Continental Commission Abya Yala
COLOMBIA
Communique to the Holy See, Vatican State
DISMANTLING THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY
10th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples
September 13, 2017
Your Holiness Pope Francis,
Within the framework of the historical trajectory of the
Continental Summits Abya Yala, from the foundations of the First Indigenous
Continental Encounter of Quito, Ecuador 1990 and then the Second Indigenous
Continental Encounter of Temoaya, Mexico 1993, in the spirit of exercising the
collective right of Self Determination
as Original Nations of Indigenous Peoples of our continent of Abya Yala, we
express our gratitude and respect for the letter of the National Indigenous
Organization of Colombia ONIC addressed to you, Pope Francis, during your
recent visit as vicar and head of state of the Vatican.
In particular, as Continental Commission Abya Yala we extend
our continental solidarity and support the determination articulated in that
letter to affirm the various pronouncements that have been directed to the
Vatican over the course of time from the Continental Summits of the Original
Peoples and Nations of Abya Yala.
(i) Communiqué to the Holy See, the Vatican, within the
framework of the Fifth Continental Summit of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya
Yala, La María, Piendamó, 2013,
(ii) Communiqué of the Continental Commission Abya Yala,
Autumn Equinox, September 2015, Lenape Nation Territories, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania,
(iii) Notice on the Dismantling of the Doctrine of
Discovery, Jovel Valley, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, February
2016
(iv) Message of Indigenous Peoples to His Holiness Pope John
Paul II, June 1986.
In this regard, may we now inform you that our Continental
Commission Abya Yala, with a mandate to carry out the DISMANTLING of the
Doctrine of Discovery throughout the length and breadth of our continent Abya
Yala, also express our solidarity with the call that on your official visit to
Wallmapu Mapuche Nation territory in January 2018, to exhort and insist upon
the Chilean government to recognize and protect the territorial, autonomous and
cultural rights of the Mapuche people, in the spirit of equality and without
discrimination.
Your Holiness Pope Francis, as Indigenous Peoples and
Nations of Abya Yala we submit to you as head of the Vatican State the
following:
Report of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues of the
United Nations on the eleventh session (2012):
Special theme: "The doctrine of discovery: its lasting
impact on indigenous peoples and the right to reparations for past
achievements" (Articles 28 and 37 of the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples)
4. The Permanent Forum recalls the fourth preambular
paragraph of the Declaration of the United Nations on the rights of indigenous
that all doctrines, policies and practices based on the superiority of certain
peoples or individuals or who advocate it on the grounds of origin national or
racial, religious, ethnic or cultural differences are racist, scientifically
false, legally invalid, morally condemnable and socially unfair. Throughout the
world, colonizers have argued legal and political rights to deprive indigenous
peoples of their lands, deprive them of their rights and repeal their rights,
such as the doctrine of discovery, the doctrine of domination, the
"conquest", the doctrine of terra nullius or doctrine real. While
these nefarious doctrines were favored to justify the acquisition of the lands
and territories of indigenous peoples, implicit in them had postulates were
taken as the basis for asserting authority and control over lives of indigenous
peoples and their lands, territories and resources. The Settlers considered the
indigenous peoples "savages", "barbarians", "little
evolved", "Inferior and uncivilized" and used these concepts to
subdue, dominate and exploit to indigenous peoples and their lands, territories
and resources.
The Permanent Forum urges States to reject such doctrines as
a basis for denying rights of indigenous peoples.
6. Another current manifestation of the doctrines of
dispossession is the concept of the deletion, present in regulations, policies
and decisions of the courts in which States have allegedly
"suppressed" the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands,
territories and resources, their right to self-determination, their languages,
religions and even their identities and their existence using the notion of
"Recognition", that is, recognizing some Indians and not others. The
"Suppression", in the context of the rights of indigenous peoples to
land, territories and resources, is incompatible with the current understanding
of the law international law, and specifically with the mandatory rule that
establishes absolute prohibition of racial discrimination. No other people in
the world live subject to the threat of "suppression" of their
rights.
7. International human rights law, including the equality
and non-discrimination, such as those contained in the International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires that States to rectify
the mistakes made in the past by these doctrines, including the violation of
the rights of indigenous peoples to land, through legal and regulatory
provisions, restitution and other forms of redress of their land rights,
including those identified in Articles 27 and 28 of the United Nations
Declaration.
