DOCUMENT: BOGOTA85.TXT WORLD COUNCIL OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (WCIP) BOGOTA 27 MARCH 1985 D E C L A R A T I O N O F B O G O T A The World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP), an international organization with consultative status in the United Nations and its regional organizations, the Regional Coordinator of the Indian Peoples of Central America, Mexico and Panama (CORPI), the Indian Council of South America (CISA), the Nordic Sami Council (NSC), the Regional Council of North America (RCNA), and the Regional Council of the Pacific (RCP), declare to the government of Nicaragua, to the Indian organization MISURASATA and to public opinion in general that: the principles of our Indian Peoples in America and in the rest of the world are born with the history of humanity, and these are the principles which guide WCIP. The States and Republics which exist today are the products of invasions, occupations and colonization of our peoples and original nations, which have institutionalized a systematic oppression on the part of their governments in opposition to our peoples, imposing models and systems foreign to the reality of our existence. During the [Spanish] colonization and existence of the Republic of Nicaragua the rights of the Indian Peoples have not been recognized; on the contrary, [Indians] have been the objects of dispossession of their fundamental rights. With the change of government in Nicaragua and the new administrative process of the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional, the Miskito, Sumu, and Rama peoples expected to achieve recognition of their historic rights. After five years of the present Nicaraguan administration, the Indian Peoples continue fighting for their inalienable rights, such as: autonomy, territorial rights, natural resources, culture, social organization, economy and politics. The failure to recognize these rights, and the genocidal policies brought against the Indian People through violence and repression, have produced a violent response, actions that have been and are taken advantage of by political interests antagonistic toward and foreign to the Indian struggle, obstructing and aggravating the situation of our brothers. The WCIP and its regional organizations are familiar with and lend their decided aid to the organization MISURASATA in its requests to the Nicaraguan authorities to reach a just recognition of the inalienable natural rights characteristic of the Miskito, Sumu, and Rama Peoples who have inhabited the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua from time immemorial. The WCIP and its regional organizations state that the systematic genocide of our peoples were and are blatant facts in the majority of the States and Republics which exist in all of the American Territories, Our Mother Earth; and we ask that each national government seriously examine its present politics and conform in practice with the principles of humanity, to achieve the peaceful coexistence of all the peoples. The WCIP and its regional organizations offer their unconditional support to the peace offers and recognition of rights which are being bilaterally considered between the Indian organization MISURASATA and the government of Nicaragua from October 1984 to the present. The WCIP and its organizations declare that Indian Peoples are not social classes or ethnic groups, rather they are Nations and/or Peoples discriminated against, oppressed, and exploited racially, culturally, spiritually, socially, economically, and politically within our own original territories, as much within the States and Republics of America as in other areas of the world. The WCIP and its regional organizations ask that these present negotiations between the genuine Indian representatives and the government of Nicaragua be conducted within a framework of mutual respect, responding to the reality of the peoples whom they represent. The WCIP and its regional organizations recognize and are grateful to the government and national Indian organization of Colombia for making possible the undertaking of these negotiations between the government of Nicaragua and the Indian organization MISURASATA, likewise the generous hospitality offered to all of the international Indian observers. Signed in the city of Bogota on 27 March 1985. The Executive Council of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. Clem Chartier Presidente Donald Rojas Maroto Vice Presidente Hayden Burgess Vice Presidente Alejandro Swaby Coordinador de CORPI Asuncion Ontiveros Coordinador de CISA -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: -= THE FOURTH WORLD DOCUMENTATION PROJECT =- :: :: A service provided by :: :: The Center For World Indigenous Studies :: :: www.cwis.org :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Originating at the Center for World Indigenous Studies, Olympia, Washington USA www.cwis.org © 1999 Center for World Indigenous Studies (All Rights Reserved. References up to 500 words must be referenced to the Center for World Indigenous Studies and/or the Author Copyright Policy Material appearing in the Fourth World Documentation Project Archive is accepted on the basis that the material is the original, unoccupied work of the author or authors. Authors agree to indemnify the Center for World Indigenous Studies, and DayKeeper Press for all damages, fines and costs associated with a finding of copyright infringement by the author or by the Center for World Indigenous Studies Fourth World Documentation Project Archive in disseminating the author(s) material. In almost all cases material appearing in the Fourth World Documentation Project Archive will attract copyright protection under the laws of the United States of America and the laws of countries which are member states of the Berne Convention, Universal Copyright Convention or have bi-lateral copyright agreements with the United States of America. Ownership of such copyright will vest by operation of law in the authors and/or The Center for World Indigenous Studies, Fourth World Journal or DayKeeper Press. The Fourth World Documentation Project Archive and its authors grant a license to those accessing the Fourth World Documentation Project Archive to render copyright materials on their computer screens and to print out a single copy for their personal non-commercial use subject to proper attribution of the Center for World Indigenous Studies Fourth World Documentation Project Archive and/or the authors. Questions may be referred to: Director of Research Center for World Indigenous Studies PMB 214 1001 Cooper Point RD SW Suite 140 Olympia, Washington 98502-1107 USA 360-754-1990 www.cwis.org usaoffice@cwis.org OCR Software provided by Caere Corporation