Cauca, Colombia. Continental Summit of Indigenous Communicators Abya Yala, held in the ancestral lands of the Cauca, Colombia, contributed to place in a more visible the need to articulate and promote indigenous agenda in the specific field of communication. However, it takes much effort to strengthen processes, contract strategies and achieve better actual conditions for the exercise of this right. One of the key issues is to highlight the legitimacy of this law to require states to recognize it and issue policies to ensure their exercise.
The need to exercise the right to communicate
and indigenous peoples face significant challenges that they even threaten their existence and integrity. Against the aggressions that increase their vulnerability, the people, leaving them stronger and organized as a people to fight and defend themselves better and, in this process, grow as political subjects, national actors, capable of proposals not only for themselves but for the whole country.
Indigenous peoples need to point out a distinctive profile as subjects of law and build a comprehensive Indigenous Agenda, but not to move alone, but to win and attract allies to promote appropriate strategies which enable them to improve their resistance, struggle and determination .
For all this, the indigenous and intercultural communication is an unavoidable tool that organizations should not be left to chance or improvisation. Communication is as nervous tissue of a human body, which allows you not only feel and be aware but also to act and react to any stimulus or situation.
indigenous and intercultural communication is thus a key activity to strengthen indigenous organizations by enabling them to share useful information to make better decisions, facilitates the dialogue with non-indigenous society and can contribute positively to promoting inclusive public policies.
the other hand, communication is a right of peoples to be exercised within the framework of self-determination. Precisely this right has gained clarity, specificity and emergency with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which puts an article Own:
Article 16:
Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages \u200b\u200band to access all the other non-indigenous media without discrimination.
States shall take effective measures to ensure that the media duly reflect indigenous cultural diversity. States, without prejudice to ensuring full freedom of expression, should encourage privately owned media to adequately reflect indigenous cultural diversity.
This statement is much broader than the brief mention that the communication has in the Convention No. 169 Indigenous Peoples of the International Labour Organization (ILO) where, in reference to the obligations of governments to understand their rights and obligations, states:
"2. To that end, must be used, if necessary, written translations and the use of mass media in the languages \u200b\u200bof these peoples "(Art. 30).
Public Policy for the proper means
recognition of communication rights of indigenous peoples is undoubtedly an important development that should form the basis for requiring states to adopt specific public policies make possible the exercise of this right.
In the sixth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues United Nations, held in May 2007, Servindi requested, among other requests, "to promote communication as a fundamental cross-cutting issue for the development of indigenous peoples and promote treatment in an international seminar in a special way to that issue. " This order was reiterated at the seventh session of the Permanent Forum for Marcos Terena (Brazil), speaking on behalf of a group of indigenous organizations. A seminar at this level is still to be done, and would be useful to agree on criteria and standards implementation of the right to make a proper communication and compliance monitoring by the states.
An interesting debate about the right to communication is taking place in Mexico from a rebuke of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation by the lack of legislation to ensure that indigenous people hold, manage and operate their media; this right is protected by article 2 of the Constitution of the United Mexican States. The claim had an impact on the Indigenous Affairs Commission of the Chamber of Deputies organized a working group on Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Communicate, and also have been made to three national meetings of indigenous communications in recognition of communication rights is latent as part of social guarantees in the framework of the Reform.
Community radio and the radio spectrum
A hiding sensitive issue is the government doing the right of peoples and communities access to radio spectrum, which, despite being a common heritage, is almost entirely concession for private commercial interests. Some governments go so far as to unleash a fierce persecution and criminalization of communicators, and to provide for closure and seizure of community radios as in Mexico, Honduras, Chile, El Salvador and Colombia, among others.
An important contribution to public debate arose in the tenth meeting of the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC 10) in which harshly questioned the repression and criminalization made by some governments against journalists and media community. In this regard, it is important to note the position expressed by Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, who criticized governments to "criminalize" community media.
"In many countries there is no communication category Community. There's only commercial communication "and" love is a terrible lack criminalizing the use of radio frequency when even the law recognizes alternatives to rural and indigenous communities, "stressed the rapporteur. "Having an unauthorized frequency can not be a crime," he said. La Rue defended the right to communicate and criticized the criminal penalties on broadcasters. In his view, the state has to regulate communications in an equitable manner that provides assurances to all stakeholders. On the contrary, "the unauthorized use of frequencies because the state did not regulate with principles of fairness and justice," he said.
Alternatives
positive regulation
The struggle for better conditions for the development of community radio got one of its best fruits in Uruguay with the enactment of the Community Broadcasting Act, adopted in December 2007 and has been hailed by AMARC and other international organizations such as freedom of expression, ARTICLE 19 and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) - as a benchmark for the region.
The above standard defines the radio spectrum as a "common heritage of humanity subject to the state government and, therefore, equitable access to frequencies of Uruguayan society as a whole is a general principle of his administration." In addition, reserves for community radio and other non-profit "at least one third of the radio spectrum for each location in all frequency bands used for analogue and digital and all forms of broadcast."
The digital agenda pending
While some governments, such as Peru, they boast of economic growth and modernity, and show an increase in cell phone lines as an indicator of development, many rural communities lack the most basic services basic. This inequality has increased with new information and communication technologies (ICTs) have opened a huge digital divide between so-called "info-poor" and "info-rich." It is not the case in this article address the validity of these concepts but to recognize that there is a huge demand for people with a proper access and effective ownership of not only new but also old ICT.
To call attention to this issue, in November 2005 ended the World Summit on the Information Society (CSMI), held in two phases: Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005. Thanks to the role and impact of civil society as a whole, the process and outcomes of WSIS brought with it a framework of agreements, commitments and recommendations favorable and beneficial for indigenous peoples and communities provided that they take hold of them.
WSIS implementation establishes the need for functional associations between various stakeholders and develop "national e-strategies as part of national development plans and strategies to reduce poverty."
Civil Society that participated in the Summit process placed particular emphasis on recognition require access to the Internet as a service of public interest that states must undertake to provide, in this sense, not enough solutions based solely on market and commercial use. To the extent that "the Internet systems, satellite, cable and broadcast systems all utilize political resources, such as the airwaves and orbital paths areas "should be given" in relation to the public interest as property through transparent regulatory frameworks and accountable to enable the equitable allocation of resources and infrastructure among a plurality of media including community media. "
It should be recalled that the indigenous movement was able to push so that indigenous and rural poor they had a specific reference in the summit documents. For example, the Declaration of Principles notes:
"We are resolute to empower the poor, especially those living in remote, rural and marginalized urban areas, to access information and use ICTs as tools to support their efforts to escape poverty."
also "in the evolution of the Information Society should pay particular attention to the special situation of indigenous peoples and the preservation of their heritage and cultural heritage" (DP, 15).
It is time to make a serious assessment of the compliance of states to help close the digital divide in culturally appropriate conditions for indigenous peoples who in turn must claim their own place in these areas and ensure that action plans in Geneva and Tunis have been implemented with their participation. Some countries have created funds to expand connectivity in rural areas that have run lightly, without indigenous participation and the results should be inventoried. Http://desinformemonos.org/2011/04/los-pueblos-indigenas-y-el-derecho-a-la-comunicacion/
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