During the 63rd Session of the Human Rights Council this week, the indigenous advocate Lusben Taylor delivered a statement on the situation facing the Mayangna people in Nicaragua and called for the urgent attention of the international community.
🎙 “From the Mayangna territories, we call on this Council not to allow our tragedy to be normalised, nor our territories to be turned into sacrifice zones.”
Lusben is the leader of the Mayangna Association for Social Development (AMDES) and was accompanied during his address to the Council by the Fundación del Río and Peace Brigades International (PBI).
This was Mr Taylor’s address to the Council:
Mr President and members of the Council,
I am Luzben Taylor, a Mayangna indigenous leader. I am here today to denounce the serious situation facing the Mayangna people and Nicaragua, and to request the urgent attention of the international community.
Our territory is not just a geographical space. It is our home, is our collective memory, our identity and the foundation of our existence as an indigenous people. We are currently experiencing a multidimensional crisis that endangers our physical, cultural and political survival. We have been forcibly displaced due to the occupation of our lands, violence, and the murder of leaders and community members. Eight Mayangna forest rangers and four indigenous leaders remain in arbitrary detention, and the Wilú, Kitangsar and Mina Sulún communities continue to be besieged.
This is just one example of the violence that is being experienced, and of the lack of protection from the state. Added to this is the expansion of mining concessions and extractive activities in indigenous territories, without any guarantees of consultation or free, prior and informed consent. Currently, there are 63 mining lots located in the indigenous and Afro-descendant territories of the country, including the Mayangna territory.
We call on this council not to allow our tragedy to be normalised or our territories to be turned into a sacrifice zone. Thank you so much.