GOIP and APA should concentrate on protecting Amerindian rights

GOIP and APA should concentrate on protecting Amerindian rights
Guyana Chronicle, 28 September 2007

There was a report carried in SN 11/8/07 that the UN is putting forward
an Indigenous Peoples Rights Declaration but that Guyana wishes a few
clauses to be reviewed.

Guyanese Organisation for Indigenous People (GOIP) and Amerindian
Peoples Association (APA) are saying that the government should go
ahead and sign the document without clarification of any clause. The
position of GOIP and APA are illogical and shows a woeful ignorance of
how much documents are accorded to.

More important to me however, is why APA and GOIP do not do more to
protect young Amerindian people, in particular young Amerindian women.
Amerindians are being robbed every day in the vicinity of the
Amerindian Hostel in Princes Street, but neither of these organisations
have said or done anything about it, as well as the large numbers of
Amerindian women who are sexually exploited and driven into
prostitution.

Why don’t APA and GOIP tackle this problem and seek out the bars,
restaurants and night-clubs which are carrying on this kind of sexual
exploitation.

Or why don’t they address the economic and ecological devastation which
is being threatened by the East Asian logging companies and the
Amerindian rights being trampled upon.

Also in the new mining and forestry developments, Amerindian employees
are being exploited. Various diseases are spread among the Amerindians.
Both GOIP and APA are doing nothing and it is time they bestir
themselves and stop their present skylarking.
Henry G. Niles