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Edinburgh Reporter

Whitfield meets with indigenous Wampís leaders

Martin Whitfield, MSP in Lothian East, met with Indigenous Wampís leaders from the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW) on Monday. The leaders have spent a week in Scotland seeking the support of The Scottish Government and solidarity with the Scottish people to ensure their human rights are protected and respected by the Peruvian state, international governments and business enterprises, including financial institutions. In the meeting, the Pamuk (president) Teófilo Kukush Pati and the Director of Justice, Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat, GTANW, explained that their politics and philosophy is based on that of their ancestors' traditional knowledge, which is centred on the notion of living well with nature and protecting their forests, rivers, biodiversity and culture. Ensuring that future generations can continue to live in abundance in their territory is their highest priority. The leaders discussed the human rights and environmental harms their community faces daily in their territory, due to illegal gold mining, illegal logging and oil extraction. The leaders detailed how the contamination of their rivers has resulted in polluted drinking water, as well as the contamination of vital food sources such as fish, as well as environmental harms these also constitute violations to their human rights. During the meeting, Martin Whitfield, MSP accepted an exclusive preview copy of a position paper on business and human rights, on behalf of Douglas Alexander, MP. The position paper co-authored by the leaders calls for the introduction of an outcomes-focused corporate accountability law in the UK, and details key principles that such a law should be modelled on to ensure UK businesses and finance respect individual and collective human rights, as well as the environment. Such a law would, for example, ensure that financial institutions stop financing activities that violate the human rights of Indigenous peoples and stop damaging the environments they steward. The Wampís Nation has direct experience of this: the State-run company PetroPeru, who owns the oil concession on their territory operates without their consent has received funding from UK financial institutions. Mr Whitfield said: 'It was a wonderful privilege to meet representatives from the Wampis Indigenous people of North Peru. The opportunity to learn about the environmental impact of illegal gold mining, logging and the risk of oil extraction was enlightening. The world has a responsibility to Indigenous peoples, who are often best placed to preserve and take care of environments they have coexisted with for millennia. As Pamuk Teofilo Kukush said, 'Our ancestors knew how to govern and how to respect nature.' As J P Macintosh former East Lothian MP said 'People…want a degree of government for themselves. It is not beyond the wit of man to devise the institutions to meet these demands.'' Pamuk Teofilo Kukush Pati, the Pamuk or elected president of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation said: 'Our politics is wellbeing, tarimat pujut, or good living in harmony with nature, so we demand that funds support us in protecting our territory, our forest – which is 82% intact – and we will continue reforesting for the good of our generation, our people and for all. This is why we need funds to be designated directly to us, to support our activities, including reforestation, bioeconomy and productive initiatives. With access to larger funds, we would be able to better protect our territory across the two river basins, through the Charip socio-environmental monitoring group.' Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat, Director de Justicia del Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís said: 'We've always looked after the territory, it is our culture to look after it, but this is coming back now even more strongly in part because non-Wampis people are attacking us, they want us to leave the territory. We are facing even more threats today than ever – before we didn't face as many threats as today, so our people could look after their farms, needs and livelihoods, but now the threat level is so high that our work has doubled, even tripled. Our daily needs still need to be met. So who is going to help us gain back this time? If we're needed to look after the territory and dedicating our time to this, who is going to work on the farms? Who is going to look after the fish? Educate the children? This is why we need direct funding.' The Wampís Nation's strong self-governance and self-determined strategies are proven to work, their territory – 1.3 million hectares of forests and waters in the northern Peruvian Amazon – comprises of 82% intact tropical forest. However, the lack of recognition of their human rights by the Peruvian state, as well as the lack of direct funding from both climate funds the Peruvian state receives and international climate funding hinders their efforts. The COP26 held in Glasgow in 2021 was a pivotal moment for direct funding of Indigenous peoples: the UK government committed to increasing its direct support for Indigenous peoples, including to secure their right to land and territories, and the upcoming COP30 in Brazil provides an opportunity for the UK to renew its commitments. Indigenous leaders from the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW), situated in Peru, visit Martin Whitfield MSP to deliver a Position Paper they have co-written. Pamuk Teófilo Kukush Pati is the elected leader and Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat is the Director of Justice. Pic Greg Macvean 30/06/2025 Indigenous leaders from the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW), situated in Peru, met with Martin Whitfield MSP to deliver a Position Paper they have co-written. Pamuk Teófilo Kukush Pati is the elected leader and Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat is the Director of Justice. Pic Greg Macvean 30/06/2025 Martin Whitfield MSP met with Pamuk Teófilo Kukush Pati is the elected leader and Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat is the Director of Justice. Pic Greg Macvean Pic Greg Macvean 30/06/2025 Indigenous leaders from the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW), situated in Peru, visit Martin Whitfield MSP to deliver a Position Paper they have co-written. Pamuk Teófilo Kukush Pati is the elected leader and Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat is the Director of Justice. Pic Greg Macvean 30/06/2025 Indigenous leaders from the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation (GTANW), situated in Peru, visit Martin Whitfield MSP to deliver a Position Paper they have co-written. Pamuk Teófilo Kukush Pati is the elected leader and Tsanim Evaristo Wajai Asamat is the Director of Justice. Like this: Like Related