oples in situation of voluntary isolation or initial contact to “remain in this situation and live freely and in agreement with their cultures.” Following the adoption of this Declaration, Armstrong Wiggins, Miskito leader from Nicaragua and Director of the Indian Law Resource Center (Washington D.C. Office), declared, “[n]o Declaration is perfect, but this is an important step in the right direction to protect indigenous peoples. The American Declaration, as a human rights instrument, is a living instrument that will be interpreted in accordance with indigenous peoples’ present-day conditions, in order to better protect their human rights.” What about the right to live in voluntary isolation in the Age of Covid-19 and of an almost-global confinement?
In its resolution No. 1/2020 of 10 April 2020, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recalled the need for States to respect, promote, and protect the right to live in voluntary isolation and the principle of no contact. Furthermore, States have the international obligation to respect the right to health of Indigenous peoples; in particular, the United Nations Guidelines for Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact of the Amazon Region, Gran Chaco and Oriental Region of Paraguay, indicate that States must prevent the transmission of diseases to isolated tribes, through the prohibition or limitation of activities of outsiders within their lands, and must ensure their access and use of traditional biomedicine.
However, the responses provided by States in the Amazon region are extremely variable and, overall, trigger concerning uncertainties with regards to the survival of Indigenous peoples. In Colombia, the governor of Magdalena decided to close the national parks of Tayrona and Sierra Nevada as early as 15 March 2020, with the explicit aim of preventing the spread of the Covid-19 virus to the peoples living in these areas. Nonetheless, other States, such as Brazil, appear reluctant to protect the integrity and ensure the survival of isolated peoples living within their borders. For instance, in an ordinance of 17 March 2020, the National Indian Foundation of Brazil transferred the responsibility to protect isolated peoples to its regional offices, despite the lack of qualified staffs and the insufficiency of structural conditions to assume such task.
Face to this new threat and the carelessness of some governments, Indigenous Peoples who live in territories shared with isolated peoples have mobilized in order to stem the spread of Covid-19, in particular by closing access to their territories, by reactivating "self-defense committees," and by urging the international community to protect the human rights of Indigenous tribes living in the Amazon. In Brazil, in the State of Pará, the Mudurukus living along the Tapajós river have posted signs aimed at preventing foreigners from entering their territory. The International Working Group on Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation or in Initial Contact in the Amazon and Gran Chaco (PIACI IW) has issued several public recommendations, calling for States to intensify surveillance measures of illegal activities in protected territories, to establish adequate health emergency plans which respect the rights of these peoples, or to work in collaboration with the contacted tribes that live in territories shared with other uncontacted tribes.
Large collective houses of circular shape, called yano or shabono, in which the Yanomami (Brazil) live. Source: Guilherme Gnipper Trevisan
If it is still too early to accurately measure the consequences that the Covid-19 pandemic could have on isolated Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, the scenario of an ethnocidal crisis is taking shape. Once again, the violations of their right to live and remain in isolation threaten their survival. While many States around the world have imposed drastic policies of containment to their entire populations and punitive measures for failure to comply with stay-at-home orders, disrespecting the quarantine of those for whom i