colonos. Además, intentó cambiar las leyes forestales vigentes para disolver aprovisionamiento territorial no monetario los “bosques de producción permanente” y de autonomía comunitaria y familiar para lograr este objetivo, dejando en claro de Santa Clara de Uchunya. Las pérdidas la prioridad que atribuía a los derechos de obligan tanto a hombres como a mujeres a los pueblos no indígenas y sus usos (Forest buscar trabajo asalariado siempre que sea Peoples Programme y otros, 2018, p. 15). WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 24 TOM YOUNGER - La territorialidad del pueblo Shipibo, de hombres que empuñan machetes, palos y que comprende las múltiples formas en armas de fuego. Los defensores de la tierra que se relacionan con su territorio, ha sido shipibo también han sido blanco de ataques ignorada en gran medida por el Estado y difamaciones por parte de las autoridades en sus intervenciones, como se ampliará regionales, la prensa regional y los medios de a continuación. Estas intervenciones han comunicación (Forest Peoples Programme, tendido a centrarse, en el mejor de los casos, 2020a, p. 14-16). en importantes “aspectos ambientales” del caso, aunque estrechamente concebidos, “Seguimos luchando”- estrategias para resistir la dinámica del despojo. como la cuantificación de la deforestación. Durante los últimos seis años, la comunidad - Las jerarvquías racializadas según las ha estado luchando para defender lo que cuales opera la propia plantación también queda de sus bosques, aguas y forma de vida, son dignas de mención. Mientras que los evitar una mayor deforestación y expansión hombres blancos euroamericanos tienen de la palma aceitera y, en última instancia, el poder sobre el funcionamiento de la garantizar el control legal y práctico sobre su plantación de Ocho Sur P, los líderes territorio ancestral. La comunidad ha tomado shipibos han observado que muchos de los medidas directas para intervenir y detener una 1,700 trabajadores cuya mano de obra es mayor deforestación, protestó y denunció estas explotada son ellos mismos indígenas de violaciones y la devastación causada a su hogar a Ucayali y regiones vecinas como Loreto. nivel local e internacional. Los conflictos resultantes han expuesto a la La comunidad ha emprendido una serie de comunidad Shipibo-Conibo a intimidación, acciones legales para defender su territorio, amenazas y ataques. Los miembros de la utilizando mecanismos judiciales penales comunidad, los líderes y los aliados que se han y constitucionales. En mayo de 2015, la pronunciado para proteger su territorio contar comunidad presentó una denuncia penal contra la extensión del acaparamiento de tierras y la empresa de palma aceitera Plantaciones la destrucción de los bosques han sido objeto de Pucallpa por deforestación. El caso fue de abusos verbales, amenazados y advertidos inicialmente investigado por la Primera Fiscalía de que abandonen sus hogares, han recibido Provincial Corporativa Especializada en Materia amenazas de muerte y en ocasiones han recibido Ambiental de Ucayali antes de ser trasladado a disparos. Estos abusos y amenazas han impedido la Primera Fiscalía Corporativa Especializada a los miembros de la comunidad moverse en Supraprovincial contra el Crimen Organizado su territorio. Las personas que han afirmado en Lima. Esto se llevó a cabo luego de que se su derecho a acceder libremente a sus tierras determinó que el caso involucraba al crimen tradicionales se han encontrado con grupos organizado. En enero de 2018, el Cuarto Juzgado FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 25 “NUESTRA LUCHA CONTINÚA.” CONFRONTAR LAS DINÁMICAS DE DESPOJO EN LA AMAZONIA PERUANA Nacional de Instrucción Preparatoria dictó medid Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (2018) y cautelar ordenando a la empresa suspender de durante una misión formal de la Relatora Especial inmediato sus actividades. Sin embargo, esta de la ONU sobre la Situación de Defensoras y medida cautelar nunca se hizo cumplir y cinco Defensores de Derechos Humanos de Perú en años después de que se presentó la denuncia enero de 2020 (ACNUDH, 2020). original, la empresa continúa sus operaciones con impunidad. Si bien las acciones mencionadas anteriormente se han dirigido principalmente hacia el Estado En mayo de 2016, la comunidad, junto con peruano, la comunidad y aliados también su organización indígena representativa, han buscado responsabilizar a las empresas la Federación de Comunidades Nativas involucradas mediante el uso de mecanismos de Ucayali (FECONAU), presentó una de reparación no judiciales. Uno de ellos es el demanda constitucional contra la empresa y los funcionarios del registro público del mecanismo de denuncias de la Mesa Redonda sobre la Palma Aceitera Sostenible (RSPO),1 Gobierno Regional de Ucayali que facilitaron el organismo global que busca mejorar la acaparamiento de tierras. Esta demanda busca sostenibilidad de las cadenas de suministro de la restitución, titulación colectiva y remediación aceite de palma. de las tierras ancestrales de la comunidad. El reclamo fue rechazado por dos tribunales de Ucayali antes de ser admitido a consideración del Tribunal Supremo de Perú, el Tribunal Constitucional, que en agosto de 2018 anunció que resolvería el caso. En septiembre de 2019 se llevó a cabo una audiencia. El reclamo de la comunidad se vio reforzado por una sesión informativa legal experta amicus curiae proporcionada por la relatora especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, en la que se destacó la obligación legal de Perú de Tanto Plantaciones de Pucallpa como otra plantación que se expandió al mismo tiempo inmediatamente hacia el sur, Plantaciones de Ucayali, forman parte de una compleja red de empresas agroindustriales que han utilizado reglas de secreto en jurisdicciones extranjeras para evitar la rendición de cuentas por sus actividades. Esta red corporativa ha llegado a ser conocida en Perú como el “Grupo Melka” de empresas agroindustriales, que lleva el nombre del empresario checo-estadounidense Dennis Melka. Melka, quien anteriormente estuvo reconocer formalmente las tierras tradicionales de la comunidad (2019). Actualmente, la comunidad está a la espera del fallo de la Corte sobre su caso. La comunidad también ha compartido sus testimonios y exigido soluciones en espacios internacionales, como la Comisión WINTER V20 N2 2021 1 https://www.rspo.org/ La RSPO se describe a sí misma en estos términos: “... organización no lucrativa que une a los accionistas de 7 sectores de la industria de la palma aceitera: productores de palma aceitera, empresas transformadoras o comerciantes, fabricantes de bienes de consumo, vendedores, bancos/inversionistas, y organizaciones no gubernamentales ambientales y sociales (ONGs), para desarrollar e implementar estándares globales para la palma aceitera sostenible.” FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 26 TOM YOUNGER En septiembre de 2015, el Ministerio de implicado en la deforestación y violaciones de derechos humanos liderada por la agroindustria Agricultura de Perú ordenó a Plantaciones de como cofundador y director ejecutivo adjunto Pucallpa suspender sus operaciones. de Asian Plantations, Ltd en Malasia, ganó En abril de 2016, la RSPO emitió a la empresa notoriedad en Perú y a nivel mundial durante los últimos años por la deforestación a escala una orden de suspensión del trabajo. industrial y las violaciones de derechos asociadas con su petróleo, plantaciones de palma y cacao en Ucayali y Loreto. La resistencia continua de la comunidad y las crecientes acciones legales son probablemente lo que precipitó la subasta de Plantaciones de La comunidad y los aliados se han centrado en Pucallpa y las Plantaciones de Ucayali a Ocho Sur quejas formales con la RSPO contra Plantaciones de Pucallpa2 y empresas que han estado P y U en julio de 2016, y Plantaciones de Pucallpa comprando y procesando palma aceitera de sus 2016. se retiró posteriormente de la RSPO en octubre de tierras devastadas, incluida la molinera OLPEAA y la empresa de bienes de consumo más grande de Perú, Alicorp.3 Éxitos, desafíos y limitaciones En febrero de 2017, United Cacao, otra empresa vinculada a Melka y una de las financieras Plantaciones de Pucallpa, fue excluida del Mercado de Inversiones Alternativas de la Bolsa de Valores de Londres. Si bien la comunidad sigue luchando por una solución definitiva para garantizar la restitución y remediación de su territorio, su postura y determinación unificadas han dado como resultado algunos éxitos significativos. Con gran riesgo personal, los miembros de la comunidad han organizado patrullas territoriales para monitorizar sus tierras y han emprendido la autodemarcación de su territorio (a pesar de Cuando la Corte Constitucional acordó resolver el reclamo de protección de la comunidad en agosto de 2018, fue la primera vez que la Corte decidirá sobre la titulación de territorios indígenas. La decisión de la Corte tiene el potencial de sentar un precedente vital para los pueblos indígenas de todo el país, muchos de los cuales carecen de cualquier forma de reconocimiento oficial de sus tierras tradicionales. ser una obligación del Estado Peruano). Los miembros de la comunidad intervinieron en múltiples ocasiones para evitar una mayor tala de sus bosques por parte de los colonos, ejerciendo su derecho a administrar justicia indígena en defensa de su territorio para confiscar equipos de tala. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/global-finance-trade-palmoil-rspo/press-release/2017/press-rspo-ruling-condemnsplantaciones-de. 3 https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/palm-oil-rspo/pressrelease/2019/amazonian-community-fights-lands-aredestroyed-sustainable-palm. 2 WINTER V20 N2 2021 27 “NUESTRA LUCHA CONTINÚA.” CONFRONTAR LAS DINÁMICAS DE DESPOJO EN LA AMAZONIA PERUANA La defensa comunitaria de su territorio ganó Todas menos dos de la docena de garantías de un nuevo impulso en febrero de 2020 cuando seguridad personal solicitadas por miembros de la el Gobierno Regional de Ucayali derogó una comunidad desde 2017 luego de recibir amenazas ordenanza regional que buscaba eliminar de muerte han sido rechazadas por el ministerio las protecciones para más de 3.5 millones del Interior, lo que permite que los perpetradores de hectáreas de selva tropical y facilitar la sigan actuando con impunidad. Además, las invasión de tierras indígenas, incluida una parte denuncias presentadas tras tiroteos en diciembre significativa del territorio de la comunidad. A de 2017 y julio de 2018 contra miembros de pesar de estos importantes hitos, las estructuras la comunidad, FECONAU y la organización de impunidad en el Perú hacen que la plantación de apoyo legal, el Instituto de Defensa Legal, condenada haya podido seguir operando en las fueron desestimadas debido a la incapacidad tierras de la comunidad. del Ministerio del Interior para identificar a los responsables. Los miembros de la comunidad Las acciones legales iniciadas por la comunidad, que han ejercido la justicia indígena confiscando incluidas tanto las investigaciones penales motosierras y expulsando a los traficantes de como la demanda constitucional, han sido sus tierras también han sido objeto de más objeto de intensos retrasos y reveses. Los intimidación y represión. Los traficantes que los procesos administrativos se han enfrentado a acudan de delitos como robo con agravantes, obstáculos similares. A pesar de los mejores reclamo de daños y perjuicios y coacción tomaron esfuerzos de la comunidad y sus aliados, aún no medidas en forma de procedimientos judiciales se ha formalizado completamente. Incluso una maliciosos. Responder a estas falsas acusaciones extensión parcial del título de propiedad que agrava los impactos psicosociales experimentados cubre las tierras de la comunidad entre el río por los miembros de la comunidad y exige más de Aguaytía y la plantación de palma aceitera. su energía y recursos limitados. Los líderes comunitarios que se han Una barrera importante que impide el acceso pronunciado en defensa de sus tierras han sido de la comunidad a la justicia es que no se la objeto de criminalización, amenaza y violencia. considera parte afectada por la deforestación A pesar de haber denunciado estas amenazas que se ha producido en su territorio. La ley a diversas entidades del Estado - incluyendo peruana estipula que los bosques constituyen miembros del Congreso, la Defensoría del Pueblo, el “patrimonio de la nación”. Por lo tanto, es el Ministerio de Agricultura, el Ministerio de el Estado – y no la comunidad – quien se ve Ambiente, el Ministerio del Interior, el Ministerio perjudicado por estos delitos. La posición de de Justicia y Derechos Humanos, el Gobierno Perú ignora el hecho de que son los miembros Regional de Ucayali, Policía Regional de Ucayali, de la comunidad de primera línea quienes se etc. – miembros de la comunidad FECONAU no están organizando activamente para patrullar han recibido medidas de protección efectivas. y proteger sus territorios y bosques, algo WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 28 TOM YOUNGER que el Estado no hace. Más que apoyar esta que las autoridades peruanas habían verificado defensa territorial comunitaria, el Estado se y documentado que Plantaciones de Pucallpa limita a ofrecer a los líderes comunitarios que continuaba operando en violación de las órdenes enfrentan amenazas de muerte por emprender de suspensión. Melka, quien anteriormente esta peligrosa labor protocolos de protección dirigió Plantaciones de Pucallpa, fue uno de los ineficaces y reactivos para los defensores de directores de Peruvian Palm Holdings hasta derechos humanos. Esto también evita que mediados de 2020. la comunidad participe y dé impulso a las investigaciones penales, que en cambio deben depender de fiscales que a menudo carecen de los recursos y el personal para investigar y resolver los casos. Además, esta falta de consideración por las experiencias de los pueblos indígenas significa que tales investigaciones y juicios por lo general no toman en cuenta los efectos sociales y culturales de los delitos ambientales. La creciente resistencia de la comunidad y los Otros directores de Peruvian Palm Holdings incluyen directores y socios de varias firmas de capital privado con sede en Estados Unidos que se especializan en inversiones de agronegocios, incluidas Anholt Services (EUA) Inc., y AMERRA Capital Management LLC. El primero también invirtió anteriormente en United Oils Ltd., SEZC, la empresa matriz original de las plantaciones de Melka en Ucayalli, que estaba domiciliada, al igual que la otra empresa de Melka United aliados desde 2014 en adelante y las denuncias Cacao, en las Islas Caimán. AMERRA informa de alto perfil contra Plantaciones de Pucallpa se haber realizado inversiones de deuda privada han enfrentado con numerosos intentos de las inicialmente en palma aceitera en Perú en empresas para evitar la rendición de cuentas y septiembre de 2015, aunque no está claro si estas neutralizar las demandas de justicia. En medio inversiones se relacionaron con Plantaciones de de una creciente perturbación económica, Pucallpa. Este uso de estructuras corporativas Plantaciones de Pucallpa y Plantaciones de complejas y jurisdicciones secretas, como las Ucayali utilizaron fideicomisos y subastas Islas Caimán y las Bermudas, ha hecho que posteriores organizadas de manera irregular en sea muy difícil rastrear a los propietarios y junio de 2016. Ambas plantaciones se vendieron financieros de Ocho Sur y responsabilizarlos por por $62 millones de dólares a dos empresas estas inversiones destructivas es un desafío que recientemente formadas, Ocho Sur P y U. perdura. Este caso específico de tenencia de la tierra y violaciones de los derechos humanos por Las acciones de ambas empresas parecerían parte de Ocho Sur plantea nuevamente preguntas ser propiedad de una tercera empresa, Peruvian legítimas sobre la responsabilidad de los Palm Holdings Ltd., constituida en Bermudas inversionistas y financieros internacionales antes pocas semanas después de que la RSPO emitiera los pueblos indígenas y las comunidades locales, su orden de suspensión de trabajo. La formación quienes son perjudicados directa e indirectamente de la sociedad tenedora de acciones se inició por los actores y operaciones comerciales que un día después de que surgiera la noticia de reciben crédito financiero transnacional. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 29 “NUESTRA LUCHA CONTINÚA.” CONFRONTAR LAS DINÁMICAS DE DESPOJO EN LA AMAZONIA PERUANA La falta de voluntad del estado peruano para Santa Clara de Uchunya en términos de acceso a resolver el caso ha continuado afectando a la su territorio, alimentos, agua, plantas medicinales comunidad, su territorio y su forma de vida. Un y otros materiales. análisis satelital publicado en octubre de 2020 encontró que entre 2012 y agosto de 2020, unas Discutimos cómo el establecimiento de la 15,721 hectáreas de bosques de la comunidad, plantación de palma aceitera fue facilitado y, a un área tres veces del tamaño de Bermuda, su vez, aceleró los procesos locales de tráfico de fueron destruidas (Programa para los pueblos tierras, basados en el despojo y mercantilización de los bosques, 2020b). La plantación de palma de tierras indígenas de propiedad colectiva. aceitera propiedad de Ocho Sur P SAC opera en al A su vez, estos procesos han llevado a la menos 6,845 hectáreas de estas tierras, mientras reconfiguración de las jerarquías sociales basadas que la deforestación de las tierras que rodean la en género, raza y clase, muchas veces ligadas al plantación continúa aumentando. Si bien las tasas control del territorio. de deforestación más altas ocurrieron en 2013 durante el desmonte inicial de la plantación, las segundas tasas más altas se registraron en 2019. Esta destrucción forestal más reciente ha estado ocurriendo en el territorio de la comunidad al oeste de la plantación. Las tasas de pérdida de bosques a mediados de 2020 durante el cierre por la pandemia ya eran de un 35% más altas que En respuesta a esta situación, la comunidad y sus aliados han emprendido una serie de estrategias de resistencia, que van desde la acción directa y la protesta hasta acciones judiciales, desde la incidencia en foros internacionales de derechos humanos hasta mecanismos de reparación no judiciales. Aunque estas acciones para el mismo periodo en 2019. han interrumpido con éxito la empresa y han Alternativas – Permanecer en el territorio, han cumplido sus objetivos de restitución recuperar el futuro. “Ahora yo me siento preocupado, porque ya detenido la expansión de la plantación, no y remediación de tierras, y la violencia y la deforestación contra la comunidad continúan. El Estado Peruano no ha apoyado los esfuerzos pasaron 5 años. Por la corrupción, creo, no de la comunidad para defender su territorio nos titulan rápido; nos pelotean. Pero nosotros y proteger a los miembros de la comunidad como comunidad seguimos luchando para ganar y aliados que enfrentan amenazas, ataques y nuestras tierras, para nuestros hijos.” criminalización. Además, el hecho de que las Efer Silvano, líde comunitario de Santa Clara de Uchunya. comunidades indígenas de primera línea cono Santa Clara no puedan participar plenamente Este artículo comenzó describiendo las en las investigaciones sobre la deforestación es consecuencias de la deforestación masiva y la un obstáculo significativo para la protección de expansión de la palma aceitera en las formas de la justicia social y ecológica. Al mismo tiempo, vida, prácticas y autonomía de la comunidad de las operaciones destructivas de la compañía se WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 30 TOM YOUNGER han visto facilitadas por el uso de estructuras corporativas elaboradas y jurisdicciones secretas, lo que ha planteado importantes desafíos prácticos para hacer que estos actores rindan cuentas y plantea preguntas clave en torno a la responsabilidad corporativa de los actores comerciales posteriores, las empresas inversoras acciones ya, el Tribunal debe darnos nuestras tierras que hemos cuidado por años, y nuestros y las instituciones financieras. la peligrosa lucha en curso por proteger sus Durante 2020, la pandemia de COVID-19 se expandió a lo largo de la Amazonia peruana, infectando a más de 10,000 indígenas y cobrándose la vida de muchos, incluidos los queridos ancianos indígenas, portadores de conocimiento y líderes. Durante el Estado Nacional de Emergencia, Ocho Sur no cesó en sus actividades agroindustriales. El 5 de junio, cuando la Defensoría del Pueblo de Ucayali, junto con la Dirección Regional de Salud de Ucayali y el Ministerio Público, llegaron a las instalaciones de Ocho Sur para monitorizar las condiciones laborales y de salud, descubrieron que 35 de los 39 trabajadores, el 90% dieron positivo por COVID-19.4 Un miembro de la comunidad dijo: “En junio una brigada de Salud entró a Santa Clara de Uchunya y se contabilizaron alrededor de 15 casos. Ya van dos fallecidos, una anciana y un bebé, con síntomas de coronavirus (…) La empresa ha eliminado nuestras plantas medicinales, nuestra clínica, ¿Dónde vamos a ir nosotros a sacar remedio ahora en tiempos de pandemia? Nos han cerrado el pase al bosque y nos tratan como ladrones en nuestro territorio. Eso es triste y nosotros queremos las FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL abuelos también”. El hecho de que los pueblos indígenas de la Amazonia se encuentren en la primera línea de la pandemia y la crisis de salud, así como territorios y bosques de vida durante una emergencia climática y de biodiversidad planetaria sin precedentes, hace visibles las profundas fracturas de desigualdad y poder que subyacen a las crisis eco-sociales interconectadas de nuestro momento. Enfrentar tanto la pandemia del COVID-19 como la pandemia de violencia y despojo significa poner los derechos y la autodeterminación de los pueblos indígenas en el centro de las respuestas a los inmensos desafíos que enfrentan los pueblos de los bosques y toda la humanidad. Fundamentalmente, esto significa reconocer los territorios indígenas. Como lo expresó un colectivo de organizaciones indígenas amazónicas en un comunicado emitido desde Yarinacocha en Ucayali en julio de 2020: Vivimos en un sistema que siempre nos ha relegado e invisibilizado, pero hoy decimos: ya basta, ya no más, es hoy tiempo de cambios, justicia y equidad.” 5 4 https://convoca.pe/investigacion/ucayali-el-90-de-lostrabajadores-de-ocho-sur-testeados-dieron-positivo-para-covid-. 5 Declaración del colectivo de organizaciones indígenas de la Amazonía, Yarinacocha, Ucayali, julio 2020 WINTER V20 N2 2021 31 “NUESTRA LUCHA CONTINÚA.” CONFRONTAR LAS DINÁMICAS DE DESPOJO EN LA AMAZONIA PERUANA REFERENCIAS [1] Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (2018, 5 de diciembre). Perú: pueblos indígenas de la Amazonía [video de Youtube] extraído de: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH809nYti2M&t=126s. [2] Dammert, J.L. (2019, 14 de enero). “Tráfico de tierras en Ucayali: apuntes para comprender el fenómeno.” Oxfam Blog. Extraido de https://peru.oxfam.org/latest/blogs/tr%C3%A1fico-de-tierras-en-ucayali-apuntes-para-comprender-el-fen%C3%B3meno. [3] Forest Peoples Programme, Instituto De Defensa Legal, Consejo Étnico de los Pueblos Kichwa de la Amazonía, Federación de Comunidades Nativas del Ucayali y Afluentes y el Grupo de Pueblos Indígenas de la Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos del Perú (2018, 30 de marzo). Shadow Report About Peru For the Consideration of CERD During Their 95th. [4] Session (23 de abril al 11 de mayo 2018) Violation of The Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Peru – With a Focus on The Amazonian Regions of Ucayali and San Martín. 30 de marzo 2018. pp. 15 – 16. Extraido de: https://Tbinternet.Ohchr.Org/Treaties/CERD/Shared%20Documents/PER/INT_CERD_NGO_ PER_30812_E.Pdf. [5] Forest Peoples Programme (2020a). Ending Impunity: Confronting the drivers of violence and forest destruction on the agribusiness and extractives frontier in the Peruvian Amazon: a rights-based analysis. Extraido de: https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/lands-forests-territories-law-policy/report/2020/ending-impunity-confronting-drivers-violence-and. [6] Forest Peoples Programme (2020b). Deforestation of indigenous lands still increasing around Ocho Sur oil palm plantation in Peruvian Amazon. Forest Peoples Programme. Extraido de: https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/deforestation-indigenous-lands-increasing-oil-palm-plantation-peru-ocho-sur. [7] Relator Especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre la situación de defensores de derechos humanos (2020). End of mission statement by Michel Forst, Relator Especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre la situación de los defensores de los derechos humanos. Visita a Perú, 21 de enero – 3 de febrero 2020. OHCHR. Extraido de: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25507&LangID=E. [8] Relator Especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos IndígenasUnited (2019, 3 de octubre). Amicus Curiae, Tribunal Constitucional de Perú, Caso No: 03696-2017-AA/TC, Presentación. OHCHR. Extraído de: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/SR/Amicus_curiae_Peru_ Oct_2019.pdf . WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 32 TOM YOUNGER Este artículo debe citarse como Younger, T. (2021) “Nuestra lucha continúa.” Confrontar las dinámicas de despojo en la Amazonia Peruana, Fourth World Journal. Vol. 20, N2. pp. 20-32. S O B R E E L AU TO R Tom Younger Tom Younger ofrece su perspectica como investigador active y antropólogo que ha trabahado en solidaridad con la comunidad de Santa Clara de Uchunya desde 2016. Desde 2017, Tom ha trabajado para el Programa de Pueblos de los Bosques, una organización internacional que apoya pueblos indígenas y de los bosques en la defensa de sus derechos y territorios en más de veinte países a lo largo de América Latina, Africa y el Sureste de Asia. El Programa apoya a pueblos indígenas y las luchas de las comunidades localesin para crear espacios politicos a través de los cuales defender sus derechos colectivos, gobernar sus territorios y determinar sus futuros. Tom vive en Glasgow, Escocia. Correo electrónico: tyounger@forestpeoples.org FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 34 The Brazen Daylight Police Murder of George Floyd and The Racist Origin of American Policing By Muhammad Al-Hashimi Senior Lecturer, Islamic Studies and Economics Euclid University George Floyd, a 42-year-old African American man, and resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was apprehended on 25 May 2020 by four uniformed Minneapolis police for allegedly trying to make a purchase in a local store with a fake $20 bill. The police arrived, ostensibly after having been called by the store owner, as Mr. Floyd was about to drive away. A bystander caught the officers on video as they dragged Mr. Floyd from his car, handcuffed him, and threw him to the ground. At no point did Mr. Floyd offer any resistance. Of the four officers present, one proceeded to put his knee on the neck of Mr. Floyd while two of the other officers dug their knees into Mr. Floyd’s back. The fourth officer stood guard to hold off the crowd that had gathered. For the next 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the first officer, Derek Chauvin, dug his knee into Mr. Floyd’s neck as Mr. Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe. At one point, Mr. Floyd was so desperate that he called out for his mother, who was already deceased. Several of the bystanders pleaded with the officer to remove his knee, but to no avail. After some 6 minutes or so, it was clear that Mr. Floyd was dead, but the officer kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for another two minutes. People saw on social media across the world was the senseless suffering and pain of a man due to his skin color, a clear violation of fundamental human rights as enshrined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mr. Floyd had been brazenly murdered in broad daylight by Officer Derek Chauvin, and his three accomplishes. Their wanton murder of a defenseless Black man resulted in the manifestation of a martyr. Through the global network of Black Lives Matters (BLM), an anti-racist movement on behalf of the martyred George Floyd was launched worldwide! George Floyd: A Global Martyr around Whom the World has mobilized Of course, the video of the daylight murder incident went viral on social media. The result was a virtual spontaneous global outcry and protest movement against racism that no one could have foreseen or imagined. It exploded across the globe like an uncontrollable wildfire! In several cities, large and small, in Australia, France, Germany, Kenya, South Africa, South Korea, Tunisia, FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 35 THE BRAZEN DAYLIGHT POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AND THE RACIST ORIGIN OF AMERICAN POLICING the United Kingdom, the United States, and in young protestors disregarded this advice for safe cities in more than 50 other countries, crowds behavior. They bravely gathered together across of protestors gathered to protest the murder of the globe daily to speak out against the racist George Floyd, masses mobilized mainly by the murder of George Floyd in particular and racial international BLM movement. injustice in general. In addition to its global spontaneity, the Black Lives Matters Movement manifested self-generating sustainability lasting for more than six months, from late May well into Global Outcry against Imperialism, Colonialism, and Slavery different parts of the United States and the world The global BLM anti-racist outcry was not only against racism by way of police brutality. It sprung into an outcry against the historical evils of imperialism, colonialism, and slavery, as all of these institutions are inextricably connected to racism. As a result, statues commemorating these institutions’ icons were torn down or desecrated in many parts of the United States and other parts where the white youth clearly outnumbered the of the world. November. The spontaneity and self-sustainability factors exposed a third interesting factor to consider: This movement was primarily a youthful one where a significant number of white youths participated. The various media brought us protest gathering videos in non-white participants. in December 2019. After breaking out as an In the United States, the statues of General Robert E. Lee, the former military leader of the southern Confederate states, were desecrated or torn down in many southern states. The southern Confederate states seceded from the American union and then went to war to protect their infectious disease in the Wuhan province of China economic investment in slavery. A fourth factor was most astounding to me: This movement took place amid the global coronavirus pandemic--more often referred to as COVID-19. This pandemic still ravages the world, as I wrote in December of 2019, it quickly spread across the globe, officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. In December 2020, nearly 73 million cases of the virus were confirmed globally, resulting in almost This episode was known in American history as the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865. The Confederate states were ultimately defeated, and by 19 June 1865, the last of African slaves held in bondage were freed. Also, statues of Christo- social distancing and stay indoors as much as pher Columbus came under attack because of his genocidal attacks on Indigenous populations in the Caribbean. In the southern American state of Virginia, a statue of Christopher Columbus was torn down, set on fire, and rolled into a nearby possible to avoid contracting the disease, the lake by anti-racist protestors. 2 million deaths globally. And yet, when global health officials repeatedly called for the world’s populace to practice WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 36 MUHAMMAD AL-HASHIMI DC, Confederate General Albert Pike’s statue was States and a signer of America’s founding documents, was also torn down by anti-racist protes- torn down and set afire by anti-racist protestors tors in Portland. In the American nation’s capital, Washington, on 19 June 2020. Then, on 22 June, anti-racist protestors attempted to tear down the statue of one the most notorious racists in American history. This is none other than the statue of US President Andrew Jackson (served from 1829 – 1837) that stands in Lafayette Square, right across the street from the White House. In addition to owning several African slaves, Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 in his capacity as the seventh president of the United States. Under this act, some 60,000 individuals of the Cherokee, Muskogee, and other Indigenous nations were removed from their lands in Statue removals became a world phenomenon. In Bristol’s United Kingdom town, a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was torn down by angry anti-racist protesters and rolled into nearby Bristol Harbor. In Belgium, a statue of the imperialist and colonial oppressor King Leopold II was removed by officials in Antwerp after being defaced by anti-racist protestors. In the Caribbean country of Barbados, anti-racist activists signed a petition to have the statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson removed from its capital, calling it an egregious affront to the Black population. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Philonise Floyd Goes Before UN Human Tennessee and forcibly marched several hundred Rights Council miles to reservations in Oklahoma. Over the next several years, this series of forced marches conducted by the American army saw several thousand individuals die of whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera, and starvation. This series of forced marches became known as the “Trail of Tears.” The attempt to tear down the Andrew Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Council by way of a pre-recorded message on 17 June 2020, delivering a message to the Council’s Urgent Debate on Racism. Mr. Philonise Floyd said, in part, the following: Jackson statue in Lafayette Park was unsuccess- The officers showed no mercy, no humanity ful as a police contingent moved in to force the and tortured my brother to death in the anti-racist protestors away from the statue. middle of the street in Minneapolis with a Not even statues of the so-called US government Founding Fathers were spared. A statue of Thomas Jefferson was torn down in Portland, Oregon, on 14 June 2020. Jefferson was a wealthy plantation slaveholder who signed the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, became the third president of the United States. Then on 18 June, a statue of George Washington, the slave-holding first president of the United FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL crowd of witnesses watching and begging them to stop, showing us black people the same lesson yet again: black lives do not matter in the United States of America…. You watched my brother die. That could have been me. I am my brother’s keeper. You in the United Nations are your brothers’ and sisters’ keepers in America, and you have the power to help us get WINTER V20 N2 2021 37 THE BRAZEN DAYLIGHT POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AND THE RACIST ORIGIN OF AMERICAN POLICING justice for my brother George Floyd. I am on to be elected to the National Football League’s asking you to help him. I am asking you to Hall of Fame is nevertheless a team that has been help me. I am asking you to help us: Black dogged by protests. In recent years protests were people in America. organized in opposition to the team’s name of The Urgent Debate, only the fifth to take place since the Council began its work in 2006, was initiated by the Council’s African Group, after a “Redskins” and the logo depicting an Indigenous warrior. From the Indigenous perspective, the word “redskins” has its origin in the genocidal effort of white colonial settlers to call from more than 600 rights groups to investi- eradicate Indigenous peoples to steal their land. gate alleged police violence resulting from George In the 1600s, colonial officials began offering Floyd’s death.1 Economic Fallout: Racist Logos Bite the Dust rewards to white settlers who killed Indigenous people. Once killed, the settler cut off the dead individual’s scalp and took it to the colonial officials for a monetary reward. Many producers of consumer items that have This process was a kind of incentivized, for decades carried racist logos on their products are running scared due to the BLM anti-racist freelance killing of Indigenous people by any movement. On 17 June, The Quaker Oats white settler looking to make extra money. Company, makers of the Aunt Jemima brand of The avaricious settlers gave a name to the muti- pancake mix, announced that it was retiring this lated and bloody corpses they left in the wake of 130-year-old brand and logo. They did so since these notorious scalp-hunts: redskins.2 the logo is a negative stereotypical depiction of a Black woman, Aunt Jemima, who appears to look like she might have been a house slave who was a cook in the kitchen of a white southern plantation owner. Of course, the fear here was that the Quaker Oats Company might become the target Now, Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, had said for years that he would not change the team’s racist name despite continual protests from Indigenous activists and their supporters. of the protests spawned by anti-racist activists. Better to get rid of Aunt Jemima’s logo before this happens! Even a professional sports logo was caught up Abruptly, Mr. Snyder was approached by his corporate sponsors, who were apparently sensitive to the BLM anti-racist movement. They put pressure on Mr. Snyder to change in this fear because of economic reasons. The Washington Redskins, an 87-year-old member of the National Football League, is the winner of five national championships. A storied team that has produced several great players who have gone WINTER V20 N2 2021 Editorial Staff, Race Demographics Statistics on Alcoholism & Treatment, alcohol.org (July. 30, 2019, 4:50 pm), https://www. Alcohol.org/alcoholism-and-race/. 