Racial discrimination continues to plague Panama

[Judi Lynn]

Racial discrimination continues to plague Panama
la prensa

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The intervention of the police force during evictions of
indigenous communities is questioned by the United
Nations and considered racial discrimination.

The eviction of indigenous communities as a result of the construction of energy, mining, and tourism projects, is a matter of concern to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

"The committee is concerned, in particular, with the violence and use of police force in these incidents...the situation is even worse when violence is exercised during evictions," says a report.

In the document, dated March 16, 2010, the United Nations questions the persistence of racial discrimination against the Afro-Panamanian and Indigenous communities, which remain vulnerable to human rights violations. It also expresses concern that "there is no general provision prohibiting discrimination and criminalizing acts of racial discrimination" in the country.

Displacement

The report refers to the eviction of the Naso communities of San San and San San Drui, in Bocas del Toro, where a legal dispute with the company Ganadera Bocas erupted after the indigenous communities were evicted from the land they believe to be their “ancestral grounds” when the company announced they had legal title to the lands.

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Related material: US Human Rights Record Challenged

US Human Rights Record Challenged

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Where do Indian nations go when United States' courts have failed them, and justice is unattainable?

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy - the oldest continuous democratic government in North America - has long argued that Indian nations should not expect to win justice from colonizing governments, and instead must act as sovereign nations taking their quest for justice to the United Nations and its human rights mechanisms.

Though it claims to be a defender of human rights around the world, the United States is among the worst offenders of Native peoples' rights, judging by statistics that indicate Indian women are the most raped and abused in the nation, while rampant poverty, disease, crime and unemployment are a way of life on reservations.

There's also the inexplicably high number of Supreme Court cases decided against tribes that have led to the massive loss of Native lands and natural resources, most often without compensation.

That negative image was bolstered during the Bush regime when the U.S. was voted off the U.N. Human Rights Council, and later was one of only four countries to oppose the adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Declaration was adopted in September 2007 with 144 states in favor, 11 abstentions, and only four votes against - by the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - countries with the largest indigenous populations who own vast amounts of land and natural resources.

Since its adoption, Australia has reversed its position and endorsed the Declaration, while Canada, Colombia and Samoa have recently indicated support.

That leaves the United States and New Zealand standing alone, refusing to support the basic human rights of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-taliman/us-human-rights-record-ch_b_507864.html