Indigenous people in Bolivia may get own justice systems
Greetings from Bolivia, where I’m spending six months working with the Aymara council of Kurahuara Marka.
I would like to mention that 12 indigenous nations in Bolivia will vote by referendum on Dec. 6, 2009 to decide whether they will be autonomous.
That referendum comes at the same time as the presidential election where incumbent Evo Morales is running again for the Socialist Movement (Movimiento al socialismo – MAS.)
As part of the self-government package, the indigenous governments will have equal footing with other levels of governments – municipal, regional and departmental – but the indigenous governments will have one extra jurisdiction, that is on justice and their own legal system.
The new Bolivian constitution protects indigenous rights and recognizes the right of all indigenous nations, also called “original peoples” in Bolivia, to the use of their laws and legal traditions. This is a huge change for Bolivia that has a majority of aboriginal people, but whose rights were not always recognized in the past.
Bolivia has also adopted the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples as part of their laws, as well as Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization, also recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples.
It will be very interesting to watch the results of the elections and, more importantly, of the 12 referendums on autonomy. If the “yes” wins, they have six months to enact a Charter or Constitution (Estatuto) for each of those nations that will have to get the support of two-thirds of their electorate and then will have to be approved by the Constitutional Court and the final draft will be submitted to a referendum for final approval by 50 per cent plus one of voters.
These are really exciting times for indigenous peoples in Bolivia and it’s a real privilege for me to work with the Aymara of Curahuara de Carangas to support their move towards full autonomy.
Pierre Rousseau
Curahuara de Carangas
Bolivia
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