KAWESQAR PRESS REALEASE ON FISHERIES LAW

PRESS RELEASE ABOUT ACTIONS TAKEN BY

FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE COMMITTEE

AT THE CHILEAN SENATE ABOUT THE REAL NEED FOR EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION THE

RIGHT OF CONSULTATION AND ACCESS TO

AQUATIC RESOURCES FOR THE KAWESQAR POPULATION  & AMENDMENTS ON LAW OF FISHERIES AND AQUICULTURE N°18.892

1. - The Kawesqar Community that resides in Puerto Eden are the last practitioners of their culture. They are 14 people who have fought for the preservation of their way of life, and are one of the surviving populations from an extensive process of Colonial-era ethnic cleansing in Patagonia.

2. - As a clear Minority Group of indigenous people, they hold secure a series of Human Rights as Chile has ratified ongoing International Treaties, giving the State an obligation to enforce and comply. We will describe several relevant standards that must be considered when modifying the law, under the risk of violating indigenous rights and compromising international law.

3. - The main rights of indigenous people -specifically Kawesqar- that are relevant in the Law's draft, is the Right to consultation and protection and access to natural resources that are considered their territory.

4. - This Right to Consultation is provided in Treaty N° 169, Article 6, which states: "In applying the provisions of this treaty, governments shall consult the peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular through their representative institutions, whenever consideration is given  to legislative or administrative measures which may affect them directly" This consultation should be made when handling Law N° 18992 as it directly regulates the exploitation of aquatic resources, to which Kawesqars have traditionally had access. Thus, it is needed to be evaluated because they hold the right to use those resources too for regular subsistence.

5. - It should be noted that the present instance, to which I was summoned, does not constitute consultation as provided for in the Convention 169 of the ILO and international practice on the matter, which is already international custom. All inquiries must comply with the following international standards: elladebe made in advance, is not limited to mere infofrmation, should be done in good faith in a process that builds trust between the parties, be appropriate and through indigenous representative institutions, be systematic and transparent, as well as having a wide scope to all decisions that may affect indigenous peoples. There is then a gap between a rationale for our position and effective consultation on legislative matters such complex scientific, technical and anthropological as to which refers the bill.

6. - Regarding the protection of natural resources, it should be noted that the that the Kawesqar Community resident to Puerto Eden, has as one main activity: the extraction of marine resources, and legislative action to regulate these resources must be previously consulted with and to the community because of how involved is their culture. Both current and historical antecedents ratify the above, Kawesqars have been characterized by its close relationship to the maritime territory for thousands of years, which currently still haves various manifestations, being one of the most important, their rights to fish.

7. - This ancestral right to access the resources of the sea, is referred to in Articles 13, 14 and 15 of Convention No. 169 concerning the protection and preservation of access to resources that are in our territories. In addition, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 in Articles 26, 27 and 32, enshrines those rights. Furthermore, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1989, Article 27 enshrines the right of ethnic minorities to their own culture. In relation to this article, is transcendental to refer to the statement reiterated the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations, which has indicated that the cultural life of a people is expressed in the use of resources, and specifically mentioned including fishing and hunting, and the right to live in reserves protected by law.

8. - In addition to that the committee has recurrently known of similar cases to Kawesqars, and we must agree to state three basic issues regarding the rights of coastal people:

a) That Fishing is protected under Article 27 of the International Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

b) There are laws that can interfere with the exercise of rights under this article.

c) Only a well informed process of broad participation may authorize the affected communities establishing regulations on the rights emanating from the article, but without being a waiver of those rights.

9. - Administrative measures should be implemented to make sure that the Rights of the fishing village of Kawesqars are respected and that it is an ancestral and traditional premise for them to access their maritime territory, because of subsistence and traditional activities that they develop, and also to have access to marine resources to serve their community, as stated in Article 14 of the Convention 169 of UNILO.

 
10. - To conclude, it is important to emphasize that is expected that the Right of Consultation is respected and actually applied during the Amendment of this Law, thus complying with the mandates of the Treaty in force. Throughout this consult process the Rights of the Kawesqars as original people from this territories comply with the use of Natural Resources for all.