2 See: An Indigenous Peoples’ History of The United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, p. 65. 1 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 38 MUHAMMAD AL-HASHIMI the name, or else they would withdraw their continuous arrival of new settlers from the British sponsorship. As a result, Snyder announced a Isles and Western Europe. This expansion would “review of the name” that by 13 July 2020 led evolve into the so-called original 13 colonies. to the official announcement that the team’s For the next 125 years, both the importation of offensive name and logo would be dropped. Since African slaves and the forced appropriation of then, the football franchise has been called “the Indigenous lands continued until the dawn of the Washington Football Team.” American Revolution in 1775. A Bit of History: African Slavery and Indigenous Peoples’ Land Theft are the Original Manifestations of Racism in America El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz—Malcolm X—often said, “Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research.” Thus, a look at the modern American police department’s historical origin starts in the 17th century with the English slave Now, while the white colonial settlers were perpetrating their naked aggression against the Indigenous peoples and intensifying the oppression of African slaves, the colonial settlers themselves were experiencing, in turn, the economic coercion by their colonial masters, the imperialists representing the British monarchy. In due course, there began the rumblings of revolt by the burgeoning white settler population against their colonial master’s economic oppression. trade with the importation of African slaves onto By 1775—the same year the settlers revolted the colonial American mainland. against the British Empire, thus precipitating the European settlers, mostly from the British Isles, had begun to establish colonies on America’s eastern seaboard in the early 1600s. These mainly English settlers also began American Revolution—the colonial population of the 13 colonies had grown to an estimated 2.5 million inhabitants. Approximately 460,000 were African slaves. Concomitantly, this population of 2.5 million had expanded over some 375,000 importing African slaves from indigenous African square miles of Indigenous land, land forcibly Kingdoms and states—principally from the coastal taken from the people of the Indigenous regions of West Africa—to do the hard labor in nations who would eventually become known as these nascent colonies. At virtually the same time “American Indians.” of forced enslavement of indigenous peoples from Africa, these same settlers were appropriating The Slave Patrols and The Militias land, mostly by force, from the Indigenous communities they came in contact with. (Foot Note on Indian Slavery) It is vital to understand that several decades before the American Republic’s formal founding, the colonial slaveholders formed armed slave This forceful appropriation meant removing the Indigenous communities to make space for the FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL patrols to hunt down and round up African slaves who had managed to escape from colonial WINTER V20 N2 2021 39 THE BRAZEN DAYLIGHT POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AND THE RACIST ORIGIN OF AMERICAN POLICING plantations. Simultaneously, the colonists formed militias, whose principle [sic] role armed militias to force Indigenous peoples off was to repel Native Americans their land that would be confiscated by the colony. whose land they had appropriated. It would be these slave patrols and militias that Members of slave patrols were would be the foundations of the modern police drawn from militia rolls in every departments. Dr. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, writing locale. The South Carolina structure in her book titled Loaded: A Disarming History of slave patrols was adopted in of the Second Amendment, informs us of this other colonies by the mid-eighteenth relationship: century and would remain relatively “Following the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles [29 April to 4 May 1992] and the development of Cop Watch groups in cities around the United States, along with the widespread incarceration of Black men in the 1990s, what had long been known by scholars, but rarely acknowledged in media or history texts, became increasingly clear on a national level: The origins of policing in the United unchanged until the Civil War. Following U.S. independence, this structure and practice was applied to what became the Cotton Kingdom, following the U.S. wars against the Muskogee peoples that ended in their forced relocation to Indian Territory. Virginia was the first of the thirteen English settler colonies in North America, States were rooted in slave patrols…. but there were fewer enslaved Africans Black people escaping to freedom were there, and they were more widely hunted down to prevent labor loss to dispersed than in [other settler colonies their white slavers, and also to send a such as] South Carolina, as Virginia message to those enslaved who might be settlements were long surrounded by strategizing to lose their chains through resistant Native communities. The rebellion or insurrection” (Bold emphasis added; p. 59, A Disarming History of the Second Amendment by Dr. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz). Dr. Dunbar-Ortiz goes on to offer insight into the anti-Indigenous militias and their interface with slave patrols: Virginia militia was founded for one purpose: to kill Indians, take their land, drive them out, wipe them out. [White] European settlers were required by law to own and carry firearms, and all adult male settlers were required to serve in the militia... [After establishing militias By 1704, the South Carolina colonial several years earlier,] in 1705, the government had codified slave Virginia colony enacted its first slave patrols and embedded them within code and established slave patrols... the already existing volunteer In 1727, the Virginia colony enacted a WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 40 MUHAMMAD AL-HASHIMI law requiring militias to create slave patrols, imposing stiff fines on white people who refused to serve.3 Abuses Meted out by the Slave Patrols and the Militias Dr. Dunbar-Ortiz, quoting from an 1860 book titled The Practice at Law in North Carolina, informs us of the activities of the slave patrols that had been and continued to be standard The militias had their own brand of brutality against Indigenous nations. For example, one Indigenous nation, the Tuscarora, were dealt with in the following manner by white settlers: “During the first three decades of Virginia settler incursion, the colony’s militia was used solely to attack and burn down Tuscarora towns, incinerate their crops, and slaughter the families who resided there. By 1722, the embattled across early America: Tuscarora joined [other Indigenous nations in] “The patrol shall visit the negro houses in their respective districts as often as may be necessary, and may inflict a punishment, not exceeding fifteen lashes, on all slaves they may find off their owner’s plantations, without a proper permit or pass, designating the place or places, to which the slaves have leave to go… The patrol shall also visit all suspected places, and suppress all unlawful collections of slaves, shall be diligent in apprehending all runaway negroes in their respective districts; shall be vigilant and endeavor to detect all thefts, and bring the perpetrators to justice, and also all persons guilty of trading with slaves; and if, upon taking up a slave and chastising him, as herein directed, he shall behave insolently, they may inflict further punishment for his misconduct, not and migrated north for protection from settler exceeding thirty-nine lashes.”4 the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) terrorists, while some communities remained in severely deteriorating conditions” (bold emphasis added; pp. 61-62). Thus, the extreme brutality against African slaves and Indigenous peoples was unconscionable. This institution of immoral behavior and brutality has been passed down from generation to generation as the slave patrols and militias morphed into modern American police departments. This is what is meant by the institutionalized racism of American policing! The Texas Rangers One of the most celebrated and glorified police departments in America today is the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers as an institution was glorified in a TV show titled “Walker, Texas The preceding practices were basic, standard punishment. Repeated attempts to escape the plantation by the same slave might have ultimately resulted in the amputation of part of the slave’s foot, such as a toe, to significantly reduce the slave’s ability to run away. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL Ranger,” starring Chuck Norris. The show originally ran for 8 years, from 1993 to 2001, on the CBS network. 3 4 Bold emphasis added; pp. 60-61 of Loaded. Bold emphasis added; p. 63 of Loaded. WINTER V20 N2 2021 41 THE BRAZEN DAYLIGHT POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AND THE RACIST ORIGIN OF AMERICAN POLICING It now can be seen in reruns on various as a fractional being, you are relegating those secondary TV stations. Underneath this veneer individuals to a subhuman status. Consequently, of celebration and glorification is a very dark you have taken a racist attitude toward these history: “Like slave patrols in the Deep South, individuals. the Texas Rangers—formed primarily to kill Comanches, eliminate Native communities, and control colonized Mexicans to take their land— also hunted down enslaved Africans escaping to freedom. They [the Texas Rangers] began to operate in the 1820s” (bold emphasis added; pp. 65-66 of Loaded by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz). Thus, the Texas Rangers was a super militia and While the lofty language generally of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution may encourage one to regard these documents as great examples of human rights and justice, historically, these documents are nevertheless human rights failures. The Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution are human rights failures because these documents slave patrol organization, established initially to were intended only for white men! And here suppress and oppress all non-white individuals I mean “white men” quite literally, for even white in the early Texas territory that would eventually women did not enjoy equality with their white become the 28th state in 1845. male counterparts. This circumstance existed because they did not enjoy the right to vote until The American Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution In reading the original American Declaration of Independence of 1776, one will find that Indigenous peoples, more commonly called “American Indians,” are called “savages.” In the original American Constitution of 1787—Section 2 of Article 1—African slaves are referred to as 1920, approximately 133 years after the original Constitution of 1787 was penned! That right was enshrined in the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Section 8 of Article 1 and the Second Amendment of the American Constitution Section 8 of Article 1 of the American 3/5th of a person. In other words, the seeds of Constitution outlines several powers of Congress, racism are enshrined in the very documents that among them the power of calling forth anti- patriotic Americans regard as the epitome of Indigenous militias from which, as we have seen, human rights and justice. the slave patrols were often selected: Critics may say that the context in which these “The Congress shall have Power… To provide references are found to Indigenous people and for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws African slaves does not necessarily imply racist of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel attitudes. For me, the context is irrelevant; the Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and moment you define a person as a savage or disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 42 MUHAMMAD AL-HASHIMI Part of them as may be employed in the Service Marshall, the first African American to be of the United States, reserving to the States appointed Chief Justice on the United States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and Supreme Court, realized that the American the Authority of training the Militia according Constitution was originally for white men. In to the discipline prescribed by Congress.” Then, 1987, he turned down an invitation to attend a four years later in 1791, the Second Amendment, celebration marking the 200th anniversary of which ensured the continuation of the militias the Constitution’s publication. In an article titled by allowing their formation without an act of “Marshall on Constitution: ‘Defective from Start’” Congress, was added to the Constitution: “A written by David G. Savage, we learn the reasons well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the why Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall refused to security of a free State, the right of the people to accept that invitation: keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Notice how the original constitutional Distancing himself from the ‘flag-waving fervor’ and the spirit of celebration that has statement’s lofty language and the subsequent accompanied this year’s 200th birthday Amendment hides the militias’ original racist of the U.S. Constitution, Supreme Court purposes. Dr. Dunbar-Ortiz clarifies this point as Justice Thurgood Marshall said [to a follows: “Although the U.S. Constitution formally reporter] that the original government plan [i.e., the Constitution] was “defective from the start” and required “two turbulent centuries” to correct. “The true miracle was not the birth of the Constitution, but its life,” Marshall, the first black to sit on the high court, said in a speech delivered to a legal convention in Maui, Hawaii. He pointed out that in 1787, the Constitution’s framers left out a majority of Americans-women and blacks--when they wrote the instituted ‘militias’ as state-controlled bodies that were subsequently deployed to wage wars against Native Americans [i.e., Indigenous nations], the voluntary militias described in the Second Amendment entitled settlers, as individuals and families, to the right to combat Native Americans on their own….Slave patrols comprise… [the other part of] the story in the Second Amendment;...and slave patrols seamlessly evolved into modern police forces,…[and] have normalized racialized violence and affinity for firearms in U.S. phrase, ‘We the People.’ “[Marshall goes on to point out that] it took society (bold emphasis added; pp. 53 and 71 the Civil War and the three constitutional of Loaded). amendments that followed it--the 13th, 14th and 15th--to abolish slavery and give all citizens’ Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall and The United States Constitution No less a personage than the great Thurgood FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL equal protection of the laws,’…[while]…the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave women the right to vote...” WINTER V20 N2 2021 43 THE BRAZEN DAYLIGHT POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AND THE RACIST ORIGIN OF AMERICAN POLICING “Marshall said he hopes that this year’s bicentennial celebration [of 1987] will not be a ‘blind pilgrimage to the shrine of the original document,’ but rather will inspire “a sensitive understanding of the Constitution’s inherent defects, and its promising evolution through 200 years of 5 history.” Even though working in a major center of power as the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Thurgood African slavery in America produced 60 percent of the world’s cotton. “Thus, slavery paid for a substantial share of the capital, iron, and manufactured goods that laid the basis for American economic growth.”6 Obviously, as slave cotton expanded, more land was required. Thus, there remained an ongoing thrust to forcibly divest Indigenous populations and nations of their lands by any means necessary. Marshal was not mesmerized by an initially By the 1850s, most native peoples in the south defective document he had been sworn to uphold. For him, the Constitution was only meaningful and southeast—the Cherokee, the Muskogee, the due to “its promising evolution through 200 years Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Shawnee, and so of history.” And that evolution has not ended as many others—had been driven off their original the fight for freedom and justice continues in homelands to small plots of land east of the Mis- America to this very day. sissippi River to an area mostly located in what is now the state Oklahoma. Indeed, this area be- Stolen Labor and Stolen Land: The Foundation of American Capitalism A strong argument can be made that the cotton produced by African slaves was an essential pillar of the foundation of American capitalism. came known as “Indian Country,” not to become part of the American Republic. The south and southeast lands were especially suited to raising cotton and, therefore, much coveted by slave masters and land speculators. By 1803—62 years before the signing of the The slave patrols and the militias ensured that Emancipation Proclamation that ended de jure stolen labor and stolen land maintained their slavery in America—cotton was the leading centrality in America’s growth under capitalism. American export. In fact, cotton would remain the top American export until 1937 under the de facto form of slavery known as sharecropping. During that time, Great Britain, the most powerful country in the world, imported 70 to 80 percent of its cotton from the cottonproducing slave plantations of America. This cotton powered British textile mills. Overall, slave-grown cotton counted for more than half of America’s export earnings. On the global level, WINTER V20 N2 2021 Bold emphasis added; italicized excerpt taken from “Marshall on Constitution: ‘Defective from Start’” by David G. Savage, online at https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-07mn-4540-story.html. 6 Bold emphasis added; the quotation is taken from “Historical Context: Was Slavery the Engine of American Economic Growth?” by Steve Mintz at https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teaching-resource/historical-context-was-slavery-engine-american-economic-growth; also see “Why Was Cotton King?” by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., at https://www.pbs.org/wnet/ african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/why-was-cotton-king/. 5 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 44 MUHAMMAD AL-HASHIMI After the American Civil War, though legal slavery had ended, it was replaced by First of all, the institution of policing in sharecropping, an economic relationship America is based on the institutions of the between former slave master and former slave African slave patrols and anti-Indigenous very close to actual slavery. militias. Meanwhile, the militias, often assisted by Secondly, the African slave patrols were the American Army, continued to forcibly designed to ensure the ongoing theft of African appropriate native lands west of the Mississippi labor. The anti-Indigenous militias were River, pushing Indigenous peoples onto relatively smaller tracts of land called reservations until the Pacific Ocean was reached. This is because these lands west of the Mississippi, though not designed to ensure the Indigenous nations’ land’s ongoing theft, forcibly removing Indigenous peoples from their lands, lands stretching from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans. necessarily suitable for growing cotton, were, nevertheless, found to be rich in gold, silver, oil, and other resources. Clearly, American capitalism is founded on the stolen labor of African slaves and the stolen land Thirdly, stolen African labor and stolen Indigenous land were the two primary pillars of the American imperial project that established the American nation as we know it today. The American imperial project is, in turn, the of the Indigenous nations. The slave patrols and foundation of American corporate wealth. This the anti-Indigenous militias helped to maintain fact will help to understand why modern policing the institutions of stolen labor and stolen land. instinctively protects American corporate proper- The slave patrols and anti-Indigenous militias ty while oppressing non-white communities. themselves became institutions whose racist ideologies were passed down to our modern police departments. As a result of the heinous historical activities of the slave patrols and militias, America as a nation is guilty of crimes Finally, American corporate wealth as the foundation of English capitalism supports and drives the global American imperial project through the American military-industrialcommercial complex. against humanity ranging from enslavement, physical mutilation, and rape all the way to the This is why America is guilty internationally genocide of its non-white inhabitants for most of of egregious and destabilizing activities. An its history! example of such activity is the present-day military support by the United States of Saudi In Summary In the preceding presentation, I have attempted to shed some light on three crucial points: FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL Arabia in its indiscriminate war in Yemen since the initial 2015 bombing of the Yemeni people. Also, the American foreign wars projecting the drone bombing program that has taken WINTER V20 N2 2021 45 THE BRAZEN DAYLIGHT POLICE MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD AND THE RACIST ORIGIN OF AMERICAN POLICING thousands of innocent lives in Afghanistan, East dismantling and defunding of police departments Africa, and Yemen to pursue alleged terrorists. must occur. This will be the only way to tackle To launch its imperial power worldwide, America the deeply embedded institutionalized racism maintains some 800 military bases in more than that now prevails. However, this will require 70 countries around the world. By comparison, a sensible, workable plan to rebuild these Britain, France, and Russia combined have only dismantled, defunded institutions into new 30 foreign installations globally.7 institutions where racist practices are minimized. They must be rebuilt in such a way as to handle As We Look to The Future As I have watched The Black Lives Matter anti-racist movement unfold, I have observed two things. First of all, some young activists have voiced the opinion that if the current peaceful protests do not work, a more militant approach may have to be taken. Secondly, it has been mentioned by some activists that they are very well aware of the fact that some police departments have been actively recruiting white nationalists. These individuals believe in white supremacy’s primacy in the corridors of political and economic power in America. Thus, there are some very ominous signs lurking in the background. If systematic racism in the American policing system is going to be tackled effectively, some legitimate policing activity that significantly reduces the occurrence, even the possibility of racist abuse of the non-white populace. In my opinion, this will go a long way to defuse the tension between both sides—the uniform police and the non-white public that they are supposed to be serving. Otherwise, the hardening of attitudes I mentioned above may lead to civil disturbances based on armed conflict, especially in the urban areas. Dismantling and defunding police departments and replacing them with entirely new institutions meant to serve non-white communities, not abuse them, may be the last hope in America to peacefully bring about change in America’s police institutions. May we all pray for and work for peaceful solutions. 7 See “Where in the World is the U.S. Military?” by David Vine at https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/us-military-basesaround-the-world-119321. WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 46 MUHAMMAD AL-HASHIMI This Article may be cited as: Al-Hashimi, M. (2021) The Brazen Daylight Police Murder of George Floyd and The Racist Origin of American Policing. Fourth World Journal. Vol. 20, N1. pp. 34-46. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Muhammad Al-Hashimi Muhammad Al-Hashimi, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer at Euclid University (Pole Universitaire Euclide), www.euclid.int, Washington, DC, USA; and Banjul, The Gambia, West Africa. Dr. Al-Hashimi is the author of Islam and Pan-Africanism, (Detroit: El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Press, 1973) and The Oppressed Muslims in Ethiopia, (Washington, D.C.: El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz Press, 1986) FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 48 Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Levels and Effects on Plant Nutrition and Health of Indigenous Peoples; a Review of Current Research By Cora Moran, Rudolph Rÿser & Susan McCleary ABSTRACT The extent to which current academic research has investigated the possibility that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon-based gases are affecting the health of indigenous peoples is a pressing issue. As described in the paper ‘Traditional Foods and Medicines and Mounting Chronic Disease for Indigenous Peoples Worldwide’, prior meta-analyses of extant literature have noted that “elevated CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have negatively affected cultivars of various commercial crop species resulting in serious chronic disease consequences for human beings”. This paper notes that there is a “dearth of information on the changing nutrition (protein, micronutrients, bioavailability) of wild plants and animals, which constitute from 40% to 80% of Fourth World peoples’ diet and sources of medicine” which “suggests the need for further research”. The effects of elevated carbon-based gases in the atmosphere may impact on the nutritional value of consumable plants and animals and consequently directly affect the health of indigenous peoples and other peoples in the world dependent on commercially cultivated foods and medicines. As part of this call for further research, this paper seeks to investigate the extent to which current academic literature has investigated the possibility that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon-based gases are affecting the health of indigenous peoples. Gaining a clear picture of the state of such research will help to determine the particular vulnerabilities of distinct peoples from these changes, develop strategies tailored to assist indigenous peoples in mitigating any effects and determine any insights their káhlaculture based lifeways may present for adaptation to the effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 levels for humanity generally. A mixed methods analysis of relevant literature was conducted for this investigation, providing an overview of findings on the large scale social and ecological effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and reviewing the extent to which current academic research has investigated the possibility that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon-based gases are affecting the health of indigenous peoples specifically. In order to review current findings from research about this, a mixed FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 49 ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVELS AND EFFECTS ON PLANT NUTRITION AND HEALTH OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; A REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH methods analysis of relevant literature was undertaken, providing a holistic overview of findings and the effects of elevated atmospheric carbon-based gas levels on indigenous communities. The findings from this provide an overview of the wider ecological and human health effects of rising atmospheric carbon-based gases and insights into where further research is required to address current gaps in the literature. Key words: kálhaculture, Fourth World peoples, nutrition, chronic disease “Kálhaculture” A term derived from two themselves are sustained. Some nations of words; the first is an Oneida word for “forest or course do not follow this maxim, but rather woods”, the second is from the Latin meaning pursue an expansionist paradigm with wide “worshiping Earth” or tending to the earth. It scale unsustainable resource use contributing succinctly describes the concept of the balanced to excessive waste production including climate use of nature that indigenous peoples carry altering gases such as carbon dioxide [CO2] into out every day; producing foods and medicines the atmosphere and oceans; the effect of this from the natural world, whilst balancing the being to dramatically affect the natural balance reciprocal needs of humans, plants, animals and of ecosystems and compromise the ability of life the Earth’s capacity to restore life. supporting plants and animals to survive. Are Fourth World Peoples [Indigenous peoples] “stewards” of the natural world? This argument is often put forward in popular There are more than 5000 distinct nations of indigenous cultures spread across the planet, reflecting the ingenious and successful adaptations human beings have made to the literature to romanticise the actual pragmatic greatly varied ecosystems that support life. relationship between Fourth World peoples and Indigenous nations inhabit almost every the natural world. Dependence on the natural environment type on this planet from some of the world requires a practical commitment to richest and most fertile lands in the world, such sustain that world for personal nourishment and as the region between the Tigris and Euphrates renewal. Long evolved cultural practices aimed rivers in eastern Syria and Northern Iraq, to at balancing human needs against maintaining the most arid regions including the Sahara the capacity of the earth’s biosphere to provide Desert. The cultural adjustments made by each for them in a sustainable fashion are a practical successful community and its descendants in necessity for realistic prospects of continued order to prosper in different ecosystems, as well survival. Sustaining the diversity of the biological as to varied climate conditions, is testament to world in turn means that indigenous peoples the power of culture and enduring flexibility WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 50 CORA MORAN, RUDOLPH RŸSER & SUSAN MCCLEARY of peoples. The very richness and diversity of life in the natural world is reflected in human diversity; cultural responses to the environment as demonstrated in the practice of Kálhaculture. While the cultural variation present between societies is immense, one common theme can be said to unite indigenous peoples around the globe; that they predominantly respect the natural environment and exploit it only to the extent that the earth can replenish, they all practice kálhaculture1 to some degree. This of course stands in direct contrast to the practices of metropolitan societies and the large-scale waste streams produced by industrialised nations, such as the emission of greenhouse gases that are altering the earth’s biosphere on a global scale. Elevated levels of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have risen from 280 parts per million [ppm] in the preindustrial period (NASA 2020), to 415ppm at present, looking set to rise up to 750ppm at the end of this century (Marland and Boden 2002). It has been documented in a range of studies that rising CO2 levels have effects on plants; namely that higher levels enable plants to grow more quickly, but what is often less noted is that higher levels of carbon dioxide have often been documented to have negative impacts on plant nutrition. The scale of the change in atmospheric CO2 means that in addition to leading to rapid climate change, the increasing levels of the gas itself may have significant effects on human health globally as well as wider ecological effects. As such this phenomenon merits further investigation. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL Whilst elevated atmospheric greenhouse gases will have an effect on the world population as a whole there are of course substantial disparities in wealth globally and diversity of life ways, which all affect the nature of people’s diets. One noted risk from elevated CO2 levels is many plants producing less protein (Conroy 1992, 445) and having reduced levels of certain micro and macronutrients (Dong, et al. 2018, 1). Such effects are most likely easiest to mitigate in the world’s wealthy industrialized nations where higher levels of animal protein consumption in people’s diets and the availability of multivitamins and a range of store-bought crops mean for a great deal of choice to maintain a balanced diet. The majority of the world’s population does not have the luxury of mitigating the adverse effects of elevated CO2 levels, with economically impoverished people in urban areas and rural populations generally relying more on plantbased proteins in their diets (Solomons 2000, 41). In many parts of the world where these people predominantly rely on the industrial food system they also have access to a limited range of plant species for the majority of their caloric needs and only a few select cultivars of those species (FAO 2020). The homogeneity of such diets with their dependence on a limited range of plant species place such populations at heightened risk of inadequate nutrition from increasing CO2 levels negatively impacting on the nutritional qualities of plants. 