The shrinking world of Paraguay's uncontacted tribe
Paraguay’s ethnic Ayoreo Indians have appealed to the UN’s flagship business initiative
not to allow companies use it as a tool to mask human rights abuses.
Survival
International spokesman, Jonathan Mazower, says leaders of the tribe, some of whose
members are still uncontacted, have written to the UN Global Compact saying they are
‘concerned and frustrated’ by the inclusion in it of a controversial Brazilian ranching
company.
“The company, Yaguarete Porá, was charged and fined for illegally
clearing the Ayoreo’s forests, and concealing evidence of uncontacted Ayoreo living
there. The Ayoreo have asked that it be expelled from the Global Compact”.
The
UN Global Compact was designed for companies ‘committed to aligning their operations
with ten universally accepted principles,’ including respect for human and environmental
rights.
According the Survival International advocacy officer, “In its reply,
the Global Compact has admitted that it has ‘neither the resources nor the mandate
to conduct investigations into any of our participants’”.
While some Ayoreo
have been contacted by missionaries, a number remain hidden in the forest. But their
land is being quickly destroyed to make way for cattle farming.
Yaguarete
has angered the Ayoreo by promoting its membership of the UN Global Compact on its
website, which the Indians believe promotes a false image of corporate responsibility.
Yaguarete Porá won Survival International’s ‘Greenwashing Award’ in 2010 for ‘dressing
up the wholesale destruction of a huge area of the Indians’ forest.
Survival
International’s Director Stephen Corry says ‘This makes an utter mockery of the UN
Global Compact. If the UN doesn’t make sure companies displaying its logos abide by
the rules, such initiatives become entirely meaningless. Yaguarete should be forced
to leave the compact immediately.’ Listen: