Mining concessions 22. The Petitioners state that bauxite-mining operations have been taking place in the Lower Marowijne Peoples’ territory since 1997. According to the Petitioners, this mining is conducted by two multinational mining companies: Suralco NV, the wholly owned subsidiary of US Company Alcoa, and the UK-based BHP-Billiton. The mining operations are conducted within the Wane Kreek Nature Reserve area of the Lower Marowijne Peoples territory. 23. The Petitioners allege that these mining operations were authorized with the knowledge or consent of the Lower Marowijne Peoples. According to the Petitioners, the mining operations have caused and continue to cause a reduction in the quantity of game animals, which the alleged victims rely on for subsistence purposes. The Petitioners add that members of the Alfonsdorp and Wan Shi Sha villages have been denied access to the area of mining operations, for hunting purposes, and that company employees are indiscriminately using a plant-based poison to fish in the creeks within the Wane Kreek Nature Reserve. The Petitioners state that the use of this poison is highly regulated by indigenous law as overuse can destroy all the fish stocks in creeks. 24. According to the Petitioners, mining activities are governed by Decree E-58 of May 8, 1986, but that this law contains no protections for indigenous peoples. Establishment of Nature Reserves 25. The Petitioners allege that the State has established three nature reserves within the territory of the Lower Marowijne peoples, pursuant to the 1954 Nature Protection Act. According to the Petitioners, these reserves are: (a) the Galibi Nature Reserve (1969); (b) the Wane Kreek Nature Reserve (1986); and (c) the Wiawia Nature Reserve (1966). According to the Petitioners, these nature reserves were established without the knowledge or consent of the Lower Marowijne Peoples. The Petitioners complain that the establishment and operation of these nature reserves has negatively affected, and continues to affect their traditional property rights on an ongoing basis. 26. The Petitioners point out that the Nature Protection Act makes no reference to the existence of indigenous peoples, nor does it recognize or protect their ownership rights to their traditional territories. According to the Petitioners, the Nature Protection Act permits the State to unilaterally declare any indigenous territory or part thereof to be a nature reserve by decree.13 The Petitioners add that the Act makes no provision for the exercise of indigenous peoples’ rights within any nature reserves that are established in their traditional territories. Instead, the Act expressly affirms that nature reserves are the property of the State and criminally prohibits activities such as hunting or fishing. Thus the traditional subsistence activities of the Lower Marowijne Peoples in these nature reserves remain prohibited by law and subject to criminal sanctions. The Petitioners contend that legal regime of the State with respect to the nature reserves is tantamount to “a unilateral extinguishment and expropriation of the Lower Marowijne indigenous peoples’ property and other rights in and to these areas of their traditional territory that continue to negatively and severely affect them to this day.”14 State Responsibility for Violations 27. By virtue of these acts and omissions, the Petitioners contend that the State of Suriname is internationally responsible for violating the rights of the alleged victims guaranteed by the American Convention, namely: · the right to property (Article 21), According to the Petitioners, Article 1 of the Nature Protection Act provides that “For the protection and conservation of the natural resources present in Suriname, after hearing the Council of State, the President may designate lands and waters belonging to the State Domain as a nature reserve.” As indigenous peoples’ territories are classified as State lands, the Petitioners argue that this enables the State to unilaterally appropriate their lands. 14 Petitioners’ petition, para. 128, page 33. 13 6