Justice for Indigenous Communities in Panama
Last updated July 2024
The construction of an AES Corporation hydroelectric dam in 2005 has resulted in serious human rights violations to the communities of Charco la Pava, Valle Rey, Guayabal, and Changuinola Arriba located in Bocas del Toro, Panama. The dam has displaced entire communities from their homes and farmlands and seriously damaged the Ngöbe territory, environment, and way of life. In March 2008, two NGOs, Cultural Survival and the Asociación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo, filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of the affected communities.
Since 2023, UNHR has been providing legal advice to the NGOs and communities involved. In January 2024, a team of Cultural Survival staff, Yale students, and UNHR supervisors traveled to Bocas del Toro to interview Indigenous leaders and members of their communities and to discuss different legal and advocacy strategies.
A team of two Argentine UNHR researchers have been living in the region and working with the affected communities since May 2024. They were joined in early June by UNHR Executive Director Jim Cavallaro for meetings with Ngöbe leaders and community members to develop a collective strategy to protect their traditional lands and secure compensation for harms done by the hydroelectric dam project.
