The Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes
The Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes (FENAMAD) is a pioneering indigenous organisation in the defence of human rights and the environment in the Madre de Dios region (Peruvian Amazon). FENAMAD is a key socio-environmental actor that, throughout its institutional history, has defended the indigenous agenda while promoting its articulation with the demands of diverse social sectors and unions, with a view to the implementation of sustainable development models in the region.
FENAMAD has submitted peaceful actions to the authorities in response to the risks of rights violations by means of formal letters and statements in order to draw attention to these problems. Since 2020, FENAMAD and its president Julio Ricardo Cusurichi Palacios have been victims of judicial intimidation by the logging company Canales Tahuamanu S.A.C. in retaliation for the organisation's public denunciations of the negative effects of deforestation and the operation of extractive companies in the territory of the Mascho Piro indigenous people in isolation.
While many human rights defenders (HRDs) can operate freely in Peru, those working on the environment, in particular on the environmental and human rights impact of the extractive industry, face harsh repression, including intimidation, smear campaigns, death threats, surveillance, and judicial harassment. Journalists and trade unionists have also been targeted.
A feature in Peru's economic situation is that its extractive industry has grown exponentially in the past decades. Human rights defenders and local communities have denounced the lack of consultation with indigenous communities in relation to mining projects, irregularities in the appropriation of communal land, as well as the consequences of mining on the environment and livelihood of local communities.