1 The word Kálhaculture is derived from two words. The first is an Oneida word for “forest or woods” and the second word is from the Latin meaning “worshiping Earth” or tending to the earth. This word has been employed to provide a clear explanatory term for the concept of balanced use of nature that indigenous peoples carry out on a daily basis. WINTER V20 N2 2021 51 ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVELS AND EFFECTS ON PLANT NUTRITION AND HEALTH OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; A REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH These two generalized groups, of course, omit Many Fourth World peoples employ a great deal of diversity within and between Kálhaculture2 methods to obtain sustenance countries but provide a useful framework when from a much broader range of plant species than reviewing the effects of rising CO2 levels on the people in industrialized nations or many of the largest scale globally. Overlooked in such broad urban poor in the majority world. Alongside scale research and overview is the world’s Fourth gathering, horticultural methods employed as World [indigenous] peoples. While these different part of such lifeways are arguably more biodiverse peoples predominantly reside in the global south than mechanized agricultural practices; localized or often live as marginalized communities in production and consumption means for much industrialized nations they often have a distinct greater heterogeneity of plant breeds within nuance in their lifeways that provide invaluable even relatively small geographical areas. This insights. Namely, that though many of these diversity, combined with a more labour-intensive, groups often consume predominantly relational system of food production means for plant-based diets complimented by fish and wild much greater levels of plant diversity. There are, caught animal protein sources, they typically for example, a rich diversity of varieties of mahiz eat a much broader range of species and many [Taino for the Spanish maize] in countries such as more varieties of more widely consumed crop México (O’Leary 2016) , as opposed to a handful plants of which only a few cultivars are grown of varieties grown throughout the majority of the commercially (Swiderska and Ryan 2020). United States (Hwang 2017). The genetic narrowing from most agricultural As described in the paper ‘Traditional Foods production leads to greater vulnerability of crops and Medicines and Mounting Chronic Disease to ecological change, in addition to impacts from for Indigenous Peoples Worldwide’, prior climate change (Swiderska and Ryan 2020). If meta-analyses of extant literature have noted the limited number of varieties of a few crops that “elevated CO2 and other greenhouse gases that are used to produce the majority of global in the atmosphere have negatively affected calories are nutritionally affected by rising carbon cultivars of various commercial crop species dioxide levels there is relatively little scope within resulting in serious chronic disease the system for any dynamic adaptation to a consequences for human beings” change in conditions. Traditional agricultural and (Rÿser 2019, 13). horticultural methods with their greater genetic diversity, and dynamic cultivation practices that are responsive and adaptable to changing conditions are likely to have a greater capacity to maintain adequate nutrition in the face of change, especially for those living on a primarily plantbased diet (Swiderska and Ryan 2020). WINTER V20 N2 2021 2 “Kálhaculture” is a word that means the production of foods and medicines from natural world, while balancing the reciprocal needs of humans, animals and the Earth’s capacity to restore life. This term accurately refers to the methods employed by Fourth World nations emphasizing the reciprocal relationship between human beings and natural life support foods and medicines. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 52 CORA MORAN, RUDOLPH RŸSER & SUSAN MCCLEARY This paper notes that there is a “dearth of indigenous peoples in mitigating any effects information on the changing nutrition (protein, and determine any insights their káhlaculture micronutrients, bioavailability) of wild plants based lifeways may present for adaptation to the and animals, which constitute from 40% to 80% effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 levels for of Fourth World peoples’ diet and sources of humanity generally. Furthermore, such research medicine” which “suggests the need for further may provide deeper insights into the elevated research” (Rÿser 2019, 13). The effects of elevated CO2 measures and the health and nutrition of all CO2 gases in the atmosphere may produce effects peoples. on the nutritional value of consumable plants and animals and consequently directly affect the health of indigenous peoples and other peoples in the world dependent on commercially cultivated foods and medicines Methodology ● Guided searches were conducted on Google and in the Center for World Indigenous Studies archive, with studies focused on changes As part of this call for further research, this in atmospheric carbon gases in relation to paper seeks to investigate the extent to which plants and/or animals within the last 30 years current academic research has investigated the considered appropriate for analysis. Papers possibility that elevated levels of atmospheric were selected randomly from this cohort to carbon-based gases are affecting the health of provide a representative sample of available indigenous peoples. In order to gain a clear literature for analysis. picture of current findings from research about this crucial issue, a mixed methods analysis of ● More than 100 individual studies and relevant literature was conducted for this paper, meta studies were selected and reviewed, providing an overview of findings on the large with details noted for each paper according scale social and ecological effects of increasing to pre-specified categories, selected to ensure atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and reviewing information regarding each facet under the extent to which current academic research has evaluation could be noted. This was in order investigated the possibility that elevated levels of to evaluate where possible the relationship atmospheric carbon-based gases are affecting the between geographic location, CO2 levels, health of indigenous peoples specifically. plant and animal characteristics and uses, changes in nutritional or medicinal values Gaining a clear picture of the state of such and indigenous nations. Details were also research will help to determine the particular noted of author, copyright, publisher and vulnerabilities of distinct peoples from these funding of papers to review any potential changes, develop strategies tailored to assist author bias. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 53 ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVELS AND EFFECTS ON PLANT NUTRITION AND HEALTH OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; A REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH ● Categories noting the relevant details from ● The overall set of papers was then analysed each paper selected according to the above for their relevance to elevated atmospheric criteria were; carbon-based gas levels and indigenous community health responses, with those prior identified as having clear methodological issues or political bias or funding issues excluded. ● The relationship between nutrition and consumption of plants and animals is directly associated with the health levels of human populations. With some indigenous communities wholly or partially reliant on non-commercial, non-cultivated foods, any ● Those papers lacking robust methodological rigour or clear partisan bias were discounted as a first stage of analysis. Publications flagged up as such were reviewed by another investigation team member and any cases where there was disagreement over the status was put out to a third researcher to decide upon. ● In order to provide an overview summary of findings from reviewed papers with regards to the effects of the rise of atmospheric CO2 levels difference in their health compared to the wider population who primarily subsist on domesticated crops in the context of globally increasing CO2 levels is of note. ● Since indigenous peoples also rely heavily on plants and animals for medicinal support it is equally important to evaluate any changes in the beneficial effects from these sources owing to elevated CO2. ● The health of indigenous peoples (in so since the Industrial Revolution, findings from far as chronic diseases are concerned) may be papers were sub-categorised into ‘wider ecological inferred from gas levels, plant types or animal effects, general effects on crops and humanity types, nutritional changes in these sources of globally’ and the specific effects on changes in nutrition and any medicinal changes. Such the nutritional quality of crop plant species on factors may mean it can be concluded that there large-scale human demographic groups globally, is a relationship between elevated atmospheric ‘industrialised nations’, ‘the majority world urban carbon-based gas levels and indigenous poor’ and ‘indigenous peoples and majority world community health responses. rural poor’ [see infographic 1]. These categories were selected to provide a holistic overview of ● In order to evaluate the extent to which background factors and large-scale demographic current academic research has investigated this groups as described in the introduction. possibility, the below categories from reviewed WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 54 CORA MORAN, RUDOLPH RŸSER & SUSAN MCCLEARY papers were selected and the extent to which Combined scores of 9 or greater were deemed as they have noteworthy relevance to elevated supportive. Papers were analysed and categorised atmospheric carbon-based gas levels and their independently by two researchers and any cases effect on indigenous communities assessed. where there was disagreement over the status it was put out to a third researcher to decide upon. ● The selected papers reviewed as having noteworthy relevance to elevated atmospheric carbon-based gas levels and their effect on indigenous community health responses are ● The details recorded in each category for each paper were rated from 0=not relevant, 1=possible relevance, 2=relevant to 3= highly relevant. Combined scores of values less than nine were deemed unsupportive or unrelated. reviewed below in conjunction with the wider background information summarised in infographic 1. This mixed methods approach providing a holistic overview of findings from relevant literature. Infographic 1 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 55 ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVELS AND EFFECTS ON PLANT NUTRITION AND HEALTH OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; A REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH Results & Analysis - Elevated atmospheric carbon-based gas levels and their effect on indigenous community health responses Only a relatively small proportion of the papers in this study were deemed as highly relevant in the criteria, 22 papers out of 112, indicative of the need for further research in this area. These papers can broadly be distinguished into three themes; wider impacts on ecology from changes in plant physiology due to increasing levels of atmospheric carbon gases, the effects of this on human health generally and on indigenous peoples specifically. For instance, (Williams 2010) describes that plants generally have lower protein levels in higher CO2 concentrations, this has wider ecological effects on ecosystems but means humans have to eat more to obtain the same amount of protein from plants and for the majority of the world population eating a primarily plant-based diet this will present issues. In terms of ecosystems, lower protein nutritional quality of leaves may mean forest ecosystems can no longer support animals such as koala, possums and sugar gliders. Lower nutritional content of plants more broadly with higher plant toxicity loads also present issues for animals such as insects and affect general ecosystem health. This paper discussed issues presented by this phenomenon in the wider context of increasing food output globally whilst reducing inputs in the context of ecosystem degradation. Specific mention was also made of increased cyanide toxicity in plants such as cassava, which whilst concentrated in the peel of this plant still reduces its nutritive benefits. Findings corroborated by (Gleadow, et al. 2009). WINTER V20 N2 2021 Plants may gain some benefits from increasing CO2 levels with plants having enhanced carbon uptake, general reduced water use, increased photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency in C3 plants, with legumes having the potential to respond maximally, and can also benefit nonlegumes growing alongside them (Andres, et al. 2009). “C4 photosynthesis is not directly stimulated by elevated [CO2]. Nevertheless, there is significant potential for increased growth of C4 plants at elevated [CO2] to decrease water use and reduce drought stress, leading via this indirect mechanism to greater photosynthesis and yield” (Andres, et al. 2009, 2869). Such findings are also corroborated in (Conroy, Influence of Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations on Plant Nutrition 1992). There are also crop specific effects with regards to protein level changes grown at elevated [540– 958 ppm] compared with ambient [315–400 ppm] CO2, as described in (Taub, Miller and Allen 2007) for “wheat, barley and rice, the reduction in grain protein concentration was-10–15% of the value at ambient CO2. For potato, the reduction in tuber protein concentration was 14%. For soybean, there was a much smaller, although statistically significant reduction of protein concentration of 1.4%” (Taub, Miller and Allen 2007, 565). Changes in plant nutrition was not purely restricted to human food crops, perennial ryegrass and white clover showed rising atmospheric CO2 levels from 380-670ppm increased the dry-matter yield of white clover/ ryegrass also likely impacting upon its nutritive value which may have implications for grassland management (Schenk, Jäger and Weigel 1997). FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 56 CORA MORAN, RUDOLPH RŸSER & SUSAN MCCLEARY Wider points were noted with regards to proportion of the global population are likely to the effects of CO2 on plant health, including have significantly reduced levels of these elements potentially unforeseen effects on insects by mid 21st century anticipated atmospheric (Barbehenn, Karowe and Chen 2004) and CO2 levels, as detailed in (Dietterich, et al. 2015). important observations such as though the This finding is corroborated in (Loladze 2014) nutritional quality of C3 plants will decline more and ‘Food Safety, Nutrition and Distribution’ under elevated atmospheric CO2 than will the which notes that “rising CO2 levels are very likely nutritional quality of C4 plants, herbivorous to lower the concentrations of essential micro insects did not increase their feeding rate on and microelements such as iron, zinc, calcium, C3 plants or increase their predation levels on magnesium, copper, sulphur, phosphorus, currently less favoured C4 plants due to their and nitrogen in most plants (including major “lower nutrient levels, higher fiber levels, and cereals and staple crops” (Ziska, Crimmins, et greater toughness” (Barbehenn, Karowe and al. 2016, 197). In addition to such changes it Spickard 2004, 86). notes increasing carbohydrate and decreasing ‘Elevated CO2 effects on plant carbon, nitrogen and water relations: six important lessons from FACE’ also notes the limitations of such experiments; the [CO2] ‘fertilization’ effect in proportional protein content are expected in many crops and that “an increase in dietary carbohydrates-to-protein ratio can have unhealthy effects on human metabolism and body mass” (Ziska, Crimmins, et al. 2016, 197). FACE studies on crop plants is less than expected, “data from laboratory and chamber experiments The potential knock on effects of this are set systematically overestimate the yields of the out in ‘Canaries in the coal mine: a cross-species major food crops, yet may underestimate the analysis of the plurality of obesity epidemics’ biomass production of trees” (Andres, et al. 2009, which states that alongside the observed increase 2870). The potential limitations of lab-based in obesity in humans, analogous increases in field studies, complexity of interactions between average mid-life body weights have been observed different ecosystem components and the variation among primates and rodents living in research of effects on individual crop species as outlined colonies as well as among feral rodents and above illustrates the need for further research. domestic cats and dogs (Klimentidis, et al. 2010, 1626). This is evidenced by multigenerational The changes in plant’s growth and composition due to elevated atmospheric CO2 levels will likely have a range of effects on human nutrition beyond the lower protein levels detailed above as well as wider ecological effects. Staple crops that provide dietary iron and zinc for a large FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL assessments of animals with data from the 1970s & 80s to the present, during which time atmospheric CO2 levels have increased from e.g. circa 340ppm in 1980 and <400ppm today. Findings also corroborated in (Hersoug, Sjödin and Astrup 2012). WINTER V20 N2 2021 57 ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVELS AND EFFECTS ON PLANT NUTRITION AND HEALTH OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; A REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH Insights from research such as the above noting vegetables, fruits, herbs spices and other foods) the effects on human health of changes to plant with an emphasis on foods rich in micronutrients physiology due to increasing levels of atmospheric (Bhattacharjee, et al. 2009, 228). CO2 also offer potential insights for methods of adaptation, maize for example may be able to maintain growth under higher CO2 and mild drought (Yu-zheng and Zhou-ping 2016, 2775) making it a crop that may have better resilience Other papers have described wider ecological impacts of climate change and their effects in indigenous peoples’ lifeways and food security. For example, ‘The Impacts of climate change growing in the face of climate change. Some on tribal traditional foods’ notes that tribal crops also appear to maintain current mineral harvesters for example, have noticed shifts in concentrations in elevated CO2 concentrations, the harvesting times of traditional foods, climate notably sorghum and potatoes showing no change impacting on ecosystems and lifecycle significant change in iron content (Smith, Golden processes in complex ways and that “if the and Myers 2017, 250). Such knowledge can timing of flowering plants and the presence of inform selection of crops to grow for maximal pollinators, such as birds and insects, become nutrition in addition to growth resilience to less synchronized, impacts can ripple throughout changed conditions. the food webs” (Lynn, et al. 2013, 546). Impacts on marine ecosystems and changes in the fruiting With regards to health effects on indigenous of berry plants as having substantial effects on people specifically some papers noted general traditional health practices were also observed trends with regards to the effects on indigenous (Lynn, et al. 2013, 548) . It also notes that peoples, ‘Northwest African and Middle Eastern “Tribes are experiencing declines in health that food and dietary change of indigenous peoples’ accompany traditional food use declines. noting there was good data on a regional level Obesity, diabetes and cancer, rare in to demonstrate changing food patterns but communities living on a traditional diet, are less evidence regarding different peoples in the now increasing health problems in tribes across region and indigenous peoples’ dietary changes the U.S.” (Lynn, et al. 2013, 547). Changes in (Kuhnlein and Johns 2003, 348-349). Likewise, local traditional food harvests were also Indigenous Foods and Nutrition Security in observed in (Guyot, et al. 2006). India: A Case Study regarding the Bhil people of India only discusses nutritional composition of ‘Populations of concern’ provides a detailed plants with current CO2 levels given rather than overview of the factors affecting demographic a future elevated scenario (Bhattacharjee, et al. groups in the United States who will be negatively 2009). Though it does provide recommendations impacted by Climate Change (Gamble, et al. for strengthening and promoted integrated home 2016). The various indigenous peoples of the gardening through increased production and country are mentioned as part of this, with consumption of nutritious foods (indigenous leafy specific case study examples provided for WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 58 CORA MORAN, RUDOLPH RŸSER & SUSAN MCCLEARY particular groups. With regards to food security in the abundance and nutrient content of certain Changes in indigenous peoples’ diet and the health effects were detailed, without specific allusions to elevated atmospheric carbon levels metabolic effects, in ‘Arctic Indigenous Peoples Experience the Nutrition Transition with changing Dietary Patterns and Obesity’ (Kuhnlein, et al. 2004). Similar conclusions are drawn in ‘Climate Change and health in Nunavik and Labrador: Lessons from Inuit knowledge’ foodstuffs, such as berries for Alaska Native (Furgal, Martin and Gosselin 2002). it notes climate change is projected to reduce the nutrient and protein content of some crops, like wheat and rice which will disproportionately affect marginalised groups; “Examples of how climate changes can affect the health of Indigenous peoples include changes communities; declining moose populations in Minnesota, which are significant to many Ojibwe peoples and an important source of dietary protein;, rising temperatures and lack of available water for farming among Navajo people; and declines in traditional rice harvests among the Ojibwe in the Upper Great Lakes region. Traditional foods and livelihoods are embedded in Indigenous cultural beliefs and subsistence practices”, “Climate impacts on traditional foods may result in poor nutrition and increased obesity and diabetes.” (Gamble, et al. 2016, 253-254) “In addition, oceans are becoming more acidic as they absorb some of the carbon dioxide (CO2) added to the atmosphere by fossil fuel burning and other sources, and this change in acidity can lower shellfish survival. This affects Indigenous peoples on the West and Gulf Coasts and Alaska Natives whose livelihoods depend on shellfish harvests. Rising sea levels will also destroy fresh and saltwater habitats that some Indigenous peoples located along the Gulf Coast rely upon for subsistence food.” (Gamble, et al. 2016, 254). FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL In addition to these points, it can also be noted that there is a likely relationship between increased levels of chronic disease and reliance on commercially produced foods and lower levels of nutritive value in wild plant foods. As highlighted in Infographic 1, majority world urban poor populations have had notable dietary changes with increasing reliance on commercially produced foods contributing to rising obesity levels in the context of a rapid shift from a subsistence to an industrialised economy (Popkin 2004, 141-142). Changes in diet away from traditional sources are also causing health problems for many groups of indigenous people (Gordon and Oddo 2012, 9). This is in addition to elevated CO2 potentially causing complex phytochemical changes in wild plant foods which may negatively affect their nutritive value (Wand, et al. 1999) and effectiveness when used in a medicinal context (Ziska, Emche, et al. 2005). In conjunction with this, wider effects of climate change have been noted to have effects on medicinal plant composition (Gairola , et al. 2010, 1826). WINTER V20 N2 2021 59 ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVELS AND EFFECTS ON PLANT NUTRITION AND HEALTH OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; A REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH Conclusions and recommendations for further research An overall picture of the ecological effects of dramatic trends toward higher levels of chronic disease—particularly diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease and cancers. Elevated levels of CO2 and the consequent changes in nutritional rising atmospheric CO2 levels can be drawn from content in plants may contribute significantly current literature with regards to wider ecological to these health changes combined with the effects, general effects on crops and humanity increased dependence of indigenous peoples on globally, with impacts on major demographic commercially produced foods that contain higher groups drawn out. Though limitations were levels of sugars and processed ingredients. noted such as those of lab-based field studies overlooking the complexity of interactions Only a relatively small proportion of the between different ecosystem components and selected papers reviewed were deemed as having the variation of effects on individual crop species noteworthy relevance to the specific effects of which limits what can be concluded from such elevated atmospheric carbon-based gas levels research methods. on indigenous community health responses. Up to 80% of the world’s 1.9 billion indigenous Whilst the effect of rising atmospheric CO2 was mentioned in terms of its effect on ecosystems people either wholly or mainly depend on and indigenous people’s wellbeing, relatively little naturally produced foods and medicines or mention was made of the specific impacts of its foods produced through kálhacultural practices. effect on reducing nutrition from plants and the Traditional foods and medicines are essential implications for indigenous peoples’ health in to the diets of these many different peoples, yet most selected papers. While the selected studies evidence is building to indicate that as a result considered in this analysis did not directly focus of unrestricted development pressures, elevate on food and medicine by indigenous peoples’ CO2 in the atmosphere and forced removals of consumption other notable studies concerned peoples from their territories indigenous peoples with indigenous peoples’ nutrition and health have become more reliant on commercially strongly suggest a connection between changes in produced and distributed foods and medicines. atmospheric carbon gases and changes in plant And through studies conducted by the Center for nutritional value. As noted above researchers World Indigenous Studies, Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment, Center associate elevated CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with adversely affecting for Traditional Medicine, the International cultivars of various commercial crop species Development Research Centre and the United resulting in increased incidents of chronic Nations Food and Agriculture Organization disease (Dietterich et al., 2015a; Loladze, 2014; evidence is growing to indicate that indigenous Thompson & Cohen, 2012). Hence, indigenous peoples in North America, parts of South America and Central Africa as well as Europe show WINTER V20 N2 2021 peoples dependent on agriculture and shifting away from kálhaculture are particularly FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 60 CORA MORAN, RUDOLPH RŸSER & SUSAN MCCLEARY vulnerable to the effects of elevated carbon gases in the atmosphere adversely affecting the nutritional values on plant-based and animal-based foods. 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Accessed December 11th, 2020. https://cli- mate.nasa.gov/evidence/ . [25] O’Leary, Matthew. 2016. Maize: From Mexico to the world. 20 May. Accessed November 11, 2020. https://www.cimmyt.org/blogs/maize-from-mexico-to-the-world/. [26] Popkin, Barry M. 2004. Nutrition Reviews 62 (7): 140-143. [27] Rÿser, Rudolph C. 2019. “Traditional Foods and Medicines and Mounting Chronic Disease for Indigenous Peoples Worldwide.” Fourth World Journal 17 (2). [28] Schenk, U., H. J. Jäger, and H. J. Weigel. 1997. “The response of perennial ryegrass/white clover mini-swords to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations: effects on yield and fodder quality.” Grass and Forage Science 52 (3): 232-241. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 63 ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVELS AND EFFECTS ON PLANT NUTRITION AND HEALTH OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; A REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH [29] Smith, M. R., C. D. Golden, and S. S. Myers. 2017. “Potential rise in iron deficiency due to future anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.” GeoHealth 1 (6): 248-257. [30] Solomons , Noel W. 2000. “Plant-based diets are traditional in developing countries: 21st centu- ry challenges for better nutrition and health.” Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr (Center for Studies of Sensory Impairment, Ageing and Metabolism) 41-54. [31] Swiderska, Krystyna, and Philippa Ryan. 2020. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems hold the key to feeding humanity. 23 October. Accessed November 11, 2020. https://www.iied.org/indigenous-peoples-food-systems-hold-key-feeding-humanity. [32] Taub, Daniel R., Brian Miller, and Holly Allen. 2007. “Effects of elevated CO2 on the protein con- centration of food crops: a meta-analysis.” Global Change Biology 14 (3): 565 - 575. [33] Wand, Stephanie J.E., Guy F. Midgley, Michael H. Jones, and Peter S. Curtis. 1999. “Responses of wild C4 and C3 grass (Poaceae) species to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration: a meta-analytic test of current theories and perceptions.” Global Change Biology 5 (6): 723-741. [34] Williams, R. 2010. How Plants respond to increasing carbon dioxide. 3 July . Accessed September 2020. https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/how-plants-respond-to-increasing-carbon-dioxide/3031138. [35] Yu-zheng, Zong, and Shangguan Zhou-ping . 2016. “Increased sink capacity enhances C and N assimilation under drought and elevated CO2 conditions in maize.” Journal of Integrative Agriculture 15 (12): 2775-2785. [36] Ziska, Lewis, Allison Crimmins, A. Auclair, S. DeGrasse , Jada Garofalo, A.S. Khan, Irakli Loladze, et al. 2016. “Ch. 7: Food Safety, Nutrition, and Distribution.” In The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment Chapter: Ch. 7: Food Safety, Nutrition, and Distribution. U.S. Global Change Research. [37] Ziska, Lewis, Stephen D. Emche, E. L. Johnson, Keegan George, D. R. Reed, and R. C. Sicher. 2005. “Alterations in the production and concentration of selected alkaloids as a function of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide and air temperature: Implications for ethno-pharmacology.” Global Change Biology 11 ( 10): 1798 - 1807. WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 64 CORA MORAN, RUDOLPH RŸSER & SUSAN MCCLEARY This Article may be cited as: Moran C., Rÿser, R., McCleary, S. (2021) Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Levels and Effects on Plant Nutrition and Health of Indigenous Peoples, a Review of Current Research. Fourth World Journal Vol. 20 N2 pp. 48-64 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Cora Moran !"#$%&"#$'%()%$'%*+,*#(*'-*.%#*)*$#-/*#%0(1/%.*2#**)%('%3'1/#","4"25%6%7'8(#"'9*'1$4%:;)1$('$<(4(15=% >*#%#*)*$#-/%/$)%?"-;)*.%"'%1",(-)%"?%,*#9$-;41;#*%.*)(2'%,#('-(,4*)@%/*#(1$2*%?"".%)*-;#(15%('%$% -/$'2('2%-4(9$1*%$'.%AB4$/-;41;#*%C('.(2*'";)%0/"4*%*'8(#"'9*'1%)-(*'-*%$'.%,#$-1(-*D=%E'%$..(1("'@% )/*%/$)%?"-;)*.%"'%;#<$'%$2#(-;41;#*@%)9$44%)-$4*%?$#9('2%)5)1*9)@%2*")-(*'-*@%39*#(-$'%E'.($'% *'8(#"'9*'1$4%-;41;#$4%,#$-1(-*)@%$'.%#*'*0$<4*%*'*#25= Rudolph Rÿser, Ph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`(".(8*#)(15%T$#)@%!"*+()1*'-*%"#% `("-;41;#$4%!"44$,)*%('%1/*%^X)1%!*'1;#5]%C^_XYD=%>*%/$)%?"#%9"#*%1/$'%?(a5%5*$#)%0"#A*.%('%1/*%?(*4.%"?%E'.($'%3b$(#)%$)%$%0#(1*#V% #*)*$#-/*#V%$'.%$.8()"#%1"%,"4(1(-$4%4*$.*#)%"?%S";#1/%T"#4.%'$1("')%1/#";2/";1%1/*%0"#4.= Susan McCleary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66 Amending the Rome Statute and Peoples: Crimes Against Present and Future Generations (CPFG) By Zane Dangor ABSTRACT The Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC), in 2002, sought to end the impunity associated with mass crimes. After decades of negotiations in the international community, the ICC emerged to establish an apex court able to investigate and prosecute individuals most responsible for crimes of concern to the international community1. These crimes include Genocide, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Crimes of Aggression. Key Words: corporate conduct, corporate human rights obligations, ICC, international crimes and permanent damage to the environment, poverty and environmental harms, international criminal law and environmental harms, harmful economic systems A significant gap in the Rome Statute is that it does not cater to mass crimes or harms committed by Corporations. Corporate conduct and its role in human rights abuses and actions that give rise to and sustain poverty have come under renewed scrutiny. The United Nations and human rights advocacy organizations have focused on corporate use and support of sweatshop labor in the footwear and apparel industries, permanent damage to the environment, and the destruction of peoples’ livelihood capabilities through the extractive industries.2 International criminal law is being investigated as a legitimate enforcement tool concerning corporate human rights obligations and as a means to curtail corporate impunity.3 Studies have indicated that approximately 21,000 people die every day from hunger-related causes. This number of deaths is over 7.5 million people per annum every year. Poverty is the principal cause of hunger, underpinned by harmful economic systems that fuel poverty and inequality through the ordinary and accepted global economic and political systems. Harmful economic systems and practices promote large-scale environmental degradation that is responsible for the spread of killer diseases, giving rise to new killer diseases.4 GR. Cryer, H. Friman, D. Robinson, E. Wilmshurst An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure (2010) 146. D. Lima Business and International Human Rights (2009) Heinonline 18,18. 3 L Van Den Herik and J Cernic: Regulating Corporations under International Law: From Human Rights to International Law and Back (2010) Heinonline 720, 725. 4 L. Van Derslice Harmful Economic Systems as a Cause of Hunger and Poverty (2015) 34 available at www.world hunger.org./ harmfuleconomicsystems.htm. 1 2 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 67 AMENDING THE ROME STATUTE AND PEOPLES: CRIMES AGAINST PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS (CPFG) Environmental related illnesses caused The statement above by John Ruggie, the by polluted water, deforestation, and UN Special Rapporteur on Business and environmentally damaging agricultural Human Rights, suggests that globalization has processes kill the equivalent of a jumbo jet contributed to powerful corporations operating full of children every 30 minutes. 5 within weak states leading to governance gaps concerning human rights. The governance Poverty and environmental-related mass deaths gap in relation to corporations’ accountability are ordinarily not seen as part of the major for human rights abuses is intertwined with crimes of concern to the global community. Even international human rights law history.7 The though in scale, they exceed the numbers caused origins of international human rights law were by genocides, war crimes, and crimes against arguably a market-based theory of rights, with humanity. This scale level is because individuals the first human rights to emerge being the right and institutions that drive harmful economic to private property. Muchlinksi argues that this systems are generally within the most powerful early protective role over corporations frames bloc of countries in the developed world and the contextual barrier to extending human rights sections of the developing world. Global politics obligations to corporations. and the exercise of power through international institutions may be one reason that harms Diplomats formalized the state-based associated with the process of impoverishment international human rights architecture in the and destruction of the environment are not under aftermath of World War II to protect individuals the jurisdiction of the ICC. from the excesses of public state power. 