Indigenous Rights

Mexico’s Wind Parks May Violate OECD Rules

By Emilio Godoy
Four wind farm projects in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, operated or financed by European investors, could violate Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) rules, say activists.

Can Land Rights and Education Save an Ancient Indian Tribe?

By Manipadma Jena
Scattered across 31 remote hilltop villages on a mountain range that towers 1,500 to 4,000 feet above sea level, in the Malkangiri district of India’s eastern Odisha state, the Upper Bonda people are considered one of this country’s most ancient tribes, having barely altered their lifestyle in over a thousand years.

Brazil’s “Dalai Lama of the Rainforest” Faces Death Threats

By Fabíola Ortiz
Davi Kopenawa, the leader of the Yanomami people in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, who is internationally renowned for his struggle against encroachment on indigenous land by landowners and illegal miners, is now fighting a new battle - this time against death threats received by him and his family.

IFC Warned of Systemic Safeguards Failures in Honduras

By Carey L. Biron
For the second time this year, an internal auditor has criticised the World Bank’s private sector investment agency over dealings in Honduras, and is warning that similar problems are likely being experienced elsewhere.

Women Warriors Take Environmental Protection into Their Own Hands

By Amantha Perera
Aleta Baun, an Indonesian environmental activist known in her community as Mama Aleta, has a penchant for wearing a colourful scarf on her head, but not for cosmetic reasons.

Will Climate Change Lead to Conflict or Cooperation?

By Joel Jaeger
The headline of every article about the relationship between climate change and conflict should be “It’s complicated,” according to Clionadh Raleigh.

The ‘Global’ Land Rush

By Anuradha Mittal
The first years of the twenty-first century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale.

Indigenous Leaders in Costa Rica Tell Ban Ki-moon Their Problems

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
Indigenous people in Costa Rica, hemmed in by violent attacks from farmers and ranchers who invade their land and burn down their homes, have found a new ally: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who met with 36 native leaders during a recent visit to this country.

Laws that Kill Protesters in Mexico

By Daniela Pastrana
People in this town in the central Mexican state of Puebla found out the hard way that protesting can be deadly.

World Bank Board Declines to Revise Controversial Draft Policies

By Jim Lobe
A key committee of the World Bank’s governing board Wednesday spurned appeals to revise a  draft policy statement that, according to nearly 100 civil-society groups, risks rolling back several decades of reforms designed to protect indigenous populations, the poor and sensitive ecosystems.

Land Grabbing – A New Political Strategy for Arab Countries

By Mona Alami
Food price rises as far back as 2008 are believed to be the partial culprits behind the instability plaguing Arab countries and they have become increasingly aware of the importance of securing food needs through an international strategy of land grabs which are often detrimental to local populations.

Forest Rights Offer Major Opportunity to Counter Climate Change

By Carey L. Biron
The international community is failing to take advantage of a potent opportunity to counter climate change by strengthening local land tenure rights and laws worldwide, new data suggests.

Touaregs Seek Secular and Democratic Multi-Ethnic State

By Karlos Zurutuza
The government of Mali and Touareg rebels representing Azawad, a territory in northern Mali which declared unilateral independence in 2012 after a Touareg rebellion drove out the Malian army, resumed peace talks in Algiers last week, intended to end decades of conflict.

Indigenous Communities Say Education, Funding Key to Fighting HIV/AIDS

By Neena Bhandari
Marama Pala, hailing from Waikanae on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, was diagnosed with HIV at 22. The news of her diagnosis spread like wildfire in her tight-knit Maori community.

This is What Happened to the 18,000 People Forcefully Relocated to an Arid Zimbabwean Government Farm

By Davison Mudzingwa
When the Tokwe-Mukosi dam’s wall breached, so started the long, painful and disorienting journey for almost 18,000 people who had lived in the 50-kilometre radius of Chivi basin in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo province as even those not affected by the flood were removed from their homes.

Zimbabwe’s Unfolding Humanitarian Disaster – We Visit the 18,000 People Forcibly Relocated to Ruling Party Farm

By Davison Mudzingwa and Francis Hweshe
As the villagers sit around the flickering fire on a pitch-black night lit only by the blurry moon, they speak, recounting how it all began. They take turns, sometimes talking over each other to have their own experiences heard. When the old man speaks, everyone listens. “It was my first time riding a helicopter,” John Moyo* remembers.

Chile Vows to Dispel Lingering Shadow of Dictatorship

By Marianela Jarroud
Chile has made a commitment to the international community to improve human rights in the country and erase the lingering shadow of the dictatorship on civil liberties.

EU Aims to Scuttle Treaty on Human Rights Abuses

By Thalif Deen
When the United Nations began negotiating a Code of Conduct for Transnational Corporations (TNCs) back in the 1970s, the proposal never got off the ground because of vigourous opposition both from the powerful business community and its Western allies.

Nicaragua’s Mayagna People and Their Rainforest Could Vanish

By José Adán Silva
More than 30,000 members of the Mayagna indigenous community are in danger of disappearing, along with the rainforest which is their home in Nicaragua, if the state fails to take immediate action to curb the destruction of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve, the largest forest reserve in Central America and the third-largest in the world.

Quest for Self-Determination Continues in New Caledonia

By Catherine Wilson
Since the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in the South Pacific was reinstated on the United Nations Decolonisation List in 1986, the indigenous Kanak people have struggled not only against socio-economic disadvantages, but also for the right to determine their political future after more than a century of colonialism.

When Nature Gets a Price Tag

By Kanya D'Almeida
How much does a forest cost? What’s the true economic value of an ocean? Can you pay for an alpine forest or a glacial meadow? And – more importantly – will such calculus save the planet, or subordinate a rapidly collapsing natural world to market forces?
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