Amnesty International criticises government for raid on group that disputed expedition by Natural History Museum
Human rights group Amnesty International has strongly admonished the Paraguayan government for raiding the offices of a local NGO that had questioned the impact on indigenous people of a British Natural History Museum expedition to Paraguay's remote Chaco forest.
Amnesty International said in a statement that it believed the Paraguyan government had unacceptably "retaliated" against the small group, Iniciativa Amotocodie (Amotocodie Initiative, AI), which was concerned about the the wildlife expedition's impact on an uncontacted tribe.
Iniciativa Amotocodie (IA) had its offices in Filadelfia raided, and files, computers and documents taken last week, within hours of the museum's expedition leader Sandy Kanpp leaving Paraguay.
The expedition had caused controversy, with IA saying the arrival of outsiders into voluntarily isolated communities was "like a genocide".
In the first raid on an NGO and the appropriation of its property since the fall, in 1989, of Paraguyan dictator Alfredo Stoessner, armed police accompanied by a legal team arrived when no one was in the IA office.
"They forcefully entered by breaking a window. When the team returned, they found files, computers and documents strewn across the floor. They have taken everything relating to the administration of IA ? down to credit cards and chequebooks, effectively paralysing the organisation, which is clearly the aim," said one IA member.
"It would seem that this action against this non-government group and the human rights advocates who work in it are retaliation for its objection made on the eve of the expedition," said Amnesty.
"Instead of questioning the planning of a scientific expedition that did not pay due attention to the possible impact on the rights of uncontacted indigenous groups, and without taking the necessary initiatives to consult with indigenous groups that could be affected, the state is instead trying to divert attention from the central issue by criticising human rights defenders," said Amnesty.
The expedition, which was to include scientists from Paraguay and Britain, was suspended in early November by the Paraguayan government, one of the museum's official partners. Since then the government has been consulting different groups of indigenous peoples, but has given no indication on whether the expedition will ever be allowed to go ahead.
The museum declined to comment, but said in a statement: "We will continue to take advice on these matters from the Paraguayan authorities. We hope that the issues can be resolved soon."
Eric Pickles Panto season US politics Liza Minnelli Allen Stanford Energy industry
No comments:
Post a Comment