Paraguayan Officials Raid Indigenous Rights Group

Over a year ago, the British Natural History Museum and the government of Paraguay started planning a scientific expedition into the largely uncharted territory of the Gran Chaco to study the area's biodiversity.

That all sounds lovely until one realizes that such an expedition would put researchers in direct contact with isolated indigenous tribes, putting their lives and territory at risk.

With the help of Jess Leber over on the Environment Blog and hundreds of readers like you, last month the Paraguayan indigenous rights non-profit Iniciativa Amotocodie was able to get the mission suspended. The overwhelming success of the campaign to protect 'uncontacted' Ayoreo Indians from exploitation and foreign disease won it a place on Change.org's Top 10 Victories of 2010.

But apparently no good deed goes unpunished in Paraguay. As a thank you for their work protecting vulnerable indigenous peoples, Paraguayan authorities broke into the offices of Iniciativa Amotocodie and stole their stuff.

Technically the Public Prosecution service had a warrant based on an ongoing investigation into Iniciativa Amotocodie's involvement in the anti-expedition campaign: allegedly, the NGO tricked several leaders of the Ayoreo ethnic group into signing a document that opposed the expedition.

However, the Paraguayan authorities' blatant disregard for proper legal procedure or international standards for the rights of Indigenous Peoples clearly shows their interest isn't in protecting the Ayoreo. Amnesty International has condemned the Paraguayan government for their actions and is calling their bluff: the raid was nothing more than a retaliation for the NGO's public criticism of the scientific expedition. Whatever "tricking" Iniciativa Amotocodie may or may not have done (which seems a bit unlikely considering the organization's mission is to protect the indigenous group), the Paraguayan authorities have rendered any criminal proceedings "groundless and untenable," said Amnesty in a statement.

Putting the procedural errors and the neglect of indigenous rights to the side, the scariest part of this raid is the precedent it sets for Paraguayan human rights activists. Amnesty International has expressed concern "that these events are taking place against an atmosphere of increasing criticism of NGOs and human rights defenders in Paraguay, often based on erroneous and distorted interpretations of their role in defending and monitoring human rights."

This is the first raid on an NGO since the fall of dictator Alfredo Stoessner in 1989.

Paraguay has a duty to protect and support human rights defenders in their country -- not threaten, intimidate, and steal from them. The government took a huge step for indigenous rights by suspending the scientific expedition, but they seem to have taken a big step back with this little snafu. Sign this petition telling Paraguayan officials to halt the proceedings against Iniciativa Amotocodie and return their seized property.

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