8 This focus on the state served to crystalize the idea Human Rights Theory and the Conceptual Barriers to Criminalising the Harms Associated with Harmful Economic Activities and Corporate Criminal Liability within state-based international human rights law that States were the only duty bearers for human rights.9 The strengthening of economic globalization in the 1970s and 1980s cemented this conceptual barrier through more overt measures to protect business interests. State-based International Human Rights Law The root causes of the business and human rights predicament today lies in the governance gaps created by globalization–-between the scope and impact of economic forces and actors, and the capacity of societies to manage their adverse consequences.6 WINTER V20 N2 2021 S. Myers Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health (2009) World Watch Institute. 6 J. Ruggie Report of the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (2008 ) UN DOC A/ HRC/8/5 1,12. 7 P. Muchlinksi’ Human Rights and Multinationals: Is there a Problem’ in International Affairs (2001) HeinOnline 31, 33. 8 L Van Den Herik and J Cernic (Note 4 above) 727.9 9 Ibid 734. 5 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 68 ZANE DANGOR The hegemony of ideas and policies linked to free trade has given Corporations more power than they had at any time in history. The state-centred conceptual barrier concerning human rights accountability and its underlying supportive ideology has also narrowly defined what constitutes human rights. Following World War II, the collective international moral outrage led to the strengthening of political and civil rights as legally enforceable rights.10 Though, much of the developed world continues to question whether social and economic rights are genuine human rights. McCorquodale and Fairbrother suggest that explicit recognition of especially economic rights as a human right would strengthen arguments that business entities as powerful actors able to positively or negatively impact the fulfilment of these rights should be direct duty bearers.11 Overcoming the theoretical obstacle for corporate accountability for human rights is still the subject of significant debate and negotiation in the international arena. State-based International Criminal Law The limitation of state-based international criminal law lies in the limited scope of the international crimes of concern to the international community. Crimes associated with human rights abuses with a nexus in economic, social, and cultural rights are excluded. The basis for this exclusion is primarily due to the same factors that have given rise to states being treated as the primary duty bearer for human rights. The international and domestic enforcement gaps FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL in relation to human rights abuses by MNCs also allows for the normalization of harmful economic policies and operations that harm people and their environments. These policies include globalized economic policies that often result in increased unemployment levels, poverty, and reduced access to basic needs such as water and critical services such as health care and education.12 There is enough evidence that the harms associated with economic and financial transactions are crimes that should be of concern to the international community. The severity of injury to human rights that result from harmful economic practices justifies the addition of a crime under the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute those most responsible for these harms. The perpetrators of the crimes associated with harmful economic activities should include states and non-state actors, especially corporations. As discussed earlier, for corporations to be held accountable for human rights abuses, a conceptual shift is required. This change is a paradigm shift that acknowledges and codifies the idea that non-state actors can be human rights duty bearers and the direct subjects of criminal law.13 M. Perry The Morality of Human Rights (2013) 50 San Diego Law Review 775, 778. 11 R. McCorquodale and R. Fairbrother Globalisation and Human Rights (1999) 21 Human Rights Quarterly 731, 743. 12 ibid 748. 13 Clapham in a paper entitled, Extending International Criminal Law Beyond the Individual to Corporations and Armed Opposition Groups (2008) has written that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), through articles 40 and 29(2) provides for duties to respect human rights to be found in society, the state, groups and individuals. Van den Herik and Ceric (2015), however, indicate that aside from the preamble and provisions within the UDHR, which is a non-binding instrument, there are no international covenants that include provisions for correlative private duties. 10 WINTER V20 N2 2021 69 AMENDING THE ROME STATUTE AND PEOPLES: CRIMES AGAINST PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS (CPFG) Unlike international human rights law, of member states on what constitutes the ‘most international criminal law does offer serious crimes of concern to the international opportunities for bringing corporations into community’ indicate that the ratified Rome the accountability loop. The duty holder in Statute has four crimes under its jurisdiction. international criminal law is the individual Previous reports of the International Law or natural person. Therefore, the paradigm Commission, the International Commission of shift from a natural person to a legal person Jurists, and the submission of member states as the subject of law in international criminal suggest that the possible crimes that could have law is entirely possible. The Nuremberg and been considered to be under the jurisdiction of Tokyo Criminal Tribunals laid the basis for the ICC could have been much broader. corporate criminal liability with the effect that After years of negotiations, the uncomfortable under international criminal law, there is an extraterritorial exercise of jurisdiction over consensus reached at the end of the Diplomatic individuals. Individuals linked to corporations are Conference in Rome was that the ICC’s subject also already under the jurisdiction of the ICC.14 matter jurisdiction would be the four core As Slye suggested, the ICC could also become crimes defined as international crimes. The the vehicle to ‘reassert’ the veil of organizational agreement on these crimes facilitated a Rome responsibility for international crimes.15 I shall Statute wherein all State Parties to the statute discuss arguments for an additional crime under recognized their inherent jurisdiction. State the ICC jurisdiction, and then I shall discuss Parties, therefore, also accepted that they had a non-derivate liability for corporations next. responsibility to prosecute individuals suspected of perpetrating these crimes either directly or as An Additional Crime of Concern to the International Community accomplices. Such prosecution would be done at the municipal level, failing which the ICC would do the prosecution of perpetrators in the Hague. The Evolving Consensus on Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the ICC The Crimes Under the Jurisdiction of the ICC States’ governments established the International Criminal Court to facilitate international cooperation and enhance the prosecution and prevent crimes of international concern. For jurisdiction, the state parties to The four crimes that the ICC has jurisdiction over the most serious crimes are genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. the statute agreed that the ICC jurisdiction would be solely on the crimes described as ‘most serious crimes of concern to the international community’.16 The documents reviewed on the research, legal opinions, and the submissions WINTER V20 N2 2021 International Law Commission Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court with Commentaries 1994 UN Doc , in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, Vol II, Part two (1994) 27. 16 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 70 ZANE DANGOR The nexus between gravity and power allowed for the writings of Zahar and Sluiter, Cassesse, agreement on the four horses of the apocalypse. Werle, Bassiouni, Schabas, and Cryer.21 Schabas and Cryer’s writings, as cited by Einarsen, are The Core ICC Crimes as particularly instructive in discussing the criteria International Crimes for international crimes. Schabas writes that the reference in the ICC preamble on the notion Terje Einarsen, in a paper exploring the concept of Universal Crimes, writes that universal crimes are those crimes that are so grave that they ‘shock the consciousness of human beings’.17 This nexus between gravity and universal crimes is reflected in the preamble to the ratified Rome statute as ‘atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity.’18 Einarsen further of the ‘most serious crimes’ and ‘grave crimes’ suggests a qualitative criterion for inclusion of crimes for inclusion under the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute.22 For Schabas, within the context of the ICC, the precise definitions of the gravity or seriousness of crimes were not as important as considering whether such crimes are effectively prosecuted at national levels. opines that crimes that shock the consciences of humanity and societies must also be protected The implication of the suggestion by Schabas by the international community’s norms and is that a crime ceases to be one that has to be of institutions.19 concern to international justice if it is effectively prosecuted at national levels. The stance taken by In the context of adding crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC, the following definition of international crimes offered by Einarsen is useful: Universal crimes are certain identifiable acts that constitute grave breaches of rules of conduct usually committed, organized, or tolerated by powerful actors. According to contemporary international law, they are punishable whenever and wherever they are committed; and that requires prosecution Schabas is contradicted by the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor that regarded the introduction of the principle of complementarity to be one that would make the ICC more effective. The effectiveness is measured by the willingness and abilities of State Parties to prosecute people accused of the core crimes in national jurisdictions.25 In essence the principle of complementarity numerically expands the potential jurisdictions of the ICC to every State Party. and punishment through fair trials, or in exceptional cases, some other kind of justice, somewhere at some point.20 In developing his definition of international crimes, Einarsen undertook a detailed literature review on the subject by leading international criminal law scholars. Einarsen’s study included FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL Terje Einarsen (Note 46 above) 23. Ibid. 19 ibid 62. 20 ibid 123. 21 ibid 150 – 163. 22 Ibid 156. 23 Ibid 156. 24 Morten Bergsmo Informal Expert Paper: The Principle of Complementarity in Practise ICC-OTP (2003) 4. Available at www. icc-cpi.int 17 18 WINTER V20 N2 2021 71 AMENDING THE ROME STATUTE AND PEOPLES: CRIMES AGAINST PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS (CPFG) The principle of complementarity was not deals with the crime of aggression to illustrate intended as a means to exclude or include certain the elements of gravity–‘to qualify as [a crime serious crimes from the jurisdiction of the ICC. of aggression] an act of aggression must by its character, gravity, and scale, constitute a manifest The issue as raised by Schabas is interesting. violation of the Charter of the United Nations.27 However, the United States (US) opposed direct criminal liability for corporations under the ICC jurisdiction based on the principle of complementarity. The US argued that the weak The Gravity of Crimes that Contribute to Poverty and Permanent Damage to the Environment national jurisdictions dealing with non-derivative Given the above discussion, it is therefore corporate criminal liability within the context of the principle of complementarity would render imperative to outline just how ‘grave’ the its inclusion in the ICC statute unworkable. The impacts of poverty and permanent damage to US argument is the opposite of that offered by the environment are. At the beginning of this Schabas but indicates that political considerations paper, I indicated that approximately 21,000 rather than purely legal arguments may have been people die every day from hunger-related at play. 25 causes, which amounts to more than 7.5 or amounts to 7.665 million people per annum A discussion on the addition of a possible every year. Also, environmental-related illnesses new crime under ICC jurisdiction needs to be caused by polluted water, deforestation, and concerned with the issues of ‘gravity’ and the environmentally damaging agricultural harmful impacts on people of possible acts and processes kill the equivalent of a jumbo jet commissions. Such consideration will allow for full of children every 30 minutes.28 The an assessment of whether the proposed crime consequences of harmful economic practices are linked to harmful economic systems meets even direr for children based on reports from the competing requirements based on gravity, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). the legal basis for its criminalization based on Approximately 22000 children die every day due international legal prescripts. The negotiations to poverty-related illnesses and hunger due to on the ICC’s material jurisdiction resulted poverty. in a consensus, which Schabas summarises as ‘the court is designed to try nothing but crimes of extreme gravity and the most heinous offenders’.26 Einarsen writes that the necessary and sufficient conditions for a crime to be of concern to the international community are to contain an inherent gravity clause. He cites Article 8 bis of the revised ICC statute, which WINTER V20 N2 2021 The issue of non-derivative corporate liability is discussed in more detail in the next chapter. 26 William Schabas An introduction to the International Criminal Court Cambridge University Press (2004) 167. 27 Terje Einarsen (Note 46 above) 253. 28 S. Myers Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health (2009) World Watch Institute 12. 25 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 72 ZANE DANGOR To put the deaths of children due to causes harms associated with poverty and environmental attributable primarily to poverty into perspective: degradation disproportionately affect poor people it could perhaps be better understood in the in developing countries. People did not choose to context of international criminal law where it live in poverty, and neither is it natural. Poverty, can be compared with the three more prominent inequality, and permanent degradation of the genocides. Approximately 11 million people were environment result from powerful people and killed in the holocaust that essentially contributed institutions’ decisions and actions. (Intent) to framing the modern definitions of the crime Harmful economic systems have multiple of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Approximately 900 000 people were killed in features. The role that Illicit Financial Flows the Rwandan Genocide and approximately 7000 (IFFs) plays have recently rightfully come under people in the former Yugoslavia. These genocides scrutiny. and crimes against humanity gave rise to the ad-hoc criminal tribunals and helped frame the jurisprudence for the ICC’s subject matter jurisdiction. These atrocities almost appear small The Crimes of Harmful Economic Systems and Deliberate Destruction of the Environment. compared to the deaths of 8.1 million children There have been previous efforts for adding an every year due to poverty-related causes. additional crime under the jurisdiction of the ICC. The harms from climate change and related Academics and activists have developed drafts pollution are just as catastrophic. Kofi Annan’s of possible crimes, which have been discussed Global Humanitarian Forum has conservatively at international forums, but thus far, they have estimated that climate change causes 300,000 not been submitted by any state part. For this deaths a year and leaves over 325 million people paper, the Draft Crimes Against Present and vulnerable to the effects of climate change.29 Leileveld et al. suggest that outdoor air pollution leads to 3.3 million deaths per year globally.30 Future Generations (CPFG) provide the most appropriate template for additional crime. Its stated objectives are to end impunity related The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates to harmful economic systems, environmental that indoor and outdoor pollution’s combined damage, and corruption. The draft Crime Against effect contributes to approximately 7 million Present and Future Generations was written by deaths globally per annum.31 These statistics indicate that poverty is the norm for most of the world’s people and countries. The J. Lelieveld et al., ‘The Contribution of Outdoor Air Pollution Sources to Mortality on a Global Scale’. Available at www.nature. com Accessed on 16 September 2015. 31 WHO statistics available at www.who.org Accessed on 15 November 2015. 30 combined impacts of poverty and environmental damage contribute significantly to mortality rates across the globe. The mortality rates and other FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 73 AMENDING THE ROME STATUTE AND PEOPLES: CRIMES AGAINST PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS (CPFG) Sebastian Jodoin of the Center for International Sustainable Development Law and was commissioned by World Future Council.32 The CPFG contains elements of the Crime of Ecocide33 and suggests the criminalization of corruption. Therefore, it is not explicit enough on these matters, and I suggest amendments to include activities linked to IFFs and corruption. For the title of the actual proposed crime, both proposed ‘Crimes of Harmful Economic Systems and Deliberate Destruction of the Environment’ and Jodoin’s framing relating to ‘present and future generations’ is appropriate. A more precise and accurate formulation of the crime can be arrived at in follow up discussions and deliberations. The CPFG as amended34 The Crimes Against Present and Future Generations template is the main body of the text in this section. Following the manner in which documents are amended through negotiations in multilateral organisations, changes to the original text will be denoted as follows: 1. Crimes against Present and Future Generations means: any of the following acts within any sphere of human activity including, inter alia political, military, economic, (social) cultural, or scientific activities, when committed with the knowledge of the substantial likelihood of their severe consequences on the long-term health, safety, or means of (livelihood and) survival of any identifiable group or collectivity. (The CPFG seeks to prevent and end impunity crimes associated with the transfer of funds of illicit origin, derived from acts of corruption, including the laundering of funds, tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax competition that have the effect of depriving states with the resources to reduce poverty to provide adequate health, social and other services that would enhance the wellbeing of its people):35 (a) Forcing (through public policy, business policy, and practice) any members of any identifiable group or collectivity to work or live-in conditions that seriously endanger their health or safety, including Additions will be bracketed and in italics. forced labor (enforced unpaid labor), (wages Deletions will be struck through and in below minimum wages rates as legislated bold font. Proposed changes to the text will be explained by states), enforced (sex work) and human trafficking;37 in footnotes. S. Jodoin (Note 47 Above). Read A. Gray, The International Crime of Ecocide (1990) CWSL Scholarly Commons. 34 S. Jodoin (Note 47 Above). 35 Based on preambular paragraph 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (2003). 36 Original footnote as used by Jodoin to explain the term ‘any identifiable group or collectivity’: The expression “any identifiable group or collectivity” means any civilian group or collectivity defined based on geographic, political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, or gender grounds or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law. 37 The additions of measures related to wages are central to efforts that seek to reduce the impacts of harmful economic systems. The insertion of the word ‘sex work’ as opposed to prostitution is based on personal preference. The terms’ prostitution’ and ‘sex work’ are subject to intense debate internationally based on ideological differences in women’s rights and agency concerning sex work. 32 33 WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 74 ZANE DANGOR (e)Forcefully evicting members of any (b) Unlawfully appropriating or acquiring the public or private resources and property identifiable group or collectivity in a of members of any identifiable group widespread or systematic manner; or collectivity, including the large-scale (f) Imposing measures that seriously embezzlement, misappropriation, or other endanger the health of the members of any diversions of such resources or property by identifiable group or collectivity, including a public official; by impeding access to health services, (c) The bribery of national public officials, facilities, and treatments, withholding or foreign public officials and officials of public misrepresenting information essential for international organizations and officials the prevention or treatment of illness or of public international organizations, disability, or subjecting them to medical or embezzlement, misappropriation or other scientific experiments of any kind which are diversion of property by a public official.38 neither justified by their medical treatment nor carried out in their interest; (d) Trading in influence, money g) Preventing members of any identifiable laundering of the proceeds from corruption; and the concealment of corrupt practice group or collectivity from accessing through accounting and book-keeping primary, secondary, technical, vocational, offenses; the abuse of functions and illicit and higher education; enrichment by public officials, private citizens and legal persons.39 (h) Causing ecocide, meaning widespread, long-term, and severe damage to the natural (e) Bribery in the private sector when environment, including by destroying an committed intentionally in the course entire species, sub-species, or ecosystem; of economic, financial, and commercial activities).40 (d) Deliberately depriving members of any identifiable group or collectivity of objects indispensable to their survival, including by impeding access to water and food sources, destroying or severely depleting water and food sources, or contaminating water and food sources by harmful organisms or pollution; FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL Based on articles 15, 16, and 17 of the UN Convention Against Corruption (2003). 39 Based on Articles 18, 19, 20, and 21 of the UN Convention Against Corruption (2003). The reference to legal persons is based on the general reference to legal persons’ liability as defined by article 26 of the Convention Against Corruption. 40 Based on article 21 of the Convention Against Corruption (2003). 38 WINTER V20 N2 2021 75 AMENDING THE ROME STATUTE AND PEOPLES: CRIMES AGAINST PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS (CPFG) (i) Polluting air, water or soil by releasing substances or organisms that seriously endanger the health, safety or means of survival of members of any identifiable group or collectivity;41 (j) Other acts of a similar character gravely imperiling the health, safety, or means of survival of members of any identifiable group or collectivity; (k) Any of the above acts which cause serious, widespread, and long-term harm to human health and future generations of an indiscriminate and uncontrollable nature. 2. Crimes Against Future Generations shall also include any acts which cause, or have a strong possibility of causing, any of the effects identified in Section 1 (a) – (k) and undertaken without due diligence as to the probability of such effects (precautionary principle). While there may be scope to include other aspects of harmful economic systems, permanent damage to the environment and corruption, the elements included in the draft crime outlined above are more likely to find favor. I conclude this point based on the fact that almost all of the elements are based on existing conventions, soft law, and treaties. Together with the apparent gravity of the outcomes of policies and practices associated with the harmful economic systems, damage to the environment, the additional crime to be included, as part of the subject matter jurisdiction of the ICC, would provide the basis for effective negotiations by state parties to the ICC. Detailed work on the elements of the crimes outlined above would need to be done but are outside this paper’s scope. WINTER V20 N2 2021 Including the Liability of Legal Persons within the Jurisdiction of the ICC As discussed in Section II, juristic persons may not be the subjects of International Law, including International Criminal Law. However, their inclusion has been on the international community’s agenda for decades. The reason for this is that all of the international crimes, including the proposed crime as proposed in this paper, agree on the premise that powerful individuals, states, and institutions generally perpetrate these crimes. At the very least, there is the recognition that powerful individuals, states, and institutions facilitate the commission of international crimes through their control of economic, financial, military, and political resources. The centrality of powerful actors in the commission of international crimes was core to Einarsen’s attempts to define Universal Crimes: Universal Crimes are individually identifiable acts that constitute grave breaches of rules of conduct: and that committed, organized or tolerated by powerful actors: and that, according to current international law, is punishable whenever and wherever they are committed: and that require prosecution and punishment through fair trials, or in exceptional cases, some other kind of justice, somewhere at some point.42 The use of the word ‘unlawfully’ in the original CPFG template is not helpful as pollution may take place lawfully and be permitted by states. 42 Terje Einarsen (note 46 above) 22. 41 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 76 ZANE DANGOR I contend that all the powerful actors capable of argument that it would render the principle of being involved in the commission of international complementarity unworkable. The premise of this crimes should be liable for prosecution under argument was that corporate criminal liability the ICC. A rolling text on individual criminal was not yet universally recognized by states. liability prepared by the Preparatory Committee The arguments for excluding legal persons chaired by Adrian Bos in the run-up to the Rome Diplomatic Conference provides a window to from non-derivate liability under the ICC are the debate on the liability of legal persons.43 The essentially political and further explored. rolling text, hereafter referred to as ‘Rolling Text In a paper that deals specifically with the X’, was then dealing with individual criminal liability under Article 23. Paragraph 5 of Rolling Text X reads as follows: When a natural person has been convicted potential of international law to prosecute corporations criminally, Clapham questions the principle of ‘societas delinquere non protest’, which means that enterprises cannot be by the court, the court shall also have criminal.45 Clapham further suggests that the jurisdiction over the legal persons or other Adhoc Criminal Tribunals and the International organisations for criminal conduct under Criminal Court that focus on individuals as this statute if: their jurisdictions’ subjects can be adjusted to exercise jurisdiction over legal persons, - The convicted person was an agent, including corporations. Clapham emphasizes representative or an employee of that legal the effectiveness principle and argues that if person or organisation, and, international law is to be effective, all actors, - The crime was committed by the natural person acting on behalf of [and with the consent or acquiescence of] [and with the assent of] that legal person or organisation [and][or] in the course of its regular activities. whether individuals or non-state actors, should be prohibited from assisting states in violating human rights principles.46 The effectiveness principle holds true for all the crime areas under the ICC jurisdiction. However, it is imperative concerning the recommended crime where the primary perpetrators are most likely to be MNCs. - For the purposes of this statute, ‘legal persons or other organisations’ mean corporations or private organisations, whose objective is for the private gain. 44 The Rolling Text X hints at the opposition to the inclusion of corporations made by the many delegations led by the United States, based on the FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL ICC Preparatory Committee, Rolling Text on Article 23 (undated). Available at PURL:https://www.legal-tools.org./doc/f77746. Accessed on 29 September 201. 44 ibid para 5. 45 A Clapham’ Extending international criminal law beyond the individual to corporations and armed opposition groups’ (2008) 899. Accessed at http://jicj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi. 46 Ibid 901. 43 WINTER V20 N2 2021 77 AMENDING THE ROME STATUTE AND PEOPLES: CRIMES AGAINST PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS (CPFG) The current international legal framework limits corporate criminal liability to being a participant or, more specifically, being complicit in the commission of crimes. This reliance on complicity as the means to hold corporations accountable is linked to the practice in international law that states are the subjects of human rights obligations and individuals the subjects of criminal liability. The elements of complicity indicate the limits of using international criminal law to hold corporations accountable even as accomplices for crimes of concern to the international community. As suggested by Schabas, an arms theoretically possible. Ironically, in contrast to some delegations’ negotiation stance concerning the principle of complementarity, it may provide the solution to this problem. The principle of complementarity in the ICC context would allow state parties to enable national legal systems to proceed with legal persons’ prosecutions, especially corporations. In contrast, legal persons in states that are unable and unwilling to prosecute could be prosecuted in the Hague. Those states without the requisite laws would be patently unable, and this would also open the possibility for states with the requisite legal systems to exercise universal jurisdiction. supplier or the Managing Director of an airline that transports prohibited weapons can only be charged if there is a direct and substantive link with the commission of crimes committed that are regarded as international and under the jurisdiction of the ICC. While participation in international crimes may be carried out through a corporate shell, the current legal framework will only prosecute individuals associated with the company. An example of this is that the supplier of Zyklon B was convicted of war crimes. At the same time, the manufacturers of Zyklon B successfully pleaded ignorance of the intended use of the product by the end-user. While this piercing of the corporate veil is important to prosecute those most responsible, it also ironically leaves the corporation to continue to produce and participate in international crimes. While this is ideal, I would propose the formulation as contained in what I refer to as Rolling Text X in the paper, is used as a means to ensure that legal person that are perpetrators in relation to crimes associated with harmful economic systems, permanent damage to the environment and corruption, are brought to book. The formulation of Rolling Text X allows for ICC to have jurisdiction over a legal person if the convicted natural person was an agent, representative, or an employee of that legal person. It also confers ICC jurisdiction over a legal person if the convicted natural person acting on behalf of, with the consent of that legal person’s assent. This formulation would allow for the prosecution of a legal person associated with a natural person convicted for crimes associate with harmful economic systems, permanent damage to the environment, and corruption. In Sum Schabas and the ICJ are of the view that legal reform should take place to prosecute the The grave consequences on humanity as a corporation itself. Failure to do so will leave result of the harmful economic systems are corporate complicity at the level of being only undeniable. The statistics related to mortality WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 78 ZANE DANGOR rates, illness, poverty, and deprivation cannot be disputed. In terms of scale, the harms resulting from permanent damage to the environment, a process that gives rise and sustain poverty and corruption, dwarf those of some of the most horrendous genocides and other crimes of concern to the international community. Based on its grave negative impacts, the cluster of crimes associated with the policies and ‘normal’ operations of harmful economic practices earn the dubious status as crimes that should shock the international community’s consciousness. If the global community is serious about ending global impunity by powerful people and institutions that engage in actions or facilitate the actions they know would lead to depriving people of lifesaving livelihood opportunities--acts that lead to widespread death and destruction of people and the environment, then their acts should be economic systems. Given the anticipated difficulty criminalized. and Future Generations’ (CPFG) as offered by Given the relatively weak governance systems in many countries, especially the developing world where people are most affected by the consequences of harmful economic systems, the ICC offers a reasonable option for the global community to hold those most responsible to account. Therefore, this paper sought to make a case for adding to the ICC’s menu of crimes of concern to the international community that deny people social, cultural, and economic rights. I have argued that legal persons and in particular, MNCs should be held criminally liable for such crimes given that powerful institutions and individuals carry out the perpetrators of the suggested crimes associated with harmful FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL gaining state parties’ agreement to the ICC applying non-derivative liability for corporations, I have suggested that the formulation described in a document, which I refer to as Rolling Text X provides a reasonable compromise. This approach may be acceptable to most state parties. Rolling Text X was a product of the negotiating process towards the finalization of the Rome Statute. It makes provision for corporations to be prosecuted. Notably, this prosecution occurs if a natural person acting as an agent of that corporation is convicted by the ICC for