A/HRC/27/52/Add.3 I. Introduction 1. This report examines the situation of the rights of indigenous peoples in Peru on the basis of information obtained during the visit of the Special Rapporteur to the country from 6 to 13 December 2013. The purpose of this visit was to assess the situation of the country’s indigenous peoples, especially in relation to the impact of the extractive industries and the consultation and involvement of indigenous peoples in that context. 2. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur held a series of meetings with various representatives of national and regional governments, indigenous peoples, civil society and private enterprises. These meetings took place in the city of Lima and in various towns, localities and indigenous communities in the departments of Puno, Cuzco and Loreto. The Special Rapporteur visited two sites in the Amazon that are symbolic of the situation faced by indigenous peoples with regard to hydrocarbon projects in Peru: the Camisea natural gas project in the department of Cuzco and the oil exploration area known as Block 1-AB (now Block 192) in the department of Loreto. 3. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Government of Peru for its exemplary cooperation during the visit and for the information it provided, including after the visit, as well as the United Nations Development Programme for its invaluable help with the visit. He also wishes to express his appreciation to the Pluspetrol company for facilitating visits to its operations in Cuzco and Loreto and for the information it provided on its projects in these departments. Lastly, he wishes to express his gratitude to the indigenous peoples and organizations for their cooperation, for inviting him to visit their territory and for sharing their accounts, concerns and hopes with him. II. The background of indigenous peoples and extractive industries in Peru 4. The present report concerns the indigenous peoples of Peru, that is, groups in various regions of the country who retain different ethnic and cultural traits that predate the colonial era. In Peruvian legal system, the term “peasant community” (comunidad campesina) includes the Aymara, Quechua and Uro indigenous communities of the Andean region, while the term “native communities” (comunidades nativas) covers the indigenous peoples of Peru’s Amazon region. The 1993 Constitution recognizes the legal personality of peasant and native communities and guarantees their autonomy in respect of their organization, community work, the use and free disposal of their land and with regard to economic and administrative matters.1 5. There are no precise data concerning the indigenous population in Peru. The only ethnic indicator used in the last national census in 2007 was the language learned during childhood. According to the figures of this census, 15.9 per cent of the population of Peru (or 3,919,314 people) learned an indigenous language during childhood, Quechua and Aymara in the Andean region being the most widely spoken indigenous languages.2 Furthermore, according to a 2007 census specifically of Amazonian indigenous peoples, there were 332,975 individuals from 60 different indigenous peoples in that region.3 1 2 3 GE.14-07246 Constitution of Peru, art. 89. National Statistics and Information Institute, 2007 National Censuses: Eleventh Population Census and Sixth Housing Census – Sociodemographic profile of Peru (2008), pp. 10 and 117. National Statistics and Information Institute, Second Census of Indigenous Communities in the 3