Indigeneity on the Move. Группа авторов

Indigeneity on the Move - Группа авторов


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groups such as the Dutch organization Novib, thus elevating struggles over land rights and protection of forests by the indigenous movement in Thailand to international levels.

      One important example of the use of narratives relating to indigenous peoples’ rights to land and natural resources in Thailand involved attempts by an activist for Akha rights, the American Matthew McDaniel, to raise concerns about the extensive loss of agricultural and forest lands by a number of Akha communities beginning around the year 2000. The situation became particularly tense in 2003 when Akha communities from the Yooh Hoh area in the Mae Fah Luang District in the Chiang Rai Province lost most of their land to a Royal Project supported by the Queen of Thailand. In response, McDaniel organized an international campaign that linked the Akha he was defending with the concept of indigeneity. Although McDaniel was expelled from Thailand over the issue in April 2004, he continued to campaign from abroad for the return of the land taken by the project to the Akha. In 2007, McDaniel was able to enlist the support of Rudolfo Stavenhagen, the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous issues, who investigated and took action on behalf of the Akha. Thus, on 8 October 2007, Mr Stavenhagen, along with the UN special rapporteur on food, officially brought the issue to the attention of the government of Thailand. In April 2008, the government responded to the allegations as follows:

      Indigenous activists in Thailand have recently unsuccessfully tried to gain Thai government support for draft legislation associated with the recognition of indigenous peoples in Thailand. Thailand’s Office of Ethnic Affairs prefers the term chattiphan to the more political concept of chon phao pheun muang, or indigenous peoples (see Baird et al. 2017).

      While the practical value of these resolutions remains to be seen, and while they have been criticized by some Thai academics for not going far enough, they have so far resulted in the establishment of provincial committees in each of the provinces where substantial numbers of people from these two groups are found. These committees are tasked with developing plans for successfully protecting the cultures of these groups, including considering ways in which aspects of local cultures linked to natural resource management can be protected. The proposed measures have important potential to provide these indigenous communities with more rights in relation to their self-management of natural resources, although the extent to which they can be effectively implemented remains uncertain. Other indigenous groups in Thailand have also expressed interest in having similar “special cultural zones” designated for them, but it remains unclear whether these groups will receive the same considerations.

      The following excerpt from an August 2011 statement made by indigenous representatives on behalf of the Network of Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Groups in Thailand, on the occasion of the Fifth Festival of Indigenous Peoples in Thailand, at Thapae Gate in Chiang Mai, illustrates the link between the indigenous peoples’ movement and land and resource issues:

      Our cultures are closely attached to our land, water and forest resources, especially with respect to the rotational farming which has been part of our identity and traditions for generations. This right is enshrined in the Thai constitution of 2007 under Articles 66 and 67, as well as many international laws including the International Convention on Bio-diversity (Articles 8[j] and 10[c]).

      Interestingly, indigenous activists are linking their narratives to the Thai constitution (see Baird et al. 2017) and international agreements such as the Convention on Biodiversity. Even if indigenous peoples are not yet legally recognized in Thailand, their movement has certainly become more sophisticated than it was just a few decades ago.

      Lao People’s Democratic Republic

      The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR or Laos) has the greatest ethnic diversity of the three countries under consideration here, and it is generally acknowledged that over half of the population of the country is made up of people outside of the dominant Lao ethnic group and that at least one-third of the population speak first languages other than those in the Tai-Lao language family (IWGIA 2009). The Government of Laos (GoL) recognizes forty-nine distinct ethnic groups, and over 160 ethnic subgroups (IWGIA 2013; LFNC 2005). Although the GoL has not recognized the concept of “indigenous peoples” (xon phao pheun muang in Lao), they have nevertheless recognized people from all ethnic groups within their territorial confines as lawful citizens (Baird 2015). For example, Article 22 of the 1991 constitution of Lao PDR states: “Ethnic groups are all equal before the law.” In line with this, the GoL has long been firmly against discrimination based on ethnicity. For example, in 2009 the vice-president of the Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC) was quoted by the Vientiane Times (2009) as stating, “any acts creating division and discrimination among ethnic groups were prohibited.” However, the GoL abides by a version of the saltwater theory, which fits with their longstanding policy that all citizens, whether they belong to an ethnic group or not, have equal rights (Baird 2015; LFNC 2005; Vientiane Times 2009). This is essentially a policy that recognizes ethnic


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