any crime under the ICC jurisdiction. I have used differing terminologies for the additional cluster of crimes to be included under the ICC jurisdiction. That being said, the formulation of ‘Crimes Against Present Sebastian Jodoin of the Center for International Sustainable Development Law on behalf of the World Futures Council is perhaps the most relevant. I used the CPFG as a template and amended it to include crimes related to corruption and Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). As is the case with the World Futures Council, this paper should be seen as a contribution to the debate on seeking justice for crimes associated with harmful economic systems. I did not offer a definitive nomenclature for the proposed crimes. This identifying terminology can be established through negotiations by state parties and the inevitable additional investigations done as part of such negotiations. WINTER V20 N2 2021 79 AMENDING THE ROME STATUTE AND PEOPLES: CRIMES AGAINST PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS (CPFG) REFERENCES [1] A Clapham ‘Extending international criminal law beyond the individual to corporations and armed opposition groups’ (2008) 899. http://jicj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/5/899. Accessed at http://jicj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi. [2] A. Shah ‘Causes of Poverty’ (2011) available at www.globalissues.org/article . AUC/UNECA Report of the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa (2014) 20. [3] D. Lima Business and International Human Rights (2009) Heinonline Accessed from http://heinonline.org on 11 August 2015. [4] D.Kar and J. Spanjers Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2003 – 2012 Global Financial Integrity (2014). [5] Doudou Thiam ICL Second Report on the Draft Code of Offences against the Peace and Security of Mankind (1984) Vol. II, part I. [6] Draft Statute of the ICC: Working Paper submitted by France. GA A/AC.249/L.3 UN Doc Available at PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/4d28ee/. Accessed on 13 August 2015, [7] HP Kaul Is it Possible to Prevent or Punish Future Aggressive War-Making Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublishers (February 2011). [8] ICC Prepatory Committee, Rolling Text on Article 23 (undated). Available at PURL:https://www. legal-tools.org./doc/f77746. Accessed on 29 September 2015. [9] International Commission of Jurists Definition of Crimes: ICJ Brief no.1 to the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of the International Criminal Court (Rome 15 June – 17 July 1998). Accessed at https://legal-tools.org./doc/9fd899. [10] International Commission of Jurists, Corporate complicity & legal accountability: Volume 2 Criminal Law and International Crimes (2008). [11] International Law Commission Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nurnberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal ILC Yearbook (1950 Vol II). WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 80 ZANE DANGOR [12] International Law Commission Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court with Commentaries 1994 UN Doc, in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, Vol II, Part two (1994). [13] L Van Den Herik and J Cernic: Regulating Corporations under International Law: From Human Rights to International Law and Back (2010). Accessed at HeinOnline. http://heinonline.org 11 Aug 2015. [14] L. Van Derslice Harmful Economic Systems as a Cause of Hunger and Poverty (2015) available at www.world hunger.org, accessed on 22 August 2015. [15] Morten Bergsmo Informal Expert Paper: The Principle of Complementarity in Practise ICC-OTP (2003). Available at www.icc-cpi.int. [16] Oxfam Great Britain Policy Paper Tax Havens: Releasing the Hidden Billions for Poverty Eradication (2013). [17] Press Release on Statements Made by Delegations to the UN Conference on the Establishment of an ICC, UN Doc L/ROM/14 available at PURL://www.legal-tools.org/doc/7ca3e9/. [18] Proposal for Article 5 Submitted by Cuba on Crimes Against Humanity to the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an ICC (23 June 1998) UN Doc A/CONF.183/ C.1/L.17. [19] R. Cryer, H. Friman, D. Robinson, E. Wilmshurst An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Cambridge University Press (2010). [20] R. Cryer, Hakan Friman, Darryl Robinson & Elizabeth Wilmshurst An Introduction to International Criminal law and Procedure Cambridge University press (2010). [21] R. McCorquodale and R. Fairbrother Globalisation and Human Rights (1999) 21 Human Rights Quarterly. [22] Resolution Adopted by the Human Rights Council on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, A/HRC/RES/17/4 UN Doc (6 July 2011). [23] Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, ICC (17 July 1998). S. Myers Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health (2009) World Watch Institute. Terje Einarsen The Concept of Universal Crimes in International Law’ Torkel Opsahl Publishers Oslo (2012). FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 81 AMENDING THE ROME STATUTE AND PEOPLES: CRIMES AGAINST PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS (CPFG) [24] UN Inter Agency Group Levels and Trends in Child Mortality Report 2010 UNICEF (2010). [25] United Nations Report of the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court at the ‘United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court Rome Italy,( July 1998.) UN Doc A/CONF.183/2. [26] WA Schabas Enforcing international humanitarian law: Catching the accomplices (2001). [27] William Schabas An introduction to the International Criminal Court Cambridge University Press (2004). This Article may be cited as: Dangor Z. (2021) Amending the Rome Statute and Peoples: Crimes Against Present and Future Generations (CPFG). Fourth World Journal. Vol. 20, N2. pp. 66-81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Zane Dangor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New E-Book: Leslie E. Korn & Rudolph C. Rÿser Learn simple to use, daily strategies to address diabetes and it’s symptoms, such as neuropathy, cardiovascular disease, stress, trauma, pain and depression. Learn Whole Foods Nutrition, Herbal Medicine, Bodywork and Energy Medicine, Guided Visualization (audio provided), Relaxation, Physical Exercise and Detoxification. Everyone can stay healthy and happy with this book as a reference guide! Get in on Amazon The iBook is formatted for Ipad and IPhone. 83 Modificar el Estatuto de Roma y los Pueblos: Crímenes contra las Generaciones Presentes y Futuras Por Zane Dangor Traducción de Inglés a Español por Julie Noreene Bautista RESUMEN El Estatuto de Roma, que estableció la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI), buscaba poner fin a la impunidad asociada con los crímenes masivos. Después de décadas de negociaciones en la comunidad internacional, la CPI surgió para establecer un tribunal superior que pueda investigar y enjuiciar a las personas más responsables de los crímenes que preocupan a la comunidad internacional.1 Estos crímenes incluyen genocidio, crímenes de guerra, crímenes contra la humanidad y crímenes de agresión. Palabras clave: conducta corporativa, obligaciones de derechos humanos de las corporaciones, CPI, crímenes internacionales y daño permanente al medio ambiente, pobreza y daños al medio ambiente, ley penal internacional y daños al medio ambiente, sistemas económicos dañinos Una brecha significativa en el Estatuto de Roma es que no se ocupa de los crímenes masivos o los daños cometidos por las corporaciones. La conducta empresarial y su papel en los abusos de los derechos humanos y las acciones que generan y mantienen la pobreza han sido objeto de un nuevo escrutinio. Las Naciones Unidas y las organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos se han centrado en el uso corporativo y apoyo a la explotación laboral en las industrias de calzado y confección, el daño permanente al medio ambiente y la destrucción de las capacidades de subsistencia de las personas a través de las industrias extractivas.2 El derecho penal internacional está siendo investigado como una instrumento de ejecución legítimo para cumplir las obligaciones de derechos humanos de las empresas y como un medio para reducir la impunidad de las empresas.3 R. Cryer, H. Friman, D. Robinson, E. Wilmshurst An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure (2010) 146. D. Lima Business and International Human Rights (2009) Heinonline 18,18. 3 L Van Den Herik and J Cernic: Regulating Corporations under International Law: From Human Rights to International Law and Back (2010) Heinonline 720, 725. 1 2 WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 84 ZANE DANGOR Los estudios han indicado que aproximadamente 21.000 personas mueren todos los días por causas relacionadas con el hambre. Este número de muertes supera los 7,5 millones de personas al año. La pobreza es la principal causa del hambre, sustentada por sistemas La Teoría de los Derechos Humanos y las Barreras Conceptuales para Criminalizar los Daños Relacionados con las Actividades Económicas Nocivas y la Responsabilidad Penal Corporativa económicos dañinos que estimulan la pobreza y la desigualdad a través de los sistemas económicos y Ley Internacional sobre los Derechos políticos globales ordinarios y aceptados. Humanos basada en el Estado “Las causas fundamentales de la situación Los sistemas y prácticas económicas dañinas promueven la degradación ambiental en gran actual de las empresas y los derechos humanos escala que es responsable de la propagación de radican en las brechas de gobernabilidad creadas enfermedades mortales, dando lugar a nuevas por la globalización, entre el alcance y el impacto enfermedades mortales.4 Las enfermedades de las fuerzas y los actores económicos, y la relacionadas con el medio ambiente causadas capacidad de las sociedades para gestionar sus por el agua contaminada, la deforestación y los consecuencias adversas ”.6 procesos agrícolas que ambientalmente dañinos matan al equivalente de un jumbo jet lleno de niños cada 30 minutos.5 La pobreza y las muertes masivas relacionadas La declaración anterior de John Ruggie, el relator especial de la ONU sobre empresas y derechos humanos, sugiere que la globalización ha contribuido a que las corporaciones con el medio ambiente no se consideran parte poderosas operen en estados débiles, lo que de los mayores delitos que preocupan a la ha inducido brechas en la gobernabilidad en comunidad mundial. Aunque en escala, superan materia de derechos humanos. La brecha de las cifras causadas por genocidios, crímenes gobernabilidad en relación con la responsabilidad de guerra y crímenes contra la humanidad. de las empresas por los abusos de los derechos Este nivel de escala es porque los individuos humanos está entrelazada con la historia de la ley y las instituciones que impulsan los sistemas internacional de los derechos humanos.7 económicos dañinos generalmente están dentro del bloque más poderoso de países del mundo L. Van Derslice Harmful Economic Systems as a Cause of Hunger and Poverty (2015) 34 disponible en www.world hunger.org./ harmfuleconomicsystems.htm. 5 S. Myers Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health (2009) World Watch Institute. 6 J. Ruggie Report of the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (2008 ) UN DOC A/ HRC/8/5 1,12. 7 P. Muchlinksi’ Human Rights and Multinationals: Is there a Problem’ in International Affairs (2001) HeinOnline 31, 33. 4 desarrollado y secciones del mundo en desarrollo. La política global y el ejercicio del poder a través de instituciones internacionales puede ser una de las razones por la que los daños asociados con el proceso de empobrecimiento y destrucción del medio ambiente no están bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 85 MODIFICAR EL ESTATUTO DE ROMA Y LOS PUEBLOS: CRÍMENES CONTRA LAS GENERACIONES PRESENTES Y FUTURAS Los orígenes de la ley internacional de los los derechos sociales y económicos son derechos derechos humanos fueron, posiblemente, una humanos genuinos. McCorquodale y Fairbrother teoría de los derechos basada en el mercado, y sugieren que el reconocimiento explícito de los con el primer derecho humano que surgió fue derechos especialmente económicos como un el derecho a la propiedad privada. Muchlinksi derecho humano fortalecería los argumentos sostiene que este papel protector temprano sobre de que las entidades comerciales, como actores las corporaciones enmarca la barrera contextual poderosos capaces para impactar positiva para extender las obligaciones de derechos o negativamente el cumplimiento de estos humanos a las corporaciones. derechos, deberían ser garantes directos de obligaciones.11 Los diplomáticos formalizaron la arquitectura internacional de derechos humanos basada en el Superar el obstáculo teórico para la estado después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial responsabilidad corporativa por los derechos para proteger a las personas de los excesos humanos sigue siendo el objeto de importantes del poder público estatal.8 Este enfoque en el estado sirvió para cristalizar la idea dentro de ley debates y negociaciones en el ámbito internacional. internacional de derechos humanos basada en el estado de que los Estados eran los únicos garantes de derechos humanos.9 El fortalecimiento de la Ley Penal Internacional basada en el Estado globalización económica en las décadas de 1970 La limitación de la ley penal internacional y 1980 consolidó esta barrera conceptual a través de medidas más evidentes para proteger los basada en el estado radica en el alcance intereses comerciales. La hegemonía de ideas y limitado de los crímenes internacionales que políticas vinculadas al libre comercio le ha dado a preocupan a la comunidad internacional. Se las corporaciones más poder del que tuvieron en excluyen los delitos asociados con abusos a los cualquier momento de la historia. derechos humanos con un nexo en los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales. La base de esta La barrera conceptual centrada en el estado exclusión se debe principalmente a los mismos con respecto a la responsabilidad de los derechos factores que han dado lugar a que los Estados humanos y su ideología de apoyo subyacente sean tratados como los principales responsables también ha definido de manera estricta lo que de los derechos humanos. Las brechas en la constituyen los derechos humanos. Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la indignación moral colectiva internacional condujo al fortalecimiento L Van Den Herik and J Cernic (Note 4 above) 727. Ibid 734. 10 M. Perry The Morality of Human Rights (2013) 50 San Diego Law Review 775, 778. 11 R. McCorquodale and R. Fairbrother Globalisation and Human Rights (1999) 21 Human Rights Quarterly 731, 743. 8 9 de los derechos políticos y civiles como derechos legalmente exigibles.10 Sin embargo, gran parte del mundo desarrollado sigue cuestionando si WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 86 ZANE DANGOR aplicación de la ley nacional e internacional la idea de que los actores no estatales pueden ser en relación con los abusos de los derechos garantes de derechos humanos y sujetos directos humanos por multinacionales también permiten del derecho penal.13 la normalización de políticas y operaciones económicas nocivas que perjudican a las personas A diferencia del derecho internacional de los y su medio ambiente. Estas políticas incluyen derechos humanos, el derecho penal internacional políticas económicas globalizadas que a menudo ofrece oportunidades para incorporar a las resultan en mayores niveles de desempleo, empresas en el círculo de la rendición de cuentas. pobreza y menor acceso a necesidades básicas El responsable en la ley penal internacional es como agua y servicios críticos como salud y el individuo o la persona física. Por tanto, el educación. Hay pruebas suficientes de que los cambio de paradigma de una persona física a daños asociados a las transacciones económicas una persona jurídica como sujeto de ley en el 12 y financieras son delitos que deberían preocupar a la comunidad internacional. La gravedad de las lesiones a los derechos humanos que resultan de prácticas económicas nocivas justifica la inclusión de un delito bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI para procesar a los principales responsables de estos daños. Los perpetradores de los delitos asociados con actividades económicas nocivas deben incluir ley penal internacional es totalmente posible. Los Tribunales Penales de Nuremberg y Tokio sentaron las bases para la responsabilidad penal corporativa con el efecto de que, según el derecho penal internacional, existe un ejercicio extraterritorial de jurisdicción sobre las personas. Las personas vinculadas a empresas también están ya bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI.14 Como sugirió Slye, la CPI también podría convertirse actores estatales y no estatales, especialmente en el vehículo para “reafirmar” el velo de la corporaciones. Como se discutió anteriormente, responsabilidad organizacional por crímenes para que las corporaciones sean responsabilizadas internacionales.15 Discutiré los argumentos para por los abusos de los derechos humanos, se un crimen adicional bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI, requiere un cambio conceptual. Este cambio es y luego discutiré la responsabilidad no derivada un cambio de paradigma que reconoce y codifica de las corporaciones. ibid 748. Clapham en un artículo intitulado, Extending International Criminal Law Beyond the Individual to Corporations and Armed Opposition Groups (2008) ha escrito que la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos (UDHR, por sus siglas en inglés), por medio de los artículos 40 y 29(2) contempla que las obligaciones a respetar los derechos humanos se encuentran en la sociedad, el estado, grupos e individuos. Van den Herik y Ceric (2015), sin embargo, indican que aparte del preámbulo y disposiciones dentro de la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos que es un instrumento no obligatorio, no hay convenios internacionales que incluyan disposiciones para responsabilidades privadas correlativas. 14 L Van Den Herik and J Cernic (Note 4 Above) 740-743. 15 R Slye Corporations, Veils and International Criminal Liability (2008) 33 Brook J. International Law 955, 965. 12 13 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 87 MODIFICAR EL ESTATUTO DE ROMA Y LOS PUEBLOS: CRÍMENES CONTRA LAS GENERACIONES PRESENTES Y FUTURAS Un Crimen Adicional que Concierne a la Comunidad Internacional tanto, los Estados Interesados también aceptaron que tenían la responsabilidad de enjuiciar a las personas sospechosas de haber cometido estos El Consenso en Evolución sobre la Jurisdicción en materia de la CPI Los gobiernos de los estados establecieron la Corte Penal Internacional para facilitar delitos, ya sea directamente o como cómplices. Ese enjuiciamiento se haría a nivel municipal, de lo contrario, la CPI se encargaría de procesar a los perpetradores en la Haya. la cooperación internacional y mejorar Los Crímenes bajo la Jurisdicción de el enjuiciamiento y prevenir crímenes de la CPI preocupación internacional. Por jurisdicción, Los cuatro crímenes sobre los cuales la CPI los estados interesados del estatuto acordaron que la jurisdicción de la CPI sería únicamente tiene jurisdicción son genocidio, crímenes contra sobre los crímenes descritos como “los crímenes la humanidad, crímenes de guerra y crímenes más graves que preocupan a la comunidad de agresión. El nexo entre la gravedad y el poder internacional”.16 Los documentos examinados permitió un acuerdo sobre los cuatro caballos del sobre la investigación, las opiniones legales y las apocalipsis. presentaciones de los Estados miembros sobre lo que constituyen los “crímenes más graves que preocupan a la comunidad internacional” indican Los Principales Crímenes de la CPI como Crímenes Internacionales que el Estatuto de Roma ratificado tiene cuatro Terje Einarsen, en un artículo que explora el crímenes bajo su jurisdicción. Informes anteriores concepto de crímenes universales, escribe que los de la Comisión de Derecho Internacional, crímenes universales son aquellos crímenes que la Comisión Internacional de Juristas y la son tan graves que “sobresaltan la conciencia de presentación de los Estados miembros sugieren los seres humanos”.17 Este nexo entre la gravedad que los posibles crímenes que podrían haber y los crímenes universales se refleja en el sido considerados bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI podrían haber sido mucho más amplios. Después de años de negociaciones, el incómodo consenso alcanzado al final de la Conferencia preámbulo del estatuto de Roma ratificado como ‘atrocidades que sobresaltan profundamente la conciencia de la humanidad’.18 Einarsen opina además que los crímenes que sobresaltan la Diplomática en Roma fue que el objeto de CPI serían los cuatro crímenes básicos definidos como crímenes internacionales. El acuerdo sobre estos crímenes facilitó un Estatuto de Roma en el que todos los Estados Interesados en el estatuto reconocieron su jurisdicción inherente. Por lo WINTER V20 N2 2021 International Law Commission Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court with Commentaries 1994 UN Doc, en el anuario de la Comisión Legal Internacional, Vol II, Parte dos (1994) 27. 17 Terje Einarsen (Nota 46 arriba) 23. 18 Ibid. 16 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 88 ZANE DANGOR conciencia de la humanidad y las sociedades también deben ser protegidos por la normas e instituciones de la comunidad internacional.19 En el contexto de agregar crímenes bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI, la siguiente definición de La implicación de la sugerencia de Schabas es que un crimen deja de ser un delito que debe ser motivo de preocupación para la justicia internacional si se enjuicia efectivamente a nivel nacional.23 La postura adoptada por Schabas se internacional contemporánea, son punibles contradice con la Oficina del Fiscal de la CPI, que consideraba que la introducción del principio de complementariedad haría que la ICC fuera más eficaz. La eficacia se mide por la voluntad y la capacidad de los Estados Interesados para procesar a las personas acusadas de los delitos fundamentales en las jurisdicciones nacionales.24 En esencia, el principio de complementariedad expande numéricamente las jurisdicciones cuando y donde se cometen; y eso requiere potenciales de la CPI a cada Estado Interesado. crímenes internacionales ofrecida por Einarsen es útil: Los delitos universales son actos determinados identificables que constituyen graves brechas de las normas generalmente asignadas, organizadas o toleradas por actores poderosos. Según la ley enjuiciamiento y castigo a través de juicios justos, criterios para crímenes internacionales. Schabas La cuestión planteada por Schabas es interesante. Sin embargo, Estados Unidos opuso la responsabilidad penal directa de las empresas bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI basado en el principio de complementariedad. Estados Unidos argumentó que la debilidad de las jurisdicciones nacionales encargadas de la responsabilidad penal corporativa no derivada en el contexto del principio de complementariedad harían inviable su inclusión en el estatuto de la CPI. El argumento de Estados Unidos es el opuesto al ofrecido por Schabas, pero indica que consideraciones políticas más que argumentos puramente legales escribe que la referencia en el preámbulo de pueden haber estado en juego.25 o en casos excepcionales, algún otro tipo de justicia, en algún lugar en algún momento.20 Al desarrollar su definición de crímenes internacionales, Einarsen emprendió una revisión detallada de la literatura sobre el tema por académicos principales de la ley penal internacional. El estudio de Einarsen incluyó los escritos de Zahar y Sluiter, Cassesse, Werle, Bassiouni, Schabas y Cryer.21 Los escritos de Schabas y Cryer, citados por Einarsen, son particularmente instructivos para discutir los la ICC a la noción de “crímenes más graves” y “crímenes graves” sugiere un criterio cualitativo para la inclusión de crímenes para su inclusión bajo la jurisdicción del Estatuto de Roma.21 Para Schabas, en el contexto de la CPI, las definiciones precisas de la gravedad de los crímenes no eran tan importantes como considerar si esos crímenes se enjuiciaban efectivamente a nivel nacional. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL ibid 62. ibid 123. 21 ibid 150 – 163. 22 Ibid 156. 23 Ibid 156. 24 El artículo expert informal de Morten Bergsmo : The Principle of Complementarity in Practise ICC-OTP (2003) 4. Disponible en www. icc-cpi.int 25 La cuestión de la responsabilidad corporativa no derivada se discute con mayor detalle en el siguiente capítulo. 19 20 WINTER V20 N2 2021 89 MODIFICAR EL ESTATUTO DE ROMA Y LOS PUEBLOS: CRÍMENES CONTRA LAS GENERACIONES PRESENTES Y FUTURAS Una discusión sobre la adición de un posible nuevo crimen bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI debe atenderse por las cuestiones de “gravedad” y los impactos dañinos sobre las personas de posibles actos y comisiones. Dicha consideración permitirá evaluar si el delito propuesto vinculado a sistemas económicos nocivos cumple con los requisitos en competencia basados en la gravedad, la base legal para su criminalización basada en prescripciones legales internacionales. Las negociaciones sobre la jurisdicción material de la CPI dieron como resultado un consenso, que Schabas resume como “la corte está diseñada para juzgar nada más que crímenes de extrema gravedad y los más atroces perpretadores”.26 Einarsen escribe que las condiciones necesarias y suficientes para que un crimen sea motivo de preocupación para la comunidad internacional deben contener una cláusula de gravedad inherente. Cita el artículo 8 bis del estatuto revisado de la CPI, que trata del crimen de agresión para ilustrar los elementos de la gravedad: ‘calificar como [un crimen de agresión] un acto de agresión debe, por su carácter, gravedad y escala, constituir una violación manifiesta de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas.27 La Gravedad de los Delitos que Contribuyen a la Pobreza y el Daño Permanente al Medio Ambiente Dada la discusión anterior, es imperativo describir que tan “graves” son los impactos de la pobreza y el daño permanente al medio ambiente. Al comienzo de este trabajo, indiqué que aproximadamente 21.000 personas mueren cada día por causas relacionadas con el hambre, lo que equivale a más de 7,5 o asciende a 7,665 millones de personas al año cada año. Además, WINTER V20 N2 2021 las enfermedades relacionadas con el medio ambiente causadas por el agua contaminada, la deforestación y los procesos agrícolas que dañan el medio ambiente matan el equivalente a un jumbo jet lleno de niños cada 30 minutos.28 Las consecuencias de las prácticas económicas nocivas son aún más graves para los niños según los informes del Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (UNICEF). Aproximadamente 22000 niños mueren cada día debido a enfermedades relacionadas con la pobreza y el hambre debido a la pobreza. Para poner en perspectiva las muertes de niños por causas atribuibles principalmente a la pobreza: quizás podría entenderse mejor en el contexto del derecho penal internacional, donde se puede comparar con los tres genocidios más destacados. Aproximadamente 11 millones de personas murieron en el holocausto que esencialmente contribuyó a enmarcar las definiciones modernas del crimen de Genocidio y Crímenes de Lesa Humanidad. Aproximadamente 900 000 personas murieron en el genocidio de Ruanda y aproximadamente 7 000 personas en la ex Yugoslavia. Estos genocidios y crímenes de lesa humanidad dieron lugar a tribunales penales ad-hoc y ayudaron a enmarcar la jurisprudencia para la jurisdicción de la CPI sobre la materia. Estas atrocidades casi parecen pequeñas en comparación con las muertes de 8,1 millones de niños cada año debido a causas relacionadas con la pobreza. William Schabas An introduction to the International Criminal Court Cambridge University Press (2004) 167. 27 Terje Einarsen (Nota 46 arriba) 253. 28 S. Myers Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health (2009) World Watch Institute 12. 26 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 90 ZANE DANGOR Los daños del cambio climático y la Los Crímenes de los Sistemas Económicos contaminación relacionada son igualmente Nocivos y la Destrucción Deliberada del catastróficos. El Foro Global Humanitario de Medio Ambiente. Kofi Annan ha estimado de manera conservadora que el cambio climático causa 300.000 muertes al año y deja a más de 325 millones de personas vulnerables a los efectos del cambio climático.29 Leileveld y otros sugieren que la contaminación del aire exterior provoca 3,3 millones de muertes por año en todo el mundo.30 La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) estima que el efecto combinado de la contaminación interior y exterior contribuye a aproximadamente 7 millones de muertes en todo el mundo por año.31 Estas estadísticas indican que la pobreza es la norma para la mayoría de las personas y países del mundo. Los impactos combinados de la pobreza y el daño ambiental contribuyen significativamente a las tasas de mortalidad en todo el mundo. Las tasas de mortalidad y otros daños asociados con la pobreza y la degradación del medio ambiente afectan de manera desproporcionada a las personas pobres de los países en desarrollo. La gente no eligió vivir en la pobreza, y tampoco es natural. La pobreza, la desigualdad y la degradación permanente del Ha habido esfuerzos previos para agregar un crimen adicional bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI. Académicos y activistas han elaborado borradores de posibles delitos, los cuales han sido discutidos en foros internacionales, pero hasta el momento, no han sido presentados por ninguna parte estatal. Para este documento, el Proyecto de Crímenes contra las Generaciones Presentes y Futuras (CPFG, por sus siglas en inglés) proporciona la plantilla más apropiada para delitos adicionales. Sus objetivos declarados son poner fin a la impunidad relacionada con sistemas económicos dañinos, daños ambientales y corrupción. El proyecto de Crimen contra las Generaciones Presentes y Futuras fue escrito por Sebastian Jodoin del Centro para el Derecho Internacional del Desarrollo Sostenible y fue encargado por el Consejo Mundial del Futuro.32 El CPFG contiene elementos del crimen de ecocidio33 y sugiere la criminalización de la corrupción. Por lo tanto, no es lo suficientemente explícito sobre estos temas, y sugiero enmiendas para incluir actividades vinculadas a los flujos financieros ilícitos y la corrupción. Para el título medio ambiente son el resultado de las decisiones y acciones de personas e instituciones poderosas. (Premeditación) Los sistemas económicos dañinos tienen múltiples características. El papel que desempeñan los flujos financieros ilícitos (IFF, por sus siglas en inglés) recientemente ha sido objeto de un legítimo escrutinio. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL Foro Global Humanitario ‘Anatomía de una Crisis Silenciosa’ (Ginebra) 2015. 30 J. Lelieveld y otros, ‘The Contribution of Outdoor Air Pollution Sources to Mortality on a Global Scale’. Disponible en www.nature. com Fecha de acceso 16 de septiembre de 2015. 31 Estadísticas de la OMS disponibles en www.who.org Fecha de acceso 15 de noviembre de 2015. 32 S. Jodoin (Nota 47 arriba). 33 Leer A. Gray, The International Crime of Ecocide (1990) CWSL Scholarly Commons. 29 WINTER V20 N2 2021 91 MODIFICAR EL ESTATUTO DE ROMA Y LOS PUEBLOS: CRÍMENES CONTRA LAS GENERACIONES PRESENTES Y FUTURAS del crimen propuesto real, tanto el propuesto “Crímenes de Sistemas Económicos Dañinos y la Destrucción Deliberada del Medio Ambiente” y el marco de Jodoin relativo a las “generaciones presentes y futuras” es apropiado. Se puede llegar a una formulación más precisa y exacta del crimen en futuras discusiones y deliberaciones. El Proyecto de Crímenes contra las Generaciones Presentes y Futuras en su forma enmendada34 El modelo del proyecto de crímenes contra las generaciones presentes y futuras es el cuerpo principal del texto de esta sección. De acuerdo con la forma en que se modifican los documentos mediante negociaciones en organismos multilaterales, los cambios al texto original se denotarán de la siguiente manera: Las adiciones estarán entre corchetes y en cursiva. humana, incluidas, entre otras, actividades políticas, militares, económicas, (sociales) culturales o científicas, cuando se cometan con el conocimiento de la probabilidad sustancial de sus graves consecuencias sobre la salud, la seguridad o los medios de (sustento y) supervivencia a largo plazo de cualquier grupo o colectividad identificable. (El CPFG busca prevenir y acabar con los delitos de impunidad asociados a la transferencia de fondos de origen ilícito, derivados de actos de corrupción, incluyendo el lavado de fondos, la evasión fiscal, la elusión fiscal y la competencia fiscal que tienen el efecto de privar a los estados de los recursos reducir la pobreza para proporcionar servicios adecuados de salud, sociales y de otro tipo que mejoren el bienestar de su población)35: (a) Forzar (a través de políticas públicas, políticas comerciales y prácticas) a cualquier miembro de cualquier grupo o colectividad36 identificable a trabajar o Las eliminaciones estarán tachadas y en vivir en condiciones que pongan en grave negrita. peligro su salud o seguridad, incluido Los cambios propuestos al texto se explicarán el trabajo forzoso (trabajo forzado no en notas a pie de página. remunerado), (salarios inferiores a tasas de 1. Crímenes contra las generaciones presentes y futuras significa: cualquiera de los siguientes actos dentro de cualquier esfera de la actividad salario mínimo según lo legislado por los estados), impuesto (trabajo sexual) y trata de personas;37 S. Jodoin (Nota 47 arriba). Con base en el párrafo preambular 3 de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas Contra la Corrupción (2003). 36 Nota a pie original como la utilizó Jodoin para explicar el término ‘cualquier grupo o colectividad identificable’: La expresión “cualquier grupo o colectividad identificable” significa cualquier grupo o colectivo de civiles definido y basado en terrenos geográficos, políticos, raciales, nacionales, étnicos, culturales, religiosos, o de género u otros terrenos que son reconocidos universalmente como impermisible bajo la ley internacional. 37 Las adiciones de medidas relacionadas a sueldos son esenciales para los esfuerzos que buscan reducir los impactos de sistemas económicos dañinos. La introducción de la palabra ‘trabajo sexual’ opuesto a prostitución se basa en una preferencia personal. Los términos ’prostitución’ y ‘trabajo sexual’ son sujetos de gran debate internacional que se basan en diferencias ideológicas sobre los derechos de las mujeres y la agencia relacionada con el trabajo sexual. 