DOING BUSINESS PUBLIC SECTOR OVERVIEW
CONVENTION 169: A CLEARER AND SAFER PICTURE Interviewee Roberto Velásquez Consultant, Ministry of Labor by David Orrego, Universidad Francisco Marroquín.
International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples is an international treaty adopted in Geneva on June 27, 1989. Subsequently, the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala ratified it in March 1996 and it became effective in March 1997. According to the ILO, the Convention addresses two important premises. The first one highlights the right of indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their cultures, ways of life, and institutions; and secondly, it addresses their right to participate effectively in decisions that affect them. In recent years, the case of Guatemala has been interesting. Since 1997, the Convention has raised several controversial cases, where a legislative vacuum in the Guatemalan Government and an absence of consultation with the indigenous people have been highlighted. However, the new Government administration of Guatemala has taken up the matter seriously and the issue begins to be addressed, with encouraging results. In an interview with Roberto Velásquez, a specialist who has worked with the Government on the matter, he presented us a new perspective of Convention 169 in Guatemala.
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Velásquez says that since the time when Convention 169 was ratified by the Guatemalan Government, there has been a problem of misinterpreting its true purpose; and the lack of implementation of this Convention has led to speculation, and this caused confusion and obstacles for foreign investment. Velásquez defines Convention 169 as a dialogue facilitator to improve relations between the Private Sector and Indigenous Communities, to enable the latter to become participants of development program processes through a State approach. The Convention addresses several stakeholders that must operate jointly to achieve meaningful work. These stakeholders are the State, the Private Sector, and Indigenous Communities. Each stakeholder plays an essential role to enable this Convention to be enforced in every sense.
CONVENTION 169 AS A DIALOGUE FACILITATOR TO IMPROVE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES