NEWS

  • European NGOs Congratulate Government on Prior Consultation Law

    09 September 2011

    The Peru Europe Platform, a network of approximately 15 European NGOs that work in Peru, yesterday sent an open letter to Congress and the Humala administration congratulating them on passing the Prior Consultation Law. The letter highlights the importance of this step, which enshrines in law the rights of Peru’s traditionally marginalised indigenous communities. It also urges Congress and the government to ensure the full and rapid implementation of the legislation.

    Click here to read the letter [Spanish Only]

  • Peru News Summary: August 2011

    Peru News 068. 31 August 2011

    The Peru Support Group's monthly summary of the major news stories from Peru is now available.

    This month: Congress approves 'historic' consultation law, new cabinet receives congressional vote of confidence, coca eradication programmes are temporarily suspended, civil war victims' remains are found, Fujimori mistrial plea is rejected and endemic corruption at state agency is alleged.

    Click here to view the newsletter

  • Extraordinary General Meeting and Social

    17 August 2011

    On Tuesday 6th September 2011 the Peru Support Group (PSG) will be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to vote on constitutional changes which would facilitate our registration as a charitable association. The meeting will be held from 6pm in Jack’s Lounge and Kitchen, near Waterloo and Southwark tube stations, and will be followed by a social event in the same venue. 

    The PSG is seeking to register as a charity as a means of ensuring our survival over the long-term. Charitable status would enable us to forge closer relationships with partner organisations, provide external recognition that the organisation is competently run, and confer modest financial benefits through schemes such as Gift Aid. The move to apply for charitable status was approved in principle by our members at two previous AGMs.

    Please click here for more information

  • ISA Event: Is American Anthropology returning to fiction?

    11 August 2011

    Time: 17:00 - 19:30, 22nd September
    Speaker: Billie Jean Isbell, Cornell University
    Venue : Room G37, Senate House, Ground Floor, London, WC1E 7HU

    Outline: Discussion and reading from Finding Cholita, (2009 Univ. of Illinois Press) a fictionalized ethnography set in the Ayacucho region of Peru covering a thirty-year period beginning in the 1970s. It is a story of human tragedy resulting from the region's long history of discrimination, class oppression, and the rise and fall of the communist organization Shining Path. The story is told through the voice of an American anthropologist, Dr. Alice Woodsley, who becomes obsessed with "finding Cholita", her goddaughter, who is known to have joined Shining Path.

    For more details please contact: americas@sas.ac.uk

  • Peru News Summary: July 2011

    Peru News 067. 31 July 2011

    The Peru Support Group's monthly summary of the major news stories from Peru is now available. 

    This month: Humala becomes president, new government's transition team highlights upcoming challenges, the ‘Butcher of the Andes’ returns to Peru to face trial, Canadian mining firm Bear Creek appeals against cancelled concession and Supreme Courts rejects Fujimori appeal.

    Click here to view the newsletter

  • Legal Proceedings Against Monterrico Metals Settled

    20 July 2011

    Legal proceedings against UK-based Monterrico Metals PLC by 33 members of a peasant community in northern Peru were settled earlier today by compensation payments, without admission of liability. The claimants allege torture by the Peruvian police after protesting at Monterrico's Rio Blanco copper mine in Piura in August 2005. The events at Rio Blanco have been a key focus for the Peru Support Group in recent years and we welcome the payment of compensation to those who allegedly suffered mistreatment.

  • Peru News Summary: June 2011

    Peru News 066. 30 June 2011

    The Peru Support Group's monthly summary of the major news stories from Peru is now available. 

    This month: Humala prepares to assume office, social conflict escalates in Puno; Ayacucho’s government proposes model for conflict management; new legislation jeopardises corruption prosecutions; and congressmen come to blows over official’s election. 

    Click here to view the newsletter

  • Event Summary: Peru After the Elections

    24 June 2011

    On Wednesday 22 June, the Peru Support Group, CAFOD and Christian Aid hosted a panel discussion in the UK parliament to analyse the implications of Peru’s recent presidential election results. For a summary of the main points made by the speakers please click here.

    Click here to view our event handout

  • Peru After the Elections: PSG Event

    08 June 2011

    Following a tightly-run contest, left-of-centre candidate Ollanta Humala narrowly defeated Keiko Fujimori on 5th June 2011 to become Peru’s next president. But what will the new administration look like and what will be the major political, economic and social challenges it is likely to face over the next five years?

    To analyse the implications of Humala’s victory for Anglo-Peruvian relations and for human rights and development in the country, the Peru Support Group, Christian Aid and CAFOD will be hosting a panel discussion in the UK parliament on 22nd June. Speakers will include:

    LORD AVEBURY (Chair) - President of the Peru Support Group

    PAULO DRINOT - Senior Lecturer, Latin America (Institute for the Study of the Americas)

    ÁLVARO GARCÍA - Campaigner, South America Team (Amnesty International)

    FIONA CLOUDER - South America Head (Foreign and Commonwealth Office)

    EMMA REYNOLDS MP - Shadow Foreign Office Minister (Labour)

    This is a public event and all are welcome to attend. The event will be held in Committee Room 4a of the Palace of Westminister (SW1A 0AA) from 4pm till 6pm. You should use St Stephen's entrance and allow 20 minutes to pass through parliament security.

    For further details, or to register for the event, please e-mail info@perusupportgroup.org.uk.

  • Peru's Presidential Elections: The Results

    07 June 2011

    On June 5 Peruvians returned to the ballot box for the second-round of the 2011 presidential elections. In the running were Ollanta Humala, a left-of-centre candidate and former army officer, and Keiko Fujimori, the highly conservative daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori (1990 – 2000). With just over 94% of votes counted, Ollanta Humala has emerged as the victor, gaining 51.6% of all valid votes cast.

    Click here to access full article

  • Historical Overview

    Over the past century Peru has suffered a series of autocratic governments and a civil war in which nearly 70,000 people died. Many of the country's ongoing political and social problems are a legacy of its somewhat turbulent past. 

  • Society and Conflict

    Peru’s indigenous and peasant communities continue to suffer political marginalisation and discrimination. Insufficient consultation with such groups over political and developmental decisions has fostered feelings of disenfranchisement and led to elevated levels of social conflict.

  • Climate Change

    Two important reports on the impacts of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC ) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios and the Stern Review, place Peru as one of the countries that will be most affected by the effects of climate change.

  • Why join the PSG?

    • Keep up to date with latest news and developments in Peru
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