Indigenous Minority Rights – 2000
2000
When the Commission for the Follow-up of the Peace Agreements agreed to move the final deadline for compliance from 2000 to 2004, it confirmed that most of the stipulations related to the rights of indigenous peoples were still pending. One important concern was the disenfranchisement of indigenous persons, especially women in rural communities, from political participation. A continued lack of documentation (even after the Temporary Law of Personal Documentation was passed in October 2000) was one concrete obstacle, but many other less tangible factors contributed to the social marginalization of indigenous communities and kept them from becoming more involved in elections, civil administration and the justice system.1
The Government faltered in its implementation of policies related to rural development. Including measures to codify the land rights of indigenous communities. The agricultural policy the Government set for 2000-2004 lacked guarantees for multiculturalism or procedures to ensure indigenous peoples would be involved in decisions about their own development.2