8. At its tenth session, the Permanent Forum emphasized that
the redefinition of the relationship between indigenous peoples and the State
constituted an important instrument for understanding the doctrine of discovery
and for vision for reconciliation, peace and justice. For this, the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides a robust human
rights framework and standards to rectify these doctrines, articles 3, 28 and
37. The Permanent Forum encourages to carry out reconciliation processes
"in accordance with the principles of justice, democracy, respect for
human rights, equality, non-discrimination discrimination, good governance and
good faith. "
10. The Permanent Forum welcomes the recommendation to
establish a mechanism to receive and review communications from indigenous
peoples, especially in relation to the claim their rights to lands, territories
and resources that have traditionally been have owned, occupied or used or
acquired in any other way, or the violation of these rights. Indigenous peoples
and other stakeholders should formulate this recommendation in more detail. The
Forum takes note of the mandate of the Special Conference on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples in this regard.
Your Holiness Pope Francis,
In order to institute the necessary corrective and
collective measures in repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, being that the
Doctrine continues to serve as a mantle of camouflage for the pathology and
illegal colonization of Abya Yala that deforms and violates the spirit and
well-being of our Common Humanity;
Progressing with the recommendation of the Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues to establish an international mechanism for receiving and
examining communications from indigenous peoples, especially with regard to
claiming their rights to lands, territories and resources that they have
traditionally owned, occupied or used , the Continental Commission Abya Yala
accepts with great interest the report of Colombia, which indicates how the
Doctrine of Discovery has been institutionalized in a discriminatory manner at
the national level in Colombia, by designation as a successor state to the
Papal Bull Inter Caetera of Alexander VI via the institution of the
Constitution of Cúcuta (1821).
The Continental Commission Abya Yala, at the V
Continental Summit Abya Yala (2013), sent an official communiqué to the Vatican
from Maria Piendamó in Cauca Territory, regarding the position of the Vatican
and Pope Francis as head of state, with obligation under international law to
act in accordance with the principles of Decolonization of Abya Yala in
accordance with the criteria of UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (1960) and
the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).
This communiqué was never answered by the Vatican, nor has
there been public comment by Pope Francis on the subject.
Recalling that you, as Bishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina in
your public comment in 2012 on the Falkland Islands/Malvinas conflict made
indirect reference to the Doctrine of Discovery by expressing a position that
reaffirms Argentina's territorial claim to the islands as a successor state of
the Papal Bull of Pope Alexander VI Inter Caetera 1493 in current times:
"usurped".
Recognizing that this issue of the Falkland Islands/Malvinas conflict remains on the agenda of the United Nations Decolonization
Committee;
Taking the above as context, and recognizing and
acknowledging the role of the Vatican as a member state of the United Nations,
with obligations as any other state to comply with the recognition and
guarantees of the Right of Self Determination articulated in Resolution 1514 of
the General Assembly (1960), and further that the recognition of the right of
self-determination corresponds without discrimination to Indigenous Peoples as
"Peoples, equal to all other peoples" (UNDRIP 2007), once again we
urge Your Holiness to make public comment in repudiation of the Doctrine of the
Discovery in his visit to Chile in January of 2018.
Respectfully,
Continental Commission Abya Yala
TONATIERRA
Secretariat
La Maria Piendamo, Cauca [Colombia]
November 15, 2013
Annex of Documents
- Papal Bull Inter Caetera (1493)
- The Requirement (1513)
- 1984 ANASAZI Letter to Pope John Paul II
- 1984 Letter of Response : Vatican Secretary of State
Fifth Period of Sessions
May 15- 26, 2006
United Nations NY, NY
A Community Based Decolonization Methodology
United Nations
Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples 2012
Presented by: TONATIERRA May 7, 2012
Report of the Indigenous Peoples Forum on the
Doctrine of Discovery Arizona State Capitol
March 23, 2012
"We demand that the Preliminary Study on the Doctrine
of Discovery, submitted to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues be
integrated into the Social Studies Curriculum standards immediately for
implementation across the spectrum of services delivered by the Arizona
Department of Education at all levels across the state with no
exceptions."
