The European Parliament,

A. having regard to 1992, the year of the commemoration of the

500th anniversary of the arrival of Europeans in America

and its impact on the indigenous civilizations,

B. having regard to 1993, which will be proclaimed by the UN

as the 'year of the indigenous peoples',

C. having regard to UN estimates of 300 million indigenous

peoples in the world, including over 60 million Amerindians

in the Americas,

D. mindful of its recommendations in its past resolutions of

14 April 1989 on the position of the world's Indians, 10

January 1990 on the situation of the Yanomami Indians in

Brazil, 13 September 1990 on the Canadian Indians, 25

October 1990 on the environmental problems in the Amazon

region, 25 October 1990 on measures to protect the ecology

of the tropical forests, 25 October 1990 on the

conservation of tropical forests, 13 December 1990 on

Commission participation in the 1992 Genoa International

Exhibition;

E. mindful of the response of indigenous peoples'

organizations to the planned celebrations to commemorate

Columbus' voyage to the Americas;

F. concerned at reports from Amnesty International and

Survival International of human rights violations against

indigenous peoples,

1. Welcomes the progress made by, inter alia, the governments

of Brazil (land for the Yanomami people), Argentina (land

for the Guarani people in the province of Missiones),

Canada (land for the Innuit called Nunavut) and Colombia

(the establishment of 'resguardos'), in granting indigenous

people large territories for autonomy;

2. Calls for the right of indigenous peoples to their

territory to be recognized and calls for disputes regarding

territory to be resolved as soon as possible;

3. Calls upon governments of countries with indigenous peoples

to settle disputes over land before engaging in economic

activities in those areas where indigenous people claim to

have titles to the land and where the activities are not

supported by the majority of the indigenous population;

4. Calls upon those governments to comply with and implement

international human rights instruments;

5. Calls on the European Community Institutions to comply with

the wish of this Parliament and allocate funding for

special projects with indigenous peoples, developed by and

for native communities;

6. Calls on international organizations and governments to

consult indigenous peoples on any economic exploitation,

any planning project and any other project concerning them;

7. Instructs its Subcommittee on Human Rights to invite

experts to one of its meetings in 1992 to study and discuss

in detail the human rights situation of indigenous peoples

in the world;

8. Requests the European Commission, the World Bank and the

IMF to include in their criteria for financing development

programmes both environmental impact assessments and

indigenous peoples impact analyses;

9. Calls upon the Community to organize activities that take

account both of the present situation of indigenous peoples

in the world and the historic context and requests the

European Commission and Council to implement its

recommendations of earlier resolutions;

10. Expresses its solidarity with the 'Earth Parliament' which

will be organized by the indigenous peoples during the

UNCED in Brazil;

11. Instructs its human rights unit to provide a background

document on the situation of indigenous peoples, and its

competent committee to appoint a rapporteur to analyse the

human, territorial and cultural rights of the indigenous

peoples of the Americas;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the

Commission, the Council, the Foreign Ministers meeting in

EPC, the ILO, the World Bank, the International Monetary

Fund and the Governments of Brazil, Argentina, Canada and

Colombia.