Indigenous Rights

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.

Honduras Still a Death Trap for Environmental Activists Six Months after Berta Cáceres’ Slaying

By Erika Guevara-Rosas
Chills ran down Tomás Gómez Membreño’s spine when he first heard about the brutal murder of his renowned friend and ally, the Honduran Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres, six months ago this week.

Indigenous People Demand Shared Benefits from Forest Conservation

By Emilio Godoy
"Why don’t the authorities put themselves in our shoes?” asked Cándido Mezúa, an indigenous man from Panama, with respect to native peoples’ participation in conservation policies and the sharing of benefits from the protection of forests.

Mexico, a Democracy Where People Disappear at the Hands of the State

By Daniela Pastrana
“Go and tell my dad that they’re holding me here,” Maximiliano Gordillo Martínez told his travelling companion on May 7 at the migration station in Chablé, in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco. It was the last time he was ever seen, and his parents have had no news of him since.

Concern over Profit-Oriented Approach to Biodiversity in Latin America

By Emilio Godoy
In July 2015, the Mexican government granted a U.S. corporation permission for the use of genetic material obtained in Mexican territory for commercial and non-commercial purposes, in one of the cases that has fuelled concern in Latin America about the profit-oriented approach to biodiversity.

The Wild Cards

By Rafia Zakaria
The Rio Olympics began with the signature fanfare that accompanies the Games every four years. However, unlike every year, the nature and size of the spectacle, the synchronised dancers, over-the-top fireworks and the millions spent brought a new set of disappointments with them.

Education: An Elusive Dream for Cameroon’s Indigenous Peoples

By Ngala Killian Chimtom
It is a sunny afternoon in Boui, a small village in the Boumba and Ngoko Division of Cameroon’s South East Region. A primary school teacher is drawing some wild animals on the blackboard. Then she turns to the class of fifteen pupils.

Indigenous Communities Risk Lives in Struggle for Self-determination in Education

By Phoebe Braithwaite
Indigenous peoples around the world continue to struggle for self-determination over their education, as highlighted by recent protests against proposed education reforms in Oaxaca, Mexico, which have left at least six people dead.

Right to Education Still Elusive for Native People in Latin America

By Orlando Milesi
Education, the most powerful instrument in the struggle against exclusion and discrimination, is still elusive for indigenous people in Latin America who remain the most disadvantaged segment of the population despite their wide presence in the region.

UN Spotlight for Dark Shadow over Civil Society Rights

By Tor Hodenfield
With more and more governments narrowing space for dissent and activism, the UN has emerged as a key platform to air concerns about acute rights violations and develop protections for civil society and other vulnerable groups.

Fast-track Development Threatens to Leave Indigenous Peoples Behind

By Aruna Dutt
Fast-tracked development often means that indigenous people and their territories get run over and their rights are not taken into consideration, Roberto Borrero, from the International Indian Treaty Council and Indigenous Peoples Major Group, said here Friday.

What can Development Banks do to Protect Human Rights?

By Phillip Kaeding
In a petition signed by 150 NGOs, the Coalition for Human Rights in Development have called for development banks to make sure that human rights are respected by their beneficiaries.

Indigenous Villages in Honduras Overcome Hunger at Schools

By Thelma Mejía
Barely 11 years old and in the sixth grade of primary school, this student dreams of becoming a farmer in order to produce food so that the children in his community never have to go hungry. Josué Orlando Torres of the indigenous Lenca people lives in a remote corner of the west of Honduras.

Post-War Truth and Justice Still Elusive in Bougainville

By Catherine Wilson
Almost every family in the islands of Bougainville, an autonomous region of about 300,000 people in the Pacific Island state of Papua New Guinea, has a story to tell of death and suffering during the decade long civil war (1989-1998), known as ‘the Crisis.’

Civil Society Under Serious Attack

By Lyndal Rowlands
Despite their contribution to social justice, civil society organisations came under “serious attack” in 109 countries in 2015, according to a new report published by CIVICUS Monday.

The Environment: Latin America’s Battleground for Human Rights

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
2015 was the deadliest year on record for the killings of environmental activists around the world, according to a new Global Witness report.

Bougainville Women Turn Around Lives of ‘Lost Generation’

By Catherine Wilson
Finding a sense of identity and purpose, as well as employment are some of the challenges facing youths in post-conflict Bougainville, an autonomous region in eastern Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific Islands.

Polynesian Voyagers Bring Messages of Hope to UN on World Oceans Day

By Lyndal Rowlands
Polynesian voyagers who have sailed the world by canoe using ancient navigation skills will bring pledges they collected along the way to the UN on Wednesday as part of World Oceans Day celebrations.
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