Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 2.4: Negotiations and Engagement with Companies
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These obstacles had to be surpassed to overcome the situation and make
it possible for the 36 Guaraní communities of Itika Guasu to receive a
comprehensive explanation of the issues from the APG IG, and the legal
and financial advisers at Equipo Nizkor.
With small and direct financial support from allies, the APG IG’s Board
could be present in all of the communities that make up the TCO, and
hence carry out education activities. These covered the legal strategy
being conducted by the Board in the context of the negotiations with the
oil companies and the consolidation of the APG IG’s territory, the TCO
of Itika Guasu. This could be done in an independent manner, without
subjection to the environmental and economic development agenda of
outside NGOs.
The APG IG’s legal strategy has also been endorsed by the Bolivian
Constitutional Court. In April 2011, the APG IG was officially notified of
the judgement dated 25 October 2010 issued by the Court in the case
SEDECA v APG IG. 28 SEDECA is a state-owned company in charge
of public works that had denounced the APG IG after its president
sent an official communication to one of SEDECA’s contractors. The
communication stated that any work on Guaraní land had to be subject
to a free, prior and informed consultation process in accordance with
Law 3760 and ILO Convention 169. The Constitutional Court ruled in
favor of the APGIG position in a historic judgment in which international
indigenous law and its domestic application is used as a basis to ratify the
right to ancestral territory, as well as the obligation binding upon the state
to carry out a free, prior and informed consultation process regarding any
public and/or private project to be executed on TCO land.
The APGIG is clear that the settlement agreement it entered into with
the Repsol consortium is unique in Bolivia. It will of course benefit the
Guaraní of Itika Guasu specifically but will also serve as a model for other
indigenous communities. It is to be hoped that it will serve to guide the
conduct of other oil companies in their future activities in that region.