ACTIVISTS welcomed on Saturday the decision by lawmakers to drop plans for a new law labelled a “Genocide Bill” by Peru’s indigenous people.

In a dramatic reversal of fortune, the country’s Decentralisation Committee blocked the law on a Friday which had been drafted by politicians with close ties to the powerful oil and gas industry.

Teresa Mayo of Survival International described this as “a huge victory for Peru’s Indigenous peoples, their organisations, and for thousands of ordinary people around the world who had joined the campaign against the proposals.”