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Getting Ready To Implement Maya Customary Land Tenure and Rights
posted (January 18, 2019)

The Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission is often criticized by indigenous groups for not working diligently enough to implement the consent order regarding Maya Customary Land Tenure and Rights. 

Well, for the past two days, Chairperson Lisel Alamilla has been hosting a two-day training to develop principles for the legislation which will realize the consent order.  Here’s her explanation:

Lisel Alamilla - Chair, Maya Land Rights Commission
"This is our second day that we been having a meeting with indigenous peoples and human rights experts and we're discussing legislative principles and headings on Maya lands and their associated rights. It's really a preliminary discussion with the experts to see what are some of the principles that would be included in legislation that we will be drafting in the near future. The idea is really to build the capacity as we move this forward because it's important that all of government officials are understanding the basis of the consent order and how you actually make it happen on the ground, how you bring it into fruition on the ground, how do you protect Maya customary land rights."

Participants included the Solicitor General, Toledo Maya Land Rights Commissioners, representatives from the Department of Lands and the Department of Rural Development, the Bilateral Technical Committee, and  indigenous peoples and human rights international experts affiliated with the Office of International Human Rights Commission at George Washington University and Forest Peoples Programme.

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