We express our utmost concern regarding the serious violations of the rights of the Quechua community of Totoral Chico of the Ayllu Acre Antequera, Oruro, in Bolivia, including the organization of a false consultation on October 23, 2024.
This “consultation” seeks to legitimize the activity of the mining company La Salvada Sociedad Colectiva, owned by the Avicaya Mining Workers Union, who have been operating illegally in the territory since 2013 without obtaining consent from the Quechua and Aymara communities that inhabit it.
As a result of mining exploitation, these companies have caused environmental disasters that accelerate the disappearance and contamination of scarce water sources and soils, including the clearing of the sacred Orqu Chualla hill, and seriously affecting the livelihoods and subsistence of the communities. In defending their territory, the Indigenous and Native authorities, along with other members of the community, have suffered criminalization and attacks, including the forced displacement of women and girls.
We strongly support the community's decision to reject the consultation due to its clear failure to comply with the minimum international standards of the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent contained in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, among other national and international instruments and rulings.
The Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has already expressed its specific concern regarding the violations of the constitutional right to prior consultation in the Ayllu Acre Antequera in 2023.
The “consultation” proposed by the Jurisdictional Administrative Mining Authority (AJAM) violates basic principles of the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, such as the fact that it is prior (the company has been operating for decades), that the information is transmitted in the language of the community and using its decision-making processes and through its own self-government institutions, among other requirements. The community has not received an environmental impact study nor other sources of information on the possible impacts of the project.
Meanwhile, the Bolivian Ministry of Mining and Metallurgy is holding meetings and signing agreements with the Avicaya and Totoral mining unions, who operate in the area, to continue mining without even having held a deliberative meeting with the communities, which shows that this consultation represents a mere formality and has no real intention of obtaining the consent of the people who inhabit these lands in good faith and respecting international standards.
In this context, we urge the Bolivian government and the companies operating in the area to adhere to the community's will to reject this illegitimate consultation, respecting the rights of the Indigenous Peoples, including the real right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
Qhana Pukara Kurmi
Cultural Survival
Earthworks