34 35 WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 92 ZANE DANGOR (b) Apropiarse o adquirir ilegalmente los recursos públicos o privados y la propiedad de miembros de cualquier grupo o colectividad identificable, incluida la malversación a gran escala, la apropiación indebida u otras desviaciones de dichos recursos o propiedad por parte de un funcionario público; c) El cohecho de funcionarios d) Privar deliberadamente a los miembros de cualquier grupo o colectividad identificable de objetos indispensables para su supervivencia, incluso impidiendo el acceso a las fuentes de agua y alimentos, destruyendo o agotando gravemente las fuentes de agua y alimentos, o contaminando las fuentes de agua y alimentos con organismos nocivos o contaminación; públicos nacionales, funcionarios públicos extranjeros y funcionarios de organizaciones internacionales públicas y funcionarios de organizaciones internacionales públicas, malversación, e) Desalojar por la fuerza a miembros de cualquier grupo o colectividad identificable de manera generalizada o sistemática; parte de funcionarios públicos, ciudadanos (f) Imponer medidas que pongan en grave peligro la salud de los miembros de cualquier grupo o colectividad identificable, incluso impedir el acceso a servicios, instalaciones y tratamientos de salud, retenir o tergiversar información esencial para la prevención o el tratamiento de enfermedades o discapacidades, o sometiendo a los experimentos médicos o científicos de cualquier tipo que no estén justificados por su tratamiento médico ni se privados y personas jurídicas.39 realicen en su interés; apropiación indebida u otro desvío de bienes por parte de un funcionario público.38 (d) Tráfico de influencias, lavado de dinero producto de la corrupción; y el encubrimiento de prácticas corruptas mediante delitos contables; el abuso de funciones y el enriquecimiento ilícito por (e) Soborno en el sector privado cuando (g) Impedir que miembros de cualquier se cometa intencionalmente en el curso grupo o colectividad identificable accedan a de actividades económicas, financieras y la educación primaria, secundaria, técnica, comerciales).40 vocacional y superior; Con base en los artículos 15, 16, y 17 de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas en Contra de la Corrupción (2003). Con base en los artículos 18, 19, 20, y 21 de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas en Contra de la Corrupción (2003). La referencia a personas legales se basa en la referencia general a la responsabilidad de personas legales como se define en el artículos 26 de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas en Contra de la Corrupción. 40 Con base en el artículo 21 de la Convención en Contra de la Corrupción (2003). 38 39 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 93 MODIFICAR EL ESTATUTO DE ROMA Y LOS PUEBLOS: CRÍMENES CONTRA LAS GENERACIONES PRESENTES Y FUTURAS (h) Causar ecocidio, es decir, daños anteriormente sean favorecidos. Concluyo generalizados, a largo plazo y graves este punto con base en el hecho de que casi al medio ambiente natural, incluida la todos los elementos se basan en convenciones, destrucción de una especie, subespecie o leyes blandas y tratados existentes. Junto con ecosistema completo; la aparente gravedad de los resultados de las políticas y prácticas asociadas con los sistemas (i) Contaminar el aire, el agua o el económicos dañinos, el daño al medio ambiente, suelo liberando sustancias u organismos el delito adicional que se incluirá, como parte de que pongan en grave peligro la salud, la la jurisdicción de la CPI, proporcionaría la base seguridad o los medios de supervivencia para negociaciones efectivas por los Estados de los miembros de cualquier grupo o Interesados de la CPI. Sería necesario realizar colectividad identificable;41 (j) Otros actos de carácter similar que pongan en grave peligro la salud, la seguridad o los medios de supervivencia de miembros de cualquier grupo o colectividad identificable; un trabajo detallado sobre los elementos de los crímenes descritos anteriormente, pero están fuera del alcance de este documento. Incluir la Responsabilidad de las Personas Jurídicas dentro de la Jurisdicción de la CPI (k) Cualquiera de los actos anteriores Como se discutió en la Sección II, las que causen daños graves, generalizados y de largo plazo a la salud humana y personas jurídicas pueden no ser sujetos del a las generaciones futuras de forma Derecho Internacional, incluido el Derecho indiscriminada e incontrolable. Penal Internacional. Sin embargo, su inclusión ha estado en la agenda de la comunidad 2. Los crímenes contra generaciones futuras internacional durante décadas. La razón de también incluirán cualquier acto que cause, o esto es que todos los crímenes internacionales, tenga una fuerte posibilidad de causar, cualquiera incluido el crimen propuesto como se propone de los efectos identificados en la Sección 1 (a)- en este documento, concuerdan en la premisa de (k) y que se lleve a cabo sin la debida diligencia que individuos, estados e instituciones poderosos en cuanto a la probabilidad de tales efectos generalmente perpetran estos crímenes. Por (principio de precaución). lo menos, existe el reconocimiento de que Si bien puede haber margen para incluir otros aspectos de los sistemas económicos dañinos, el daño permanente al medio ambiente y la El uso de la palabra “ilegalmente” en el modelo original no es útil como la contaminación puede tomar el lugar legalmente y ser permitida por los estados. 41 corrupción, es más probable que los elementos incluidos en el proyecto de delito descrito WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 94 ZANE DANGOR individuos, estados e instituciones poderosos Cuando una persona física ha sido condenada facilitan que se cometan crímenes internacionales por el tribunal, el tribunal también tendrá a través de su control de los recursos económicos, jurisdicción sobre las personas jurídicas u otras financieros, militares y políticos. La centralidad organizaciones por conducta delictiva en virtud de de los actores poderosos en la comisión de este estatuto si: crímenes internacionales fue fundamental para - La persona condenada era un agente, los intentos de Einarsen de definir los crímenes universales: representante o empleado de esa persona jurídica u organización, y, Los Crímenes Universales son actos identificables individualmente que - El delito fue cometido por la persona física que constituyen infracciones graves a las actuó en nombre de [y con el consentimiento o reglas de conducta: y que los cometidos, aquiescencia de] [y con el consentimiento de] esa organizados o tolerados por actores persona u organización jurídica [y] [o] en el curso poderosos: y que, según el derecho de sus actividades habituales. internacional vigente, son punibles donde y cuando se cometan: y que requieren enjuiciamiento y sanción a través de juicios justos, o en casos excepcionales, algún otro tipo de justicia, en algún lugar en algún - A los efectos de este estatuto, “personas jurídicas u otras organizaciones” significan corporaciones u organizaciones privadas, cuyo objetivo es el beneficio privado.44 momento.42 Sostengo que todos los actores poderosos capaces de estar involucrados en la comisión de crímenes internacionales deberían ser procesados bajo la CPI. Un texto evolutivo sobre la responsabilidad penal individual preparado por el Comité Preparatorio presidido por Adrian Bos en el período previo a la Conferencia Diplomática El Texto Evolutivo X insinúa la oposición a la inclusión de corporaciones hecha por las numerosas delegaciones encabezadas por Estados Unidos, basándose en el argumento de que haría inviable el principio de complementariedad. La premisa de este argumento era que la responsabilidad penal corporativa aún no estaba reconocida universalmente por los estados. de Roma ofrece una ventana al debate sobre la responsabilidad de las personas jurídicas.43 El uso de la palabra “ilegalmente” en el modelo original no es útil como la contaminación puede tomar el lugar legalmente y ser permitida por los estados. 42 Terje Einarsen (nota 46 arriba) 22. 43 Comité Preparatorio de la CPI, Rolling Text on Article 23 (sin fecha). Disponible en PURL:https://www.legal-tools.org./doc/ f77746. Fecha de acceso 29 de septiembre de 2001. 44 ibid para 5 41 El texto evolutivo, en lo sucesivo denominado “Texto Evolutivo X”, trataba entonces de la responsabilidad penal individual en virtud del artículo 23. El párrafo 5 del Texto evolutivo X dice lo siguiente: FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 95 MODIFICAR EL ESTATUTO DE ROMA Y LOS PUEBLOS: CRÍMENES CONTRA LAS GENERACIONES PRESENTES Y FUTURAS Los elementos de complicidad indican los Los argumentos para excluir a las personas jurídicas de la responsabilidad no derivada bajo la límites de utilizar el derecho penal internacional CPI son esencialmente políticos y se exploran más para responsabilizar a las empresas incluso a fondo. como cómplices de crímenes que preocupan a la En un documento que trata específicamente del comunidad internacional. Como sugirió Schabas, un proveedor de armas o el Director Gerente de potencial del derecho internacional para enjuiciar una aerolínea que transporta armas prohibidas penalmente a las empresas, Clapham cuestiona solo pueden ser acusados si existe un vínculo el principio de “societas delinquere non protest”, directo y sustantivo con la comisión de crímenes lo que significa que las empresas no pueden ser criminales.45 Clapham sugiere además que cometidos que se consideran internacionales y bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI. los Tribunales Penales Ad Hoc y la Corte Penal Mientras la participación en delitos Internacional que se centran en las personas como sujetos de sus jurisdicciones pueden internacionales puede llevarse a cabo a través ajustarse para ejercer jurisdicción sobre las de un caparazón corporativo, el marco legal personas jurídicas, incluidas las corporaciones. actual sólo enjuiciará a personas asociadas con la Clapham enfatiza el principio de efectividad y empresa. Un ejemplo de esto es que el proveedor argumenta que para que el derecho internacional de Zyklon B fue condenado por crímenes de sea efectivo, todos los actores, ya sean individuos guerra. Al mismo tiempo, los fabricantes de o actores no estatales, deberían tener prohibido Zyklon B alegaron con éxito la ignorancia del uso ayudar a los estados a violar los principios de previsto del producto por parte del usuario final. derechos humanos.46 El principio de efectividad Si bien esta perforación del velo corporativo es es válido para todas las áreas delictivas bajo la importante para enjuiciar a los más responsables, jurisdicción de la CPI. Sin embargo, es imperativo también deja irónicamente a la corporación para en lo que respecta al delito recomendado en el que continúe produciendo y participando en que es más probable que los autores principales crímenes internacionales. sean empresas multinacionales. Schabas y la ICJ opinan que debería llevarse a El actual marco legal internacional limita cabo una reforma legal para enjuiciar a la propia la responsabilidad penal corporativa a ser empresa. No hacerlo dejará la complicidad partícipe o, más específicamente, ser cómplice empresarial al nivel de ser sólo teóricamente en la comisión de delitos. Esta confianza en la posible. Irónicamente, en contraste con la complicidad como medio para responsabilizar a las empresas está vinculada a la práctica en el derecho internacional de que los Estados son sujetos de obligaciones de derechos humanos y los individuos sujetos de responsabilidad penal. WINTER V20 N2 2021 A Clapham’ Extending international criminal law beyond the individual to corporations and armed opposition groups’ (2008) 899. Visitado en http://jicj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi. 46 Ibid 901. 45 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 96 ZANE DANGOR posición de negociación de algunas delegaciones En suma sobre el principio de complementariedad, puede proporcionar la solución a este problema. El Las graves consecuencias para la humanidad principio de complementariedad en el contexto como una resulta de sistemas económicos dañinos de la CPI permitiría a los Estados Interesados son innegables. Las estadísticas relacionadas con permitir que los sistemas jurídicos nacionales las tasas de mortalidad, enfermedades, pobreza y prosigan con los enjuiciamientos de personas privaciones no se pueden discutir. En términos de jurídicas, especialmente de empresas. Por el escala, los daños resultantes del daño permanente contrario, las personas jurídicas de los estados al medio ambiente, un proceso que genera y que no pueden o no quieren enjuiciar podrían ser mantiene la pobreza y la corrupción, eclipsa a procesadas en La Haya. Aquellos estados sin las los de algunos de los genocidios más horrendos leyes necesarias serían evidentemente incapaces, y otros crímenes que preocupan a la comunidad y esto también abriría la posibilidad de que internacional. Sobre la base de sus graves efectos los estados con los sistemas legales requeridos negativos, el conjunto de delitos asociados con ejerzan la jurisdicción universal. las políticas y las operaciones “normales” de las prácticas económicas nocivas se ha ganado Si bien esto es ideal, propondría que la el dudoso estatus de delitos que deberían formulación contenida en lo que denomino conmocionar la conciencia de la comunidad Texto Evolutivo X en el documento se utilice internacional. Si la comunidad mundial se como un medio para asegurar que las personas toma en serio el fin de poner fin a la impunidad jurídicas que son perpetradores en relación mundial por parte de personas e instituciones con delitos asociados con sistemas económicos poderosas que participan en acciones o facilitan dañinos, daños permanentes al medio ambiente las acciones que saben que llevarían a privar a y la corrupción, se llevan a libro. La formulación las personas de oportunidades de subsistencia de Texto Evolutivo X permite que CPI tenga que les salvan vidas, actos que conducen a la jurisdicción sobre una persona jurídica si muerte y destrucción generalizadas de personas la persona física condenada era un agente, y medio ambiente, entonces sus actos deben ser representante o empleado de esa persona jurídica. criminalizados. También confiere jurisdicción a la CPI sobre una persona jurídica si la persona física condenada Dados los sistemas de gobernabilidad actúa en nombre de, con el consentimiento relativamente débiles en muchos países, del consentimiento de esa persona jurídica. especialmente en el mundo en desarrollo, Esta formulación permitiría procesar a una donde las personas se ven más afectadas por persona jurídica asociada a una persona natural las consecuencias de los sistemas económicos condenada por delitos asociados a sistemas dañinos, la CPI ofrece una opción razonable económicos nocivos, daño permanente al medio para que la comunidad mundial haga que los ambiente y corrupción. más responsables rindan cuentas. Por lo tanto, FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 97 MODIFICAR EL ESTATUTO DE ROMA Y LOS PUEBLOS: CRÍMENES CONTRA LAS GENERACIONES PRESENTES Y FUTURAS este documento buscaba argumentar para condenada por la CPI por cualquier delito bajo la agregar al menú de la CPI de crímenes que jurisdicción de la CPI. preocupan a la comunidad internacional que niegan a las personas los derechos sociales, culturales y económicos. He argumentado que las personas jurídicas y, en particular, las empresas multinacionales deberían ser responsables penalmente de tales delitos, dado que las instituciones e individuos poderosos llevan a cabo a los autores de los delitos sugeridos asociados con sistemas económicos dañinos. Dada la dificultad anticipada para obtener el acuerdo de los Estados Interesados para que la CPI aplique la responsabilidad no derivada de las corporaciones, he sugerido que la formulación descrita en un documento, al que me refiero como Texto Evolutivo X, proporciona un compromiso razonable. Este enfoque puede ser aceptable para la mayoría de los Estados Interesados. El Texto Evolutivo X fue producto del proceso de He utilizado diferentes terminologías para el grupo adicional de delitos que se incluirán bajo la jurisdicción de la CPI. Dicho esto, la formulación de “Crímenes contra las generaciones presentes y futuras” (CPFG) ofrecida por Sebastian Jodoin del Centro de Derecho Internacional del Desarrollo Sostenible en representación del Consejo para el Futuro del Mundo es quizás la más relevante. Usé el CPFG como plantilla y lo modifiqué para incluir delitos relacionados con la corrupción y los flujos financieros ilícitos (IFF, por sus siglas en inglés). Como es el caso del Consejo para el Futuro del Mundo, este documento debe verse como una contribución al debate sobre la búsqueda de justicia para los delitos asociados con sistemas económicos dañinos. No ofrecí una nomenclatura definitiva para negociación hacia la finalización del Estatuto los delitos propuestos. Esta terminología de de Roma. Dispone la posibilidad de que las identificación puede establecerse a través de empresas sean procesadas. En particular, este negociaciones por parte de los estados y las enjuiciamiento ocurre si una persona física inevitables investigaciones adicionales realizadas que actúa como agente de esa corporación es como parte de dichas negociaciones. REFERENCIAS [1] A Clapham ‘Extending international criminal law beyond the individual to corporations and armed opposition groups’ (2008) 899. http://jicj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/6/5/899. Accessed at http:// jicj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi. [2] A. Shah ‘Causes of Poverty’ (2011) available at www.globalissues.org/article . AUC/UNECA Report of the High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa (2014) 20. WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 98 ZANE DANGOR [3] D. Lima Business and International Human Rights (2009) Heinonline Accessed from http://hei- nonline.org on 11 August 2015. [4] D.Kar and J. Spanjers Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2003 – 2012 Global Fi- nancial Integrity (2014). [5] Doudou Thiam ICL Second Report on the Draft Code of Offences against the Peace and Security of Mankind (1984) Vol. II, part I. [6] Draft Statute of the ICC: Working Paper submitted by France. GA A/AC.249/L.3 UN Doc Available at PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/4d28ee/. Accessed on 13 August 2015, [7] HP Kaul Is it Possible to Prevent or Punish Future Aggressive War-Making Torkel Opsahl Academ- ic EPublishers (February 2011). [8] ICC Prepatory Committee, Rolling Text on Article 23 (undated). Available at PURL:https://www. legal-tools.org./doc/f77746. Accessed on 29 September 2015. [9] International Commission of Jurists Definition of Crimes: ICJ Brief no.1 to the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of the International Criminal Court (Rome 15 June – 17 July 1998). Accessed at https://legal-tools.org./doc/9fd899. [10] International Commission of Jurists, Corporate complicity & legal accountability: Volume 2 Crim- inal Law and International Crimes (2008). [11] International Law Commission Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nurnberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal ILC Yearbook (1950 Vol II). [12] International Law Commission Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court with Commen- taries 1994 UN Doc, in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, Vol II, Part two (1994). [13] L Van Den Herik and J Cernic: Regulating Corporations under International Law: From Human Rights to International Law and Back (2010). Accessed at HeinOnline. http://heinonline.org 11 Aug 2015. [14] L. Van Derslice Harmful Economic Systems as a Cause of Hunger and Poverty (2015) available at www. world hunger.org, accessed on 22 August 2015. [15] Morten Bergsmo Informal Expert Paper: The Principle of Complementarity in Practise ICC-OTP (2003). Available at www.icc-cpi.int. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 99 MODIFICAR EL ESTATUTO DE ROMA Y LOS PUEBLOS: CRÍMENES CONTRA LAS GENERACIONES PRESENTES Y FUTURAS [16] Oxfam Great Britain Policy Paper Tax Havens: Releasing the Hidden Billions for Poverty Eradication (2013). [17] Press Release on Statements Made by Delegations to the UN Conference on the Establishment of an ICC, UN Doc L/ROM/14 available at PURL://www.legal-tools.org/doc/7ca3e9/. [18] Proposal for Article 5 Submitted by Cuba on Crimes Against Humanity to the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an ICC (23 June 1998) UN Doc A/CONF.183/ C.1/L.17. [19] R. Cryer, H. Friman, D. Robinson, E. Wilmshurst An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Cambridge University Press (2010). [20] R. Cryer, Hakan Friman, Darryl Robinson & Elizabeth Wilmshurst An Introduction to Interna- tional Criminal law and Procedure Cambridge University press (2010). [21] R. McCorquodale and R. Fairbrother Globalisation and Human Rights (1999) 21 Human Rights Quarterly. [22] Resolution Adopted by the Human Rights Council on Human Rights and Transnational Corpora- tions and Other Business Enterprises, A/HRC/RES/17/4 UN Doc (6 July 2011). [23] Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, ICC (17 July 1998). S. Myers Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health (2009) World Watch Institute. Terje Einarsen The Concept of Universal Crimes in International Law’ Torkel Opsahl Publishers Oslo (2012). [24] UN Inter Agency Group Levels and Trends in Child Mortality Report 2010 UNICEF (2010). [25] United Nations Report of the Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court at the ‘United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establish- ment of an International Criminal Court Rome Italy,( July 1998.) UN Doc A/CONF.183/2. [26] WA Schabas Enforcing international humanitarian law: Catching the accomplices (2001). [27] William Schabas An introduction to the International Criminal Court Cambridge University Press (2004). WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 100 ZANE DANGOR Este artículo debe citarse como Dangor Z. (2021) Modificar el Estatuto de Roma y los Pueblos: Crímenes contra las Generaciones Presentes y Futuras. Fourth World Journal. Vol. 20, N2. pp. 83-100. S O B R E E L AU TO R Zane Dangor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102 Mihumisang-Tribal Voices of Formosa By Amy Eisenberg, Ph.D. CWIS Associate Scholar I was Research Fellow and International Conservation Liaison for developing national parks in the Central Mountains of Formosa with the Bunun tribe, whose sacred homeland is Yushan National Park and well beyond the park’s borders. After witnessing, reporting and publishing the desecration of a Bunun tribal cemetery by Taiwanese hotel developers in the Bunun hot springs village of Tungpu (Eisenberg 2015), I was invited to serve as Research Fellow and Professor at Yushan Tribal College with the First Peoples of Formosa (Figure 1). It was a great privilege and an honor to live and work with Formosan Native Peoples who are proactively engaged in practicing and invigorating their cultural heritage. They deeply enriched my life and our world with their creativity, wisdom, grace, kindness and generosity. The First Peoples of Formosa are linguistically Austronesian and today they are approximately 2.3 percent of the population of the island, Formosa, which is largely Chinese. I asked my students to consult with their elders and write from the heart.) Figure 1. Yushan Tribal College students Ilha Formosa in Portuguese means “Beautiful Island.” Formosa represents the Austronesian Indigneous Peoples’ intact cultures and languages before Formosa was occupied in 1895 by the Japanese, and before the Chinese take over. It is believed that the large Austronesian language family and the Austronesian peoples originated on Formosa. The Austronesian cultures and ethnic FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 103 MIHUMISANG-TRIBAL VOICES OF FORMOSA groups began on Formosa. They migrated to no Tao, which is about 45 square kilometers, is Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, Rapan Nui, volcanic, mountainous, and tropical. The Taiwan in the Pacific, Hawai’i, New Zealand, Melanesia, Power Company installed a large Nuclear Waste Micronesia, as well as other Pacific islands. Dump on the Tao’s wet taro agricultural land This beautiful and large Austronesian language and fishing grounds in 1982 (Figure 3). There are family of the seafaring Polynesian Austronesian numerous earthquakes in the region, which can peoples of Southeast Asia - Oceania, East Timor, damage the 98,000 rusting metal receptacles in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines is one which the nuclear waste is stored. Tremendous of the most geographically far and widespread earthquake activity exists in this archipelago, language families in the world. European from the Ryukyu Islands to the Philippines. The peoples, in search of spices, colonized most of the saline and humid marine environment is rusting Austronesian nations in the Asia-Pacific region. the metal drums of nuclear waste. Figure 2. Pongso no Tao The Tao live on beautiful Pongso no Tao – Island of the People, off the southeastern coast of Formosa (Figure 2). The Chinese call them Yami and their island Lanyu, Orchid Island. There are fewer than 4,000 Tao tribal people today. Pongso WINTER V20 N2 2021 Figure 3. Nuclear Waste Dump FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 104 AMY EISENBERG The Tao people are unanimously opposed to Following years of protests, concerns the nuclear waste storage on their island and heightened about Taipower’s storage of the have vehemently expressed their concerns. Many rusting barrels of nuclear waste on Pongso no demonstrations have taken place with significant Tao, after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear support from the Formosan tribes, scientists, and disaster in Japan. A radioactive leak was detected the academic community voicing opposition to outside the facility. In 2012, hundreds of people the precariously stored nuclear waste (Figure 4). protested outside the nuclear waste storage When the Taiwan government constructed the facility, calling on Taiwan Power Co. to remove nuclear waste dump, Taiwan officials blatantly the nuclear waste as soon as possible. lied to the Tao people by telling them that a cannery was being created, which would employ In March 2012, thousands of people staged an the Tao people. Another falsehood told was that anti-nuclear demonstration in Taipei following this was a temporary storage site for nuclear Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami. waste, and the Taiwan government would remove Indigenous protesters demanded the removal it shortly to a distant location. There was not of the rusting barrels of nuclear waste stored on a hospital on Pongso no Tao when the nuclear Pongso no Tao. Authorities failed to deliver. waste was deposited on the island. On November 29, 2019, Tao people and anti-nuclear activists protested in front of the Executive Yuan in Taipei, demanding that the government move its nuclear waste storage facility off Pongso no Tao. In the Voice of the Tao: “It is a tragedy that Tao children are being born into a radiation-filled environment.” -Tao spiritual leader The Taiwan government’s planned park on Pongso no Tao is a camouflage of a beautiful landscape covering a most noxious thing. Now we are being forced to fear our beloved natural environment. It’s impossible to relocate nuclear waste. We are very angry about this. It’s dangerous for our territories, for our ownership and for the environment around the island. We Figure 4. Pongso no Tao Anti-Nuclear Waste Demonstration FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL see it as an ethnic problem because the Taiwan WINTER V20 N2 2021 105 MIHUMISANG-TRIBAL VOICES OF FORMOSA government didn’t care about the Tao people, but when we began to protest, they began to think about our problem. - Syaman Rapongan, Tao tribe The government stated that it would remove the nuclear waste by 2016 but this did not occur. The Tao people have repeatedly expressed that the nuclear waste must be removed from Pongso no Tao. The nuclear waste dump has caused unceasing pain and trauma for the Tao people… Although the storm at sea is dangerous, we can see the waves and feel the wind, to fight the storm. We cannot see or feel this nuclear radiation. How can we fight something we cannot see or feel? We know it can destroy our land, our life. – Tao tribesman Dear Amy, Thanks so much for your kindness. You help my people to be strong. We will continue to fight the nuclear waste. All the Tao people oppose the nuclear waste on Pongso no Tao. We hope that the Taiwan government nuclear officer does not put that waste in my village, and that they will take out that nuclear waste right away. When the Taiwan government put that nuclear waste on Pongso no Tao, they lied to my people, and now we know that it is very dangerous for the human body. But the Taiwan government still says don’t worry about nuclear waste. We want the government to not deceive us. We ask them to take out the nuclear waste otherwise it will beget war for them. - Syaman Vongayan, Tao tribe Convener of the Mobilization of Pongso no Tao’s Anti-Nuclear Movement. WINTER V20 N2 2021 I feel for Taiwan Indigenous people. We are people too and equal in God’s eyes. We need respect and freedom in society. I hope to help my tribe. I want to teach them to care for ourselves and our tribes. If the government is bad to us indigenes, I hope they take their opinion to protect indigenous people. Let indigenes not be slighted again. – Lawen, Pangcah tribe My dear teacher Amy, I am glad to share my feelings about my hopes, dreams and goals for my life and society, and our world. I will go back to the Indigenous village to serve God and my people. I wish to help them when they have troubles. So, while I am at school, I hope I can develop the sense of responsibility to my people and myself. For our society and our world, I hope we have truth, democracy and freedom in Taiwan’s society. Then all of the tribes can have respect for each other, and all parties will have love. I hope the people on the earth will protect the earth because we are only one earth. All of the indigenous people in Taiwan must help each other and unite together when we are in trouble. I want to teach science and confess to the government how to know and treasure indigenous people because indigenous peoples are especially intelligent. No body or group can threaten our freedom. Indigenous people do not hope other people will help us when we are in trouble. – Hisul, Bunun tribe I was born in the world as a Tayal girl and minority. My ideas glowed day by day. I found Taiwan’s society was full of inequity. So, we must appreciate our indigenous sense and enhance human rights on Taiwan. – Mei-Liang, Tayal tribe FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 106 AMY EISENBERG Taiwan is a racist society. Indigenous cultures, land, woods and so on are almost approaching destruction…Let us awaken…and change our thinking, our lives, after teaching our daughters, our sons, our friends, our brothers and sisters. Every indigenous life in Taiwan must not lose our cultures, lands and woods, and we ask the people of Taiwan to give us our cultures, land, freedom, peace and justice for Taiwan indigenous peoples. I am 21 years old. Until now, I understood little by little the meaning that people lived in the world. There was an important speech and idea on my mind before I entered Yushan, that we were inferior to other people; our tribe and culture were inferior. So, I aspired to be another “people”- I mean Taiwanese. They say they’ve got 5,000 years of good history and they offered us liberty, peace, equality and righteousness. We can own the fortune like them. So, I loved them more than I loved myself, my family, and my tribe. This changed when I entered Yushan. I finally Figure 5. Paiwan friend, Edan in his home Maybe in the world, some other peoples are know that the dream I belonged to is terrible… in the same situation as us, and under pressure We can see so many Native People living in an they make the same statements. But we are unrighteous society. There is a large percentage united by a dream, a hope and a goal that we of our people involved in prostitution, unsung are real people. That is, give us that which we heroes on the ocean, developed heroes in the need, and for that we pray. mines, and the poor man in the factory. Should - Legai, Paiwan Tribe we face the unrighteous treatment? I shall tell about Atayal society with my hopes. Now I know that my tribe is great and lovely In ancient times, our ancestors were blessed (Figure 5). Native People are important figures because they were friendly (when no other in Taiwan’s history. So now I will say that I like country came to Taiwan). But the Chinese people to be a Native person. On the earth, we are as and other countries came here. Our ancestors other people. We are great and valuable, and fell! Our backbone became weak! This is due we should have dignity, liberty, and real equal to different cultures’ or civilizations’ imposing and righteous treatment. circumstances. