Indigenous Rights

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.

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.
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