Officials in Suriname are considering legislation that would finally establish territorial rights for Indigenous and Tribal communities. But not everyone is happy with the language of the bill, and some are even hoping it will fail to pass. Recent changes to a collective rights bill in Suriname are supposed to reinforce the legal status of Indigenous and Tribal communities and grant them autonomy over natural resources, but critics say it could actually do the opposite, stripping their control of the land while giving the government the power to keep developing. “[The law] only has value for those who don’t sincerely want to legally recognize and protect the collective rights of Indigenous and Tribal peoples in accordance with international standards,” said a statement from the Association of Village Leaders (VIDS), which represents all 51 villages in Suriname. “…It’s an insult to the government itself if it wants to be known as a government that adheres to the principles of the rule of law.” Suriname was supposed to grant land rights to communities back in 2007, when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that logging and mining operations were a threat to their “cultural survival.” But over the last decade, officials have delayed legalizing the official map for the estimated 138,000 Indigenous and Tribal people in the country, who live across over a million hectares (2.4 million acres) of forest. Deforestation from logging in Suriname. Photo by Riano Gunther/ILC. Several versions of a land rights bill have failed or stalled in the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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