Indigenous Rights

Brazilian Dam Causes Too Much or Too Little Water in Amazon Villages

By Mario Osava
The Juruna indigenous village of Miratu mourned the death of Jarliel twice: once on October 26, when he drowned in the Xingu River, and the second time when the sacred burial ground was flooded by an unexpected rise in the river that crosses Brazil’s Amazon region.

The Indigenous ‘People of Wildlife’ Know How to Protect Nature

By Baher Kamal
In the northern part of Mount Kenya, there is an indigenous community -- the Il Lakipiak Maasai ("People of Wildlife") -- which owns and operates the only community-owned rhino sanctuary in the country.

These Women Cannot Celebrate Their Day

By Baher Kamal
This is a story that one would wish to never have to write—the story of hundreds of millions of life-givers whose production and productivity have systematically been ‘quantified’ in much detailed statistics, but whose abnegation, human suffering and denial of rights are subject to just words.

Expansion of Renewable Energies in Mexico Has Victims, Too

By Emilio Godoy
The growing number of wind and solar power projects in the southern Mexican state of Yucatán are part of a positive change in Mexico’s energy mix. But affected communities do not see it in the same way, due to the fact that they are not informed or consulted, and because of how the phenomenon changes their lives.

Indigenous Peoples Lands Guard 80 Per Cent of World’s Biodiversity

By Baher Kamal
They are more than 370 million self-identified peoples in some 70 countries around the world. In Latin America alone there are over 400 groups, each with a distinct language and culture, though the biggest concentration is in Asia and the Pacific– with an estimated 70 per cent. And their traditional lands guard over 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity.

Human Rights For Rohingya Worsening, Warns Special Rapporteur

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
A UN Special Rapporteur has expressed grave concern over escalating violence and discrimination against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar.

Measures Are Proposed to Address Violence in Mapuche Land in Chile

By Orlando Milesi
The lands where the Mapuche indigenous people live in southern Chile are caught up in a spiral of violence, which a presidential commission is setting out to stop with 50 proposals, such as the constitutional recognition of indigenous people and their representation in parliament, in a first shift in the government´s treatment of native peoples.

“Serious Retreats” In Indigenous Rights Protection, Says UN Rapporteur

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
As the 10-year anniversary for the Declaration on Indigenous Rights approaches, UN indigenous rights activists came together to assess the many challenges that still remain on the ground.

Beyond Standing Rock: Extraction Harms Indigenous Water Sources

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Since the decision by the U.S. army to suspend the Dakota Access pipeline on 4 December, many are still unsure of the controversial pipeline's future or its implications for other mega infrastructure projects affecting indigenous communities across North America.

New Technologies in Debate in Biodiversity Conference

By Emilio Godoy
Synthetic biology, geoengineering and the recognition of ancestral knowledge are the issues that have generated the most heated debate in the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity, which ends in this Mexican resort city on Friday Dec. 17.

Developmentalism and Conservation Clash Out at Sea

By Emilio Godoy
“We don’t have access to marine areas, because most are protected areas or are in private hands. We indigenous people have been losing access to our territories, as this decision became a privilege of the state,” complained Donald Rojas, a member of the Brunka indigenous community in Costa Rica.

Opposition to Oil Pipeline in U.S. Serves as Example for Indigenous Struggles in Latin America

By Emilio Godoy
Canadian activist Clayton Thomas-Muller crossed the border between his country and the United States to join the Native American movement against the construction of an oil pipeline, which has become a model to follow in struggles by indigenous people against megaprojects, that share many common elements.

Canadian Indigenous Injustice: A Colonial Problem?

By Rose Delaney
The history of Canada’s indigenous population has been, for the most part, kept in the shadows.  According to leading expert on indigenous justice Lisa Monchalin, the consequences of colonialism and dispossession on native communities have been “glossed over”, unacknowledged and dismissed by the “settled” population.

Four Things You Should Know about the Other Election This Week

By Erika Guevara-Rosas
Next week, millions of people around the world will be glued to their TV screens and social media feeds, watching as the USA decides who will lead the most powerful country on earth.Around 3,000 kilometers away, in a much smaller nation in the middle of Central America, another election will take place just a couple of days earlier. Although Nicaragua’s presidential election lacks the fame of the Clinton-Trump race, it is every bit as controversial.

Farming Brings Stability to Remote Villages in Papua

By Kafil Yamin
Only two decades ago, Usku, Molof and Namla, three villages in Senggi District, Papua, were the battlefield of feuding tribes fighting for their ulayat (communal land). Afra, the triumphant tribe, then settled in the villages and led a life of hunting and gathering.

Indigenous Land Rights Bring Economic, not just Environmental Benefits

By Lyndal Rowlands
Secure indigenous land rights not only bring environmental benefits, they can also foster economic development, according to a new report released by the World Resources Institute.

Resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline: “This Is Not The End”  

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Resistance towards the controversial Dakota Access pipeline continues after a federal court rejected requests to halt construction on Monday.

Two years on, Peña Nieto cannot brush off Ayotzinapa stain

By Erika Guevara-Rosas
There are certain events that mark a turning point in a country. The way a government decides to handle them defines the way they will go down in the history books.

Militarised Conservation Threatens DRC’s Indigenous People – Part 2

By Zahra Moloo
The Bambuti people were the original inhabitants of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the oldest national park in Africa whose boundaries date back to 1925 when it was first carved out by King Albert of Belgium. But forbidden from living or hunting inside, the Bambuti now face repression from both park rangers and armed groups.

Militarised Conservation Threatens DRC’s Indigenous People – Part 1

By Zahra Moloo
It is late afternoon when a light drizzle begins to fall over a group of young men seated together in Mudja, a village that lies approximately 20 kilometres north of Goma on the outskirts of the Virunga National Park. Mudja is home to a community of around 40 families of indigenous Bambuti, also known as ‘pygmies.’*

Without Indigenous People, Conservation Is a Halfway Measure

By Emilio Godoy
“You don't convert your own house in a tourist site,” said Oussou Lio Appolinaire, an activist from Benin, wearing a traditional outfit in vivid yellows and greens. He was referring to opening up to tourists places that are sacred to indigenous people.
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