Situation of indigenous defenders in Ucayali. Final report

Abstract

Despite the existence of legal instruments and articulation mechanisms, the defenceless situation of indigenous defenders and native communities has not changed and tends to deteriorate. The focus on individual attention to defenders does not consider the situation of the entire population of the community that is affected by illegal activities such as land trafficking, invasions, illegal logging, among others. This limitation, as well as the shortcomings of the state, do not allow for adequate identification and effective and efficient attention to human rights defenders, particularly indigenous defenders. To characterise the situation of defenders in Ucayali, we identified and analysed the conflicts faced by the indigenous population as a whole and not individually. Two hypotheses were used as a starting point: 1. The first is that the major problems are intimately related to land and forests, and that identifying the threats affecting these resources will allow for a better approximation of the situation of defenders.2. The second hypothesis is that by spatially locating the threatened resources we couldhave a broader, more strategic and complete approximation of the problems faced by defenders and, possibly, identify human rights defenders who are still invisible to the system