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Article
III. “Culturals Rights 1. Mayan culture is the
original basis of Guatemalan culture and, in conjunction with the other
indigenous cultures, is an active and dynamic factor in the development and
progress of Guatemalan society. 2. The development of
the national culture is therefore inconceivable without recognition and
promotion of the culture of the indigenous peoples. Thus, in contrast with
the past, educational and cultural policy must be oriented to focus on
recognition, respect and encouragement of indigenous cultural values. With
such recognition of cultural differences in mind, an effort must be made to
promote contributions and exchanges that can help to enrich Guatemalan
society. 3. The Maya, Garifuna
and Xinca peoples are the authors of their cultural development. The role of
the State is to support that development by eliminating obstacles to the
exercise of this right, adopting the necessary legislative and
administrative measures to strengthen indigenous cultural development in all
fields covered by the State and ensuring the participation of indigenous
persons in decisions on the planning and execution of cultural programmes
and projects through their organizations and institutions.“ Article III. E. “Use of
indigenous dress 1. The constitutional
right to wear indigenous dress must be respected and guaranteed in all areas
of national life. The Government shall take the measures provided for in
part II, section A, of this agreement to combat any de facto discrimination
regarding the use of indigenous dress. 2. Furthermore, in a
campaign to make the public more aware of the different manifestations of
the Mayan, Garifuna and Xinca cultures, information shall be provided on the
spiritual and cultural value of indigenous dress and the need to respect
it.“
- Agreement on Social and
Economic Aspects and Agrarian Situation Article I. “A. Participation
and consensus-building 1. In order to pursue a
true, functional and participatory democracy, the process of social and
economic development should be democratic and participatory and include: (a)
consensus-building and dialogue among agents of socio-economic development;
(b) consensus-building between these agents and State bodies in the
formulation and implementation of development strategies; and (c) effective
citizen participation in identifying, prioritizing and meeting their needs. 2. Expanded social
participation is a bulwark against corruption, privilege, distortions of
development and the abuse of economic and political power to the detriment
of society. Therefore, it is an instrument for the eradication of economic,
social and political polarization in society. 3. In addition to
representing a factor in democratization, citizen participation in economic
and social development is essential in order to promote productivity and
economic growth, achieve a more equitable distribution of wealth and train
human resources. It ensures transparency in public policies and their
orientation towards the common good rather than special interests, the
effective protection of the interests of the most vulnerable groups,
efficiency in providing services and, consequently, the integral development
of the individual. 4. In this spirit, and
in line with the agreements already concluded on the resettlement of the
population groups uprooted by the armed conflict and on identity and rights
of indigenous peoples, the Parties agree on the importance of establishing
or strengthening mechanisms allowing the citizens and different social
groups to exercise their rights effectively and participate fully in
decision-making on the various matters affecting or involving them, with
full awareness of both their individual and collective obligations to
society, which they will fulfil responsibly. 5. Strengthening social
participation means that greater opportunities in social and economic
decision-making should be offered to organized groups.
This assumes that all kinds of grass-roots organizations representing
different interests will be recognized and encouraged.
It requires, in particular, the guarantee of full and effective
rights for rural and urban workers and small farmers to participate, as
organized entities, in the process of building consensus with the business
sector or at the national level. For
this purpose, flexible laws and administrative regulations must be passed to
grant legal personality or other forms of legal recognition to those
organizations requesting it. 6. This also assumes a
major effort to promote a culture of consensus and capacity-building in
business, labour and other types of organizations in order to increase their
ability to plan and negotiate and effectively to assume the rights and
duties inherent in democratic participation.
Consensus-building 7. Building consensus at
the national, departmental and communal levels and among rural and urban
units of production is essential in order to stimulate and stabilize
economic and social growth. State structures must be adapted to fulfil this
role of building consensus and reconciling interests, in order to be able to
work effectively and efficiently to modernize the production sector, enhance
competitiveness, promote economic growth and provide basic social services
efficiently and universally. Participation at the local level 8. Bearing in mind that
the people who live in a department or municipality, whether business
owners, workers, members of cooperatives or community representatives, are
the ones who can best define the measures that benefit or affect them, a
package of instruments must be adopted for institutionalizing the
decentralization of social and economic decision-making, involving a real
transfer of government funds and of the authority to discuss and decide
locally on the allocation of resources, how projects will be executed and
the priorities and characteristics of government programmes or activities.