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 107 MIHUMISANG-TRIBAL VOICES OF FORMOSA Now, the Atayal tribe is not able to adjust to a new life, so we cannot balance it and are not able to break through for betterment. So, we have many societal problems now. I hope to settle all kinds of problems one day… So, first I must study much wisdom and learn very well. The Atayal tribe must pray every time for Native people. All Native people must be of one heart. Dear tribes, we must stand up by ourselves. – Por-lo, Atayal tribe Now I study at Yushan so I must know clearly my own identity, responsibility and the mission that I will bear. I hope we can see the real suffering of Native people and I will try my best to help them. I believe our life is concerned with everybody’s life. So, we must pray for others who meet suffering every day. I feel that I’m not enough; everybody is not enough too. So, we must accept each other, help each other, share glory and bear hard for each other. At last, I wish, teacher, pardon our A History about Tayal weaknesses. We love you forever. Tayal is a kindhearted people. We live in beautiful Taiwan. When the Han Chinese people came here, Tayal’s family was broken... – Loyo, Sediq tribe I love my tribe and am most concerned with my tribesmen. The world is in a period of change First, Han Chinese people brought politicians. Second, they made us become poor. The most important is that they killed our culture. They want all of the mountain peoples’ cultures to become Chinese culture. Now I think we must build a new country. Let’s break through it. – Por-lo, Atayal tribe Language is a feeling that’s hard to forget. It has affected every people’s lifeline. It has also spread in every epoch’s life experiences. Paiwan language contacts the feeling between me, and my parents and sisters. It lifts up my grandmother’s failing heart again. Paiwan is my first language. It makes me feel kind. I love it so much. –Vais, Paiwan tribe This is my dream - To learn more of my native and the humans’ hearts are in a bad way… I love children very much. I respect childhood education and hope for compulsory education in my tribe. – Rahah, Atayal tribe High in the mountains, deep in thought are Indigenous Peoples. Where is justice flowing like a stream and righteousness like a riverine place? Taiwan indigenous people are in a tugof-war. Our indigenous peoples’ situation is very difficult. It is not fair to use the standards of one culture to measure another. We should cultivate an open-minded attitude, and rather than rejecting or disparaging people different from ourselves, we should work toward more fully understanding them. - Su-Lang, Sediq tribe culture and to help my people in the mountain settlements. We should not abandon wisdom. It will love, protect, and keep us safe. - Lo Shang, Atayal tribe WINTER V20 N2 2021 I accepted the Chinese education system when I was a child but now, I feel it is to lose myself, my vision…The education system for me created FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 108 AMY EISENBERG many problems. I can’t believe myself. I can’t I feel my tribe is absent of Native people’s believe our government because they limited our names. Parents call their children by their thought. I hope our government gives mountain Chinese name. I hope Tayal people will stand tribes lots of freedom. up in this society. – Chi-was, Tayal tribe Today’s government calls itself “democratic”, but we don’t have freedom really. Why do I hope to serve my tribe all of my life. This some people walk on the street demonstrating? isn’t easy, but it is full of many hardships that Today’s government calls, “To protect Taiwan I must endure. When I see many evil incidents tribal people.” But we are “open” for them to in Taiwan’s society, let me find the cause that exploit our human rights. So, Taiwan tribal becomes a handicap to my tribe. I sense that our people want to stand up! We do not want to let government does not appreciate native tribal a government succeed with our extermination. cultures and despises native tribal life. I expect We want to protect our cultures. Let it be our government to have appreciation for native continuous (Figure 6). tribal life. The government is not doing what it - Vungad, Bunun tribe can to preserve and enhance human rights on Taiwan. As far as I know, we are in a racial crisis. Taiwan’s society is full of iniquity. Taiwan’s minority peoples are impoverished. We must appreciate our indigenous sense and be respected by the majority. – Umas Tamapema, Bunun tribe In our days, the country is evil and brings our death. Some are not above telling lies and abusing power. In this age, we have death, but we have hope and life. In the evil world, it is like we are losing ourselves. One finds oneself in a dangerous situation. We are like losing servants. I am Sediq. We are peaceful people. We have a need for peace in the nation. – Taymo, Sediq tribe I am always dreaming that our country is a democracy with liberty and equality. By this, we can face the right treatment and not be despised Figure 6. Bunun bingad pounding maduh FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL as minority people. So, I always hope that Native WINTER V20 N2 2021 109 MIHUMISANG-TRIBAL VOICES OF FORMOSA people will stand by our selves. Don’t be bounded by the situation of society. Let us keep society’s peace and the country’s equality. Don’t be controlled by others again. I am so glad that I am a Native person because I love my tribe. - SaVan, Paiwan tribe Our tribe will die by the Han Chinese people because they oppressed our people. They don’t let us read about our culture and use our language in school, so we are losing our culture. We are the same as the bear that lost its roots. We are special, of God’s chosen people. We must study hard any Figure 7. Sediq tribal elder lesson, so we can help and teach our people. – Mwakay, Paiwan tribe introduced from the lowlands. Do not let anyone look down on us because everyone has to be free I’m an indigenous Sediq person. I never liked and powerful. I want to make efforts to help the myself and my tribe. I never thought my tribe maltreated native people in Taiwan, with love for was of wonderful, lovely, kind and great all who suffer hardships. I am very much con- people. So, I was feeling ashamed of my tribe cerned about the lives of native people in Taiwan, and my heart. I knew that I should take up particularly if they are bullied or maltreated. The my responsibility for indigenous peoples of all native people were the first to live in Taiwan and nations…We should not despise our own cultures, to receive suppression by the Kuomintang. We and to encourage everyone, “Love thy neighbor have not freedom and freedom of speech. It is not as thyself.” (Figure 7). I think the cultures of a good government. So, we have to raise one’s self Taiwan Native People are best worthwhile, and independently and self-confidently, and to act we are anxious to know the languages of every -We, the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. tribe. To reduce a language of any tribe is a loss – E sour, Atayal tribe because our languages are a favor of God. So, we can’t slight maintaining ourselves, our own Brothers, Begin languages. Thank you very much, my teacher. You give me wisdom. – Shyounghay Tada, Sediq tribe Brothers, awaken to the errors. Begin to deliver self and clansmen because after over thirty years, the Pangcah clansmen’s language may disappear Some people say: The indigenous peoples like without a trace. Only .5 percent of three-year-old drinking wine very much. Actually, they weren’t children to twenty years of age young women and originally drinkers at all. The drinking habit was men can speak Pangcah language and only 15 WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 110 AMY EISENBERG percent of twenty to thirty-five-year old Pangcah We are like bonded servants. Every people (tribe) people can speak our language. This is our crisis. is equal in God’s eye. In Taiwan, although it is a Now all Pangcah clansmen’s families will be large and complex government, it does not come assimilated by the Chinese. Compatriots, awaken. true to protect the weak and small tribes. It forces We must unite together to exalt our own culture. us and robs us of our ancestral lands, woods, and Therefore, we want to begin from self and family. much capital that we depend on for the life of our Parents and children, when we chat in the family, people. I feel that we must be brothers, though we must all use our own clansmen’s language, and we are weak and too small. But we have the same promptly teach children to speak Pangcah. beliefs: concern for our brothers and sisters, to – Kilang, Pangcah tribe protect our land, culture and capital. Still, we die. The land is my father’s sweat and blood! The I hope Taiwan’s people will understand impartiality and human rights, but Taiwan earth is my mother’s heaven. Don’t rob us of this. - Kual, Paiwan tribe hasn’t these now. I dream that one day, Taiwan beautiful place, but Taiwan changed by polluting I know that the Taiwan Indigenous Peoples’ situation is not good at this time. So, I must endeavor to finish my learning responsibility and then go back to Native society to serve my tribe. I hope I can help my village and Native People when I enter my work. I do not belong to myself…I belong to my society…and I seek a social theory that is suitable to me from this special knowledge, take it and fulfill it in our society to bring benefit for Native Peoples. I hope Native Peoples and our society will become more harmonious, independent and more beautiful. The origin of this is built by many people who love their own tribe.” the air, etc. and nuclear waste use. I hope Taiwan - Kual, Paiwan tribe will be impartial for the Native peoples, but Taiwan’s Native Tribes are not respected by the government. God gave us sense to manage our world and to put into operation God’s just laws, but we haven’t this equality. The government oppresses and deceives people. Original Natives live in Taiwan, but Natives are not much unlike the majority. In Taiwan’s society, we are disappearing…God created humans and classified races of humans. These people must be respectful together. But Taiwan’s Natives are wronged and are not venerated and esteemed…Taiwan is a will have good ethics and will respect human rights and protect Native peoples. Afresh, anew. Get back to the beautiful island, Formosa! - Hagau Dunuh, Atayal tribe All Indigenous People are Superior Too My tribe is Paiwan. We are peaceful people. Every man likes to hunt animals. In the evil world, we find ourselves in a dangerous situation. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL My tribe’s name is Sediq. I like to live in the country. All of my family live in Jaming, a beautiful place. Dason is my neighboring village. Since the government used abnormal acts to impose and acquire this village for constructing an airdrome, the people’s life is agony, embarrassment and resentment about this significant problem. Although the government looks down upon their power, WINTER V20 N2 2021 111 MIHUMISANG-TRIBAL VOICES OF FORMOSA they acquired the village. Indigenous peoples or anyone cannot be indifferent. Let us seek assistance together for this problem. Can the village be free of trash for their life every day? - Mijue, Sediq tribe When I was a child, my grandfather spoke about the origin of the Tayal Tribe to me. He said, “Once upon a time there was a big btunux (stone in Tayal language) that rose up from the ground in Nantau. This is the origin of Tayal. Out of this stone was born one man and one woman, who are the ancestors of the Tayal Tribe.” – Mizu, Tayal tribe Because of an era’s “progress” we hear and look at all unpleasant noise and dust, rarely to hear birds singing songs. Noise! I hope we could better these bad points. Let my village turn back to God’s so- called mountain flower garden. Because I love nature, it makes my mood pleasant (Figure 8). – Rth rth me, Rukai tribe My best hope and dream is to finish my studies…It is my greatest purpose that I go back to Native society and teach them how to help our society by ourselves and how to love our country. Tell them how to earn our place in this changing society. Minority people are mankind too. We must have our own places, rights and life. I Love my Homeland Land is life. So, I love my homeland and more, and love every Native people. We have been living in Taiwan for over ten thousand years. I saw many people that were oppressed by different ethnos. I want to struggle for our tribal people Figure 8. Rukai weaver, southern Formosa and homeland forever. – Mizu, Tayal tribe To live in the mountains, people are reenergized. A city life affects many young men. Long ago, in Taiwan, sightseeing places were Genuine people may be deceived or taken in. all very clean and beautiful. But nowadays Bring back the mountain. Keep mountain those sightseeing places that are special in the peoples’ original usages. Let us enjoy life with mountains, everywhere, any one of them, we’ll prosperity and contentment. Enjoy God’s grace see garbage influence and air pollution. Now, for our country. my village was originally a quiet, beautiful place. WINTER V20 N2 2021 – BeFuy, Atayal tribe FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 112 AMY EISENBERG Be Proud of Your Heritage I lived in Taipei for 19 years. When I was In fact, the assimilation policy of the government influenced all of Native society. six years old, my family moved to Taipei It made us persecuted, caused loss of cultural from Ping-ton. For almost all of my life, heritage, economic collapse and it despised I have lived in the city, so I didn’t have morals. So, we have a crisis that Native society much contact with our Paiwan culture. will become extinct. When Amy talks about I can’t speak Paiwan language well, so I am Native people, some didn’t pay attention. We shy about that! But, every time someone must restudy ourselves! This is our problem. We asks me, “Are you Native People?” I always must wake up at once, and not be passive. I hope answer proudly, “Yes, I am!” Really, I am everyone considers our problem seriously. proud of my identity. We are a beautiful tribe. Our society is full of kindness, honesty and At last, I will say thanks to Amy. I admire peace. Our ancestors hunted in the forest, your courage and justice, and you stick to your planted on the land and had peaceful days. principles. Moreover, you care so for our lives. But it changed when Taiwan’s government Thank you very much. Really, we learned and got came here. They set some strange rules: No so much from you. You are our best friend. If you hunting, no planting on the land and even get a chance, we hope you come back to Taiwan to enter our own place, we need a pass card. and “fight back” with us. We love you! It is nonsense! -Amos, Paiwan tribe Inspired by Eisenberg, Amy. 2015. Desecration of a Bunun Tribal Cemetery in Tungpu, Taiwan. Intercontinental Cry - a publication of the Center for World Indigenous Studies. 7 April, 2015. https://intercontinentalcry.org/desecration-of-a-bunun-tribal-cemetery-in-tungpu-taiwan/ FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 113 MIHUMISANG-TRIBAL VOICES OF FORMOSA This Article may be cited as: Eisenberg A. (2021) Mihumisang - Tribal Voices of Formosa. Fourth World Journal. Vol. 20, N2. pp.102-113 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Amy Eisenberg Dr. Amy Eisenberg earned her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arid Lands Resource Sciences: Ethnoecology and Native American Studies from the University of Arizona. She has an MS and BS in Biology: Botany and Scientific and Fine Art. Amy is a scientific artist whose work is in the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation and has been exhibited internationally and nationally. She is a steward in the Tohono O’odham Haki:dag - sacred homeland of the Tohono O’odham Nation, and a botanist, ethnoecologist, organic sustainable agriculturist and agroforester and Associate Scholar with Center for World Indigenous Studies. Amy teaches at the University of Arizona and was Licensed Researcher with the Hopi Tribe – Cultural Preservation Office on the International Repatriation of Hopi and Pueblo Human Remains and Sacred Funerary Offerings, which were taken from Mesa Verde and exported without permit or permission. They were in the National Museum of Finland since 1909 and came home in September 2020 for proper and rightful ceremonial reburial back in Mesa Verde where they were once laid to rest. Amy was International Conservation Liaison and Research Fellow for Yu Shan National Park and Professor at Yushan Tribal College, Formosa. Amy was Earth Island Institute Director of Conservation in the Yaeyama Islands of Japan. Amy conducted participatory research with the Aymar Marka (Aymara Nation) in the Andes of Arica y Parinacota, Chile through USAID and the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Project. Amy was Agriculture and Community Development Cooperative Research and Extension Agent at Northern Marianas College and Organic Sustainable Agriculture and Agroforestry Researcher at the College of Micronesia. As International Expert at the Research Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology and Visiting Professor in the Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Jishou University in Xiangxi Tujia – Miao Autonomous Region of China, Amy conducted collaborative UNESCO-LINKS UNPFII UNDESA research with the Kam people of China and ministries responsible for ethnic development. WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL NATURAL WOMAN Herbal Remedies for Radiant Health at Every Age and Stage of Life An herbal guide to support physical, mental, and spiritual health for women and their children at all stages of life–by a healer with over 40 years of experience. “Weaves together story, tradition, and timeless wisdom into a modern approach that helps us thrive in our live as women.” - Bevin Clare, President, American Herbalists Guild 115 Denying Indigenous Environmental Justice: Experiences from Australia, Brazil, and Canada By Sakshi ABSTRACT This paper deliberates on the nature of justice in Indigenous engagement with settler-colonial legality. I use the case law-based evidence from the three jurisdictions, Australia, Brazil, and Canada, to reflect on the abstract and material representations of Indigenous environmental justice in contemporary settler-colonial societies. There are two elements at play here. While some of the constituent elements of ‘Indigenous environmental justice’ may remain undefined in the legal system, they function as an invitation to the courts for interpreting them widely. How far has this been used, and in what manner speaks to the nature of juridical engagement with indigeneity? Second, the need for certainty and procedural integrity within the legal interpretation often belies the assumption of neutrality. This is pronounced when political and historical questions are antecedents to the legal questions to be determined by a court. Settler colonial nations illustrate this contradiction by laying bare the past and present historical injustices that accompany Indigenous rights and sovereignty. To think about ‘justice’ in these cases requires principle-led juridical innovations. I argue that courts are yet to recognize their key role in identifying and remedying the violence scripted by the law on Indigenous people. While it may be a difficult and complex task to develop a radical jurisprudence without violating the separation of power, courts continue to be the final altars of justice with a wide range of creative and untapped powers. The responsibility to articulate Indigenous environmental justice as a legal principle in the Anthropocene1 calls for deploying those powers. Key Words: indigenous peoples, sovereignty, environmental justice, courts, environmental litigation. In the last week of May, the mining conglomerate Rio Tinto destroyed 46,000 years old Aboriginal site during the expansion of its operation in Western Australia’s Juukan Gorge.2 Rio Tinto may 1 Anthropocene is the term coined by Crutzen and Stoermer in 2000 to capture how human beings are now the dominant force on the planet, whose actions are constituting the new geological period, following the Holocene. The term has since then evolved to include political, social, environmental effects of human actions alongside its geological connotation. Cf: Crutzen PJ (2006), “The “Anthropocene”, in Ehlers E & Krafft T (eds) Earth System Science in the Anthropocene, 13-18 (Springer). FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 116 SAKSHI have hoped for the furor to die in due course, given the corporation had a nefarious history of getting away with environmental destruction elsewhere, especially in Bougainville.3 Yet, the aftermath of the destruction in Juukan Gorge lasted longer and drew international attention to the routine treatment of Indigenous heritage and rights in a settler-colonial country. While the crucial lessons are drawn in this destruction involved reckoning with Western Australian heritage law’s inadequacies to uphold Indigenous heritage, reflections on the unfailing nature of the violence of the law and settler-colonial legality lingered alongside. The destruction of the ancient Aboriginal site in Juukan Gorge was not a simple event. It mirrored the many substructures of the superstructure called settler colonialism that keeps the cycle of dispossession and erasure of indigeneity alive.4 The experience of the destruction is not unique to Australia, even though its magnitude drew attention to the workings of extractive industries in the country. The ‘event’ testified to the operations of the ‘structure’ and is an experience that is replicated worldwide where Indigenous sovereignty has been on the decline. Understanding Environmental Injustices Defining what is an ‘environmental injustice’ ought to precede any attempts to understand Indigenous environmental justice. Existing environmental justice scholarship has studied the intersectional nature of environmental harms, especially with respect to race and class. Similar work needs to be done with greater thoroughness in places where indigeneity, settler colonialism, and environmental injustices have crossed paths. For instance, the framing of environmental justice has undergone several transformations since its genesis in the critical inquiries around environmental regulatory laws. While the 1980s in the US mark the inception of attempts to define environmental justice in the backdrop of racial inequalities, the subsequent decades have witnessed a substantial expansion in its meaning.5 Robert Bullard’s classic Dumping in the Dixie in 1990 opened up the conversation based on distributional inequality stemming from racial inequalities and leading towards the formulation of environmental racism.6 “Pilbara mining blast confirmed to have destroyed 46,000yo sites of ‘staggering’ significance”. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/ rio-tinto-blast-destroys-area-with-ancient-aboriginal-heritage/12286652 (Last accessed: 23 November 2020). In the Rio Tinto case, the blasts were a part of the expansion of the iron ore mine. Rio Tinto was shown to be aware of the significance of the site. Yet, it obtained permission to carry out the blast under S.18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act, 1972 (WA), which neither requires consultation with traditional owners of the land nor a review of the permission at a later stage. The ongoing inquiry has heard evidence to the effect that Rio Tinto had even made efforts to prevent the Indigenous group from bringing an injunction against the blasting. 3 “Rio Tinto accused of violating human rights in Bougainville for not cleaning up Panguna mine”. https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2020/apr/01/rio-tinto-accused-of-violating-human-rights-in-bougainville-for-not-cleaning-up-panguna-mine (Last accessed: 29 November 2020). 4 Veracini L (2010), Settler colonialism: A Theoretical Overview. Palgrave Macmillan. 5 Bullard, Robert D., and Evans, Bob (eds.) (2003). Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 6 Bullard, Robert (1990). Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. Boulder, CO: Westview Press; (1993). Robert Bullard, Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots. Boston, MA: South End Press. 2 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 117 DENYING INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: EXPERIENCES FROM AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, AND CANADA Post-1990s, following Bullard’s theorization of environmental justice, Laura David Pellow,8 Julian Pulido,7 Agyeman,9 and others material representations of environmental justice in international and domestic legal instruments provided it with a sense of essential principles contributed to the strengthening of discussions that courts and other decision-making bodies on environmental racism by elaborating the can fall back on clarity and consistency. The power relations embedded in social and political definition of environmental justice by The United inequities and examining its contributions to States Environmental Protection Authority11 and the disproportionate environmental impact on the Convention on Access to Information, Public marginalized communities. Their contribution Participation in Decision Making and Access aimed to emphasize that environmental injustice. to Justice in Environmental Matters in 1998 It was not merely a distributional problem but an (“Aarhus Convention”) are some examples in this amalgamation of diverse forms of environmental regard. harms mirrored in cultural oppression and erasure, with economic forces perpetuating domination, exploitation, and material inequalities.10 As the idea of environmental justice emerges Should one look for such a clear trajectory of Indigenous environmental justice concerning a well-conceived definition and application in the legal realm, it would end in disappointment. The difficulty lies not so much in inventing the from a broad and ever-evolving understanding concept as much in giving it a form outside of of intersectional injustices, it did not merely its known expressions. A significant body of remain as a definition. Instead, it transformed Indigenous scholarship has already elaborated on into a coherent concept distilled by a theoretical the idea of Indigenous environmental justice as understanding of race and capital-led inequalities. an inevitable extension of Indigenous sovereignty The concept in itself is so versatile that it found and identities. Yet, the iterations of the concept in purchase in juridical analysis, making its way into juridical spaces as an analytical tool and an end in cases and informing judicial decisions. Arguably, legal reasoning are in the nascent stage. Pulido, Laura (1996). Environmentalism and Social Justice: Two Chicano Struggles in the Southwest. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. 8 David Pellow, What is Critical Environmental Justice, (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2017). 9 Agyeman, Julian (2005). Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice. New York: New York University Press. 10 Randolph Haluza-Delay et al.(eds), Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada, (2009).Vancouver: UBC Press. 11 “Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.” http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/ 7 WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 118 SAKSHI Settler Colonialism as Environmental Harm irrigation near the Indigenous reserves. Besides, it also threatened to destroy the burial sites and sites of cultural significance. The environmental Every discourse on Indigenous environmental justice movement at Standing Rock also became justice must begin with the recognition and the face of Indigenous sovereignty as they contextualization of settler colonialism as contested the pipeline project in the District Court a structure within which State and its legal in a prolonged legal battle.15 These injustices arise apparatus are embedded. As Kyle Whyte out of the operation of settler colonialism that argues, settler colonialism is the main form of ghettoes First Nations into ‘reserves’ while also environmental injustice. Whyte examines the promoting tropes of development that disregard ecological impact of settler colonialism in the environmental risks disproportionately affecting context of Canada’s Anishinaabe peoples and the the community’s health, welfare, and sovereignty. means through which it works systematically to A similar sentiment is reflected in Eve Tuck’s undermine the ‘social resilience and work. It studies settler colonialism’s disruption self-determining collectives’ of the Indigenous of Indigenous land relations with ‘profound peoples.12 Settler Colonialism tries to absorb epistemic, ontological, and cosmological the land into a new sovereign arrangement and violence’.16 Environmental injustices in settler occupy it spatially and disrupts several social, colonialism would then be invariably seen as a cultural, spiritual, and economic relationships clash of sovereignties between Indigenous peoples that characterize the First Nations.13 and the Settler. While documenting the Standing Rock movement, Nick Estes elaborates that the Settler Colonialism as a Disruptive Force Indigenous resistance has been at the intersection of multiple environmental injustices.14 Standing Patrick Wolfe and Lorenzo Veracini speak about Rock movement was conceived against the the violent interjections of settler colonialism proposed Energy Transfer Dakota Access Pipeline and the means through which it distinguishes running between Northern Dakota and Illinois itself from colonialism and capitalism.17 Settler because it adversely affected drinking water and colonialism differs from the latter in how it Kyle Whyte (2018) “Settler Colonialism, Ecology, & Environmental Injustice” Environment & Society 9, 125-144. Kyle Whyte (2018) “Indigenous Experience, Environmental Justice and Settler Colonialism” in Nature and Experience: Phenomenology and the Environment. Edited by B. Bannon, 157-174 Rowman & Littlefield (2016). 14 Nick Estes, Our History is the Future. Verso Books. 15 Standing Rock Sioux Tribe et al. v US Army Corps of Engineers et al. Civil Action No. 16-1534 (JEB). 16 Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang (2012) “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society 1 (1). 17 Patrick Wolfe (2006) Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native, Journal of Genocide Research, 8:4, 387-409; (Wolfe 2016) Lorenzo Veracini (2015) The Settler Colonial Present. Palgrave Macmillan. 12 13 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 119 DENYING INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: EXPERIENCES FROM AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, AND CANADA uses both time and space on occupied lands. constitutions only partly fulfill ‘recognition’ It uses the environment as a resource while within the Indigenous rights framework. As Glen systematically erasing the people who occupy Coulthard and Audra Simpson20, amongst others, the land and the relations that define the human observe, politics of recognition in settler colonies and the nonhuman world. These spatial and is limited to acknowledging Indigenous peoples’ temporal acts of erasure justify Wolfe and cultural differences.21 This process goes only so Veracini’s articulation of settler colonialism as a far as setting apart the First Nations for certain structure that is ongoing than a single identifiable kinds of treatment, however inclusive it may be, event.18 Deborah McGregor, while defining EJ without acknowledging the extent of the inherent in her work, draws on the idea of responsibility, violence of the structure or the question of land- observes: based sovereignty. …(environmental justice) is about justice for all beings of Creation, not only because Land, Sovereignty, and Environmental Injustice threats to their existence threaten ours but because from an Aboriginal perspective It is imperative to understand the centrality of justice among beings of Creation is life- the land and First Nations sovereignty in judicial affirming…In the Anishinaabe world view, decision-making, especially in environmental and all beings of Creation have spirit, with cultural heritage litigation. Building on Wolfe duties and responsibilities to each other and Veracini’s arguments around the nature of to ensure the continuation of Creation. settler colonialism, physical dispossession, and Environmental justice in this context is erasure (manifest through numerous modes, such much broader than ‘impacts’ on people. as genocide) are accompanied by cultural and There are responsibilities beyond those of spiritual erasure. Often, in popular vocabulary, people that also must be fulfilled to ensure this translates into ideas such as cultural the process of Creation will continue.19 genocide.22 While it may be hard to define these Together, these existing interplays of meanings between settler colonialism and environmental injustice form a framework within which Indigenous environmental justice must come to life, especially in specific contexts such as environmental litigation. Justice is best articulated when the realities of physical erasure and cultural and spiritual erasure of Indigenous peoples are recognized and acknowledged in the juridical space. Contemporary forms of liberal WINTER V20 N2 2021 Lorenzo Veracini (2010) Settler Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview. Palgrave Macmillan. 19 Deborah McGregor (2009) “Honouring Our Relations: An Anshinaabe Perspective on Environmental Justice.” In Agyeman et al, Speaking for Ourselves: Environmental Justice in Canada. UBC Press. 20 Simpson, Audra. 2014. Mohawk interruptus : political life across the borders of settler states.Durham: Duke University Press. 21 Coulthard, Glen Sean. 2014. Red skin, white masks : rejecting the colonial politics of recognition.Indigenous Americas. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 22 Davidson L (2012) “Cultural Genocide”. Rutgers University Press; Kingston, L “The Destruction of Identity: Cultural Genocide and Indigenous Peoples” (2015) Journal of Human Rights 14(1). 18 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 120 SAKSHI in certain terms, it is precisely this difficulty of capturing intangible and incommensurable losses generated from systematic dispossession. Contemporary scholarship on ecocide and cultural genocide attempted to capture this erasure resulting from violent operations of settler colonialism have also elaborated on the complicit of law in it.23 For instance, Andrew Woolford terms this as an ‘ontological destruction,’ where Indigenous and more-thanhuman relationship, Indigenous cosmologies, and knowledge forms are gradually eroded by settler-colonial interventions.24 A telling example would be Rio Tinto’s destruction of Juukan Gorge that was carried on under the aegis of a capitalist State, whose laws were not equipped to protect the special relationships shared between the Indigenous communities of Western Australia and their heritage. Suppose Juukan Gorge tells us how a collaboration between extractive capitalism and settler colonialism can destroy First Nation sovereignty. The recent destruction of Djab Wurrung sacred tree in favour of developing a highway project testifies to the fact that the liberal State can be as corrosive as an extractive industry.25 continuity implies that the harm is felt not just by this temporality but the one emerging as well. Environmental wrongs are an incremental contribution to the historical processes and must form an essential backdrop for Indigenous environmental litigation. This sense of settlercolonial environmental injustices informs the plausible remedies suitable in the case. In his work The Trouble with Tradition, Simon Young elucidates how Native title jurisprudence has evolved in Australian courts to incorporate the demand for an expansive understanding of Aboriginal rights.26 Inferring from a diverse corpus of case laws, Young argues that the Australian courts are now mindful of the absence of Aboriginal Title versus Aboriginal Rights distinction more than ever. The latter demands a broader and more generous reading than the former. A similar exercise ought to be carried out in the environmental context. In the absence of a clear distinction between land, environmental, and sovereignty claims, judicial decision making must straddle the past and the present and see these components differently. In the absence of an innovative judicial reading of Indigenous claims, the gulf between normative construction of Indigenous environmental justice radical Indigenous environmental justice is as complicated as it is intergenerational. It is difficult, nigh impossible, to develop a linear understanding of environmental and cultural harm to determine the redressal or compensation. Indigenous cosmologies, place-based pedagogies, non-linear conception of time, amongst others, are defining features of indigeneity. They are experienced most intimately in the past and carried on to the present and the future with the same rigour. An interruption in this FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL rights jurisprudence’s actual evolution would be intensified. Short, Damien. 2016. Redefining genocide : settler colonialism, social death and ecocide.Zed Books Limited. 24 Andrew Woolford (2009) “Ontological Destruction: Genocide and Canadian Aboriginal Peoples,” Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, 4(1). 25 Sakshi Aravind (2020) “Justice Beyond Recognition: What Djab Wurrung Trees Tell Us”. https://arena.org.au/justice-beyondrecognition-what-djab-wurrung-trees-tell-us/ (Last accessed: 29 November 2020). 26 Young Simon (2005). Trouble with the Tradition, 28-32. Federation Press. 23 WINTER V20 N2 2021 121 DENYING INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: EXPERIENCES FROM AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, AND CANADA constitutional protection and treaties (Brazil and Courts and Indigenous Environmental Justice Canada respectively) or absent constitutionalism (Australia) have no effect on the past and present An informed deployment of judicial discretion wrongs of settler colonialism. The absence of and creativity in developing jurisprudence of effect results unless the current legal apparatus Indigenous environmental justice is neither acknowledges the pervasive nature of settler novel nor an unprecedented leap. Some of these structures and the continuing harm endured by efforts have already been made to acknowledge the Indigenous peoples without powers of self- that environmental/climate litigation requires determination. In the next part, I analyze three unique treatment in the Anthropocene.27 The cases from the three jurisdictions - Australia, contemporary social and economic realities Brazil, and Canada - to examine the nature of of a highly capital-driven, market-centered the judicial treatment of the idea of Indigenous liberal economies make it apparent that the environmental justice (explicit or implicit), resource pressures and distributive elements the extent to which courts have pushed the of social welfare are unevenly distributed. boundaries of discretion or creative engagement In its all-encompassing role, law often finds to achieve a contemporaneous understanding of itself obliged to rethink the frameworks and Indigenous peoples’ rights, and their implications ethical and moral compulsions on which the for theoretical articulations of Indigenous legal system rests. Although criminal liability environmental justice. for environmental harms and offenses against Indigenous peoples has not made its mark Australia outside of critical legal scholarship, jurists have Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority v emphasized that even criminal law must be open and self-reflective to the values that sustain it.28 While these propositions may appear abstract, OM (Manganese) Ltd30, popularly known as the Bootu Creek case, was decided in a degree of abstraction and theorization has been vital to developing a robust Indigenous rights jurisprudence. In most cases, such as Australia, where a substantial Constitutional voice for First Nations continues to be absent, courts have been compelled to develop norms of recognition and justice from a clean slate. Admittedly, a constitutional provision has symbolic merit in protecting and advancing the interests of Indigenous peoples. Evidence from Canada and Brazil provides a contrast to the Australian experience.29 Yet, express WINTER V20 N2 2021 Eloise Scotford (2017). Environmental Principles and the Evolution of Environmental Law.Hart Publishing; Phillip Paiement (2020). “Urgent agenda: how climate litigation builds transnational narratives”, Transnational Legal Theory, 11(1-2). 