Indigenous leaders seek IACHR protection for Peru's Mashco Piro people

Indigenous leaders have petitioned the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to compel the Peruvian government to protect the Mashco Piro people, a group living in voluntary isolation in the Madre de Dios region of the Amazon. During hearings in Montevideo, Uruguay, leaders from the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and Tributaries (Fenamad) demanded that the state uphold the principle of non-contact and ensure the integrity of their ancestral territories.

Representatives noted that despite the Peruvian state recognizing the existence of isolated peoples like the Mashco Piro, Yora, and Amahuaca in 2006, a process to expand and recategorize their reserve areas remains unfinished. Leaders argued that this lack of legal certainty has allowed illegal logging and extractive activities to invade their lands, threatening their survival and right to self-determination.