In this way, government bodies will be able to base their actions on
proposals arising from the reconciliation of interests among the various
segments of society. 9. Through this
Agreement, the Government commits itself to take a series of steps designed
to increase the people's participation in the various aspects of public
life, including social and rural development policies. This series of
reforms must enable structures that generate social conflict to be replaced
by new relationships that ensure the consolidation of peace, as an
expression of harmonious life together, and the strengthening of democracy,
as a dynamic and perfectible process from which advances can be achieved
through the participation of various segments of society in shaping the
country's political, social and economic choices. 10. In order to reinforce the
people's ability to participate and, at the same time, the State's
management capacity, the Government agrees to: Communities (a) Promote a reform of the
Municipal Code so that deputy mayors are appointed by the municipal mayor,
taking into account the recommendations of local residents in an open town
council meeting; Municipalities (b) Foster social participation
in the context of municipal autonomy, pursuing the process of
decentralization to give more authority to municipal governments, and
consequently, strengthening their technical, administrative and financial
resources; (c) Establish and implement as
soon as possible, in cooperation with the National Association of
Municipalities, a municipal training programme that will serve as a
framework for national efforts and international cooperation in this field.
The programme will stress the training of municipal staff who will
specialize in executing the new duties that will be the responsibility of
the municipality as a result of decentralization, with an emphasis on land
use planning, a land register, urban planning, financial management, project
management and training of local organizations so that they can participate
effectively in meeting their own needs; Departments (d) Promote in the Congress a
reform of the Act concerning the governance of the departments of the
Republic, to the effect that the governor of the department would be
appointed by the President of the Republic, taking into consideration the
candidates nominated by the non-governmental representatives of the
departmental development councils; Regions (e) Regionalize health care,
education and cultural services for indigenous people and ensure the full
participation of indigenous organizations in the design and implementation
of this process;“ 23. Mexico
Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos Artículo
4: “La nación mexicana tiene una composición pluricultural sustentada
originalmente en sus pueblos indígenas.
La ley protegerá y promoverá el desarrollo des sus lenguas,
culturas, usos, costumbres, recursos y formas específicas de organización
social, y garantizará a sus integrantes el efectivo acceso a la jurisdicción
del Estado. En los juicios y
procedimientos agrarios en que aquellos sean parte, se tomarán en cuenta
sus prácticas y costumbres jurídicas en los términos que establezca la
ley”. - Ley de derechos de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas
del Estado de Oaxaca. Artículo
20: ”Los pueblos y comunidades indígenas tienen derecho social a
practicar y revitalizar sus tradiciones y costumbres. El Estado, a través
de sus Instituciones competentes y sus programas culturales, en el ámbito
de sus atribuciones y presupuestos apoyará las comunidades indígenas en el
mantenimiento, protección y desarrollo de sus manifestaciones culturales
actuales y en el cuidado de las de sus ancestros que aún se conservan,
incluyendo sitios arqueológicos, centros ceremoniales, monumentos históricos,
tecnologías, artes, artesanías, expresiones musicales, literatura oral y
escrita”. Artículo 21: ”El Estado, a través de sus
Instituciones competentes, vigilará y en su caso ejercitará las acciones
tendientes a la restitución de los bienes culturales e intelectuales que
les hayan sido privados a los pueblos y comunidades indígenas sin su
consentimiento”. 24. Nicaragua
Constitution
of Nicaragua (1987) Article
89: “The Communities of the Atlantic Coast have the right to preserve and
develop their cultural identities within the framework of national unity, to
be granted their own forms of forms of social organization, and to
administer their local affairs according to their traditions.” Article
90: “The Communities of the Atlantic Coast have the right to the free
expression and preservation of their languages, art and culture.
