A/HRC/33/42/Add.2
55.
The indigenous peoples of the Atlantic seaboard and La Mosquitia have been
affected by agro-industrial projects, principally the cultivation of the African oil palm,
which have been promoted by powerful economic sectors. It is reported that the Garífuna
community of Nueva Armenia in Atlántida has been subjected to threats and assaults and
its houses and crops destroyed by private individuals who wish to plant oil palms on lands
claimed by the community. There have also been reports of conflicts relating to tourism
projects in lands to which the Garífuna communities hold title or that they claim as
ancestral lands, such as the Barra Vieja community in Atlántida, which has been affected
by the Indura Beach Resort tourist complex and the Río Negro community, which has been
affected by the construction of cruise ports on the Banana Coast in Trujillo Bay.
56.
Another major concern is the proposed construction of model cities under the
Organic Act on Employment and Economic Development Areas, 14 which would involve
building infrastructure for areas having their own legal and economic system and their own
security forces. The model cities would affect 24 Garífuna communities between the Sico
river and Trujillo Bay and would involve forced displacement. The Special Rapporteur was
informed of plans to relocate 3,500 members of the Garífuna community of Puerto Castilla
to facilitate the construction and enlargement of infrastructure for a model city in Trujillo.
Members of the community stated that they had not been consulted about the project and
that they were opposed to their relocation, having been through two resettlement processes
in the preceding decades.
E.
Protected areas
57.
There are also concerns about the creation of protected areas that overlap with
indigenous territories and the resulting restriction of access to their lands and natural
resources. In the case of the Garífuna people, 26 out of 47 communities are located within
or on the borders of protected areas. The creation of the Punta Izopo and Cuero y Salado
national parks, among others, without prior consultation with the affected Garífuna
communities, has placed serious restrictions on their fishing, hunting and gathering
activities in these areas and, in some cases, has led to their eviction.
58.
Representatives of the indigenous peoples stated that the joint management plans of
the protected areas promoted by the Government did not recognize or protect the territorial
rights of the indigenous peoples affected or their own ways of using and managing their
natural resources. They report that, because they have no rights over the forests and other
resources in the areas designated as protected within their territories, indigenous people
have to pay the municipal and forestry authorities for permission to take wood to build their
houses and engage in other traditional activities. In La Mosquitia and other regions, they
complain that the police confiscate wood obtained by indigenous families and, in some
cases, demand bribes. It is reported that members of Miskito communities have been
imprisoned by the police after their wood has been confiscated or because they hunt
animals for food.
59.
Representatives of the indigenous peoples report that the establishment of protected
areas has not prevented illegal logging, mining or drug trafficking on indigenous lands.
That, they say, is the situation in the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, where the ancestral
lands of the Miskito are affected by logging and drug trafficking. The Tawahka people are
in the same situation, following the creation of the Tawahka Asangni Biosphere Reserve.
14
GE.16-12632
Decree No. 120-2013.
13