Indigenous People In Central America

Introduction

In the year 2000 6 to 7 million indigenous people were estimated to be living in Central America. When referring to Central America one identifies it as the nations of Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and San Salvador, a map of this can also be seen on Appendix 1. The term indigenous is not specifically defined by anyone but there are similar characteristics between indigenous people, those being they are specific to a region and have specific traditions and cultures originating from very long periods of times. In this case the indigenous people of central America refers to the people who remained unaffected and unchanged after Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America. It is from that discovery that

One of the pressing issues at hand is the fact that capitalist corporations are destroying the indigenous peoples homes by ploughing through the tropical forest in which they live. Due to the fact indigenous people live as hunter gatherers divesting them of their food and homes. Yet perhaps the reader now begins to wonder are there no specific rights which protect these people and void them of becoming unjustly treated citizens because of their position as Indigenous people. However that is precisely the issue at hand in the past 10 years the United nations established the declaration on the rights of indigenous people. The issue with which the International community now faces is protecting these essential rights of the central American Indigenous people.In the introduction you shortly explain what the issue is about and where the problems find place. Furthermore within the research report the reader will capable of reading about various diverse areas of the issue and topic at

Multinational corporations also violate these rights and are not prosecuted for these violations. The only international law that protects the indigenous peoples is ILO 169 which when signed onto is legally binding. This is the International Labour Organization Convention 169 that when summarized protects the indigenous peoples rights to own the land they live and live on and use, make decisions about projects that affect them and have equality and freedom. Even though this convention exists since 1989 only twenty-two countries have ratified it so far. From Central America only Honduras, Costa rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua have ratified it. When countries ratify this they are legally binded to it and subjected to supervision, regarding to their implementation of