The development of their culture and values enriches the national
culture. The state shall create
special programs to enhance the exercise of these rights.” Article
128: “The state protects the archeological, historical, linguistic,
cultural and artistic patrimony of the nation.” Article
180: “Furthermore, it [the state] guarantees the preservation of their
culture, languages, religion, and customs.” 25. Panama
- Constitución Política de Panamá Artículo
81: “Constituyen el patrimonio histórico de la Nación los sitios y
objetos arqueológicos, los documentos, los monumentos históricos y otros
bienes muebles o inmuebles que sean testimonio del pasado panameño. El
Estado decretará la expropiación de los que se encuentren en manos de
particulares. La
Ley reglamentará lo concerniente a su custodia, fundada en la primacia histórica
de los mismos y tomará las providencias necesarias para conciliarla con la
factibilidad de programas de carácter comercial, turístico, industrial y
de orden tecnológico”. Artículo 86: “EI Estado reconoce y respeta la
identidad étnica de las comunidades indígenas nacionales, realizará
programas tendientes a desarrollar los valores materiales, sociales y
espirtuales propios de cada uno de sus culturas y creará una institución
para el estudio, conservación, divulgación de las mismas y de sus lenguas,
así como la promoción del desarrollo integral de dichos grupos humanos”. - Regimen Especial de la Comarca Kuna Yala (Ley 2 de
1938 - modificada por la Ley 99/98) Artículo 9: "Se entiende por cultura Kuna,
sistema integrado y coherente de los valores, instituciones, historia,
religión, lengua, costumbres y tradiciones que constituyen el fundamento
identidad del pueblo Kuna, y que se manifiesta a través de la filosofía,
el arte y sistema socio político. Son
creados y desarrollados por el hombre kuna a través de siglos y que forman
parte de la cultura nacional y la enriquecen”. - Ley 22 de 1983 (Crea la Comarca Emberá-Wounaan) Artículo 22: "Los sitios y objetos arqueológicos,
documentos históricos y cualquier otro bien, mueble o inmueble, que sean
testimonio del pasado del pueblo Emberá y sus antecesores, que se
encuentran en el área de la Comarca, estarán bajo la custodia de la
Dirección Nacional del Patrimonio Histórico del Instituto Nacional de
Cultura el cual realizará su labor en coordinación con las autoridades indígenas”. 26. Paraguay
- Constitución de la República de Paraguay Artículo
62: "De los Pueblos Indígenas y Grupos Étnicos: Esta Constitución
reconoce la existencia de los pueblos indígenas definidos como grupos de
cultura anteriores a la formación y organización del Estado paraguayo”. Artículo 63: "De la Identidad étnica: Queda
reconocido y garantizado el derecho de los pueblos indígenas a preservar y
a desarrollar su identidad étnica en el respectivo habitat.
Tienen derecho, asimismo, a aplicar libremente sus sistemas de
organización política, social, económica, cultural y religiosa, al igual
que la voluntaria sujeción a sus normas consuetudinarias para la regulación
de la convivencia interior siempre que ellas no atenten contra los derechos
fundamentales establecidos en esta Constitución. En los conflictos
jurisdiccionales se tendrá en cuenta el derecho consuetudinario indígena”. Artículo 81: "Del
Patrimonio Cultural. Se arbitrarán los medios necesarios para la conservación,
el rescate y la restauración de los objetos, documentos y espacios de valor
histórico, arqueológico, paleontológico, artístico o científico, así
como de sus respectivos entornos físicos, que hacen parte del patrimonio
cultural de la Nación. El Estado definirá y registrará aquellos que se
encuentren en el país y, en su caso, gestionará la recuperación de los
que se hallen en el extranjero. Los
organismos competentes se encargarán de la salvaguarda y del rescate de las
diversas expresiones de la cultura oral y de la memoria colectiva de la Nación,
cooperando con los particulares que persigan el mismo objetivo. Quedan
prohibidos el uso inapropiado y el empleo desnaturalizante de dichos bienes,
su destrucción, su alteración dolosa, la remoción de sus lugares
originarios y su enajenación con fines de exportación. "
- Ley 904 de 1981 Artículo 1: "Esta Ley tienen por objeto la
preservación social y cultural de las comunidades indígenas, la defensa de
su patrimonio y sus tradiciones”. 27. Peru constitución Política del Perú Artículo
2(19): “Toda persona tiene el derecho...[a] su identidad étnica y
cultura. El Estado reconoce y
protege la pluralidad étnica y cultural de la Nación”. Artículo 89: "El Estado respeta la identidad
cultural de las Comunidades Campesinas y Nativas”. 28.
Venezuela
Constitución Política de la República de
Venezuela Artículo 121: "Los pueblos indígenas tienen
derecho a mantener y desarrollar su identidad étnica y cultural, cosmovisión,
valores, espiritualidad y sus lugares sagrados y de culto. El Estado
fomentará la valoración y difusión de las manifestaciones culturales de
los pueblos indígenas, los cuales tienen derecho a una educación propia y
a un régimen educativo de carácter intercultural y bilingüe, atendiendo a
sus particularidades socioculturales, valores y tradiciones”.
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