Please sign letter for threatened Indigenous leader in Guyana

December 16th, 2010

Request sent from Amazon Watch

Deadline for sign-ons: Friday, December 17, noon (NY time)

Dear all,

Many of us have come to know Tony James, the President of the Amerindian Peoples Association in Guyana, over the years. He has been very active in defending indigenous rights, and more recently, on issues around REDD, both in Guyana and internationally. Several of us have worked with him for over 10 years, and have nothing but respect for his work, and that of the APA. And now he’s received threats. Please join us in sending a strong message that the international community is paying attention, and won’t abide by the threatening or silencing of important voices, such as his.

Over the past few weeks Tony has received threats, and in one instance, an unknown person came to someone he knows, saying “they want your head; they want you dead”. We take these threats seriously. Please join Amazon Watch, Forest Peoples Programme, and the Rainforest Foundation in sending a joint letter to the authorities in Guyana expressing our concern. Please send your organizations name country to me, at christineh@rffny.org by this Friday, December 17th. We hope to send the letter on Friday, because we feel we need to act soon, before the holidays.

If you’d prefer to send your own letter, please feel free to do so (the more letters, the better). Use the text below (and attached). Letters should be sent to President Bharrat Jagdeo, and cc’ed to the list below. Please also feel free to forward to your networks.

Thanks so much!

Christine

Background: The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) is the most well-recognized representative indigenous organization in Guyana. With Tony at it’s helm, it has fought for the recognition of indigenous rights in Guyana. Most recently, Tony and the APA have been active on REDD issues, including Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy and on the international level. Tony has also been a vocal critic of mining in his area, as well as drug trafficking. RFUS and FPP have worked with the APA for over ten years, on issues related to land rights and community capacity building.

Text of the Group Letter (also please use and modify for your own)

His Excellency

Bharrat Jagdeo

President of the Republic of Guyana

Georgetown
opmed@op.gov.gy

President Jagdeo -

We are writing to express our concern for the security and well-being of Mr. Tony James, President of the Amerindian Peoples Association. According to the Executive Board of APA, in a statement issued on December 10th, there have been multiple incidents over recent months in which unknown people have come asking about Tony’s whereabouts. In one instance, an unknown woman noted, “they want his head; they want him dead.”

Though these are not the first of such kind of incident, this is the first time APA has felt sufficiently concerned about Mr. James’ safety to raise the issue at an international level. We are concerned about these occurrences based on similar experiences in other contexts. Surveillance and attempts to localize human rights defenders are often a precursor to more serious repression with the objective of silencing their voices.

The APA and Mr. James are well known and respected in the international community at large, among indigenous organizations, NGOs, funding agencies, and government representatives. Many of us have collaborated directly and extensively with Mr. James and others within APA for years, in some cases for over a decade. We hold in high regard the organization’s activities on behalf of indigenous rights within the Guyanese national context and Mr. James’ tireless advocacy within international institutions.

We respectfully request that you guarantee the integrity of Mr. James and his fellow APA members against the perspective threat represented by these recent incidents. Should the APA report another incident of unknown persons looking for Mr. James or any other situation perceived as threatening, we would request that you launch an impartial and thorough investigation into the situation. We will be paying close attention to the situation over the coming months.

Sincerely,

Amazon Watch

Forest Peoples Programme

Rainforest Foundation US

CC:

Hon. Charles Ramson, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Guyana (attorneygeneral_guyana@yahoo.com)

S. James Anaya, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (indigenous@ohchr.org)

Dinah Shelton, Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Inter-American Human Rights Commission (cidh@oas.org)

Hans Brattskar, Tove Stub, Norwegian Climate and Forest Initiative (hans.brattskar@md.dep.no, tove.stub@md.dep.no)

Per Mogstad, Alf Friisoe, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (per.mogstad@mfa.no, alf.friisoe@mfa.no)

Turid Arnegaard, NORAD (turid.arnegaard@norad.no )

The Norwegian Embassy to the Caribbean States (emb.caribbean@mfa.no)