19 Amendments of Maria HEUBUCH related to 2017/2206(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph –1 (new)
Paragraph –1 (new)
-1. Notes that the increase of large- scale land acquisitions, driven mainly by agribusiness, the forestry, biofuels and tourism industries, has impacted negatively on indigenous people, which are forced away from their lands;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph –1 a (new)
Paragraph –1 a (new)
-1a. Reiterates that indigenous people around the world suffer disproportionally from violations of human rights, from crime, health problems, and high rates of poverty as they comprise 15 percent of those living in poverty while they account for 5 per cent of the world’s population only;
Amendment 3 #
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls that the Agenda 2030 addresses these development concerns of indigenous peoples and underlines that a stepped up effort for its implementation is needed; stresses the need to strengthen the Indigenous Peoples Major Group for Sustainable Development (IPMG) as the global mechanism for coordination and concerted efforts to advance the rights and development priorities of indigenous peoples; calls on the European Commission to better liaise with and include the IMPG in its Multi- Stakeholder Platform on SDGs;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Recalls the EU’s commitment to follow a Rights-Based Approach (RBA) to development, which includes the respect of indigenous peoples’ rights as defined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and singles out the principles of accountability and participation, non- discrimination; strongly encourages the EU to continue its work on operationalising this Rights Based Approach in all development activities and to set up a Task Force with Member States for this purpose; calls for an update of the respective implementation plan with clear timelines and indicators to measure progress;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Recalls Article 208 TFEU and the principle of Policy Coherence of Development, notes with concern that the EU energy, agriculture, trade and investment policies have proven to be drivers of landgrabbing in third countries as large-scale land acquisitions negatively impact indigenous peoples’ access to land; deplores that the ongoing revision of the Renewable Energy Directive has so far failed to introduce social and sustainability criteria taking into account risks of land grabbing; recalls that the Directive should be consistent with international tenure right standards;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. DeploresIs alarmed by the allegations that ODAcertain cooperation programmes funded by Official Development Assistance, notably climate change mitigation projects, have negatively affected the rights of indigenous peoples; regrets that the REDD+ programme has failed to secure tenure rights for local forest communities; urges the EUuropean Commission and the Member States to support the inclusion of human rights obligations in all domestic and international mitigation and adaptation instruments and calls for the establishment of effective complaint and redress mechanisms;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Urges the European Commission and the Member States to establish, as an immediate step, an effective administrative complaint mechanism for victims of human rights violations and other harmful impacts induced by ODA- funded activities to initiate investigation and reconciliation processes; this mechanism shall have standardized procedures, be of administrative nature, thus be complementary to judicial mechanisms, and EU Delegations could act as entry points;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls on development partners to carry out thorough assessments before the usage of land declared as “empty”, “idle” or “unused” is to be changed as this can threaten indigenous peoples’ livelihoods and their access to land, forests or natural resources; recalls that indigenous peoples should not be displaced from their lands or territories and if relocation is deemed necessary, the affected people should receive just, fair and equitable compensation; singles out the specific case of nomadic pastoralist people;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Recalls that 80% of forests worldwide constitutes traditional lands and territories of indigenous peoples; stresses the vital role of indigenous people for sustainable management of natural resources and biodiversity conservation; recalls that UNFCCC calls upon its state parties to respect the knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples as safeguards in implementing REDD+; urges partner countries to adopt measures to effectively engage indigenous peoples in climate change adaptation and mitigation measures;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. UDeplores that in many countries affected by land grabbing, effective access to justice and remedy for indigenous peoples and pastoralists is limited due to weak governance and because their land rights are often not formally recognised under local or national legal frameworks; urges partner countries to recognise and protect pastoralist and indigenous peoples’ rights to customary ownership and control of their lands and natural resources as set out in the UNDRIP and ILO Convention 169, i.e. by enabling collective registration of land use and by putting in place policies aimed at ensuring more equitable access to land; calls for the EU to support partner countries in this and in applying the principle of fFree, pPrior and iInformed cConsent (FPIC) to large-scale land acquisitions, as set out in the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests and in compliance with international human rights law;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Notes that between 200 and 500 million people worldwide practise pastoralism and that pastoralism is central to livelihood strategies in the drylands and mountainous regions of East Africa; stresses the need to foster sustainable pastoralism to reach the SDGs; encourages the EU and its Member States to support the African Governance Architecture (AGA) and in particular the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, in order to implement the African Union Policy Framework on Pastoralism in Africa and, more broadly, to recognise pastoralists’ and indigenous peoples’ rights related to communal ownership of ancestral land, the right to dispose freely of natural resources and their rights to culture and religion;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Highlights the link between the right to food and land rights for indigenous peoples; points out that, according to the United Nations report on the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (1), the promotion of new technologies such as improved seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the introduction of cash-crop cultivation and large plantation schemes have caused environmental degradation and destroyed ecosystems, affecting many indigenous communities to the point of forcing them to resettle elsewhere; [1] http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/docu ments/SOWIP/press%20package/sowip- press-package-en.pdf
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that bilateral investment agreements often fail to recognise indigenous peoples’ land rights; recalls that international investment law has to respectcomply with international human rights law, including the right of governments to regulate in the public interest; calls on dDevelopment fFinance iInstitutions that fund investments to strengthen their human rights safeguards;,
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Urges the EU to ensure that of its all investment and trade agreements include provisions for mandatory and independent ex-ante and ex-post human rights impact assessments, due diligence requirements and effective accountability mechanisms; stresses the need to develop databases to systematically record and disclose land deals in third countries involving EU actors in order to ensure more transparency and, ultimately, more accountability;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the factannouncement of the European Commission that the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests will become binding for the External Investment Plan; insists that they should become binding for all EU ODA projectsexternal action funded by ODA;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls forRecalls that the European Convention on Human Rights defines both domestic and extraterritorial obligations for states regarding their duties to provide access to remedies for victims of human rights violations; calls on the EU to take legally binding measures to hold corporationEuropean corporate and financial entities accountable for breaches of human rights in third countries and to provide effective remedy, complaint and sanction mechanisms., including in cases of their involvement in landgrabbing;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Regrets the serious shortcomings of the UN “Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework and the Guiding Principles on business and human rights with regard to both indigenous peoples’ rights and land rights; calls on the EU to engage constructively in the work of the UN Human Rights Council on an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises; while this process is ongoing encourages such corporations to recognise the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in codes of business conduct or other voluntary frameworks;