Recommendation to approve Forest Law despite criticism
On the 15th of December 2010, the Agriculture Commission of the Congress of Peru unanimously approved the report of the Draft Forest and Wildlife Law (Proyecto de Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre), despite various institutions questioning the process of "prior consultation" that had been conducted between November and December and the withdrawal of four delegates from the debate.
The meetings carried out by the Agriculture Commission in different regions of the country as part of the misnamed "prior consultation" were rejected beforehand by indigenous organisations in a series of statements and press releases. Having been part of the hearings, the Interethnic Development Association of the Peruvian Forest (Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana - AIDESEP) declared that the suggestions made in them were not respected, such as that the Congress first approve the Prior Consultation Law (Ley de Consulta Previa), which is part of the plenary agenda and has been noted by the President of the Republic, and that the consultation period be extended in order to allow time to analyse and understand the more than 150 articles in the proposed law.
The Confederation of Amazonian Nationalities of Peru (Confederación de Nacionalidades Amazónicas del Perú - CONAP), one of the organisations whose leaders attended the hearings, issued a preliminary statement in which it specifically pointed out that "any attempt to pass the Draft Forest and Wildlife Law without having properly completed the consultation process will be soundly rejected by our organisations." The National Coordinator for Human Rights had similar concerns and commented on the methodology used in these decentralised hearings, as they did not appear to be structured as free, prior and informed consultations.
In addition, after the hearings had culminated, the Ombudsman sent a letter to the President of the Agriculture Commission with comments on the methodology of the process, such as that it has been carried out even though it is still in its information stage. Furthermore, through a press release (Nota de Prensa 327/OCII/DP/2010), the Ombudsman called for a consensus between the indigenous organisations and the Commission on the methodology which will be used in the consultation processes prior to the adoption of the Forest and Wildlife Law.
Following the adoption of this report, the proposed Forest Law is ready to be debated in the House of Congress, and therefore possibly for approval, without any actual prior, free or informed consultation with the indigenous communities of our country. For more details on the press releases, please consult the following website: http://www.dar.org.pe/transparenciaforestal/index_nuevaleyforestal.html
