Peru's Minister of Women and Vulnerable Populations, María Seminario Marón, said the main responsibility for cases of sexual assault against minors in Condorcanqui lies with the regional government of Amazonas, not with the national Executive.
Her remarks came after the Organization of American States (OAS) described the sexual abuse suffered by Awajún and Wampís girls in student residences in the area as a structural problem linked to state abandonment, with social tolerance of the violence reaching 90 percent, according to the OAS.
Speaking in an interview with the radio station RPP, Seminario said this was not a problem of the justice administration, the police or the Executive, adding that the party truly absent, as she had already told the Women's Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, was the regional government of Amazonas.
Condorcanqui and the Awajún and Wampís communities
Condorcanqui is a province in the Amazonas region of northern Peru, home to the Awajún and Wampís indigenous peoples. The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations is the national body responsible for policies on gender violence and child protection, while UGELs, the local education management units, oversee schools on behalf of regional governments.
Seminario said the complaints were directed against teachers who answer to the UGELs of the regional government of Amazonas. Although oversight of education also falls to national bodies, the minister repeated that regional authorities were to blame for the lack of concrete action following reports of violence.
She reiterated that the first responsibility, one that has gone unanswered, belongs to the regional government of Amazonas.
State response in the affected area
Asked about the state's presence in the affected area, Seminario described the infrastructure and plans in place to address the crisis facing Awajún and Wampís victims. She said the Ministry of Women had taken technical action, including two Rural Attention units and a Women's Emergency Center, each located in a district of Condorcanqui province.
She added that the following Monday the sector would present proposals for an immediate technical review so they could be approved.
Senator Ruth Luque's response
Ruth Luque, a senator with the Ahora Nación party, rejected the minister's attempt to shift blame, saying her statements showed a lack of understanding of the situation. Luque said that arguing what happened is not a problem of the Executive or of the justice system was precisely one of the reasons the situation had gone unaddressed for so many years.
Luque said authorities were treating the case differently because of who the victims were, asking why the state responds this way when the victims are indigenous girls. She said structural discrimination exists when a person's birthplace, indigenous background and economic situation determine how long they must wait for the state to truly protect them.
Luque called on authorities to coordinate their efforts and deliver results rather than assign blame, saying that instead of the national government, the regional government and justice bodies pointing at one another, what is needed is shared responsibility, budget and results.
