Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107) - El Salvador (Ratification: 1958)

Articles 11 to 14 of the Convention. Land rights. The Committee recalls that a communication was received in September 2003 from the Sindicato Integración Nacional de Indígenas Organizados (INDIO), a workers’ organization registered in the country, which noted with regret that the indigenous populations of the country were losing their land rights, in particular, due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam, and that they had been unable to obtain land rights in other contexts as well. The Committee notes the Government’s statement, in reply to its previous observation on this subject, to the effect that the indigenous populations were allocated lands, as shown by data from the Salvadorean Institute for Agrarian Reform (ISTA). The Committee also notes that, according to the Government’s report, there were no cases of displacement of indigenous populations. However, the Committee notes the comments made by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) concerning the vulnerable situation of indigenous populations with regard to land ownership (CERD/C/SVL/CO/3, 4 April 2006, paragraph 11). The Committee also observes that the indigenous populations of Panchimalco and Izalco filed a complaint on the pollution and sale of their lands with the Office of the Procurator for the Protection of Human Rights (newsletter of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, 23 January 2008). The Committee also draws the Government’s attention to the profile of the indigenous populations of El Salvador, drawn up with the support of the World Bank and the participation of indigenous representatives, published in June 2003. According to this profile, the indigenous populations are suffering an alarming degree of poverty as a result of the dispossession of their lands (p. ix). The Committee urges the Government to take all necessary steps to recognize and promote the rights of the indigenous populations with regard to lands traditionally occupied by them in order to put an end to their current vulnerable situation and requests the Government to supply detailed information in this regard. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the state of the proceedings instituted with respect to the complaint submitted by the indigenous populations of Panchimalco and Izalco, including information on resolutions and decisions issued and results achieved.

Recalling that in its general observation of 1992, it invited governments to seriously consider the ratification of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the Committee encourages the Government to consider this possibility and to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2010.]