28 Jeremy Horder (2016). Principles of Criminal Law. 8th Edition, OUP. 29 S.35 of the Canadian Constitution Act states that the “The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.”. Similarly, Chapter VIII (Articles 231 and 232) of the Constitution of Federative Republic of Brazil deals with the rights of Indians, including the preservation of environmental resources necessary for their well-being and physical and cultural reproduction. 27 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 122 SAKSHI 2013 by a summary magistrate court in the delved on the significance of the story, affirming Northern Territory. It has acquired significant the evidence of the consulting anthropologist. interdisciplinary attention compared to The court recognized that it is likely that other cases that witnessed the destruction of inconsistencies in the story are a result of older Indigenous heritage. Anthropologists Elizabeth informants having passed away, altering the Povinelli and Benedict Scambary have studied contemporary relevance of the site.33 It also the Bootu Creek litigation, throwing light on observed that the land’s cultural significance had the legal and anthropological ramifications it been eroding since the 1950s due to extractive bore for the protection of sacred sites.31 It is activities.34 Northern Territory has relatively strong state heritage protection laws, such as the Aboriginal There are two critical parts to the decision, and Sacred Sites Act 1989 and Heritage Conservation it has significant consequences for how judicial Act 1991, that made prosecution in a court of treatment of Aboriginal heritage issue can be law possible. It is also important to note that carefully devised to achieve the best outcome. In historically, there has been a steady opposition to the first part, Magistrate Sue Oliver addresses the uranium mining in the region. question of exceeding the authority certificate. The initial mining plan allowed the defendants The OM (Manganese) Ltd operating the Bootu Creek manganese mine was fined $120,000 and $30,000 for offenses under Northern Territory to mine at an angle of 36 degrees. Instead, they chose to extract the site at a steeper angle, at 55 degrees, to maximize the amount of ore Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act, 1989 (Sacred Sites extracted.35 The sacred site was adjoining the Act). The defendant mining company had Masai pit, where the mining was to take place and contested the charges of desecration under was already at risk. There was no authorization, the Sacred Sites Act but had pleaded guilty explicit or implicit, by the local custodians of the to contravening the condition of an authority land for altering the angle of mining. Instead certificate by damaging the same sacred site. of an authorization, the defendants invited That it was a sacred site remained uncontested. The court reiterated the testimony of one of the traditional owners of the area, Gina Smith, who stated that the defendant knew about the significance of songlines and dreaming.32 The traditional owners had also informed the mining company of the existence of the sacred sites. The sacred site’s story is that of two women, the bandicoot, and the rat, who are the female Dreamtime ancestors. While the Dreamtime or the sacred site is not contested, the court FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 2013 NTMC 01. Povinelli E (2016) Geontologies: A Requiem to Late Liberalism. Duke University Press; Scambary B (2013) My Country, Mine Country: Indigenous People, Mining and Development Contestation in Remote Australia, CAEPR Research Monograph, No.33.Australian National University. 32 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 4. 33 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 5-7. 34 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 6. 35 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 18. 30 31 WINTER V20 N2 2021 123 DENYING INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: EXPERIENCES FROM AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, AND CANADA two traditional owners and a local employee of Act only creates an offense of desecration without Northern Land Council (NLC) for a meeting to providing a functional definition of ‘desecration’. discuss the altered plans. The court observed that S.35 merely states, ‘A person shall not desecrate this meeting’s implicit intention was to obtain a sacred site.’ Magistrate Oliver decided to rely permission for mining at a steeper angle even on the legislation’s apparent intentions, that is, when the defendants were fully aware that the to preserve and protect the sacred and spiritual people consulted neither had expertise in mining value of the site. Although the summary judgment to appreciate the risks nor the authority to grant does not suggest that the judge has consulted such consent.36 any preparatory materials that went into the making of the legislation, purposive construction Interestingly, the court delves into each element dominates the decision’s language.38 The judge contributing to the site’s destruction even though refuses to accept the defendant’s claim that an act the defendant entered a guilty plea. At one of desecration requires an element of contempt point, Magistrate Oliver observes, “In my view and is a matter of attitude and disposition.39 The arranging a meeting with the three gentlemen sacred site’s significant feature was a horizontal to essentially obtain approval for the steeper rock arm extending from the rocky outcrops on batter angle approach was either cynical or the site. The feature was very recognizable and a naïve exercise on the part of the defendant. represented the two women, forming the vital The custodians had no individual authority to part of the sacred site. Kunapa traditional owner approve a mining plan that posed a risk to the Gina Smith’s testimony on why harming the site integrity of the Sacred Site…”.37 She emphasizes that the consent process was flawed and that the erodes the sacredness of the place is reiterated in the decision: decision-making authority or whose voice counts First, it greatly offends our law which says that is a crucial element in protecting the sacred site. By allowing these observations and reflections sacred sites must not be disturbed or damaged. in a seemingly straightforward case, Magistrate Second, the appearance and shape of the sacred Oliver reflects on both the case’s legal and moral site have been significantly changed. This makes questions. This exercise may not have any it harder for me and other aboriginal people with significance in terms of precedence. Nonetheless, traditional interests in the sacred site to recognise it is a critical signifier that courts ought to think in it and the dreaming that it represents and to teach terms of ‘principles.’ Following this discussion, the court considers the next important question of ‘desecration’ under Section 35 of the Sacred Sites Act. Since the defendant contested the charge, the judge dealt with ‘what is a desecration’ elaborately. S.35 of the WINTER V20 N2 2021 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 20. Bootu Creek n (28), Para 22. 38 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 32. 39 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 33-34. 40 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 38. 36 37 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 124 SAKSHI our young people about this. This is likely to stop utterly disproportionate loss, a court of summary people from visiting the sacred site any longer. jurisdiction will be hard-pressed to provide This damage has greatly offended the sacredness adequate compensation. For a legal theory to of this site and has made it much less sacred.40 flourish, the leap in judicial imagination would be radical and welcome only if it does not violate Magistrate Oliver concluded that removing the demands of consistency and legitimacy. the horizontal arm of the sacred site amounted This particular court was ill-equipped to answer to desecration beyond a reasonable doubt. The the political questions of whether Indigenous decision highlights that the defendant’s conduct heritage is valued adequately or whether the throughout, including the attempts to obtain decades of environmental and cultural opposition approval from the two traditional owners, to uranium mining compounds this specific suggests that they knew the site was a sacred and incident. Yet, it stands as one of the promising the horizontal arm was not a mere geological decisions among the recent decisions and is often feature. Even if it is inferential, anyone whose recognised as a significant success in Indigenous conduct subjected the site to a substantial risk peoples’ litigation. contributes to eroding it’s sacredness. Moreover, the judge finds this to be a reasonable burden Brazil on any ordinary corporation to understand the Raposa Serra Do Sol (Raposa)42 is an oft-cited intention of the Sacred Sites Act and obligations case in Brazilian Indigenous rights jurisprudence. under it. Interestingly, the judge calls the Before the Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) the defendant’s actions a product of ‘wilful blindness’ petition came in the heels of violent domestic and ‘illogical’ to not “appreciate that preservation unrest between Indigenous communities that of the sacredness and spiritual significance of the Sites was central to the system of protection”.41 In Bootu Creek, the court was constrained by the level of authority and lacked the freedom that a superior court may cherish in expanding the jurisprudence. However, the judgment opens up the space and meaning of desecration by reading into the legislature’s intention. This in itself is a significant and radical departure from an ordinary judicial process that treats Indigenous environmental or heritage litigation within a limited matrix of issue-resolution. While the destruction of Sacred Site in cases such as these result in intergenerational and FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL were in favour of demarcation of Indigenous territories and pastoralists who were against it. Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI) put forward the land’s proposed demarcation in 2004 before the concerned minister. Simultaneously, there were many petitions and applications by the farmers who sought to remain within the Indigenous territories. The presidential ordinance accepting the demarcation was passed in 2004 and was challenged in the Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ). STJ’s decision upholding the ordinance eventually found itself appealed in 41 42 Bootu Creek n (28), Para 72. Petition 3388 / RR - Petition RORAIMA. WINTER V20 N2 2021 125 DENYING INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: EXPERIENCES FROM AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, AND CANADA 3. Indigenous interests do not outweigh the STF. STF upheld the demarcation to be valid and directed the non-indigenous people from national defense policy, and militarisation the region to be removed. Superficially, the of Indigenous territories does not require decision appears unproblematic and may even be prior consultation. considered positive. 4. The Federal Government may install The decision is overshadowed by an anachronistic and tellingly egregious any public equipment, communication understanding of indigeneity. The social networks, roads, and transport routes situation around Raposa litigation was marred and to the constructions necessary for the by arguments for internal colonization and provision of public services by the Union, assimilation, which, in this case, was endorsed by on Indigenous territories.44 the court.43 While deciding the constitutionality On the face of it, the decision violates all of the presidential decree on demarcation, STF was only tasked with interpreting Indigenous principles of United Nations Declaration on peoples’ rights under Article 231. Instead, STF the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“UNDRIP”) narrowly constructed the rights embedded in with abandon. Brazilian Constitution goes only Art.231 to exclude every right attached to the so far as grandstanding concerning Indigenous land except the right to stay on the demarcated connection to the land. By conflating Indigenous territories. In recognizing the decree’s validity, rights over territory with the possessory or the court laid down nineteen qualifications to the usufructuary right, the constitutional court Indigenous communities’ rights. Amongst these, aggravated the existing inequities. First, the court some of the critical conditions included: created a spurious distinction between land as political territory and Indigenous territory. The 1. The enjoyment of natural resources, political territory in this distinction reinforces soil, and water bodies can be extended the narrow imagination of the State’s political according to the public interest by the territory as the only possible category while operation of Federal or State law. The erasing the Indigenous sovereign, political Indigenous communities will only have the usufructuary right over the resources and will not exercise the right to veto these decisions. 2. The usufructuary rights of the communities do not extend to using the mineral wealth or entering into mining agreements. WINTER V20 N2 2021 The idea of internal colonisation is defined here as used in Pinderhughes’ premise: “a geographically-based pattern of subordination of a differentiated population, located within the dominant power or country.”. See: Charles Pinderhughes (2011) “Toward a New Theory of Internal Colonialism,” Socialism and Democracy Online 25, no. 1. 44 Petition 3388 n (40), p.5. 45 Petition 3388 n (40), p.3. 43 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 126 SAKSHI space. The judgment holds that the Indigenous constitutional court and was within its powers territories are only limited to ethnic and cultural to develop a constitutional, expansive, and features and cannot override the political territory revolutionary jurisprudence. The Superior Court even if it has been long occupied by Indigenous was considering a principle-based question that people.45 would have implications for constructing of Second, the court mandated conditions violate Indigenous self-determination and leaves Indigenous rights in the future. In Bootu Creek, nothing for the notion of ‘exclusive Indigenous the summary court had to navigate narrow enjoyment.’ Even the much hailed UNDRIP has spaces of procedural limitations to create room failed Indigenous peoples in this regard as it for making a principle-based argument. Second, recognises Indigenous self-determination only Bootu Creek revealed that what is implied and insofar as it does not antagonise State’s territorial ruminated in a decision has as much heft as integrity and sovereignty. While this may have explicitly stated observations. The evolving been Brazil’s contemporary political reality, a nature of law corresponds with courts’ evolving court reproducing it only legitimizes the violence responsibility, especially in light of settler of the law. colonial/colonial realities. Courts ought to be conscious of not perpetuating the primeval What is worse, the STF mulls over the question of what can be reasonably defined as ‘citizens’, to conceptions of indigeneity, particularly when they are difficult to be dislodged from everyday social merit absolute control over the territory under and political discourses. Brazil’s STF fails where a the Constitution. It concludes that Indigenous small summary court of Northern Territory does people do not qualify under any of the social an exceptional task. and political categories of organization.46 The court also asserts the importance of Canada ‘assimilation’ of Indigenous communities into a sense of ‘Brazilian-ness’ and isolate them In Ktunaxa First Nations v British Columbia,48 from ‘unhealthy influences of foreign non- the First Nation territory was in British Columbia governmental organizations.’ Under the guise of in the region they had identified as Qat’ muk. positive treatment, STF subtly disenfranchises The Qat’ muk region held the Grizzly bear spirit, Indigenous people from making claims to their which was sacred in the First Nation cosmologies. constitutional rights in a manner that expresses sovereign control. As scholars have remarked, behind the veil of a positive decision, the STF’s opinion in Raposa has damaged Indigenous selfdetermination in an unprecedented fashion.47 Raposa provides a startling contrast to Bootu Creek decision in many ways. First, STF was a FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL Petition 3388 n (40), p.7. Erica Yamada and Fernando Villares, “Julgamento da Terra Indígena Raposa Serra do Sol: todo dia era dia de índio”, Rev. direito GV vol.6 no.1 São Paulo Jan./June 2010. Available at: https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_ arttext&pid=S1808-24322010000100008 (Last accessed: 20 June 2020). 48 2017 SCC 54. 46 47 WINTER V20 N2 2021 127 DENYING INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: EXPERIENCES FROM AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, AND CANADA A year-round ski resort was proposed to be built the grounds that Ktunaxa First Nations were in the area. The proponents sought government using judicial review ‘to pronounce on the validity approval. The Ktunaxa First Nations expressed of their claim to a sacred site and associated reservations because it would impact land and spiritual practices.’50 MacLachlin CJ et al. environment that was of cultural significance. opined that the Minister’s assessment, through Following this, the project was amended to consultation and accommodation, had sufficiently accommodate some of the Indigenous concerns. recognized the Ktunaxa’s spiritual claims to Qat’ The First Nations did not feel that their concerns muk. The court considered Ktunaxa’s invitation to were adequately addressed but were willing to interpret S.2 widely, preserving land as integral to engage in further consultation. After multiple sustenance of religious beliefs, had to be declined consultations, the approval was granted by the as the State’s duty was only to protect everyone’s relevant Minister. However, the First Nations right to hold diverse beliefs. felt that their objections were not correctly Throughout the majority opinion, very little addressed. They asserted that the project would permanently drive away the Grizzly Bear spirit attention is paid to the significance of the site from the mountains and impair their right to to Indigenous believes or the claim that the hold and practice religious beliefs. Ktunaxa First necessity to veto the project is an expression Nations filed an application for judicial review, of Ktunaxa’s self-determination. Only in one challenging the approval on the grounds that instance does the court identify the Ktunaxa it violated their constitutional right to religion. claim as expressing concerns beyond something Ktunaxa’s submissions consisted of a Qat’ that can be offset by land reserves, economic muk Declaration, which involved a unilateral payments, and environmental protections.51 declaration based on pre-existing sovereignty.49 In explaining the reasons for dismissal, the The Qat’ muk Declaration identified “refuge court pays considerable attention to the scope areas,” where the building of permanent of freedom of expression.52 It draws instances foundations or permanent human habitation was from the European and American Convention of forbidden. Human Rights in how those instruments have interpreted and defined freedom of religion The court dismissed the appeal with a part but remain agnostic to how freedom of religion concurring opinion by Moldaver J. The majority in Indigenous contexts is different or demand opinion held that the claim did not fall within novel treatments. The majority opinions wade in the violation of S.2 of the Charter, i.e., freedom of religion. Since the appellants could not prove that the Minister’s decision to approve the project had in any way interfered with the First Nation’s ability to hold and practice their cultural and spiritual beliefs. The decision focussed more on WINTER V20 N2 2021 Ktunaxa n (46), para 38. Ktunaxa n (46), para 71. 51 Ktunaxa n (46), para 45. 52 Ktunaxa n (46), para 61-67. 49 50 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 128 SAKSHI Moldaver J, asserts that with the loss of land, safe waters, never considering the relationship between Ktunaxa’s beliefs and its relation to land both the connection and the ability to pass on or self-determination but taking refuge in the the spiritual knowledge to future generations are pedestrian rationale of Charter rights and S.35 of lost. He proceeds to contend that while it may be the constitution. necessary for courts to be impartial in religious matters: Moldaver J’s partially concurring opinion contrasts the majority opinion by engaging with the submissions of Ktunaxa at length. While Moldaver J and Côté J agree that the duty to consult was fulfilled, they differ on whether the Minister’s decision to approve the ski resort infringed on the freedom of religion of Ktunaxa First Nation. Moldaver J’s opinion is interesting not only for the critical point on which he disagrees with the majority opinion but also on how he considers this vital breach to be balanced contexts makes an interesting and innovative against other interests. He says: case against a restrictive reading of Freedom “In my respectful view, where state conduct renders a person’s sincerely held religious beliefs devoid of all religious significance, this infringes a person’s right to religious freedom. Religious beliefs have spiritual significance for the believer. When this significance is taken away by state action, the person can no longer act in accordance with his or her religious beliefs, constituting an infringement of s. 2 (a)…The Minister’s decision to approve the ski resort will render all of the Ktunaxa’s religious beliefs related to Grizzly Bear Spirit devoid of any spiritual significance. Accordingly, the Ktunaxa will be unable to perform songs, rituals, or ceremonies in recognition of Grizzly Bear Spirit in a manner that has any religious significance for them. In my view, this amounts to a s.2 (a) FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL breach.”53 To ensure that all religions are afforded the same level of protection under s. 2(a), courts must be alive to the unique characteristics of each religion, and the distinct ways in which state action may interfere with that religion’s beliefs or practices.54 Thus, Moldaver J’s reading of S.2 in Indigenous of Religion and the risk of foreclosing the said section’s protection to Indigenous beliefs. The concurring opinion, in its attempt to recognise the distinctiveness of Indigenous beliefs, also opens up avenues to negate land claims. Ktunaxa is a fine example of deviating from the standard practice of reading duty to consult as the only framework for Indigenous contestations and moving towards understanding Indigenous claims and ontologies. Irrespective of what the outcome turned out to be Ktunaxa comes close to Bootu Creek in attempting to open up interpretative spaces for accommodating unique experiences of Indigenous communities that also define the nature of harms against them. 53 54 Ktunaxa n (46), para 118. Ktunaxa n (46), para 127. WINTER V20 N2 2021 129 DENYING INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: EXPERIENCES FROM AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, AND CANADA Tailoring the Understandings of Indigenous Environmental Justice • Indigenous environmental justice is an expression of sovereignty over the land. The two sovereignties that of First Nations that was While conceptualization of settler colonialism and the case law analysis of Indigenous environmental legality leaves us in an expansive theoretical field, few necessary normative elements can be gleaned out of such discussion. In ways similar to environmental justice, there is a need to recognize that the idea of Indigenous environmental justice is unique and intersectional. Environmental law at this stage must aim to integrate the new pressures in its jurisprudence—both on the environment and the people whose identities are closely interconnected with it. The Anthropocene has been exacting and creating new demands on humanity’s responsibilities towards the past, the present, and the future. This is ever more pronounced in settler colonies that continue to operate with an uncritical approach to everyday realities of never ceded and of the State may co-exist without contradictions. • Indigenous communities must be endowed with the right to self-determination over social and economic policies that affect them. The possibilities in this realm are limitless and may range from their relationship with extractive companies to health, education, and everyday governance policies. • Sovereignty and self-determination also imply that indigeneity must be sustained and continued to be handed down for the emerging generations. The Indigenous ways of living, knowledge systems, and cosmologies must be preserved and allowed to thrive to facilitate generational knowledge. racism, discrimination, economic inequality, and There are no grand gestures to achieve this capital-led dispossession. Courts share a greater within the existing juridical apparatus. Justice burden of expanding and articulating meanings is a sustained practice than a single, noteworthy of justice where other avenues fail. Indigenous event. Environmental litigation has often environmental justice not being a coherent, provided an opportunity to revise and revisit the enforceable legal principle can hardly be mooted predominantly positivist assumptions that guide as an excuse for not recognizing Indigenous the legal mechanisms. Any leap in progressive peoples’ right to land, environment, and jurisprudence has been episodic and left to the resources. The idea of ‘substantive recognition’, judges and courts’ individual discretion. As as opposed to mere recognition of cultural interdisciplinary work in environmental and differences, must be emphasized in judicial multi-species justice advance towards a better processes. Following elements may contribute and more inclusive understanding of more-than- to developing a radical jurisprudence while human world, it is imperative on courts to move remaining faithful to the rule of law and other towards more-than-juridical articulations of principles that hold up the legal system: Indigenous environmental justice. WINTER V20 N2 2021 FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 130 SAKSHI This Article may be cited as: Sakshi (2021) Denying Indigenous Environmental Justice: Experiences from Australia, Brazil, and Canada. Fourth World Journal. Vol. 20, N2. pp.115-130 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sakshi Sakshi is a PhD student in the Department of Land Economy, at the University of Cambridge. Her thesis focuses on Indigenous environmental litigation in Australia, Brazil, and Canada and the legal framing of environmental justice in courts. Her research areas include legal and Indigenous geographies, legal anthropology, comparative environmental law, constitutional law, and political ecology. FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 132 BOOK REVIEW RUDOLPH RŸSER FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL WINTER V20 N2 2021 133 RUDOLPH RŸSER BOOK REVIEW Popol Vuh, A Retelling By Ilan Stavans Copyright © 2020 Ilan Stavans Restless Books, Inc. ISBN 9781632062406 By Rudolph C. Rÿser My first taste of the Popol Vuh occurred in the late 1990s when I yearned to know about the beginning of all things. This desire is not an unusual desire of one steeped in the origin stories of Pacific Northwest (US) Indian tribes and my ancestors from the Waskarini, Cree, and Oneida, the Suabians, and of course, the Orkney Islands. All had stories of their origins, and in many ways, they were similar—from the darkness of an empty sky and the waters nearby. I noticed that some of my ancestors referred to the sacred corn, beans, and squash, and I had learned earlier in life that these life-giving sources of nourishment originated in the lands of the Méxica and the Mayan-speaking peoples. And particularly the Cree, Oneida, and Waskarini ancestors remembered origin stories when the earth had no human beings but became populated by various “peoples” such as the turtle, muskrat, bear, deer, and many others. Why I asked, were these origin stories similar? The Popol Vuh, translated by Dennis Tedlock in the 1970s and beyond, had been published in 1996 and seemed to promise new perspectives on the origins of things that may match my ancestors’ tellings. I was not disappointed. As Tedlock writes, the Quiche lords consulted their WINTER V20 N2 2021 book as they met in council, and their name for that book was Popol Vuh or “Council Book.” Tedlock had traveled to the lands of the Quiche in Guatemala’s highlands, searching for what turned out to be a Daykeeper by the name of Andres Xiloj—a keeper of sacred knowledge. Xiloj took Tedlock as an apprentice, teaching him the “language” according to the “rhythms of the Mayan Calendar” critical to comprehending the Popol Vuh text that had been rendered into the printed word in the 16th century by four unnamed Daykeepers. Tedlock spent nine years, including his 1977-76 apprenticeship searching the meanings contained in the Popul Vuh. Though sometimes difficult to follow due to the twists and turns of the Popul Vuh’s way of thinking, his translation revealed a story that showed me that the origin of humanity as the Quiche conceived of that beginning was essentially the same as the stories from far to the north. The Popul Vuh, I decided, was the grandmother origin story that was spread throughout the hemisphere over three thousand years. The origins of the Quiche and their ancestors were the origins of my ancestors. The Popol Vuh, the Quiché Book of Creation (or more literally, Book of the People and used a Book of Council), has been translated by numerous FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL 134 RUDOLPH RŸSER scholars seeking the full meaning of this Book that was first written down in about 1550 rooted until that time in the oral tradition of the Quiché. This Book of the Daykeepers served as a guide to Quiche ancestors extending 3000 years into the past. The oldest surviving written account of the Popol Vuh (c. 1701) by Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez was rendered into a manuscript transcribed in K’iche’ with a side column translation in Spanish. The Popol Vuh is one of the very few books of the Quiché surviving from the Spanish deliberate burning and destruction of texts. Translated from the Quiché language, Father Francisco Ximénez (1666 – c.1729), a Dominican priest was known for his conservation of knowledge about the Quiché culture, prepared two versions of the Popol Vuh composed as the Manuscript of Chichicastenango. He offered himself as the “discoverer of the text” and not the author. His first translation was a verbatim, literal rendering into the Spanish language from the Quiché in which the original text had been written from the middle 1500s. His second rendering. Ximénez’s transcription-translation of the Popol Vuh was retrieved from obscurity by Adrián Recinos at the Newberry Library (Chicago) in 1941. My early reading of the Popol Vuh with Tedlock’s translation was sparked anew by the publication of Ilan Stavans’ 2020 translation titled, “Popol Vuh, A Retelling.” I was eager to see how another researcher interpreted the Popol Vuh. Reading the Popol Vuh in Stavans’ writing informs the reader that the ancient text and the FOURTH WORLD JOURNAL ancient animal symbols can be rendered as a poetic narrative that can be more accessible to 21st-century readers. Stavans succeeds in retelling the Popul Vuh as a “modern story” in the language of a fantasy and not a historical or cultural narrative. Stavans writes that he had an “inescapable urge to retell the Popol Vuh for a contemporary readership.” And in this goal, he succeeds. Readers familiar with Star Wars, and as Stavans notes, those who are readers of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter sagas will find the “retelling” of the Popol Vuh cast as a great mythic adventure that carries hints of values, ideas, and instructions. As a rendering of the Popol Vuh, an historical commentary on change, time, and space, Stavans chooses, however, to avoid. Stavans’ adaptation skates over the role of dreams, omens, and rhythms of the Mayan calendar—so fundamental to the Popol Vuh. In its original form, this Book overcomes as Quiche Daykeepers will say, limitations such as nearsightedness. It’s an ilbal, a “seeing instrument” or a “place to see” to know distant and future events. Daykeepers who traveled Chicago’s Newbery Library to see the Popol Vuh in its original text would refer to it as “The Light That Came from Across the Sea.” Since the Book tells of events that occurred before the first sunrise—a time when grandmothers and grandfathers could not be seen and when stones contained the spiritual helpers of deities in the forests all remained in the shadows. Stavans’ understanding of Popol Vuh recognizes that the Book is a story of events that take place in space and in time. Still, he assigns the story to the status of a “mythology of nature”—a story of “mythological events and ecological elements.” WINTER V20 N2 2021 135 RUDOLPH RŸSER To the Daykeeper, the Popol Vuh gives the ability to see deep into the past and measure and comprehend future events. Stavans floats over the surface story and limits the reader’s ability to see. He has transformed an instrument of power and knowledge into a mythic account that bears little resemblance to the meaning of the Book. Stavans’ “retelling” transforms this ancient Book and its meaning into a television serial, as a story of “strange animals” and gods involved in a great give me strength, give me courage fantasy. and however many souls of the dead there may be, If “fantasy” is what the reader seeks, Stavans has provided that in structure and style that charms and entertains. The problem is that he has stripped the text of its meaning—of its vision “before the sunrise” and the “Dawn of Life.” As a Daykeeper may pray before approaching an may all of you together give strength ancient shrine: Make my guilt vanish, Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth; do me a favor, in my heart, in my head, since you are my mountain and my plain; may there be no falsehood and no stain, and may this reading of the Popol Vuh come out clear as dawn, and may the sifting of ancient times be complete in my heart, in my head; and make my guilt vanish, my grandmothers, grandfathers, you who speak with the Heart of Sky and Earth, to the reading I have undertaken. Daykeeper Andres Xiloj, Tedlock reports, was convinced that if only one knew how to read it perfectly— “borrowing the knowledge of the day lords,” the Popol Vuh would reveal truths to the four corners of the world. It is to this purpose the Book of Council has served human beings for all time. For amusement, one will read Popol Vuh, A Retelling, and not benefit from “seeing.” This Article may be cited as: Rÿser, R. (2021) Book Review: Popol Vuh. A Retelling. Fourth World Journal. Vol. 20, N2. pp. 132-135. ABOUT THE REVIEWER Rudolph Rÿser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